Phases of the moon.

There is a beautiful family of moths called the Silk Moths or the Saturniidae family. This family includes many very large moths from around the world. We are all excited today as we have had some fantastic emergence going on from our cocoon collection in the moth nets. The species in question is the absolutely stunning Indian Moon Moth Actias selene. These have been a real delight to rear from eggs and we have had great fun. The caterpillars fed on cherry leaves and grew enormous. They spun gorgeous golden silk cocoons wrapped in the fresh cherry leaves and although they are silk moths, the silk holds no commercial value. Now having waited patiently, they are emerging, pumping up their wings and fluttering around the house. Unfortunately they soon break those amazing swallow tails and as they can not feed in their adult state, die shortly after mating and within ten days. Such a shame, but tomorrow one lucky school will delight in having them in their classroom for the day as they will be roadshow special extra - such is the luck of the draw!

From the caterpillar to the adult moth, Actias selene, each stage a thing of beauty and perfection.

Spectacular spinning......

Winter is finally just around the corner after such a mild Autumn. The frosts are starting to become spectacular and magically transform the countryside. I love to look at the spiders webs when the frost picks each one out. They are a thing of beauty and a marvel of construction. Each web starts with a single strand thrown to a anchor point then a second thread bought back again. The second thread then sags to make a V-shape across the two points. This is the bought down into a Y-shape from the center and secured, then all the web threads begin. The first set of threads are called frame threads and these lay out the structure. Next are the radius threads and these infill. Finally the spider will lay a single thread called the auxiliary spiral from the center to the outer edge. Using this as its reference point it will then spin a sticky thread in spirals from the center, eating the auxiliary thread as it does. As it reaches the last few laps it switches to non sticky thread. This allows the center to trap insects and the outside clear for quick travel. The spider then waits for the vibrations of struggling prey. As if that is not wonderful enough, these amazing little chaps practice recyling. As the web deteriorates and is no longer useful to catch food, many spider species will eat up all the threads so they can actually recycle the precious raw silk. That's nature at its best!

   The raw beauty of frost as it brings a rather wintry feel to the Chalk Downlands- woolly jumpers advised!

Gorgeous grubs!

Just look at these gorgeous grubs! Really pleased with this little lot, although as I took this photograph I received a couple of well placed bites! Beetle grubs have powerful jaws and can deliver a good pinch but they are not harmful to us. In our beetle tank we have an assortment of African Fruit Beetles;  Pachnoda sp. Eudicella sp. Smagdethnes sp. and Coelorrhina sp. The tank is very large with a 6 inch depth of 'bug bed' substrate and a rather cosy constant temperature of 30C. A selection of fresh fruit and cucumber slices are fed every day and while half of the tank substrate is allowed to be completely dry the other half is kept slightly damp. With assorted logs on the surface and a warm bright light, the beetles are a pleasure to watch. They happily live their own life cycles, blissfully unaware of observation. What I would like to mention here is that all beetles go through complete metamorphosis just like butterflies, moths and flies. The grubs have a head, an upper body (thorax) with six legs and a large abdomen they drag around behind. ( Caterpillars also only have six legs, the other ones you see are clasper adaptations and not true legs ). The grubs will make a cocoon out of the substrate they find around themselves and inside this they will pupate. These African Beetle grubs, like all beetle grubs, dislike light and being disturbed. We know when they are about as they drag the food down and the substrate quite literally heaves with subterranean movement. They are best left alone but I am hoping one will make its cocoon against the glass side of the tank. If it does, I will keep a photographic diary of events - fingers crossed!

Not quite as beautiful as their parents but beauty is only in the eye of the beholder!

In a spot of bother....

On the subject of overwintering, ( invertebrates can not hibernate like some warm blooded mammals but instead enter a dormant state), you might start seeing aggregations or clusters of ladybirds in the corners of your rooms about now. The day length and temperatures encourage them to seek overwintering sites. Hopefully these will be the Two Spot Ladybird Adalia bipunctata but most likely it will be the infamous Harlequin Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis. We have identified 46 species of Ladybird in the UK so far and now they are under threat from this one big, brash invader. Originally from Eastern Asia, the Harlequin has been used in biological controls around the world. In 2004 it landed on our shores. Common thought is that it strayed over from North America but however it got here does not matter now. What does is the fact it is here at all, and what effect it has on our rather special native species. Harlequins are the masters of disguise. They display many colour and pattern variants but they all have brown legs. The problem is that they breed twice a year, ours only once. A large majority of our species of Ladybirds eat only aphids. Harlequins eat not only aphids, but other insects and their eggs, including our own native Ladybird eggs and larvae. They are at present not susceptible to the parasites and pathogens that infect our native species. In short, Harlequin numbers are exploding and with no checks in place they are seriously threatening our own iconic Ladybirds as well as other important insects. Record any you see this winter please and download your sitings at  www.harlequin-survey.org we need to know how they are spreading around the UK. If by chance you spot any native species then please do the same at www.ladybird-survey.org . If you disturb Ladybirds they will 'bleed' a chemical mixture from their knee joints and other places. This is their defense and it can be rather smelly. See how many spots you can spot this winter!

