Norbury Park Moths

Peppered Moth, Biston betularia.  Norbury Park, 17 June 2012.

There was a "Bioblitz" at Norbury Park; two days of events relating to natural history.  I went to look at the moths that had been trapped the night before.   Although I saw lots, most of them had been put into plastic tubes and it was impossible to get good photos because of the reflections, and smears on the plastic.  But some were shown in the open.  This one is on my hand.

It's an iconic species, often used as an example of natural selection.  As well as this form there is a dark-winged form that became common in sooty cities, while this speckled form almost disappeared, though it stayed common in the countryside.  Birds were able to pick it out easily against the dark city backgrounds.  Since the Clean Air Act in 1956, the speckled form has become more common again.

Brown Scallop, Philereme vetulata.  Norbury Park, 17 June 2012.

This moth, resting on a treetrunk, shows how effective camouflage can be.  But not all moths do this.

Small Elephant Hawkmoth, Deilephila porcellus.  Norbury Park, 17 June 2012.

Many Hawkmoth species appear to try to alarm predators rather than hide from them.  Also, they are good fliers and can probably dodge a lot of attacks.  Apparently half a dozen of these vivid creatures came to the table next to the trap - exciting for the trappers!

These and other photos from the park are here: Norbury Park, June 2012.  They include a few photos of plants I took while walking back to the car park.

Two Hoverflies

Hoverfly, Eristalis pertinax, on Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, on Hillside Lane, Hayes. 13 June 2012.

Hoverflies are various and pretty, and I enjoy photographing them.  They like to visit flowers, which gives a sort of double photographic opportunity.

This one is a bee mimic, known as a Dronefly.  There are two native hoverflies that look like this, a warm brown abdomen with honey-coloured triangles at the side. The other one, Eristalis tenax,  has darker legs and distinct rows of hairs on its eyes.  Hairy eyes sound odd, but are no problem for insects.  If you look towards the ends of the wings you will see a vein with a wide loop; with one exception, this is specific to the tribe Eristalini, so it is a confirming characteristic.

This fly is a male.  All female hoverflies have a distinct gap between their large compound eyes.  This one only has a little triangle containing three much smaller eyes, the ocelli.

Hoverfly, Sphaerophoria scripta, on a Doves-foot Crane's-bill, Geranium molle, on West Wickham Common. 13 June 2012.

This hoverfly looks very different.  It's smaller and slimmer, and vividly marked.  There are several species that look very like this, and identification is usually not possible without collecting the creature and examining its genitalia, which I prefer not to do.  I like to leave them in the wild.

However ... this one, as you can see, is also a male, and in this one Sphaerophoria species, the abdomen of the male is markedly longer than the wings.

Downe Bank, June 2012

Horses in the field next to Cudham Road, Downe.  16 June 2012.

I showed the same mare in a post about Downe Bank in 2011.  She seems to have had another foal, with very similar colouring.

We (the Orpington Field Club) went a week later last year, and this year the weather has been unusually cold and wet, so we didn't see the same range of plants and butterflies.  But we did see several caterpillars.

Mother of Pearl late instar larva, Pleuroptya ruralis, on the track leading to Downe Bank Nature Reserve, 16 June 2012.

This one was living in a curled-up nettle leaf on the side of the track.  It will turn into a pretty moth; there's one in the first photo here: Sevenoaks Moths. I like nettles.  There is nearly always something interesting in there, and I always collect some stings. 

Larva of Six-spot Burnet, Zygaea filipendulae.  Downe Bank Nature Reserve, 16 June 2012.

This one lives on Common Bird's-foot Trefoil, and will turn into a smart black moth with red spots.  There will be hundreds of them to see later on.  On the other hand,

Sawfly larvae, Symphyta, on Silver Birch.  Downe Bank Nature Reserve, 16 June 2012.

these are not any sort of butterfly or moth.  They will turn into sawflies.  I haven't posted any of those yet; I will link back here when I do.   You can tell they aren't Lepidoptera by the number of pairs of prolegs, those stumpy legs that come after the six neat-looking pointed ones.  No butterfly or moth has this many.

These caterpillars were munching happily on a Silver Birch tree until I got too close, when they all suddenly curled back into this display, which I expect is supposed to startle predators into leaving them alone.  Some sawfly larvae are known to give off defensive chemicals, and these are probably doing just that.

Of course, we did see many interesting and lovely flowers too.

Common Milkwort, Polygala vulgaris.  Downe Bank Nature Reserve, 16 June 2012.

