Day 258 - Marvellously Momentous and Calm Mullein Moth Catterpillar

Mullein Moth Caterpillar (Shargacucullia verbasci)

Hey everyone today's Day 258 and in our garden we have a few of Verbascun flowers that are very tall, about as high as me, 4' 7". That's pretty tall for a Flower but we do get quite large amounts of wildlife on them as they have lots of buds for pollinating. if I were an insect I wouldn't want to be feeding off the top of one in case I was spotted by a passing bird! Weirdly a couple of Mullein Moth Caterpillars have decided to feed off these. So I decided I should do a post on them.

And here are the facts:

• They are found in Europe but not Northern or Eastern. They are also found in Northern Africa.

• The fully grown caterpillars are 44mm - 48mm long while the butterfly is between 45mm - 56mm.

• They lay their eggs on Verbascum, Buddleia, and Figwort. They do this at the end of Spring and bad infestations can strip the plant.

Feeding on Verbascun or Mullein.

• Their flight period is April to May, a small time to find a mate and then lay their eggs. The caterpillars are seen more often and they are sometimes attracted to light.

• In most host countries of this caterpillar, gardeners and farmers consider them as a pest due to their large appetite.

• The pupa is the longest stage of the Mullein's life cycle. In captivity it can take up to 5 years, so I'm not expecting to see any moths in the near future!

• They seem to only be found in England and a tiny bit in Southern Wales. They are most common in the UK in East Anglia with only a couple of sightings where I am in North Yorkshire.

A couple of Thunder Bugs join him.

• They are found mainly in dry and warm places such as scrub, dry grassland, on rocky slopes as well as parks and gardens.

Here are some links to some more information:

Wikipedia - Mullein Moth

EHow - The Life Cycle of The Mullein Moth

Gardeners World - Mullein Moth

NatureSpot - Mullein Moth

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 257 - Great Grasshoppers

Grasshopper

Hi all today's Day 257 and there's only 99 days to go! I forgot to mention yesterday that there was 100 so I thought I would bring it up in today's post as it's a bit of a special occasion. But anyway, on with today's post. I was on a walk at Silton Forest, most of you will know about that, and I saw something jump onto a small plant. I immediately got my camera out and got some pictures. I identified it and found out that it was a Grasshopper, not a Cricket.

So, here are the facts:

• When you think of Grasshoppers, you probably think of a solitary insect jumping around peacefully. When you think of Locusts you think of millions of insects swarming and eating crops.

• You'll be very surprised when you find out that they are actually the same thing! Yes, there are some species that we have made Grasshoppers and some Locusts but they both belong to the family Orthoptera.

Underneath - it was windy and he had to hold on tight -
that made the photography extra hard!

• Obviously then, this means that the humble Grasshopper can fly! Well, that's right. They don't only have very powerful legs but wings as well!

• A single Locust/Grasshopper doesn't do much damage on its own, eating about half of its bodyweight a day but in swarms, lots of damage is caused.

• In the U.S alone, they cause around $1.5 billion in damage, that's about £961,353,900. In 1954 a swarm of Desert Locusts ate 200 sq Kilometres of wild and cultivated crops.

• Grasshoppers can jump very high and far, as most people will know. They do this by, in essence, catapulting themselves. Its legs bend back, storing all of the energy they then release them and flee from predators.

• Apparently, Grasshoppers are very tasty. Africa, Asia and the Americas all have recipes that include Grasshoppers. This is a link to a Mexican Grasshopper recipe. 

A side shot.

• Grasshoppers can jump or catapult themselves 20 times the length of their body. If we could do that we would be able to jump 40 yards, or about the length of a football pitch.

• I was surprised to read that grasshoppers have been around for a long time, even before dinosaurs were around. There are fossils of primitive grasshoppers from 300 million years ago.

• So why is it a grasshopper and not a cricket? Well it was out in the day and it has short antennae, Crickets tend to have long antennae and come out at night.

