Suburban Wildflowers

Field Forget-me-not, Myosotis arvensis.  Coney Hall, 10 April 2017.

I have not been out to any new sites this year, but I keep taking photos of plants I see near my home.  Here are some photos of suburban wildflowers from one particular footpath that runs between two roads.  It's unusually rich in flowers, both showy and inconspicuous.

It's common to find Wood Forget-me-not in the suburbs because it is planted in gardens and seeds itself easily.  But this looks like its field relative, with smaller flowers. 

Field Forget-me-not, Myosotis arvensis.  Coney Hall, 10 April 2017.

Most of these photos show several wildflowers because they all grow close together.  In this shot, surrounding the forget-me-not are some Cornsalads and, at bottom right, a Common Chickweed.  Just below the centre is a Petty Spurge, which has tiny green flowers that you can only make out in this shot if you already know they're there.

Cornsalad, Valerianella species.  Coney Hall, 10 April 2017.

This is a bigger specimen of the Cornsalad.  I won't be able to tell the species until it fruits.  It's not at all common and is really a weed of arable land.  I was pleased to find one little plant on Hayes Street Farm last year, and then I could never find it again when it should have had fruits.  This one will be harder to lose track of.

Cut-leaved Crane's-bill, Geranium dissectum.  Coney Hall, 10 April 2017.

A Cut-leaved Crane's-bill with a couple of small flowers.  Also in this photo are leaves of some other wildflowers.  In the centre, a Common Field Speedwell.  At bottom right, a Dove's-foot Crane's-bill.  At bottom left, a Lesser Celandine.  Middle left, some small Ivy-leaved Speedwells.

Common Field Speedwell, Veronica persica.  Coney Hall, 16 March 2017.

Here's a flower on a Common Field Speedwell.  There are half a dozen common speedwells.  You can tell this one by the leaf shape and that it has a single blue flower from each leaf axil.

Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris.  Coney Hall, 10 April 2017.

This is just the start of the Cow Parsley season.  Many country lanes will be lined with a froth of white in a week or two.  It's very common and grows fast and well. 

In the foreground are some more Lesser Celandine leaves.  The blue flower in the background is a Garden Grape-hyacinth, and true to its name this is a garden escape.  The wild variety has a much more subdued flower colour.

Green Alkanet, Pentaglottis sempervirens.  Coney Hall, 10 April 2017.

This Green Alkanet is one of the commonest of our local wildflowers, as well as being one of the showiest.  It grows furiously all spring and summer, flowering all the time.  You could cut this down today and it would be flowering again in two weeks. 

Behind it is some Groundsel, which has no petals on its small yellow flowers.  In the foreground are some I've already shown: Cornsalad, Field Forget-me-not and Petty Spurge.  Growing up the fence are some stems of Cleavers, not yet in flower.

So, you can actually do quite a bit of botanising along 25 yards of one footpath!  And there are a dozen other species, too,  not all in flower at the same time.

Ivy Feeders

Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, in flight.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall, 21 September 2014.

Again, tidying up my photo folders, here are some insects feeding on ivy in September.  Ivy is the last big feast for many insects, and a bank in flower on a sunny day can always be relied on for an array of photogenic creatures.

I was pleased to catch this bee hovering, so that its body is sharp even though its wings are moving so fast as to be almost invisible.  This was taken at 1/180th of a second.  It has pollen baskets full of yellow pollen but still seems to be after some more. 

Some say that the honey-bee's role as a pollinator is exaggerated because the pollen it collects is packed away in a solid wet lump, and that much is true, as you can see here.  But you can also see how much dry pollen is scattered over its head, body and legs.  That is perfectly good for future pollinations.

Hoverfly, Eristalis pertinax.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall.  31 August 2014.

This Eristalis pertinax is a Dronefly, so called because of its similarity to a male honey bee.  In fact it's a hoverfly, and completely harmless.  Here it is working over one of the ivy's anthers.  Compare this to the honey-bee and you can see that this fly has only a few grains of pollen on its legs.

Hoverfly, Eristalis tenax.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall, 21 September 2014.

Though this one, also a pollen-eater, seems to be a bit more messy!  It's a closely related species, Eristalis tenax, that is distinguished by its darker lower legs and the vertical row of hairs on its eye.  The eye of the other species is hairy all over.

Hoverfly, Myathropa florea.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall.  31 August 2014.

Another hoverfly, the photogenic Myathropa florea.  This fly has more of an overall honey colour and has a distinctive pattern on its thorax that looks like the Batman logo.  (That small white ring in the middle of its thorax is a reflection of my camera's ring flash.  The ring flash a great tool and has let me take many good shots, but it has this one drawback.)

You can see the looped vein towards the end of its wing that is the mark of the Eristalini.  You can see the same loop on the Eristalis pertinax two pics up, once you know where to look.

Hoverfly, Syritta pipiens.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall.  31 August 2014.

Another hoverfly, the smaller Syritta pipiens, from a different group and with quite a different look.  It is distinguished by its fat thighs.  This one is after the nectar produced by the ivy.  Although ivy does not have petals, it produces nectar from a dome-shaped hypanthium.

Nursery Web Spider, Pisaura mirabilis.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall, 21 September 2014.

While I was photographing the insects on the ivy, I was pleased to see this very smart Nursery Web Spider on the nettles below.  As with all spiders, this creature has interesting and often startling mating habits, and the male will sometimes pretend to be dead to get close enough to mate.

Small Elm

Trunk of small elm, edge of Gates Green Road, Coney Hall, 8 March 2011.

Having posted part of the trunk of a dead Elm tree a few days ago, I dug up this photo I took nearly a year ago of the trunk of a living one.

Although nearly all the mature Elm trees in England have been wiped out, and the disease is still making its way through Scotland, there are still lots of Elms around, in the form of hedgerows and low scrub. It seems that the bark beetles that carry the deadly fungus tend not to fly near the ground, so don't attack the low-growing young trees. But the taller ones in the hedgerow where I took this photo are dead.

The reason for this photo is, of course, the configuration of the bark. The mature trees show the same ridges, but on a large trunk they don't look so unusual.

Green Shield and Pied Shield

Green Shield Bug, Palomena prasina, 4th instar nymph.  Orchid Bank, High Elms Country Park, 30 July 2011.

I didn't see the adult forms of either of these two, though the first at least should be pretty common. It looks rather plain compared to the other shield bugs, and particularly the bright creature below, but at least it has a good disguise.

I saw the second one by accident whan I was photographing the plant it was crawling on, which is a Black Horehound, related to the dead-nettles. This plant is said to have a strong and unpleasant smell, so I have picked and crushed a lot of leaves this year to test this, but I don't find it unpleasant. Perhaps I have only come across weak specimens. (Late correction: The creature below is a final instar nymph of the Brassica Bug, not the Pied Shieldbug. Learning continues!).

One of the tricky things about insects is the way their younger forms often look very different from the adults.

Final instar nymph of the Brassica Bug, Eurydema oleracea, on Black Horehound, Ballota nigra.
Gates Green Road, Coney Hall, 5 September 2011.

What Likes Ivy?

Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall, 10 September 2011.

Many creatures like ivy. During most of the year, it shelters invertebrates, birds and bats. Then, it flowers late in the year and provides a feast of nectar for insects of many sorts.

So if you watch out for a bank of ivy to come into flower, you are very likely to see this butterfly, the Red Admiral, which seems to be particularly attracted. The Red Admiral is a real beauty, not just for its open-winged appearance which, indeed, is admired by many, but for these amazing underwings, which look like the marbled endpapers in an old book.

Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta.  Detail.  Gates Green Road, Coney Hall, 10 September 2011.