Harlequin Ladybirds Harmonia axyridis getting ready for winter.
 

Invasion!

Up in Suffolk, my parents are desperate to know what has invaded their home. The windows of a bedroom, not regularly used, are covered in flies. In the morning they get the vacuum cleaner out and by the evening....... well it is time to vacuum again! The answer is the Cluster Fly, Pollenia rudis, similar in size to the house fly but with golden hairs behind the head and on the thorax, (which rub off easily). They are in the Diptera Order, what we refer to as True Flies, and are one of the 120,000 species that we have so far identified. They spend their summer flying happily around meadows eating pollen, nectar and other types of organic matter. When it gets cold in the Autumn they set off to find a nice warm and dry place to overwinter. Who can blame them? The problem is that they love attics, lofts and unused rooms. The next problem is that they overwinter communally - in huge numbers if it has been a good year for them. They will not feed in your home, or breed but they will leave a large amount of fly excrement. Every time the temperature rises in your house they start to get active and look for light - hence the numbers around the window. The best bit though takes place outside and underground. These little chaps go through a parasitic stage in their life cycle. Once the egg hatches the tiny larvae find earthworms. When they have come across their future host, they eat their way under its skin. They have to bury in leaving their spiracles (breathing holes) outside. Then they feed off their hosts living flesh as they  grow. When they are ready to pupate they fall off the earthworm and pupate in its tunnel before crawling to the surface to fly away. Back up in Suffolk it is going to be '2011 the Winter of the Vacuum Cleaner' because they are in for the duration. What is around the window will only be a very small proportion of what is innocently snoozing away in the attic. The good news is that this has been a great year for the Cluster Fly and its population has boomed, so next year it might not happen again........

All that glitters....

All that glitters is not gold. In fact it could be fools gold, bismuth or galena, so we discovered when we went to the Rock, Gem 'n' Bead show www.rockngem.co.uk at Cheltenham Racecourse recently. I was looking for invertebrate fossils and insects in amber or copal. Copal is young amber. Young being about 10 million years old and not as dark as mature amber, (or as expensive). I did find some really fantastic specimens eventually, having been dragged off course to supervise mineral, rock and fossil purchasing by two certain boys and one husband. It is a fascinating show to go to and well worth the trip. There were some truly spectacular crystals and amazing fossils all stunningly presented. What I like is that you can really examine the objects before purchasing and I was delighted to come across a great piece of copal with a range of insects in it, including a splendid cockroach. Most of the species you will be able to recognise as they are very often not too dissimilar to what we have today. Makes you stop and think for a while. We humans have been on the planet around 200 thousand years and insects a very respectable 400 million years. Sir David Attenborough once said,"If we and the rest of the backboned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if they (invertebrates) were to disappear, the land's ecosystems would collapse. The soil would lose its fertility. Many of the plants would no longer be pollinated. Lots of animals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals would have nothing to eat. And our fields and pastures would be covered with dung and carrion. These small creatures are within a few inches of our feet, wherever we go on land – but often, they're disregarded. We would do very well to remember them".

Millions of years preserved in rock, tree resin and breathtaking crystals.

More shows.....

Bug shows are great days out if you are interested in insects and general entomology. They are never too expensive for admission, rarely going over £4 for an adult. They are packed with people who are happy to give you advice and you get the chance to have a really good look at what you may be buying. If you are near Newark in Nottinghamshire there is a Entomology Fayre coming up on December 11th at the Grove Leisure Centre NG24 3AL, and in the other direction in Kent there is the South East Arachnid Show on the 29th January at the Ashford International Hotel TN24 8UX. www.invicta-arachnid-club.co.uk

Chinese Moon Moth Actias dubernardi a beautiful, striking caterpillar with incredible silver markings. Feeds on Scots Pine and Larch. ALWAYS check you have the correct food available BEFORE you make any purchases. Do not get carried away on just the wow factors!

Trick or treat!