Here are some links to some more information:

Insects About - Grasshoppers

Wikipedia - Grasshoppers

Animal Corner - Grasshoppers

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 256 - Regally Awesome Red Admiral

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Hi everyone, well it's Day 256 and back on Day 240 when I looked at a Peacock Butterfly I said I'd cover today's insect when I could find one to get a decent photograph of. Well, I didn't have to go very far in the end as this pretty little creature was fluttering around outside of my front window in the garden. Not wanting to miss the chance I grabbed my camera and off I shot. I didn't need to rush though as this lovely butterfly was happily creeping and fluttering over our Red Valerian having a good feed. Today I'm covering a lovely Red Admiral.

So what did I find out about these butterflies? Here's some facts:

• It seems it might be unusual to see them feeding on Red Valerian as their main nectar plants are normally Brambles, Hemp Agrimony, Thistles, Teasels, Honeydew, Ivy, Privet, Buddleiah and Fleabane.

• Not only will they eat nectar but they will also eat rotting fruit.

Having a rest after feeding

• That's what the adults eat, the larval food plants are Hop, Common Nettle, Small Nettle and a plant I've never heard of called Pellitory-of-the-wall.

• This one in the picture looks a little worn out. That might be as it may have flown a long way as they are mainly migrant butterflies coming here in May or June from Europe or sometimes North Africa!

• There might now be a few that are able to stay in Britain in the very south of the country but mostly the migrate as our winters are too cold for them,

• They are a common species in the UK found all over the country in a wide range of habitats, from the seaside to the tops of mountains.

It stayed still for quite a while

• You might start to see Caterpillars from around May time, as well as the Adults starting to emerge in July and you'll see both of them until October.

• They can also bee seen in April but very rarely and mostly in the South of England, the peak in August through to September and are quite common in October as well.

• They have a wingspan of 64mm-78mm meaning each wing is between 32mm and 49mm.

• The female lays the eggs typically on the growing tip of a nettle. When it hatches a few days later the caterpillar will make itself a little tent for protection by using silk to fold a leaf over itself.

• Four weeks later the caterpillar will build a similar tent to pupate in.

|Well that's it for now if you want some more information try these sites:

RSPB - Red Admiral

Butterfly Conservation - Red Admiral

British Butterflies - Red Admiral

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 255 - Commonly Known Collective Nouns Part 2

A Landing of Owls :-)

Hey everyone today's Day 255 and a while ago I did a post on Collective Nouns. I didn't cover all of them but I managed to get up to the letter N. This is about half of the alphabet so I thought today I would do Part 2. So here is the list:

O

A Parliament, Study, Stare or Wisdom of Owls

P

A Company, Prattle or Pandemonium of Parrots
A Covey of Partridges
A Muster, Pride or Ostentation of Peacocks
A Pod, Scoop or Squadron of Pelicans
A Colony, Creche, Huddle, Parcel or Rookery of Penguins
A Bouquet, Covey, Nide or Nye of Pheasants
A Kit, Dropping or Loft of Pigeons
A Congregation of Plovers
A Pod, School, Herd or Turmoil of Porpoises

A Skulk of Pheasants :-)

Q

A Bevy of Covey of Quail

R

An Unkindness or Conspiracy of Ravens
A Building, Clamour of Parliament of Rooks
A Hill of Ruffs
A String or Racehorses
A Crash of Rhinos (I bet they do ;-)
A Mask or Racoons

S

An Otter of Starlings :-)

A Fling of Sandpipers
A Flock of Seagulls
A Doading of Sheldrakes
An Exultation of Skylarks
A Walk or Wisp of Snipe
A Host, Ubiquity or Quarrel of Sparrows
A Murmuration or Clutter of Starlings
A Muster or Phalanx of Storks
A Flight or Gulp of Swallows
A Wedge of Flying Swans
A Gaggle, Bank, Bevy, Whiteness, Herd, Eyrar, Ballet or Gargle of Swans
A Pod, Hers or Rookery of Seals
A Dray of Squirrels
A Shiver of Sharks (say that 5 times fast)
A Stench of Skunks (that too!)

