Post 390 - Brilliant Black Brant amongst Beautifully Graceful Brent Geese

Brent Geese (Branta bernicla)

Hey everyone, today's post 390 and as you'll know, earlier in the week I went to Spurn Point which is about a two and a half hour drive from where we live. It's such a good place to go to, there's so many reserves just packed into the small area, that you're bound to find something unusual or interesting. When I did my post on my trip to Spurn I mentioned I saw a flock of Brent Geese at Kilnsea Wetlands, a new one for me, but amongst them was one that I wasn't expecting to see either, a Black Brant! As there weren't any other birders around to confirm I wasn't 100% sure but I was pleased when I saw this tweet from today:

Black Brant with Brent flock, 300 Wigeon and 11 Goldeneye kilnsea wetland #spurnbirds

— Spurn Bird Obs (@spurnbirdobs) February 19, 2016

It was a tricky thing to get photos of as the birds were doing what they do, feeding, swimming about and flying off quite often. I didn't work out what kept disturbing them. I looked back through my photos and I did manage to get a reasonable shot of it.

So, what did I found out about not only the Black Brant, but Brent Geese in general?

The Black Brant - centre of picture

• Well, firstly, there seems to be about 560,000 Brent Geese worldwide, while there are only 115,000 Black Brants.

• I'm not 100% sure how many Black Brants there are in the UK, but there are about 100,000 of the normal Brent Geese.

• The Black Brant is basically a subspecies of Brent Goose, sometimes called the Pacific Brent Goose. 

• Black Brants usually live in Alaska where they breed and move to Baja, California for the Winter. They are a scarce visitor to the UK

• The Brent Goose is an Amber Status bird in the UK, but is doing better in Europe and Globally.

• They almost became extinct in the 1930's because there main food source 'Eelgrass' became almost extinct, too, with disease. 

There were quite a few at Kilnsea

• Nowadays, Brent Geese have moved a bit inland to find their food, looking for agricultural land for other grasses and winter-cereals.

• They are found, only Wintering on the Coasts of North, East and South England as well as most of Ireland's coast too.

• It's about 60cm long with a wingspan of 115cm, with both Male and Female birds weighing quite a hefty 1.5 kilograms!

• They do seem to be declining, though, for example, the Black Brant alone has declined from about 200,000 to what it is now.

• This is because of reasons such as hunting, foxes and diseases. In fact, of 6 fitted with radio tags in 2002, only one survived because of these pressures. One was found in the larder of an Inuit hunter.

Flying about!

• They first breed at 2 years, and usually die 9 years later, at 11. My age! :-( The oldest was 28 years, 2 months and 12 days!

Here are some links to some more information:

RSPB - Brent Geese

BTO Birdfacts - Brent Geese

BBC Nature - Brent Geese

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Post 382 - Continuing Conservation for Nature at Nosterfield

The pile at the start - I'm in the green jumper by the fire

Hey everyone, Post 382 and just a little update on a fabulous morning at Nosterfield last Sunday. As you know I like to go there quite a lot as its a great local reserve and one of the nearest to me. I really like helping out there to by volunteering when I can. I got to help out with the open day last year and I also helped to take out a lot of Ash saplings in part of the reserve that were growing in place that they weren't needed.

A lot of other work has gone on over the reserve to make sure the best environments for the wildlife are kept that way. That had left a big pile of 'brash' on part of the reserve where all the stuff that had been cut down was collected. Our job on Sunday was to go through the huge pile and make sure there wasn't anything living in it and then have a bonfire!

And at the end just a little pile in the
pond left for the shrike to come back to - we hope!

Well it didn't take long for the fire to get going really well. That was great, especially as it was a really cold morning, the car had said it was between -3 and 0 C on the way over! Once I got moving and with the fire it was lovely and warm though.