Halloween is finally here and we all have one evening to get it over quick before the count down to Christmas. I gave in yet again and got talked into hosting a Halloween party. We stocked up on sweets, lit our pumpkins, dressed up the little horrors and dusted down the Monster Munch CD. As darkness fell the doorbell rang and I was confronted by an assortment of ghosts and ghouls. One daring ghost called out "trick or treat!" He was quickly shushed by the others, and much to my amusement, the whisper was, " she keeps loads of cockroaches, theres NOTHING that can frighten her, go for a treat..." Obviously the fact that I keep a house full of cockroaches did not put them off my chocolate offerings and they all dived into my cauldron of Crunchies, Mars Bars and Chocolate Buttons with relish. After my new found friends had gone, happily munching on their treats, I was left wondering why we still have such a deep rooted fear of insects. It is quite normal to posses a reasonable fear of creatures we do not easily recognize and this has kept us safe since we came down from the trees, but it is healthy to keep that fear in check. Remember, before you bash the living daylights out of something scuttling across your living room floor, perhaps you could instead catch it in a jar, admire it, look it up in a book or on the internet and then pop it out of the front door ..........

Do not put beetles in your mouth!

Charles Darwin was a avid collector. He collected many things during his life including birds eggs, rocks, shells and beetles. He had a real thing for beetles which I quite understand and fully appreciate. In Downs House a few of his beetles are on display, all carefully pinned and labelled by his own hand. These very beetles Darwin no doubt referred to many times and examined in great detail. What I want to share with you was his pure delight in his beetles with a quote from his autobiography: 'I will give a proof of my zeal: one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as well as the third one.'  Those of you that know me, now know why I always carry collecting pots!

Charles Darwin.

Darwin's Study almost as it was. Where he wrote, examined, experimented and studied.

Darwin's beautifully labelled beetles.

A perfect place....

I have been on a pilgrimage today and it was something I have wanted to do for a very long time. It is half term, and I decided to take my family with me to share an experience I hoped they too, would find very special. We went to Downs House in Kent. Now owned by English Heritage but formally the home of Charles and Emma Darwin. ( www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/home-of-charles-darwin-down-house/ ) I was impressed at how "Darwinian" the whole place felt and it was wonderful that you were free to touch and explore. For me it was a humbling experience to walk around their home. To be able to look at some of Darwin's books and notes, to see the gardens and glasshouse where he did so much detailed and careful study, was all truly wonderful stuff. I walked under the trees that he had planted, over the lawn where his family had played and sat in a wicker chair on his veranda where once, he too, had done exactly the same. I got a real sense of this great man. My boys had a wonderful time too. They enjoyed the displays and most poignantly, upstairs in what is thought to have been Darwin's bedroom and the place where he died, they had an interactive room specifically for children, to help break down the key ideas in his work. Given Darwin's non-conformist approach to his Victorian family life I felt he would have greatly approved and found it a fitting epilogue. If I had to choose just one memory of today though, it would have to be the laying five flint stones on the corner of the Sandwalk and each of us taking a turn to kick one to the side as we completed a lap. To walk where Darwin once did, to tread in his footsteps where he wrestled with his ideas and to watch our children run ahead, as he must have done occasionally with his own, was my moment. I have a huge respect for Charles Darwin, for what he achieved for science and for his dedication to study. He is one of my legends and our visit today did not disappoint. I recommend a trip to Kent.......

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Downs house

Darwin's thinking path, the Sandwalk.

 The kitchen garden with the greenhouse and Darwin's laboratory built in brick behind it. Beyond that is the orchard where he did his 'weed garden' experiments.

Jaws of the night.

The great thing about old rotten logs on the ground is that you never know what you are going to find under them! I do not know about you, but I for one can not resist lifting that old log up and discovering the secrets it hides. Now, being October, there are fewer invertebrates lingering around  but I was pleased to find this wonderful little chap. He is a Violet Ground Beetle, Carabus violaceus a large and fast predator who loves woodlands and has a particular taste for slugs. Easy to identify because of his size and a metallic violet sheen around the outline of his body. Mainly nocturnal and unable to fly, this insect is something to be worried about if you were another invertebrate living under that log! Its larva too are predatory and equipped with some seriously powerful jaws. Great stuff!

The jaws of a Ground Beetle are toothed, frighten him and he will give you a nip!

Incy Wincy Spider.....

