Currant Clearwing

While collecting pollen at a comfrey patch near New Romney, I was delighted to find and partially recognize this, my first clearwing moth.  I say partially recognize, because I was fairly sure it was a clearwing moth, but I wasn't sure of the species.  All the clearwing moths are regarded as Nationally Scarce and this is no exception.  They are probably under recorded because they are not attracted to the normal lures that moth collectors use such as light traps or sugar and wine-soaked ropes.  They fly by day and are closely related to the more familiar burnet moths.

This one is female having 3 abdominal stripes, the male has 4.

Just waiting for confirmation having posted the image on iRecord.

Currant Clearwing moth - Synanthedon tipuliformis

Brede High Woods Walk 18 June 2016

Half a dozen or so of us set out on a dull and occasionally rainy day to see what the woods had to offer.  We saw relatively few of the expected species, probably due to the weather, so no green tiger beetles or speckled yellow moths.  Most of the species we saw had roots so couldn't get away from the weather but we saw a few micro-moths, one macro-moth, a common toad, and some palmate newts.  Despite visiting the bridge over the stream, there were none of the damselflies or dragonflies we would normally have seen. Some of the better photos are below, but they are not very good thanks to the lack of light. (That's my excuse anyway!)

Common Marble micromoth - Celypha lacunana

Tormentil - Potentilla erecta One of two species of yellow flower that we saw,
 the other was yellow pimpernel

One of several sedges, probably common yellow-sedge, but I'm no expert.

Palmate newt - Lissotriton helveticus clearly showing why he's called that.

Probably a fragment of a blackbird's egg

Male Scorpion fly showing his scorpion-like tail, probably Panorpa communis

Small-barred long-horn micromoth - Adela croesella clearly showing his long horns

Common Carpet moth - Epirrhoe alternata that I chased into the grass.
Note that the term 'carpet' doesn't mean that it's a threat to your floor coverings,

but I'm not sure why they are called that.

Solitary Bees

April is a good time to find solitary bees emerging from their bee hotels.  Maybe the mild winter or the fact that Lidl and Aldi have been selling bee hotels has meant that there have been a lot this year.  Here are a few examples that have been feeding around Glebe Cottages.

Tawny Mining Bee (Male) having a rest. Andrena fulva

Yellow-legged Mining Bee in cute face-wiping pose - Andrena flavipes

Hairy-footed Flower Bee helping herself to nectar from our rosemary bush - Anthophora plumipes

Goose Barnacles

I am indebted to Trevor Buttle for this picture of Goose Barnacles washed up on the beach at Pett Level.  My apologies to Trevor for the time it has taken to actually post it.

Goose Barnacles

The goose barnacles are attached to a discarded fishing float.  In the days before migration was properly understood, it was thought that the barnacle goose grew from goose barnacles. Because the birds migrated, they were never seen to breed, so people turned to the most likely explanation - that the geese grew from something resembling a goose, at least from the shoulder up.  I don't know what species they are (there are several) but one of the most common  and widespread species is Lepas anserifera, a name which reflects the goose idea - anser = goose.

They are crustaceans that attach themselves to hard surfaces and are filter feeders that feed on a variety of zoo-plankton and detritus.

Hibernating Hummingbird Hawkmoth

I'm sure that many people have seen the hummingbird hawkmoths hovering around their lavender or verbena flowers this summer.  Our verbena had an almost daily visit from one this summer, but you don't expect to see much of them at this time of year.  I saw one yesterday (8th December).  As I got the ladders down from under the carport, I dislodged a moth.  At first I thought it was dead but when I picked it up it started to vibrate its wing muscles.  I wasn't sure what it was so I dashed for the camera and got a few quick snaps in before it had warmed up enough to fly away.  It may seem odd not to recognize a hummingbird hawkmoth straight away, but at rest (or in a torpor as this one was) they are a fairly plain brown job.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth - Macroglossum stellatarum

The moth book suggests that it is the only one of our hawkmoths that can survive the British winter, and then only in the balmy south-west of the country.  I emailed the picture to the county recorder and he is of the opinion that they can survive the winter in Sussex and the fact that I had found a hibernating one helped support that opinion.  I just hope the disturbance to its slumber didn't use too much energy so that we see it as an early visitor next year.

The usual view - this one was photographed in Sicily feeding on Lantana

Beetle and Spider

Violaceous Ground Beetle

Here are a couple of recent visitors to our garden. The first is a relatively common species of beetle - the Violaceous Ground Beetle. I have seen the term Violet Ground Beetle as well but I think violaceous describes it better because it's not violet, it's black with violet highlights like the hair of many a modern-day goth.  It is nocturnal and flightless (which is probably why it's on the ground!) and eats slugs amongst other things. The Natural History Museum produced a very entertaining blog entry on this beetle which is well worth looking up at blog.nhm.ac.uk/tag/ground-beetle/.

Steatoda nobilis

Our second visitor was even bigger and was this 'false widow' spider with no common name, but goes under the catchy title of Steatoda nobilis.  It was introduced to this country from the Canary Isles or Madeira were it is endemic in the 1870s.  It tends to be associated with houses but in the South of England it can cope with the weather and lives outside.  Like all spiders it is poisonous (that's how they subdue their prey) and is one of only a handful of UK spiders that can break through human skin.  Its bite has been likened to a bee or wasp sting, but that doesn't stop the Daily Mail wallowing in pictures of people with extreme reactions to the bite or tales of near death experiences.  Not that I'd want to be bitten by one, but I'm not reaching for the spider extermination kit either.  There is also a related species found in Australia Steatoda capensis which is also called 'false widow' - as is the Red-back Spider (Lactodectus hasseltii) , the bite of which may well put you in hospital. 

Red-back Spider

New Moth Trap

We decided to upgrade our moth trap with a new Robinson trap which seems better as far as the number of escapees goes.  Also, the moths seem to batter themselves less.

Our first run of the new trap at the weekend produced a good crop of 51 species of moth, including 11 micro-moths.  We also had 2 species each of wasps, ladybirds, and shieldbugs.

The undoubted star of the show, if only in size was this beautiful Convolvulus Hawkmoth.  You can get an idea of the size from the shot of it perched on Maya's wrist. It is a spectacular insect by any measure.

In terms of rarities, though they seem to be getting less rare, this Jersey Tiger could compete with the hawkmoth at least in terms of colour.

And finally, this Common Purple and Gold micro-moth - a pretty moth in its own right - intrigued me.  It doesn't show up well in the photo, but if you look carefully you can see that the antennae curl round the two gold spots on the wing.  This got me thinking - has it evolved to do that, or is it just a natural antenna shape?  I looked at the photos of the only two other specimens of this species that I have and in one the antennae curved away from the spots, in the other they went straight across, so no conclusion there.  But if the spots have evolved to attract a mate, or for camouflage, or to deter predators, then you'd think that evolution wouldn't spoil the effect by draping antennae across them.  I will look at this species carefully in future.