It was nice working and chatting to everyone and watching the wildlife get one with its day around us. At one point around 300 geese  (greylags probably - I was watching my feet and trying not to step in rabbit holes!) came onto the far side of the lake, pretty awesome!

Water levels on the reserve are really high!

The pile was massive but there were about 10 volunteers so it only took until lunchtime to get it all on the fire. Even though some of it had been lying in water it all burnt really fast as the fire was so hot. I have a log fire at home and I know how hard that is to light sometimes so it was amazing to see this pile of branches, sticks and logs but so well.

I'm looking forward to going back for more volunteering but my next trip there I hope is for a ringing session so more on that soon I hope.

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Post 380 - The Spectacular, Marvellous and Fantastic St. Marks Fly

St Mark's Fly (Bibio marci) at Ripon

Hey everybody, today's Day 380 and as I haven't covered a species for a while so I thought I'd do one today. I sometimes go out to Ripon and a regular walk we do there is at a nice spot where there's a riverside walk, I see lots of species on the river and in woods. I really love it there and it is a great place to walk about. So when I was looking through my photos and I managed to find something that I saw there. It's called a St Mark's Fly, personally, I didn't know my Dad was a saint, but you learn something new everyday! These were tricky to photograph as they didn't land very often and I had to follow them around for quite a while to get some shots.

Quickly, before I start on the facts, I would like to thank every one of you that brought one of my calenders, using the proceeds my parents managed to surprise me with an Opticron telescope. I'm really happy with it and I hope that I will be able to up my list of birds dramatically with it! Can't wait to test it out at a reserve!

So, here are the facts:

Too difficult that day to photo in flight

• The main reason they are called the St Mark's Fly is because they emerge around the time of St Mark's Day.

• When I say St Mark's Day, it's about the 25th of April, so they are very much a Spring Fly.

• St Mark's Day is a festival held in Italy and is basically a huge feast to commemorate Mark the Evangelist.

• This day is celebrated globally, it seems, even though it celebrates the patron state of Venice. It's celebrated in Lithuania and Mexico.

• It has another name for the people that don't celebrate this event much: The Hawthorn Fly.

• It is 11mm long and has a black and shiny body with quite a lot of hair on it too. 

• They are found on Farmland, Woodland, Heathland, Grassland, Towns and Gardens. So a good variety I'd say.

• They have the conservation status 'common' in both Europe and England it seems.

This one looks a bit different with an antennae
- not sure if it is the same species

• In England they are found mostly in the South of England, like most bugs and Flies, but they get less common the further North you go.

• Swarms of St Mark's flies can be annoying in the early Spring but they are actually quite useful.

• As their main food source is nectar making they are very useful pollinators of fruit trees and crops.

• I must have timed my walk well to see these insects as their adult life cycle only lasts about a week.

You can see here how hairy they are.

• They spend the majority of their lifecycle as larva in the soil where they feed on rotting vegetation.

• Once they emerge as adults, the males emerge first followed by the females, they have a short time to mate and then the female lays eggs in the soil.

• The main habitat for these flies is hedgerows and woodland edges especially if it is a moist area.

Here are some links to some more information:

Buglife - St Mark's Fly

NatureSpot - St Mark's Fly

The Wildlife Trusts - St Mark's Fly

Hope you enjoyed,


Z.

Post 374 - Some Amazing News and Super Finds in Silton Forest

Post 374 - Hi everyone, well it's been another amazing week. It was the last week of school ahead of Christmas, which made it a good week anyway, but on Thursday this news was released:

Huge congratulations to @nerdboy386 who has won the junior category of the @WildlifeMag Blogger Awards! https://t.co/cAqg7D3TVn

— BBC Wildlife Mag (@WildlifeMag) December 17, 2015

I was totally amazed when I heard the news, it's still a bit hard to believe, but a big thank you to BBC Wildlife Magazine, Jo Price, @LucyMcRobert1 @juleslhoward and @StephenMoss_TV for selecting my blog as the winner. Big thanks too to everyone who nominated me. There are some great bloggers too who got highly commended awards who are really worth checking out. If you like my blog you'll love @JGHellewell @MyaBambrick1 @BirdgirlUK @Appletonwild @SCroxford @jakesbones .