The first thing most people ask me about the Minibeast Mayhem Roadshow is am I going to bring any spiders. The answer is no. I have to say I absolutely love spiders and have no problem with them at all. When I worked for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust I was based on a fantastic nature reserve called Redgrave and Lopham Fen, www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org and it was here that I got very up close and personal with one of the UKs rarest spiders. The Fen Raft Spider, Dolomedes plantarius, is a magnificent spider and big too, with the females reaching a impressive 7cm across in maturity, www.dolomedes.org.uk. These spiders really are beautifully marked and totally gorgeous but unfortunately very dependant on one particular, specialized habitat. We have more than 600 species of spider in the UK. Only 12 have ever been known to bite humans -we have done a lot worse to them lets remember here! Included in those 12 is a particular family called Theridiidae or the Comb-footed Spiders. (So called because of the tiny bristles on the tips of their back legs that they use to spread out their web).This family includes a famous relative you will have heard of... the dastardly Black Widow. That is one spider you really do not want to get bitten by, especially as they have an uncanny habit of living inside toilet bowls. We DO NOT have Black Widow Spiders living in the wild all over the UK and NO ONE has ever died directly from a native spider bite in the UK. But what we do have is the False Widow Spiders Steatoda grossa and Steatoda nobilis. These are awesome little spiders with that distinct body shape that immediately raises your suspicions. They can bite, and I am told it is like being stung, but cases are rare. They are in Southern Britain and with the milder winters are beginning to spread northwards.

Brilliant Bug Clubbers!

At the AES Annual Exhibition and Trade Show you can see the AES Bug Club exhibits. These are exhibits put forward by children aged between 5 and 16 who are members of the Bug Club www.amentsoc.org/bug-club/. I was seriously impressed with the standard of presentation this year. These are children who simply have a interest in invertebrates but are willing to share that with others. One very young lad bought his bug collection with plastic models, toys and real specimens. He was full of enthusiasm and had travelled a long way in a car without air conditioning. Not that hard in October you might think but the temperature got up to a seriously sticky 28C. He was undaunted and smiled all day, charming the young and old. Another pair decided to teach the art of pinning as part of their exhibit. Always a popular activity with children, they had plenty of interest and I must say I have learnt a great deal from this particular young girl over the years. Her passion is cockroaches and she is extremely knowledgeable on the subject. Never under estimate the abilities of children no matter their size or age! Another lad displayed his research on ants and accompanied it with exquisite watercolours he had done. The well deserved overall winner was a real entomologist in the making. Almost to the point of obsession, this boy knows his plasmids, (stick insects) and the detail his observations went into was second to none. A really superb piece of work entirely by his own hand. My two entered their own exhibits, my youngest on the joys of bug hunting and my eldest on the Silk Moth Bombyx mori. Both had worked hard and my youngest son is painfully shy so it was a real delight to see him chatting about his exhibit to the public and to the judges. Well done to all that entered and well done to the Bug Club for enabling them to do it in the first place!

All you need to know about silk and the Silk Moth.

The art of bug hunting.

Ready to teach.....

Beautiful paintings in fantastic detail.

Amazing ants.

A first class exhibit on plasmids.

The treasures of a little boy.

Children just can not resist pinning something!

Super Show!

WOW- hot and exhausted but what a fantastic day yet again at the AES Annual Exhibition and Trade Show www.amentsoc.org.So much to see and far too much temptation to buy! Another outstanding event and a great day to catch up with old  friends as well as make some new. Row upon row of entomology trade stands all packed with equipment, specimens, livestock and reference books. We did not know where to look first! I get far too excited at these events and we all rush around trying to get the other to look at what we have found. The boys bought mantis nymphs, I got carried away with caterpillars and my husband with pinned specimens. Both soppy begging and loud pleading by myself and my eldest son for spiders fell on deaf ears with the other half of the family. We did however get to admire some really beautiful tarantulas. I was able to momentarily ditch the rest of the family to have some deep conversations with various invertebrate organizations and even managed to chat about Gall Wasps at length without the accompanying sighs and yawns from the minor members of the tribe. We all left with more knowledge and slightly less money than when we arrived but very happy at having had the most glorious day out!

Bug B&B

Just back from another lovely little village school who have a woodwork and craft after school club. They have the most incredible school garden surrounded by a stream and you have to go over a little bridge to get to it. Fantastic space and a really magical environment for all the children! What was I doing at their woodwork and craft club you may wonder. Well their teacher very proudly, (and rightly so), showed me what the children had been doing about habitats in class. They had produced some amazing work and this is where it all ties in. I was asked to introduce the children to the concept of a Bug Hotel. This is a tower made up from wooden pallets and stuffed full of different habitats. Ideal for invertebrates needing somewhere to overwinter as well as all year round living. The Bug Hotel is very 'in' this year with even the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show gardens boasting a few as part of their architectural themes. I think they are an awesome but simple idea and really great fun for the children to design and make. Situated in a forgotten corner they will last for years and provide plenty of study. We had a brilliant evening working out what habitats they could provide and what invertebrates they might find in each. The children showed a great amount of thought with not only their habitats, but also their materials and practical design. Tremendous achievement and I really hope they attract loads of different species!

 

 

Room with a view!