This one, with its intricate and delicate structure, is quite common on chalky ground.  The flowers are no more than a centimetre long, and the colours on different plants vary through pink, blue and purple. 

Here's one that is harder to spot.

Fairy Flax, Linum catharticum.  Downe Bank Nature Reserve, 16 June 2012.

A tiny white flower almost hidden in the grass.  It is a true flax.

I can't leave this post without showing a Roman Snail.

Roman Snail, Helix pomatia.  Downe Bank Nature Reserve, 16 June 2012.

This chunky creature, with a shell 5 cm across, is edible, but protected.  Roman Snails are rightly named. They were brought over by the Romans, like apple trees, but unlike apples, they are not a regular part of our diet. 

And a last view of the lively foal.

Foal in the field next to Cudham Road, Downe.  16 June 2012.

These and some more photos are on line here:  Downe Bank, June 2012.

Hoya Bella

Flowers of Hoya bella on my kitchen windowsill in Hayes.  20 June 2012.

This is the other Hoya I have at the moment; compare with the Hoya serpens in my previous post.  This one is also a jewel, similar but distinctly different.  The individual flowers are about 2 cm across. They hang facing downwards, so you need to hang the plant high or be very close to see them properly.

It is a little sturdier than H. serpens and hangs stiffly rather that trails limply.  It flowers almost all year, with a light floral fragrance that you need to get up close to appreciate, not like the deep all-pervading odour of H. serpens.   It doesn't get too big, and being so well-behaved, it is a good Hoya to start with if you want to try them out.

A Creeping Hoya

Hoya serpens flowers in my kitchen window in Hayes.  18 June 2012.

I've been out a lot recently and I will be out more.  I will have enough lovely photos to queue up summer blog posts for weeks..  But this one, like the Sundews, comes from my house.

Hoya flowers are beautiful miniatures.  The plants are usually climbing and vine-like, needing a support to twine around.  This one has inconspicuous small roundish leaves on a weak trailing stem.

These flowers are each about 15mm across, larger than the leaves.  They have a powerful sweet scent that fills the whole house at night just from this small cluster.  Some Hoya flowers drip a sweet nectar that you can catch on your finger and lick off.  I can see drops forming in these, too, but not as much as that.

It came originally from the Himalayas, and now it is happy on a north-facing windowsill, where it can get quite cool in the winter.

Two More Non-Dandelions

Cat's-ear, Hypochaeris radicata.  Hayes Common, 13 June 2012

Two more yellow flowers that look like Dandelions, but aren't.

Identifying a plant in a group like this, where many species look quite similar, is tricky. This one, Cat's-ear, can be identified by the following criteria:

There are no forked hairs on the underside of the leaves (that would make it a Hawkbit.)  There are dark-tipped bracts along the flower stems, which are single or have few branches.  The flowers are bright yellow, with the outer florets greyish beneath.  Around the flower-head are many erect, overlapping, purple-tipped bracts with bristles on their midribs.  And inside the flower, mixed with the florets, there are small, long-toothed scales, which you can find if you pull the flower apart.

You can see many of those things in the photo, but by no means all.  So it is quite necessary for even a partly serious botanist to carry a decent hand lens. 

Rough Hawkbit, Leontodon hispidus.  Hutchinson's Bank, 14 June 2012.

This one does have forked hairs on the underside of its leaves, which you can see with a hand lens.  That, and the very hairy calyx, make this a Rough Hawkbit.  (The Lesser Hawkbit, which also has those forked hairs, has a hairless calyx.)

But these flowers also have a different overall look to them if you first assimilate their characteristics and then draw back.  If you then look at the other two non-Dandelions I posted earlier, you can see that they are different again. Once you are familiar with the flowers - and the other parts of the plants - in detail, your eye and mind can pick up those differences even at a glance.

Miniature Sundews

Miniature Sundew with flower, in my back bedroom in Hayes.  1 June 2012.

Six months ago I planted some Sundew gemmae, tiny pieces of plant tissue that can grow into complete new plants. Some of them were the size of lentils, and those were easy to handle, but I also got, as a freebie, 14 tiny ones about the size of a pinhead, no species name given.  Spacing those out properly was tricky.

Here they are now.  These plants are tiny.  The pot is two inches across, and the larger rosettes are just over a centimetre.   But they have reached their full size and are flowering.   If you don't have much space to grow plants, these would be perfect!  But you need rainwater for them; tap water will kill them.  They come from wet, sandy spots in Australia, but they die off in sandy soil in my house; this is a special soil-free and nutrient-free compost.