Well I had been wondering about doing this but hearing the news I decided I should also enter the UK Blog Awards 2016 - I've entered in the Green and Photography sections. Voting is due to start in the New Year and I hope a few of you reading this might cast a vote for me.

It was nice to be back in the forest, still quite green in places

Well, back to normality, and as it's the first day of the holiday my family got out for a walk. In the end we decided to do a local walk in Silton Forest, just on the edge of the fabulous North York Moors. If you read my posts often you'll know I love this place for all the bugs and other wildlife I see there. Now it's Winter, well it's supposed to be, I didn't think I'd see much - the temperature gauge on our car was showing 16 degrees C!

A little fungi

As it's quite mild there were a few surprises in store as we walk around. The first was a little fungi which I didn't expect to see as most of the others had gone or were decaying badly. This one looked quite fresh, not sure what type it is but it looked quite pretty amongst the moss.

A nice Cladonia lichen I found

The next thing I found I did expect to see, and I really like looking at them as they grow almost everywhere I go, but this one really stood out today growing away on a fallen branch. It was a lovely lichen, still learning about lichens but pretty sure this is one of the Cladonia lichens because of the stalks which are the fruiting bodies where the fungus bit of the lichen produces the spores. The fruiting bits are called apothecia.

A sleepy Toad

Well not far from where I found this I was helped out by Esme, my little Jack Russell, who was sniffing at something I really wouldn't have expected to see in December usually. There was a Toad in the middle of the path! I didn't expect to see it as I did Toad patrol in the spring and thought they emerged from hibernating to breed. Well when I read up on this it seems they just lie dormant under logs and vegetation and do emerge to forage when the temperatures are warm enough. Well this one looked very sleepy and was in the middle of a path so we found a nice spot with lots of fallen leaves to put in in out of the way.

Bugs tucked up for winter.

The last little find was a group of beasties that I found under the bark of a log I trod on. A bit of bark came away and there were spiders, millipedes, beetles and an unidentified mealworm type insect tucked up underneath. Well I got a few shots and then put the piece of bark back over them to save them being disturbed or eaten!

I hope to get to some more reserves soon where I'm looking out for one or two birds I've not seen for a while so I hope to bring you some nice species posts over Christmas. I'll leave you with a few links to more information.

British Lichens

FrogLife - Frog & Toad Behaviour

Hope you enjoyed - and a big, big thank you again to BBC Wildlife Magazine, the judges and anyone who nominated me!

Z.

Post 373 - Brilliantly Coloured Super Broad Centurion Soldierfly

Broad Centurion Soldierfly (Chloromyia formosa)

Hey everyone, today's Post 373 and seeing as I have only really done 1 species since the end of my year and I thought, as it's actually snowing where I am as I'm writing this, I would bring back some of the warmer and sunnier weather by covering a nice hover-fly, specifically it's a soldierfly called the Broad Centurion or the Chloromyia formosa. Now, at school, in History we have been covering the Romans and from what I heard, a Centurain is a leader of a small group of people, so maybe this fly is a leader of some sort of family. We found it in July in Silton Forest a lovely place near us that I go walking in a lot. I thought it was a nice little thing to cover on a nice snowy December afternoon, as it is quite colourful and reminded me of Summer walks.

So, here are a couple of facts on it:

The lovely woodland edges at Silton are filled with lots of wild flowers
they have been great for finding bugs

• They are quite common around all of the United Kingdom including Ireland and all of the surrounding islands.

• They fly mostly throughout May, all of the way to the end of August but can be found a small bit outside of these times. 

• They are only 9mm long which is a tiny little thing. I don't think I've encountered a smaller fly yet. 

