Spring Park, Autumn

Spring Park on the morning of 5 September.

A couple of photos of Spring Park at the end of Summer.  I went back the morning after one of our moth-trapping evenings to check the exact location of the traps.

It was cool and bright.  The morning light picked out the hay in the meadow, which had just been mown.  It's managed as a wildflower meadow, so is mown late on, allowing the grasses and flowering plants to spread their seeds.  The hay is later removed, to keep a low level of soil nutrition.  That discourages the larger, rougher plants and grasses.

This path runs along the bottom of the wood parallel to the edge of the field.  That tree is a Sweet Chestnut; there are also big old Hawthorns along this line, and some magnificent Small-leaved Limes.

There are many paths through the wood.

Spring Park on the morning of 5 September.

Saltmarsh Plume

Saltmarsh Plume, Agdistis bennetii.  Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012.

I said last time that Plume Moths rolled up their wings when at rest.  This is yet another species, an unusual one that lives only on salt marshes, and I have a couple of photos that show the rolling very clearly, quite distinct from any folding action.

The first photo shows the moth in the marsh.  It was very hard to see, resting in a Y-shaped posture rathet than the T shape adopted by most Plumes and looking just like a small twig, an extension of the plant.  If I had not watched it fly up and land I would probably not have seen it.  As it was, I knew where to look more closely.

Saltmarsh Plume, Agdistis bennetii.  Originally from Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012.

Here is it on measuring paper.  The squares are 5mm across.  And now you can see the rolling of the near wing very clearly, even though that wing is a little out of focus due to the limited depth of field in this sort of photo. 

And now you have a good example of the sort of thing I find interesting!

Plume Moth Wings

Common Plume, Emmelina monodactyla.  Hayes, 4 September 2012.

Plume moths, belonging to the family Pterophidae, look very odd when they rest.  They roll their wings up into a tube and adopt this T-shaped posture.  I have posted a few different species of these in the past, which you will find if you search for "Plume."

This is the one most people see.  It's easily disturbed in daytime and its distinctive shape makes it a little bit easier to see than some small moths; in fact it's also bigger than most small moths!

I have seen it called a T-moth, for the obvious reason.  That seems a much more natural name than "plume" moth, but sometimes, when they land, they do not roll up their forewings, and then you can see something quite different.

Common Plume, Emmelina monodactyla.  Hayes, 9 September 2012.

Here is the same species near my garden light trap one night, and now you can see the array of fine hairs that make the wings look quite feathery. 

Autumn Moths

Two Lunar Underwings and one Black Rustic. In my garden light trap on 16 September 2012.

These species in my light trap are a sign that Autumn has arrived. 

For this photo I have placed them on one of the pieces of bark I picked up in the woods specifically for moth photographs.  The two on the right are the same rather variable species, Lunar Underwings, named for a small dark crescent mark in the centre of the underwing.  I'll put a photo below.  To check for its presence I had to stun one (chemically) and open its wings out.  I don't intend to do that to this species more than this once, as they always lose a few wing scales. But I am pleased to say that when I do do it, they always fly away afterwards.

The greyish one is clearly marked, but I thought the brown one might be a different, similar species, so that was the one I checked.  But the lunar mark was there, and now I know what forewing markings are critical for identification.

The Black Rustic is an easy one.  There are no other British moths with a combination of that dark colour, the slight glossiness, and the light outline around the kidney-mark.

 Lunar Underwing, Omphaloscelis lunosa, showing the dark crescent on the underwing.  Hayes, 16 September 2012.

Roe Deer

Roe Deer, Capreolus capreolus, across Keston bog.  Keston Common, 8 September 2012.

This scene is five minutes from a busy spot by a small lake, with kids and parents and fishers and an ice-cream van.  I was on a path along the edge of a small bog, one which was studied by Charles Darwin, and on the other side a Roe Deer was picking its way along the edge of the trees.  It's very good to see such large wildlife practically on the edge of suburbia.

This is when it's very useful that the lens I use for close-up macro photographs also works as a normal medium length portrait lens.

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker, Aeshna cynaea.  Male.  Jubilee Country Park, 31 August 2012.

We saw this on a recent trip to Jubilee Country Park.  It's a good time of year for dragonflies.  They are mature, and are busy mating and laying eggs.  This one was flying around the park not far from one of the ponds, and when it landed on some foliage I was able to get up close.

The males of this species tend to have a regular territory that they patrol, so if you see one fly off, it's worth waiting around for it to come back. 

Those greens and blues look almost fluorescent, like a high-visibility jacket, so this one should be easy to spot.

Speckled Bush-cricket

Speckled Bush-cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima, ovipositing.  Spring Park, 4 September 2012.

