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buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Fri May 17, 19 5:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

sean wrote:
Can't imagine that Dingy Skippers are very happy about their name.

Cool fungus.


I've always thought that. Perhaps in these times uncomplimentary are no longer allowed?

Henrfy

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri May 17, 19 8:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the area near here with green tiger beetles might well have an ironstone flavour iirc there are iron stone/iron rich clay layers in the geology
the hydrology is very "adjusted" at several depths so a good fe load seems plausible
perhaps they are evolved for a high fe environment?

my beetle place is damp woodland edges/ swampy/ditchy and not a full on ochre swamp or fast running, well oxygenated water that turns from clear to red when the a side swipe feeder spring full of fe2+ adds into it

i know a few places where fe2+ and fe3+ are at the surface and the ecosystem is quite different to places nearby that don't have that input.

as an aside one of the notable fe events i know is in redbrook, above Marsden, a couple of hours stroll from two roman road forts.

when the hydrology is right the the peat acidified clear water of the brook changes from clear to blood red in about 10 meters after the fe2+ rich water enters from the spring at the side of the clough.

it is quite spectacular and on a different theme but i think i might know where the temple to mars might be.

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 19 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

This we walked in a long thin wood. Very pleasant walk, lots of caterpillars dangling from tiny threads from the canopy up above - what a job they must have to return to their leafy home (if that is what they do.

Saw several Early Purple Orchids (mostly past their best) and a few Butterfly Orchids (a few days before their best!).

A few fungi, and this slime mould which as called Wolf's Milk. There are two species in the genus (Lycogala) but we are not sure which this is!



Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 19 9:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

wow

i like slime moulds

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed May 22, 19 6:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

You have some very odd tastes Dpack. They are odd in that it still isn't really known if they are animal or vegetable aren't they? They can move as I understand, but aren't considered to be animal.

The early purples here are nearly over. We are supposed to have one or two butterfly orchids, but have never seen them as they only appear when one particular part of one coup is cut. Not sure if we have any common spotted at the moment, but we get them occasionally.

sgt.colon



Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.
PostPosted: Wed May 22, 19 8:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'm with DPack, they are well cool. Never seen anything like those before.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Wed May 22, 19 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

slime moulds are quite a broad group some of them are rather unusual.

the ones that can "plan " a series of routes between resources for colonial expansion are neat and the ones that form themselves into a multicellar blobby B movie style" thing" to move around and pass obstacles are fun to see.

not plant, not animal in some ways but acting like animal in others, sometimes mono celled sometimes multi celled, not quite fungi either although probably closer to fungi than plant or animal in the usual definitions.

a class of their own seems the best category for them

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 19 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Two weeks ago w did go for a walk, but the most interesting thing we found is still awaiting positive identification (one of two possibles) so I'll report on that when it is all sorted out.

Last week we stayed at home because of the torrential rain

This week we went to a woodland/meadowland area. Very pleasant walk. Nothing out of the ordinary, but one of the meadows was absolutely crammed with orchids of the Dactylorhiza group. These three




are probably Southern Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) but since there are also Common Spotted Orchids and Early Marsh Orchids in the same field, and they have the habit of hybridising (mucky little beasts) I expect that they may not be pure praetermissa.

We also found several Burnet moth caterpillars in amongst the harbage, and one beginning its journey to pupation, half way up a tall grass stem. I'd always assumed that the caterpillars fed on grass, but apparently they munch a variety of herbaceous plants, and just use grass stems for pupation and cocoon building sites.

Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 19 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

nice

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 19 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nice picture, and the field must have been lovely. There are some pyramid orchids just coming up on the verge opposite our house. We occasionally get spotted orchids in the woods, but not very often, and haven't seen any yet. Must look out for them.

Had a look at the burnet moth, because I was getting it muddled with the cinnabar moth which feeds on ragwort, and it seems its food plant is supposed to be birds foot trefoil. Any we have round here seems to get mowed on a regular basis, so nowhere for the poor things to go to pupate.

sgt.colon



Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 19 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nice photo Buzzy. They look a bit like Hyacinths.

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 19 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yesterday we went to a piece of fenland. Very warm and humid - not a day for racing around (but we never do that .)

Saw assorted damsel and dragonflies, juvenile Short-winged Coneheads, juvenile Speckled Bush Crickets and assorted other invertebrates including a Longhorn Beetle that appears to be a very recent colonist.

We also found this:




Which is a Tansy Beetle (Chrysolina graminis) being a bit shy and hiding in the depths of the vegetation. This is at one of its two known sites in Britain - dpack knows the other one, I believe!


Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 19 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i know the one that is known and plays flagship but i know of other sites where they live within the immediate area of the river

not to be confused with dock beetles which are bigger ( and on docks rather than tansy )

the pandas of the invertebrate world but ace as ambassadors for the water margins

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Jun 26, 19 7:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I hope the longhorn beetle wasn't the Asian longhorn Buzzy, as that is a notifiable pest as it can destroy woodland. If it was, please could you contact the Forestry Commission immediately.

Otherwise that sounds an interesting walk. Afraid I am not too well informed about insects, but your tansy beetle looks rather nice, and good to get a sight and picture of a rare beetle. As Dpack says, they are probably in other places than those know to science as nobody has ever looked in some of them. I do know that dormice were found to be more extensive in the south of England than thought when the Wildlife Trusts did a 'Great Nut Hunt' some years ago and detected them in a lot of unknown woods. In fact I was recently told by a dormouse aficionado that in this area expect dormice until proved otherwise. We have also found some quite 'rare' fungi in the woods, some of it so small that most people wouldn't notice it, so therefore probably more extensive than throught.

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Wed Jun 26, 19 10:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dpack wrote:
i know the one that is known and plays flagship but i know of other sites where they live within the immediate area of the river

not to be confused with dock beetles which are bigger ( and on docks rather than tansy )

the pandas of the invertebrate world but ace as ambassadors for the water margins


That's the wrong way round, dpack. Dock Beetles are smaller than Tansy Beetles.

It's interesting, though, that 'our' Tansy Beetles seem to go for Mint rather than Tansy. I believe there is talk of investigating the DNA to see if there are big genetic differences between the two populations.


Henry

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