• Their larvae are found in cow dung, rotting grass and all of that sort thing.

• Coming from this they will be found in places like moist forests which is where I found it, there's a lovely little beck that babbles through the bit of the forest I walk in

• Their antennae are short and the first segment of their antennae is longer than the second segment.

• Larvae feed on decaying plant matter which is probably why they live in it.

• So, while the larvae feed on this, the adults feed on nectar like most insects. These ones mostly feed on Hogweed, which the one in the picture is on.

A shot further out, you can see the Hogweed stems better.

• They are found in Europe, North Africa, the Eastern side of Asia and Southern Arctic.

• The one I photographed is probably a female, they tend to be a more metallic blue green while the males are more bronzy green.

• My photo isn't quite close enough but if you see one try to get a close look at their eyes as they are very hairy.

Here are some links to some more information:

NatureSpot - Chloromyia formosa

Wikipedia - Chloromyia formosa

Wildlife Trusts - Chloromyia formosa

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 369 - Defend Nature, Green Government & a Calendar

Looks like it's down to us to look after nature

Hey everyone, well it's not really Day 369, more like post 369 so I'll have to think about how I title things now. Anyway. I was wondering what to cover today but then I found a letter from the RSPB about asking the Government to defend nature. I'll be writing a letter to my MP soon, or maybe using the system the RSPB have set up on line - click the link to see it.

Dad came home and was talking about what the Chancellor had been speaking about today, it affects his work, so we had a chat about this. We looked up the Comprehensive Spending Review and you can see that at this link.

The Government has told us in the past that it will be 'the greenest Government ever'. I'm not sure what they think that means but Dad and I had a search of the Comprehensive Spending Review. We searched for nature, wildlife and environment. Nature isn't mentioned once, nor is wildlife. Better news on environment - that is mentioned 25 times but not much of it is about protecting the environment - most of it is about taking money away from the bit of Government that looks after it....

The Chancellor's job is about looking after our country's money so maybe I shouldn't expect much but you would have thought he would put a bit more money towards looking after nature if this is 'the greenest Government ever'. Going back to the RSPB letter I certainly will be writing to my MP to try and get the Government to defend nature!

Now to something much nicer. Over the last year I've taken lots and lots of photos, some are pretty good I think, so I've decided to do two things with them. The first thing I am doing is donating some of my photos to nature organisations. If you're a nature charity and like any on my blog please get in touch :-)

The second thing I've done is to make a 2016 calendar with them. They came just yesterday and they look rather good!  There are some photos of it dotted around this post so you can see what sort of things are included.

If you like the look of them and would like to buy one, they are £10 plus £2 postage. Please Tweet me or comment on this post and I'll tell you how to get one. I'm trying to raise some money to put towards a telescope so I can find even more nature. David Cameron is always telling us to be more enterprising so this is a Government policy I am trying out... :-p


Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 367 - The Mindbending Making Of...

Hey everyone, today's Day 367 and I've gone past the year mark now and had a couple of days off but the excitement of it hasn't calmed down. For me, it's been totally amazing. All of the nice messages of congratulations and support have been incredible. I have even had people like this congratulating me, today!

Congrats to @nerdboy386 for blogging about wildlife everyday for a year! You can read his @BBCSpringwatch post here: https://t.co/8e9hJWZqH5

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) November 18, 2015

11-yr-old @nerdboy386 just finished 365 days of nature blogging – massive achievement https://t.co/6M6YseH8Em pic.twitter.com/mZifGLFMB7

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) November 18, 2015

Thank you so much Chris and BBC Earth! Really appreciate the tweets :-)

Getting in close in spite of thistles for a close up.

It's been a great year with some great memories so I thought I'd fill you in on some of the funny things that happened as I went along:


Doing it everyday has been a real challenge at times, it's really worked its way into my brain. Mum and Dad told me a funny story about one night when I was sleeping and they came into check on me, as I stirred I actually said www.yearofnature.blogspot.com in my sleep. I didn't do this just one but ON TWO DIFFERENT OCCASIONS!!!!!  Sooo, yeah. It's obviously got its way into my psyche.