T

A Diving or Spring of Teal
A Mutation of Thrushes
A Raffle of Rafter of Turkeys
A Dole or Pitying of Turtle Doves
An Ambush of Tigers

V

A Wake of Vultures

A Say Cheese of Woodpeckers :-)

W

A Knob or Plump or Waterfowl
A Coil of Widgeon
A Descent or Gatling of Woodpeckers
A Fall of Woodcocks
A Herd of Wrens
A Sounder of Wild Boar
A Pladge of Wasps (My Mum says Miranda Hart would like that one..!)



Here is a link to a bit more information:

British Bird Lovers - Collective Nouns

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 254 - Elegant Emerald Damselflies

Hey everyone today's Day 254 and I have been to the Forest recently and my Dad spotted a lovely little insect on a piece of grass. It was one that none of my family had ever seen before so we were pretty excited. It's always a good day when I find some more material for my blog as it's not always easy finding new local species at short notice for each daily blog! From the pictures you can see how beautiful the Emerald Damselfly is.

So, here are the facts:

• There are 5 different types of Emerald Damselfly but only 3 that I have found live in the United Kingdom.

• The Emerald Damselfly in general, though, is found all over the UK even just on the border of Northern and Southern Ireland.

• They are found around shallow waters with lots of dense reeds and vegetation. This one was found near a shallow stream on some dense vegetation.

• They can be seen throughout mid June to late September. We think this one is newly emerged as its wings are shiny and glossy.

• They are, on average, 38mm long, their abdomen being 29mm - 33mm of this. Each wing is between 19 and 23 mm long.

• This Damselfly (unlike most others) rests with its wings on a 45* angle. This is weird as Dragonflies normally rest like this not Damselflies.

• It has a 1 year life-cycle which, like all insects, it spends in different stages. Yesterday's post will explain about this but I will cover this one's.

• The adults use a mating wheel and then the Female lays the eggs on the water and sometimes vegetation. They hatch a few weeks later in Spring and it takes them a couple of minutes to hatch into a prolava.

• This has no limbs and cannot feed but it can jump and wriggle to move around. If it is not in water then it will find some and then it will moult into its next stage. They will keep moulting until the growth is complete (there is no set number of moults but it can take up to 2 years for some species) and will then become an adult.

Here are some links to some more information:

NatureSpot - Emerald Damselflies

British Dragonflies - Emerald Damselflies

Wikipedia - Emerald Damselflies

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 253 - Life Cycle of Dragonflies and Damselflies

Hey Everyone, Day 253 today and I firstly have to apologise for there not being a post yesterday, but there's a good reason, I was at my graduation!  Yes it`s the end of my time at primary school and our leaver's evening assembly was a graduation ceremony.  We had mortar board hats and were given a scroll award certificate and had to give a presentation.  Everyone had an award relating to their skills or character. My award was for "Services to Birdwatching and all things Nature"!  This was because I'd been the founder of the school bird club and because of this blog. It was a great evening. I also got to do some really good drumming too!

By the way - what great news about the fox hunting debate being postponed - hurray!

What's that on that rock?

Anyway on to this post.  When I was at Nosterfield Nature Reserve at this weekend I was by the dipping pond and I happened to notice something on a rock near to the water.  I got down really close to it to inspect it and called Mum and Dad over.  We couldn't work it out at first but then realised it was a dragonfly emerging from its larvae skin.  It was fascinating, and that made me want to find out more about its life cycle. I know I've mentioned this in previous dragonfly and damselfly blogs but today I will be going into much more detail.  So here are the facts:

• There are three stages of the life cycle. They each last for significantly varying lengths of time, one as long as a year or more, another for maybe only a week.

It's a dragonfly emerging from its larval form
- it looks so much bigger than the skin its coming from

• Mating is a spectacular sight as the male gets hold of the female "by the scruff of her neck" and during mating can form an endearing heart shape!

• Some species can complete in a few seconds, others take up to 6 hours...

• The male will often stay attached to the female afterwards to guard her and they can even fly around like that.

• After a short while the female lays hundreds of eggs in batches over a number of days or weeks.  The eggs are either laid on plant material or straight into water.

• If they are laid on plants the eggs are elongated, and if they are in water they will be surrounded by a jelly-like substance to protect them.

