MINT MOTHS

My very drab photo of this very small micro-moth could be Pyrausta purpuralis or Pyrausta aurata.  The larvae feed on mint, marjoram, lemon balm and catmint so you are more likely to find them in the garden than in the woods.  

Very small but quite bright and noticeable.

 

CHOKED BY AN OLD MAN

As you start up the slope towards the pylon at Filnore Woods, the hogweed and grass are pushing through a rather rampant ground cover plant.  

It's wild clematis / old man's beard / traveller's joy.  

The spiky white flowers are just beginning to open.

In autumn and winter the seedheads will be covered in white fluff, 

giving it the 'old man's beard' name.

 

Thistle gall

Last Sunday five of us finished the job started in July, scything a section of the top meadow to promote wild flowers.

The cut grass, lying in windrows here, was raked up and stacked to prevent it from acting as a mulch to fertilise next year's grass. . . . .

 . . . . unlike the grass cuttings in the neighbouring field next to the Leisure Centre

Peter, Chris, Will and Eric still smiling after two hours of scything.

 

Several of the thistles we cut had these swellings on the stem.

This is a gall caused by a rather beautiful insect - the thistle gall fly, Urophora cardui, which specialises in this.   The fly is only 6-8mm long and is on the wing in August and September.

Photo: QE Diamond Jubilee Wood

We cut open one of the galls to see what was inside but the larvae must have been very small as we couldn't see anything.  They fatten up during late summer and overwinter inside the gall, emerging the following summer.

ROWAN BERRIES

I usually think of berries as an autumn thing.  

Rowan trees, however, produce their fruits quite early. 

This fine tree near the beech trees at post 14 has laid out its feast for the birds already.

 

HOGWEED BONKING BEETLES

This is one of the names of the common soldier beetle Rhagonycha fulva.  They spend a lot of time on hogweed flowers partly to feed and partly to mate.  They don't necessarily mate more than other beetles but it does take a long time apparently.  So you will often find them in pairs.  

They are also called bloodsuckers but quite wrongly.  Although harmless to humans they do feed on other insects especially aphids, who visit the hogweed and other flowers where they sit.  And they also like pollen and nectar.

And why 'soldier beetles?  They are part of a 40-strong group of beetles in Britain, with bright military style colours.  Rhagonycha beetles are reddish orange on the head except for black eyes and antennae.  The wing cases or 'elytra' are a more yellowy orange with a black tip at the back.  The feet are also black but a tiny bit hard to see ! !

They are good flyers and whizz about in search of more food.  They will even attack those black and yellow cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort.

Rhagonycha larva photo: bugguide.net

The brown larvae are also the gardener's friend, feeding at ground level on insects, slugs and snails.

FROM RAGS TO NECTAR RICHES

The ragwort seems to be flowering a bit later than usual.  In previous years we have organised a 'ragwort pull' in July before they seed everywhere, but this year they are still in full bloom.

The flowers are a great nectar source and are thronged by all sorts of bees, hoverflies and beetles.  The leaves are also the main foodplant for those black and yellow striped caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth.

We usually don't pull the plants with the caterpillars until they have gone off to pupate.

The reason for pulling out the plants is to stop them seeding on to neighbouring farmland where they could get into hay or silage and poison livestock.  

As you can see below, there is a lot of ragwort near the skateboarding area.  I wonder if that will be removed too.

 

A WALK IN THE WET

A walk on a showery day finds some flowers a little bedraggled but flowers and insects eagerly respond to sunny intervals

The common Creeping Thistle, Cirsium arvense, is a profuse plant spreading by thistle-down-borne seeds and by creeping underground roots.

The seeding heads of grasses are bent over with the wet in this image of Thistle and Agimony flowers.

Thistles are rich in nectar, which a variety of insects guzzle.  The leaves too are eaten by Painted Lady butterfly caterpillars when they arrive.

The related knapweeds are also rather bedraggled after rain.

But a colourful highlight in the damp grass nonetheless.

The striking colours of Woody Nightshade or Bittersweet are much smaller.  The plant scrambles over other plants as the stem is too floppy to stand upright.

Another profuse and colourful plant in flower is the Greater Willowherb  (Epilobium hirsutum) or Great Hairy Willowherb also known as Codlins and Cream.  I looked up 'codlin' and the closest I can get is 'codling' which can mean a sort of hard apple.

The magenta coloured petals, allegedly the same colour as a codlin apple's flesh when it is cut open, surround a white cross, which is the stigma.

Even Gatekeeper butterflies were out and about once the rain stopped.: both male . . . . 

. . . . .and female

And last on my wet walk, this crop of Rosebay Willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) provided a splash of colour.

The tall flower spikes in an ever-spreading gang.

So if it's wet you can still enjoy a walk in the woods.