This was tricky - but got a great shot!

As you can see from the pictures,. I am also going to be talking about some of the challenges I've had before the post is written, when I'm taking the pictures basically. I've had to get into some weird positions, for example. when I was taking the picture for my life-cycle of a dragonfly, I found some weird green thing and shouted my Dad to see if he knew what it was. He said that it was a dragonfly emerging from its nymph and we were pretty amazed so I had to get lots of photos. What I didn't tell you in that post is that this particular one was on a rock right next to a pond. So I either had to swim in the pond with my camera, a little expensive, or get into a weird position:

Up close to a Humming bird Hawkmoth

It was relatively fun to do actually. There has been some other funny moments taking pictures, several of which have involved an insect... and a Thorn Bush or Thistles. To get my Trademark 'bug's eye view' photos I really had to get up and close with the insect so I have to go inside the Thorn Bush. sometimes I wonder 'is this really worth it?!' but then I think about it or see the pictures and say "Oh yes, yes it is." even though it has resulted in me sleep-talking...

Camping and early mornings - hmmm - yes it is worth it!

I've mainly stayed in the North to do my blog but did go on some trips to other areas. Birdfair was one example that was great fun. I've done a bit more camping this year because of this. That's great fun, love the camp fires, not so keen on the early mornings but it is worth it once I'm up and out. Bird ringing especially means early starts but it's wonderful to do and gets you so close to the birds, you really see them in a different way to looking through binoculars, see really small details.

Where it all started - in the audience at Unsprung :-)

It is a very hard to actually write the posts themselves because I have to think of what I've already covered and then find one to cover in the first place, do all the research, process the photos etc. There have been a few occasions where I have done a full post and then Dad sees it and we realise that I have already done that particular species. That's quite annoying!

Family bird watching,
Dad, Me and Esme, from Mum's iPhone

Well that's a little look 'behind the scenes' at a wonderful year. I've always gone out walking and taking an interest in what I see but this year has taken it to a whole new level. I've met lots and lots of great people of all ages and backgrounds. I'm just wondering what next year will bring!


I'm thinking of challenges like trying to get to all the nature reserves in Yorkshire, but I've got to get Dad's taxi onside for that one - it's a big place and I haven't counted all of the reserves yet!


I've got a new birdwatching companion too, Esme, she's very good and just watches everything with us, no barking at all which is brilliant!

Close encounter of the Beetle kind.

One last thing, I've got hundreds of great photos and I've been wondering what to do with them. Some I will donate to nature organisations like the Wildlife Trusts but I'm also thinking of making a calendar maybe to raise money for a telescope. I don't know if any of you would be interested though so if you think that's a good idea and you might like one please could you leave me a comment or tweet me @nerdboy386.


Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 365 - Massively Happy to introduce the Mightily Handsome Montagus Harrier

Today is the day. Day 365. Three-Hundred-and-Sixty-Five posts with hardly any days missed. 103,500 views so far. A dream come true. When I started this, even I didn't believe I would finish this blog. But here we are. It's weird because I can't actually write a simple diary everyday for even a week. It boggles my mind how I managed to do it. I think it was because I am very passionate about this subject. I love nature. Before I get on with today's subject, I want to stress that my blog is not finished. I probably won't post daily. What I think I'm going to try to do at least is cover each week an issue, such as getting kids connected to nature, and a species, such as what I'm doing now. My next post will be the making of the blog, so make sure to keep an eye out for that!

So, to mark this very special occasion I thought I would cover a very special bird. The one I chose was at Blacktoft Sands in East Yorkshire and was one of the most incredible moments in my life.