Ishpi and I were out in Spring Park woods with Ishpi's moth trap.  Ishpi has the sensible habit of casting around every now and then with a torch, checking trees to see what might be on them, and she spotted this.

It's a female Speckled Bush-cricket.  What looks like a massive stinger on her rear end is an ovipositor, used by the insect to lay her eggs under the tough bark of an oak tree.  This can't be easy.  Oak bark is thick and tough, and this Bush-cricket has found a weak spot.

You are not likely to see this behaviour unless you are in the woods at night with a torch, looking carefully at tree-trunks, so not many people do see it.

A similar British  insect, the Oak Bush-cricket, can also be found in North America, where it is called the Drumming Katydid. 

Ashdown, Part 5.

Sheep grazing on the Ashdown next to the Hollies car park.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

All the car parks on the Ashdown Forest have names.  This one is the Hollies.  We met here, and watched cows and sheep wander across it.  Of course we always knew these animals graze the Ashdown, and deer too, because of their droppings, but you don;t always get this close to them.

It's the first time I have seen sheep grazing under trees.  They are normally kept on open moorlands or grassy fields.

Here are some of the Ashdown's flowers.

Hawkweed, Hieracium aggregate, among Dwarf Gorse (Ulex minor) and Ling (Calluna vulgaris).
Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

This photo was taken at the side of the path.  There are three different heathers on the Ashdown.  This one, Ling, is the most common.  The Gorse is a dwarf species that is in full flower now, whereas there are few or no flowers on the much larger and more robust European Gorse.  The flower in the centre is a Hawkweed, one of several hundred so-called microspecies that only an expert can identify.  We saw one earlier with very hairy stems, so this one is definitely a different microspecies, and that's as far as I can go.  Some Bracken is also visible at the back.

Hoverfly, Eristalis species, on Devil's-bit Scabious, Succisa pratensis.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

There were other flowers scattered around, including some of these Devil's-bit Scabious. 

The walk leader showed us where an unusual fungus grows.

Zoned Tooth, Hydnellum concrescens.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

Instead of gills or pores, it has hundreds of teeth under its cap.  If only I hadn't forgotten to reset my camera to the right settings, I could have got some much better photos ...  but at least this one shows the teeth. 

I will finish this Ashdown series with a moth:

Silver Y, Autographa gamma.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

The Ys on this moth look more golden than silver.  The colour is rather variable.  It has some close relatives with golden markings, but they are noticeably a different shape.

There were many of these large moths flying over the heath.  There were more moths than butterflies.  That's not obvious to most visitors because the butterflies are much more showy, but it's hard to miss this species. 

Ashdown, Part 4

View over the Ashdown to the Airman's Grave.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

Soon after the trip shown in the last three posts, I went back with a different group, and we walked down a different slope to another stream, and followed that along for a while before climbing back to the car park.

It was a warm day and there were interesting insects everywhere, including half a dozen different hoverflies, and no doubt others that I didn't see.  I managed to photograph four of them, including this:

Hoverfly, Sphaerophoria species, female, on Cross-leaved Heath, Erica tertralix.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

They look so big and fat from above, but from the side they look skeletal.  I caught another species cleaning itself:

Hoverfly, Eupeodes species, female, cleaning her wing with one leg.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

First it pulled pairs of legs down the top surface of its abdomen, then it cleaned its wings one by one as shown here, drawing one leg down the wing and off the tip.  You wouldn't think that the legs could reach round that far and still work.

There were also butterflies, Red Admirals and several of these gorgeous Commas:

Comma, Polygonia c-album.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012.

As well as those colours and patterns, it has a lovely scalloped wing outline. This one is shown against the flowers of our commonest heather, Ling, and you can see how its flowers differ from the Cross-leaved Heath shown above.  (So I'm not ignoring the plant life.) They have a more purple hue, and are what gives the rolling hillsides their colour at this time of year.

There will be a Part 5 next time.  Meanwhile, here is a closeup of the Airman's Grave shown in the distance in the top photo.

The Airman's Grave.  Ashdown Forest, 6 September 2012

It's to the memory of the crew of a Wellington bomber that crashed here during the Second World War, on 11 July 1941.  The small tree is a Laburnum, and in the spring it will be covered with hanging strands of yellow flowers.

Ashdown, Part 3

Waterfall in the Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

This pretty stream and small waterfall were at the bottom of the depression we had been on the sides of, in my last two posts.  Just out of sight of this photo were some Lemon-scented Ferns.

Lemon-scented Fern, Oreopteris limbosperma.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

They are not rare, but are scarce in Kent, where there are not many places humid enough for them.  This is the underside of a frond, showing the sporangia around the edges of the fronds.  These fronds do smell of lemon when crushed.