• There are various ways of depositing eggs depending on the species of dragonfly or damselfly.  For example all damselflies and hawker dragonflies have "ovipositors" which are scythe-like implements that inject eggs into plant leaves or stems, or into rotten wood or mud.  Some damselflies go completely under the water to lay their eggs and may need their mates to help pull them out. Golden-ringed Dragonflies hover vertically and stab their bodies down into the water to lay their eggs, but the majority of species including many of the emerald dragonflies, skimmers, chasers and darters will repeatedly dip their bodies into the water releasing one egg at a time just below the surface.

• After about 2-5 weeks the eggs will hatch.  What comes out of the egg is a tiny larvae which looks a bit like a tadpole.  It will moult away its skin several times as it grows, sometimes up to 14 times until it is fully grown.

A very alien looking sight.

• This whole process usually takes a couple of years, but can be as quick as 2-3 months for emerald damselflies or up to 5 years for golden-ringed dragonflies.

• During this stage the larvae can catch its own prey and has wing sheaths, legs and a hinged jaw. It will eat anything that is small and gets close enough from insect larvae to worms, leeches, tadpoles etc.  They prefer unshaded, unpolluted water in ponds that are not moving. They are also at risk to predators.  If any limbs are bitten off, they can regrow them during the next moult.

• Dragon and damselflies don't have a pupae stage like most winged insects.  Instead they go straight into their final moult dependant on weather, temperature etc, They climb out of the water, start to breathe air and crawl away to a safe place.  There they push their heads, legs and wings out of the skin, wait for a bit to let their legs harden for a while, then push out their long abdomen which also needs to harden. This process can take up to 3 hours.

• The new dragon or damselfly then takes its maiden voyage.  It can be a shaky start as it gets used to its wings. Sometimes it can fall prey to a predator such as a bird and even rain can have a harmful effect on its new wings.

A fully emerged Broad-bodied Chaser

• The new adults spend around a week adapting to their new form and feeding where they can, and develop their colouring during this time until they reach maturity. 

• They then need to search for a mate, and the whole process starts over again.

• The lifespan of the adult is short, usually only a week or two if they are lucky enough not to get caught by predators, but in some circumstances they have been known to live for up to 7 or 8 weeks.

So what we saw at Nosterfield I now know was a dragonfly in the third stage of emergence. You can find out more at lots of cool sites including www.british-dragonflies.org.uk.

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 252 - My Five Favourite, Free, Wild Things!

Hey everybody today's Day 252 and I have recently been asked to write a post for We Are Wild Thing and I thought it would be good to post it here as well. The post I was asked to write, as I am sure you know from the title, is about My Five Favourite, Free, Wild Things.

So, here they are:

5. Listening to Bird Song. This is one of the best things about going out into the countryside or being in the garden or park. I'm getting better at recognising different bird songs and calls and know quite a lot already, and like learning new ones particularly unusual or distinctive ones like the Cetti's Warbler, a Jay`s mating call, Chiff-chaff, etc. We have a CD by Geoff Sample which we listen to in the car which helps us learn them.  Sometimes in the forest we hear rooks in their nests, sometimes they sound as if they are fighting something off and once we saw why - a huge raptor flew off.  We also often hear Tawny Owls there as wells as lots of Wood Pigeons, Tits and Finches to name but a few. A few weeks ago my dad and I went camping at How Stean Gorge and for the first time I was woken up by the most spectacular dawn chorus at about 4 am!  We just sat and listened to it though, it was amazing.  One of the nicest songs is the blackbird's, simple but lovely to listen to.

4. Rock-pooling.  This is something else that can be enjoyed by people of all ages! One of our favourite places to go to for rock-pooling is Sandsend near to Whitby, another is Craster in Northumberland. I've found crabs, sea anemones, star fish, molluscs and small fish.  There are also all sorts of sea plants and seaweeds. It's also great fun climbing over the rocks - but keep an eye out for the tide coming in!  Once Dad and I cut it a bit fine and almost got cut off, we had to scramble up the rocks to get back up to the car park, my Mum was not impressed when we told her!  It's also a good opportunity while you`re on the beach to do a quick 2 minute beach-clean. If everyone did this every time they went to the beach, the beaches would be much clearer of rubbish, and less harmful stuff such as plastic bags and old fishing lines and hooks would go back out to sea and hurt sea life. Just remember to have a big bag and some rubber gloves with you.

