Moon

Another part of the natural world.  This is the best shot I have managed of the moon with an SLR.  I used my EOS 5DS, a 200mm lens with 2x extender, and a tripod.  It's a pity that it was behind trees from anywhere I could put my tripod during the total eclipse.  The orange eclipsed moon was far too dark for a hand-held shot to work.  But there are plenty of views of that on line.  Even this shot was impossible without a tripod.  Just a tiny hand-held wobble destroyed the necessary sharpness.  This was taken at 1/800, f/8, ISO 400.

The moon is not all that easy to photograph.   One might say, well, it doesn't fly around or waft in the breeze, which is true, but on the other hand it is only full once a lunar month, and is usually behind clouds or trees.  Also, it is not as big (to our sight) as people tend to think.  Here it is in proportion with other objects:

The Thames from the London Eye. 13 December 2007.

This was taken from the London Eye in December 2007 and is much more atmospheric.  But the moon, as such, is no more than a presence.  In the top pic you can see major and minor craters, all the mares, and you can even see the mountain ranges on the horizon that stop it from being a perfect curve.

That big crater at the bottom left, Tycho, must have been some massive impact!

Little Oak Tree Creatures

Chalcicoid wasp, family Ormyridae, perhaps genus Ormyrus.  West Wickham Common, 23 September 2015

Here are three tiny creatures I found on an oak tree on West Wickham Common en route to doing a butterfly transect.  The first photo has a little bit of motion blur because the insect was moving around and feeling the acorn with its antennae; I have now speeded up my standard setting to allow for this sort of thing.

It's a little iridescent wasp.  There are lots of small parasitic wasps, some of which, for example, lay their eggs in creatures that live inside oak galls.  This one doesn't seem to have the right ovipositor for that sort of thing - it would be long and thin - but I don't think it's investigating this acorn in search of a nice vegetarian meal.

It's quite showy, though you can see from the size of the acorn it is walking on that it is really small.

Acorn Weevil (probably), Curculio glandium.  Curculionidae.  West Wickham Common, 23 September 2015

This is a nut weevil.  There are several similar species, and calling this an acorn weevil is just a guess based on it being on an acorn at the time.  Other weevils have also been seen on acorns.  But it's definitely a Curculio species.

These weevils have very weird jointed antennae emerging part way down their proboscis.   Thejoint is mobile, and the arms of the antennae can be brought back to lie parallel to and touching the proboscis.

Araniella species.  Araneidae.  West Wickham Common, 23 September 2015

The third invertebrate is a little green orb web spider, an Arianella. (There are two very similar species.)  Its web is small enough to fit across a single oak leaf and its colour disguises it well.  I think it is a pretty little creature.  Here it was not moving, so I got a sharp image!

Kelsey Park Moths 2015

Mother of Pearl, Pleuroptya ruralis.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

While the bat walkers were moving round the lake in Kelsey Park, I was looking for moths.  I saw this Mother of Pearl flying around.  It ignored the light trap and landed on the underside of a leaf on a nearby bush.  With some contortions, I managed to get this photo of it, before capturing it in a plastic pot.  I would have at least one moth to show the bat people!

But actually there were half a dozen eventually.  This Maiden's Blush turned up in the trap quite soon.

Maiden's Blush, Cyclophora punctaria.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

You can see the dark patches on its wings from which it gets its common name.  And also in the trap were two smaller moths.

Chequered Grass-veneer, Catoptria falsella.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

This Chequered Grass-veneer is one of a group of very similar moths which you can often see flying ahead of you if you walk through long summer grass.  They are easily disturbed in the day.

Piniphila bifasciana.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

The larvae of this little Piniphila bifasciana live on Scots Pine, of which there are several specimens near the trap.   I was pleased to be able to identify this, as it is a new species for me. 

Just before we packed up, an old favourite flew into the trap.

