UK Nature Blog

Another Western conifer seed bug

This picture was sent in by David, having identified it with help from my previous post on the Western conifer seed bug. In this case it was found on the South coast in Bognor Regis.

Got any interesting pictures of UK nature of any sort? Please do send them in.

Nature notes - December 2011

For me it's not been a classic period for nature watching recently. Dark when I leave the house, dark when I return so not much opportunity to photograph birds and beasties. But I have noticed a few things all the same.

• It's finally got properly cold, with snow hitting much of the country in recent days. I'm not convinced the second/third flush of strawberries growing in my garden will ever ripen now!
• I haven't seen a single Redwing or Fieldfare this winter, which is unusual. I heard of them being in the country a month or two ago, but I've not seen any evidence of them.
• Similarly the bird feeders in my garden have been relatively quiet. The most notable birdlife is Long tailed tits, Robins and Blackbirds recently. Plus Sparrows, Blue tits and Great tits as ever. They're the boiled potatoes of birds in my garden.
• Magpies can sometimes be heard quite late (e.g. 10pm) shouting from the trees. I'm not sure at what - perhaps at cats or each other.
• There weren't nearly as many big brown house spiders running across my living room floor of an evening over recent months compared to years past.

Cease to fear the puny insects we have in the UK

I stumbled across this out on the interwebs and just had to post it. Please never complain about the size of British insects ever again!

Reanimated wasp

Just last night I found a dead wasp hidden inside the leaves of a head of cauliflower that I took from the fridge. Actually, it was my wife that found it and insisted I remove it. I put the diminutive vegetable trespasser in the kitchen compost bin and closed the lid. Later that very same evening we discovered a wasp crawling on the work surface in the kitchen, and I must assume it was the same one. It seemed to be in pretty good health, so I imagine that the cold of the refrigerator had slowed it right down to a stop for I don't know how many days, only to be reanimated when warmed.

Ladybirds invading our homes

It seems to be the time of year that Ladybirds decide they've had enough of being outdoors and crawl through our open windows to curl up in the corners of our nice central heated rooms. I've found quite a few around the house, of various sorts but mostly Harlequins and Seven-spots.

There's more information about this autumnal habit of Ladybirds courtesy of ladybuglady.com. They emit a pheremone that attracts more ladybirds so you can end up with masses of ladybirds clumped inside your house, which may emit a bad smell and stain the walls. I get the impression that the Harlequins can be a particular nuisance.

The picture above is a Harlequin as evidenced by the big black M on its head and the orange legs.

Brown lacewing - not dead, just resting

This is a poor photo taken in the corner between wall and ceiling of a dimly lit bathroom, but it clearly shows a Green lacewing becoming increasingly browned off with the weather. No longer a pure green, it is fading and turning brown, which is how it will see out the winter months before taking wing again next year.

So don't assume like I once did that those faded brown lacewings have died - they are perfectly fine and just hibernating. For a better picture of a fresh Green lacewing in close-up, check out my original blog post.

Sexton beetle with many mites

I blogged recently about the Sexton beetle, and mentioned the little brown mite that you could just about see in my original picture. By happy coincidence a correspondent from Scotland emailed in the far superior picture above showing many mites, and very clearly too - thanks Jenny!

She was surprised to see them appear fairly suddenly on this beetle, it having been devoid of them in a previous picture before it crawled onto what I am told is a fungus (though it looks far worse). Perhaps they were hiding on the underside of the beetle, or maybe they only climbed aboard once it got to the fungus? We shall probably never know, but they are thought to use the beetles as a means of transportation between feeding sites.

Devil's coach horse beetle

I don't know why but I've seen a lot of these around recently - perhaps it's the time of year. This is the first I've seen inside the house, so I swiftly captured it in a pint glass to be photographed. I had to be quick because they're pretty swift across the floor! Maybe it has been eating the woodlice that also seem to have been swelling in numbers of late, though I'm not sure which I'd prefer scurrying around the living room.

It is, as the title suggests, a Devil's coach horse beetle, notable for it's very short wing cases (elytra) and long, flexible abdomen which is curls upwards when threatened. It can also emit a nast odour from the end of the abdomen and can give a painful bite. In the photo above you can just about see the very fine hairs that cover it, reflecting a shimmering green from the abdomen.

As well as my never-ending supply of woodlice, it eats worms, other invertebrates and carrion. The Rove beetle family, of which it is a part, is so called because they are always on the move. It gets its own rather dark name from various superstitions linking it to the devil. The wikipedia article has more information on the name.

Ladybird emerging from pupa

A few weeks ago I posted pictures of a Ladybird freshly emerged from its pupa, but now I've caught one in the act! This one doesn't look like a Harlequin (no 'M' on its forehead) and its wing cases look much softer with a rough surface, so presumably the previous subject had already had a little time to dry out and harden up when I first found it. Though it might not have been fully baked, this one wasn't lacking in energy and scuttled off quickly.

Cinnabar moth (except not!)

Update: I originally identified this as a Cinnabar moth (hence the title of this post) but clearly I wasn't paying enough attention! Thanks to the commenters who very quickly set me straight. It is in fact a Six-spot Burnet moth.

It and several others was seen on Teasels at Butterfly World on the far side of the lake.