3. Going for a nice walk in the Countryside. What I love about this is that it's very easy to do for people of all ages and abilities, and all you have to think about is what you can see and hear around you. It's great for just calming you down after a hard day at Work/School etcetera and the wildlife around you, if you're quiet, is great to watch. It's such an amazing thing to do without having to pay anything, of course you can go to places that charge you, but places like Woodland Trust & Wildlife Trust areas are incredible places to visit without paying penny. Scientists have proved that when you walk in a forest, or places with trees, it helps with breathing if you have asthma or a cough etc, and actually increases positive brainwaves, making you feel happier. The exercise itself is good for your whole body and helps your muscles, heart, lungs, all of you in fact.  The colour green is also meant to be very calming and healing, and green is all around you in the country.  Listening to the birds, a stream or the wind rustling trees and plants is a lovely way to relax. And it's all just around the corner in our wonderful countryside - most people don`t live too far away from a park, recreation area or canal if you live in urban areas too.

2. Bug Hunting. When you`re out anywhere whether it`s in the country or on paths or by roads or in a park, school playing field or even the beach, there are always bugs around if you look closely!  This is really good to do as a) if you are a little bit scared of bugs it helps you out, b) it's great for learning about all of the bugs and c) it`s a great hobby - I can get pictures of them and write blogs to learn about them even more and also share what I`ve found out with you! It is also quite fun to hunt for bugs as you can find them in the verges, on flowers, in leaf litter and even just on the path in front of  you. In one of our favourite places, Silton Forest, it`s amazing how many species we can spot just in one small area.  We can also see trends, whether it`s a whole load of bees, saw flies, beetles or chimney sweep moths, we can soon learn that there are obviously plants in a particular area that attract them.  And that helps us to learn even more. Some of the more unusual bugs I`ve spotted recently are the Agapata Harmana Moth - a bright yellow moth which had a smiley face on its back (!) a Hummingbird Moth, in our garden,  Tansy Beetles at Rawcliff Meadows in York.  Like I said in a) by studying them and watching their behaviour it has helped me overcome my fear of some bugs such as bees - and I'm getting better with wasps...So next time you`re out and about, rather than just going for a walk, slow right down, look down at the ground and the verges, and see what you can spot!

1. Bird Spotting/Birding. This is my absolute favourite thing to do, and of course can be done while also doing items 2 and 3 above!  I have learnt so much since I started being interested in birds.  I think it started for me seriously when we visited RSPB Titchwell Marsh in North Norfolk as I was amazed at the number of species of birds of all different types and sizes and colours that could be found in one relatively small area! We were lucky enough to spot some really special birds like the Marsh Harrier, Spotted Crake, Collared Pratincole, Bearded Tit, to name but a few and from then on I was hooked!  One of my favourite places to go to is on the outskirts of York where we know two reserves that are great Barn-owl hunting areas and on one particular evening in the autumn last year there were four hunting together right in front of us which was just amazing! I've also been lucky enough to see the Montagu`s Harrier at Blacktoft Sands a couple of months ago, which is one of the UK`s rarest birds. I still haven't managed to see or hear a Bittern which is one of my ambitions. I feel such a sense of achievement when I've spotted something different or really special that I haven't see before - I don't think I`ll ever get tired of spotting Owls or Kingfishers because they are some of my favourite birds.  

I haven't been able to travel abroad to see the birds that are native in other countries yet but hope to one day, and hope to see a Hoopoe or Bee-eater for example!  But until then, I am quite happy spending my time in the countryside or in a reserve, looking at the wonderful birds the UK has to offer, researching facts about them and sharing them in my blog. This is my favourite thing as some of you will know and I find it incredibly calming to do. It's fun too and you can do it from your own home, while walking or driving to School or Work or even while Bug Spotting. You don't even have to look at the birds (although that is largely the point) you can just listen to their songs, although some don't sing... and the ones that do might not...and you might not be able to  identify it... and when they see you they might stop singing, apart from all of that you can just listen for them. I love watching them fly and feed, this is why I love taking so many photos of them.

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.