Pair of Montagu's Harriers ( Circus pygargus ) at Blacktoft Sands

Right from the start of my blog when I was reading up about the UK's rarest birds and I saw the Montagu's Harrier I said 'Wow, I really want to see one!' so I was thrilled when I heard there were some at Blacktoft. It is quite near to us but still around one and a half hours away. So when we got to Blacktoft we found a bench outside a hide to have our lunch. Just as we were finishing, someone came out of the hide and said 'oh, you've just missed the harrier!' So we had to sit in the hide for another 2 hours waiting for it. But it was worth it!

They were amazing to watch but they were a long way off so sadly my photos don't do this lovely bird justice but the Crossley ones show you just how magnificent this bird is.

So, here are the facts:

• Habitats they like include marshes. moors and grasslands. Blacktoft is England's largest tidal reedbed so lots of lovely marshy habitat for them.

The male flying about

• Their diet is animals that they take from hunting over areas with low vegetation.

• They are the United Kingdom's rarest breeding bird of prey. This year there were only 6 breeding pairs and I was lucky enough to see one pair.

• They don't live here all year, they only come to breed here, and the best chance you have of seeing them is in the South of England. They usually aren't found anywhere else in the UK, so this pair at Blacktoft seem to be unusual - but lucky for me.

• Now, when I say they only breed here, it's true. But that does mean they need to undergo a migration. So, I looked into this a bit more..

• Well, they seem to spend most of the rest of their time down in Africa. Specifically in Mali with what's been found by the RSPB.

• What they've been doing is satellite tagging 5 different birds (Madge, Mark, Roger, Rose and Rowan) and tracking them around the world.

Swooping around for a while before going back to hunt

• I will be following Mark, seeing as that's my Dad's name, and seeing where he's been going as they can have some pretty big adventures.

• So, he started off in London on the 24th August 2015. He managed to get across the channel to near Etreux in just 1 day and spent another day resting up. After this he did a weird circle thing over 5 days near Reims and then managed to scale France by the 3rd of September.

• He then covered all of Spain in the next day only to make it into Africa by the 6th! He carried on trekking along Western Africa slowing down eventually when he hit the border of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and on the 11th, he went slowly down to the Southern border in 10 days.

• So, you can see, they undergo huge journeys in such little amounts of time. I'm personally not surprised at all that he slowed down in Africa. 

• They live for an average of six years but the oldest one recorded was nearly eight years old, he must have flown thousands and thousands of miles!

• They are a medium sized UK bird of prey with a length of only 40 cm - 50 cm and its wingspan is around 1.1 metres, Still seems impressive to me I'm only a bit taller than they are wide!

Montagu's Harrier from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland

Here are a few links to some more information:

RSPB - Montagu's Harriers

RSPB - Tracking Montagu's Harriers

The Hawk and Owl Trust - Montagu's Harriers

Birdlife International - Montagu's Harriers

Thanks for a great year with all of the support, lots of people have been really helpful and supportive and it would need a really long blog one day to thank everybody!

I really hope you enjoyed it, but it's not over, it is never over,

Zach :-)

Day 364 - Brilliantly Positioned - Beautiful Plume Moth

Beautiful Plume Moth (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla)

Hey everyone today's Day 364, just 1 day to go! So, to celebrate I thought I would cover a very nice little Moth that I really like because of its unique shape. This one turned up in my front garden in September, pretty much outside of my front door on some nearby plants. I was on my way out somewhere so my camera was handy and I managed to get a few shots before it flew off.  It is of course, one of the Plume Moths and it is a very beautiful looking one. On that basis, and from my research, this looks like a Moth that is 'what it says on the tin' - the Beautiful Plume Moth.

So, here are the facts:

• There have been records of them across the United Kingdom, but they get rarer the more Northerly you travel.

Got in a bit close

• Well, they are widespread but there are not as many places with sightings in the UK as a lot of Moths I have covered.

• I haven't found anywhere that they are classed as rare as such, but they certainly seem less common than a lot of Moths.