Old Lady, Mormo maura.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

This is quite a large moth, though not really showy.  We have seen this species here before.  And during the bat walk on 1 September, arranged late to cope with unexpected demand, one of these was the only moth to settle in the trap.  It might even have been the same individual.  My photo from 1 September shows noticeably more wear than this one.

We only had two other moths,  a Double-striped Pug and a Vine's Rustic, and I don't have a decent photo of either, so I will finish with another view of the reliable Old Lady.

Old Lady, Mormo maura.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

Dark red eyes and purple legs.  So not entirely dowdy!

Let me just add that all the creatures that came to my light trap were, as always, released unharmed. 

Kelsey Park Insects

Midge, probably Chironomus luridus.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

There are usually two bat walks in Kelsey Park (Beckenham) each year.  You have to book for them because they are so popular; the best bat walk in the area, because there you can see Daubenton's bats skimming over the water. For the last three years I have put out my moth trap during the August walk to see what might be around.

Results have been very varied. Even on good moth nights, the walk is usually finishing before many moths have arrived.  This year, an extra walk was put on to cope with demand, but the second was on a cool damp night and almost nothing turned up in the trap (but there were plenty of bats over the lake).

However, during the first August walk I saw the usual flush of midges large and small.  This was one of the larger ones.  It's not a biter - no long proboscis is visible. The name I have attached to it is only tentative. A similar creature was identified as this last year.

We also had some Caddises.

Caddis, Speckled Peter, Agrypnia varia.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

This black-and-white Speckled Peter was the prettiest.  You can expect to see lots of Caddisflies around water because that's where their larvae live.

Water Boatman, probably a Callicorixa species.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

This is another sign of nearby water; a beetle, actually a true bug, called a Water Boatman because of the way it uses its legs to swim around under the water.  They look rather like oars.  Most people don't realise that these creatures also fly around at night.  We had several in the light trap.

Forest Bug, Pentatoma rufipes.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

Forest Bugs also tend to come to light.  These are also true bugs, but have nothing to do with the nearby water.  They live in trees.

While looking around I also saw this Harvestman on a Scots Pine.

Harvestman, order Opiliones.  Kelsey Park, 28 August 2015.

Harvestmen are related to spiders, but have only a single body segment, whereas spiders have two.  I often see them when trapping at night.  They don't usually come to the light, but they are always wandering around so I see them coming and going.   Most species have long legs, some much longer than this, though a few are more compact.  They are one of the groups of creatures called Daddy Long-legs.  Craneflies and some spiders also get that name.

Next time I will show some actual moths!

A Surprise!

Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Macroglossum stellatarum, in my garden in Hayes.  29 August 2015.

I have only seen a Hummingbird Hawkmoth once before, when I was staying near St. David's in Wales for my niece's wedding in 2011.  That time I just caught a glimpse of one in a countryside lane near the sea.  It's an immigrant species, arriving over the channel every year in varying numbers, though there is some indication that it is now breeding here too.

Today I was extremely lucky - I looked up and there was one in my tiny back garden, drinking from a Buddleia I planted three years ago hoping to attract butterflies.  I ran for my camera.

Even luckier - my new camera has exceptionally good resolution and I was able to get these shots from a clear five feet away.  (I've just measured the distance to be sure that's not an exaggeration.) 

Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Macroglossum stellatarum, in my garden in Hayes.  29 August 2015.

Of course, these are just a small part of the image.  It is heavily cropped.  But the detail is pretty good.

This moth seems to be always on the wing.  It certainly doesn't settle to feed, as you can see.  I used one of my custom settings at 1/500 of a second, the one I use as a default for shots further away than six inches, so the wings are not frozen - there was no time to tinker!  And it's quite effective.

Just after the moth flew off I caught a large hoverfly, Volucella zonaria, a hornet imitator, on the same plant.

Hoverfly, Volucella zonaria, in my garden in Hayes.  29 August 2015.

This one was easier to get close to.  I was only a foot away from it.