Out of sequence, now, I want to show some Dodder, a very interesting plant which is completely parasitic.  It germinates from seeds and, using the seed's store of food energy, immediately latches onto a host plant and inserts specialised organs called haustoria into the host.  These start to extract its nutrients and the Dodder's original stem then dies off. 

Dodder, Cuscata epithymum, on Gorse, Ulex europaeus.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

The reddish strands that lead in from the right are the stem of the Dodder, and those are its flowers, created with energy stolen from the Gorse. 

There was a small group of Dodder plants in one small area on a dry heath slope.  We didn't find any more.  It's an annual, so next year it will probably be somewhere else nearby.

Finally, a plant we saw near a small stream.  This is yet another that I had never seen before.

Lesser Skullcap, Scutellaria minor.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

I thought these small, delicately coloured flowers were very pleasant.

The photos from this and the last two posts, and a few more, are on line here:  Ashdown Forest plants and insects, 17 August 2012.

Ashdown, part 2

View over the Forest from near a car park called Lodge.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

Having gone down to see the Marsh Gentians, shown in my last post, we moved on to another car park on the far side of the main depression.   In that car park I found a small plant which is very ordinary, but interesting to me.

Flower of Lesser Hawkbit, Leontodon saxatilis.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

The reason for my interest is that there are many flowers that look superficially like this, yellow composites, and I am learning to  distinguish them.  This one has a smooth calyx, and the sepals have a dark outline.  The other diagnostic feature is ...

Leaf hairs of Lesser Hawkbit, Leontodon saxatilis.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

The leaves are hairy, and the hairs are forked at the tip.  You can just about see this with the naked eye once you know what to look for, but a hand lens is better.  You do not need any other tool than  a hand lens to identify almost any British flowering plant.  Those three features in combination tell you what this plant is.

But moving on to slightly more exotic flora ...  From that car park, a path leads downhill, past the view of the purple heather shown above, to a level where a spring emerges.   At that point it is particularly boggy, and that is where you can find Round-leaved Sundews.

Round-leaved Sundew, Drosera rotundifolium.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

This ground is so wet, and so poor in nutrients, that not many species can grow here, and there are many small open spaces.  This Sundew is growing amongst Sphagnum moss, which need to be permanently moist and which keeps its immediate surroundings the same.  The red hairs on its round leaves are tipped with sticky drops which both attract and trap small insects.  The leaf will then fold over, like the one at the bottom, and digest the insect.

Keeled Skimmer, Orthetrum coerulescens.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

In fact there must be plenty of local insect life, or this dragonfly wouldn't live here.  Keeled Skimmers specialise in this sort of acid bog area.  I didn't get very close to this one.  Stalking insects through a bog is not all that easy!  But coincidentally, I saw another insect right where I was standing.

Larva of Beautiful Yellow Underwing, Anarta myrtilli.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

This caterpillar will turn into a rather pretty moth in time.  Meanwhile, it eats heather.  That colour scheme camouflages it well on its normal food plant.

A few more Ashdown plants next time.

Ashdown Forest, August 2012

View over the Forest.  Sue Buckingham's outing to Ashdown Forest on 17 August 2012.

I am well behind with some of my photos.  These are from an outing to the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex.  It is mostly hilly open heath on sandy ground, with some dry areas and some boggy ones.

This was a botanical expedition, with the aim of seeing several interesting and unusual plants.  Everyone goes for the Marsh Gentians, which are the most showy of those.

Marsh Gentian, Gentiana pneumonanthe. Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

They were just coming to their best, in a boggy area at the bottom of a slope.  There were also the remains of some Bog Asphodels, lovely when they are in bloom; earlier, I posted some Bog Asphodels on Keston Common.   This was a very tussocky area, with deep wet hollows between the grasses.  I came out with one wet foot.

Among the grass, someone found a Wasp Spider, a colourful immigrant.

Wasp Spider, Argiope bruennichi.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

No-one really knows what that zigzag feature in the web is for. 

But there were many more common plants on the heath as well as these rarities.  Cross-leaved Heath was everywhere.

Cross-leaved Heath, Erica tetralix.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

The flower is a lighter pink than the more prevalent purple-flowered heather, Calluna vulgaris.  We also saw the yellow flowers of Tormentil and Creeping Cinquefoil in the drier grass, and many patches of Dwarf Gorse, smaller and slightly less prickly than its larger relations.

There are cattle on some parts of the heath, and they leave their cowpats here and there; and there are fungi that specialise on cowpats, like this one:

Petticoat Mottlegill,  Panaeolus papilionaceus var. papilionaceus.  Ashdown Forest, 17 August 2012.

The Petticoat Mottlegill, distinguished from other Mottlegills by that little frilly rim around the base of the cap.  I found an Egghead Mottlegill, a close relation, on a cowpat not far away last year.

More to follow ...