• The good news is that they have been getting more common since the 1990's and are now more often found in gardens - just like this one.

• There are two generations in a year so they are found flying from July and from September onwards, I'm guessing this means until the weather gets too cold and it's time so say goodbye to them!

• When it gets cold the second generation go into hibernation and once they wake will be flying until May.

Got a crazy looking shot when I went in for a bug's eye view

• Their wingspan is between the very specific sizes of 17mm and 23mm. This is one of the smaller non-micro-moths that I have ever covered.

• The larvae feed in June and August on the flowers and young leaves of small plants.

• Some of these plants include Restharrow, Hedge woundwort, Goosefoots and even Heather.

• A lot of other types of Plume Moths feed on these plants too so you should be cautious when you are identifying them from their larvae as they are easy to confuse.

Here are some links to more information:

NatureSpot - Beautiful Plume Moth

UK Moths - Beautiful Plume Moth

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 363 - Simply Stunning Rugged Six Striped Rustic

Six Striped Rustic (Xestia sexstrigata)

Hi everyone - Day 363 and I've found another moth for you from my Nosterfield Open Day Collection.  While it is not the most colourful of moths it is still very beautiful and I managed to get some nice close up shots which show a lot of its features. I struggled with identifying this one, and did get some help, but it was still difficult as it's tricky to tell from the photos. It's probably a Six Striped Rustic so I researched that moth for you today and on the links on the end you can see some pictures of some with clearer markings, this one looks a little bit worn but still amazing.

So what did I find out about this little moth:

You can see the proboscis here 

• Like yesterdays Flame Shouldered Moth these moths are quite widely distributed across the UK, not quite as common in Scotland but they are found there.

• They have a wingspan of 36-38mm

• You are most likely to see these moths flying between July and September. They only have one brood per year.

• They live in habitats like damp woodland and marshy areas like bogs and fens.

• Another similarity to yesterdays moth is that the adults are attracted to Ragwort for nectar. 

• The larvae are around from September to April or May.

And here's the bugs eye view :-)

• They feed by night on a range of herbaceous plants like Plantain, Bramble and Bedstraw.

• In the day the larvae hide out low down on these plants trying to stay out of sight of predators.

• When they are ready to transform into adults they head underground to pupate.

• In case it's not obvious from my photos they get their name from six stripes that go across their wings. 

As promised some links where you can see pictures of this moth with better markings.

Nature Spot - Six Striped Rustic

Lepi Photos - Six Striped Rustic

Habitas - Six Striped Rustic

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 362 - Flambouyantly Marvelous Flameshoulder Moth

Flameshoulder Moth (Ochropleura plecta) 

Hey everyone today's Day 362 with only 3 days to go. You'll have figured out already that today's post is a Moth. You'll also know that I went to the Nosterfield Open Day where they had Moth Traps set up and I helped get the moths out. While looking through them we put some into containers so we could take pictures later. I can't wait to do this again as I saw so many different varieties of moths.
Today's particular one is called the Flame Shoulder Moth. It's a beautiful moth and I can't wait to cover it.

So, here are the facts:

• They are very common around all of the UK and are more widespread than some other moth species I have covered

• Saying this, they are found less commonly in Scotland. Weirdly, they aren't found less in the West.

A bugs eye view :-)

• One last on distribution they are one of the first moths that are recorded in Northern Ireland that I have covered. 

• As for habitats they usually live in woodland edges, gardens and meadowland.

• They have a 25mm - 30mm wingspan which is actually quite a medium sized moth for the United Kingdom.

• There are 2 generations, the first flying in May and June and the second flying in August and September.

• Adults visit various flowers for nectar especially Ragwort.

They may be common but they are beautiful!

• The caterpillars are nocturnal, they are found at night, and they live on plants like Dock and plantain

• The larvae feed up through late summer into autumn and over winter as a pupa

• The name refers to the flame-like straw coloured sides that the Moth has on its wings.

Here is a link  to some more information:

NatureSpot - Flameshoulder Moth

Habitas.org.uk - Flameshoulder Moth

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 361 - Really Lively & Beautiful Red Longhorn Beetle

Male Red Longhorn Beetle (Stictoleptura rubra) in Norfolk

Hey everyone, today's Day 361 and a while ago during the Summer I went to Kelling Heath on my holiday. It's in Norfolk. I had a great time there, even apart from what nature I found it was a great time. But nature-wise, it was great too, one little thing was at the holiday park itself which is amongst some fabulous woodlands. I saw a number of these little creatures flying about and it was a while until one settled long enough for me to get a photo of it. It was the amazing, Red Longhorn Beetle. They're interesting bugs and I was looking forward to finding out about them.

So, here are the facts:

• They are very rare it looks like, there has only been about 54 records, according to the Nation, in all of the UK.

Trying to get in close

• The bulk of the UK population is found in Norfolk but it has been spreading North and West recently.

• The five most Northerly records of these beetles were found by my friend Dr. Roger Key. Well done Roger :-)

• They are about 19mm in length.

• Juveniles are found of various Pine Trees, Firs and Larches.

• Adults, like most Beetles, visit flowers for nectar and pollen, these like thistles and brambles.

The best bugs eye view I could get - they didn't hang about 

• The larvae are found in dead coniferous wood stumps where they take 2 to 3 years to develop

• The adults have been described to be found at the height of Summer, July and August I'm guessing.

• The one I found was a male which isn't as brightly coloured as the female which have far more red wing cases and where the common name of Red Longhorn Beetle comes from.

Here are a few links to some more information:

NatureSpot - Longhorn Beetles

NBN Gateway - Longhorn Beetles - Distribution map

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 360 - Resplendant Redpolls

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret)

Hey everyone, today's Day 360 and as there's only 5 days to go, I thought I would cover a special species. As I don't come across new birds  very often, I thought I would cover one I saw recently that was a lifer. As you know, a while ago I went bird ringing with the East Dales Ringing Group and saw quite some migrating birds. This particular one is called the Redpoll and they are really cute little birds. As this was the first time I'd seen one it was really special to see them up close, I loved holding and releasing them.

So, here are the facts:

• There are several species of Redpoll so straight away I'll say that this is the Lesser Redpoll.

Showing off its little black 'goatee beard'

• They are resident all over the UK apart from right in the centre of England where they only Winter.

• In the whole of the UK, there are only 220,000 breeding pairs. Well I say only, that sounds quite a lot.

• Well, despite these facts, they are a RED STATUS. The BTO says this is because there has been a recent breeding decline.

• This breeding decline was very recent as in the last assessment they were an Orange Status and the time before, a Green.

Beautiful to get close to

• They are mainly found in woodland habitats, especially coniferous and birch woods but might be lucky and see them in towns or arable areas though not as often. 

• They feed on small seeds. Especially those of Birch and Alder Trees. As well as plants like Willowherb and Sorrel. They also visit bird feeders especially for nyjer seeds!

• They breed first when they are 1 year old and usually live for only 2 years. The oldest ever bird was 6 years and 26 days.

• They are 12 cm long and their wingspan is 22 cm. Both Males and Females weigh 11g. 

And very calm as well.

• Going back to where I saw this post, when I was out bird ringing, their ring size is the second smallest 'A'.

• One of the things I am still amazed by is how tiny some birds are and even more so how tiny their eggs are. A Lesser Redpoll egg weighs only 1.4g!

• Some Redpolls come here from colder parts of Europe but our resident birds may move around in cold winters too, they may head from the North to the South of England and if its really bad they may hop across to warmer parts of Europe.

Here are some links to some more information:

RSPB - Redpoll

BTO Birdfacts - Redpoll

British Garden Birds - Redpoll

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.