The Natural Stuff Diary

Newts, often called efts among many other things were one such group of animals that were poory understood in the past.They were thought to be the spawn of witches in the middle ages and to touch one would turn you to stone or you would lose your lover ! such silly superstitions thankfully rarely occur these days. This dead common newt(Lissotriton vulgaris) was snatched by a bird and tossed around its pond, yet was not eaten.

The Witch hazel has a lovely scent and has been in flower for about a month.

The relatively mild winter has allowed lots of fungus to fruit out of their usual time of year. The common helvella or white saddle(Helvella crispa ) is an odd shaped fungi and may not be shaped like a typical mushroom and may be overlooked much of the time.

whilst the common ink cap (Coprinus atramentaria) is common and to be found on wood especially if buried in the ground.

The fungi has surrounded a bumble bee nest box in the garden of the Bournemouth natural Science society.

One of my favourite passerine birds is the tiny long tailed tit. When I was a kid, I called them “Lolly pops,” as they are just a little ball on a stick.

This one was killed by a car in the New forest.

This is the time of year when frogs spawn is found in waterways, but there is often problems in very wet weather and that is frogs laying their spawn in water that is to try up such as in open fields, roadside puddles and extended parts of their usual spawning ground that are usually not saturated.Much spawn is left high and dry when water levels drop rendering it useless unless it can find its way back into permanent water, or at least water that can remain until the later half of the summer season.Every year I rescue spawn that is high and dry and this year I found a clump of spawn four feet high off the ground on a fence post ! I do not think for one minute that a frog put it there as it could not have even got up onto the post top and the water level was not that high as it was on high ground. A person may have found it on the path and placed it on the post or a bird may have caught a frog and eaten it on the post, discarding the spawn.Crows, magpies ,Buzzards or tawny owls could be possibilities.

Sometimes jelly masses are found in places especially in open fields and there are a number of different names for the strange alien looking slime. I tend to believe that it is barren frogs spawn jelly without the right development including egg yolks,which are usually black.Some frogs may just produce the outer jelly in large amounts instead of spawn, or large females may over produce jelly and release it after they have spawned. This is just mere speculation here, but I have no other explanation for the phenomenon. It certainly is not fungi. This small amount was in a woodland near to where frogs spawn amongst grass and leaves.

I love rainbows and we have had plenty of them lately! so any excuse to take a photo of one, and I do,especially if it is bright with a nice foreground.

Beach combing is great fun and one can learn a lot about the creatures and plants that thrive around Britain’s coasts. The rough seas through up all nature of stuff including these commonly found dogfish egg cases.The little sharks wrap a single egg around anchored obstacles such as rocks or weed bases with very long tendrils that can be over a meter in length. All of the hundreds of cases I found on Southbourne beach had hatched.

Goose barnacles float about as they permanently fasten themselves to floating debris but can find themselves high and dry on beaches. These three are adult size but with tiny babies ones branching off from the stems.

I was fortunate enough to visit the Australian state of Tasmania a few weeks ago and photographed many common and less known creatures. I will write a large section on the adventures that myself and my  colleagues got up to in more detail later  , but for now I will just post a small collection of some of my better wildlife pics. Some of the invertebrates have not been identified yet but some of the genus maybe.

Of course one cannot go to Australia without photographing kangaroos !In this case the Eastern grey.

The southern wombat is common throughout Tasmania as are many other mammals, some of which are rare or absent from the mainland.

Tasmanian devils are common and in the Tarkine region of North west Tassie, they are generally healthy. These are picked up from my trigger cameras that were placed in the bush.

this is the rainforest where we camped. Wet and cold most of the time as the spring time was long and cold.Tree ferns were the main under story, and towering myrtle trees and eucalyptus species dominated the forests.

One of my favourite animals is the echidna. This is the short beaked. They trundle along searching for ant nests.We found quite a few of these monotremes but sadly no platypus !

The Author holding an echidna which I spotted from the vehicle on the roadside.They dig themselves into the ground fast , exposing the sharp spines so one has to run up to them and start to dig them up before they bury themselves too deep.

A devil in captivity, many are housed in a desperate bit to try to eradicate the facial tumours that many devils get in some parts of the island.They are gentle, calm and affectionate animals. Certainly not deserving of their name !

The bird life is amazing but birds are very difficult to photograph , yet the kookaburra are quite tame and this one was one of a pair that visited the camp daily.This is the worlds largest kingfisher yet it does not take aquatic animals but reptiles and insects.

The sulphur crested cockatoo is common and forms large noisy flocks.They are amazing to watch as they fly around.

Tree frogs could be heard much of the time near water but they are very elusive.This was the only one that I found.

Cave harvestmen are unique creatures from the region.There are about three similar species.

The cave spider is unique to Tassie also and lives in just a few areas.This female guards her egg sack at the entrance to a sink hole cave.

This beautiful crab spider was hanging from a tree fern.

A lovely huntsmen spider.

I found a tree funnel web spider.

It was a bit early to find many species of orchid but this caladenia species were common on the heath lands.

The beaches are amazing and often have a different variety of plants on the coastal dunes.

Within the rainforests are many species of fungi, with quick decomposition of fallen and standing timber, the bracket fungi are abundant and large. This is a small species.

Many larvae of large moths can be found up until this time as they finish eating and growing. Many will go to ground to hibernate as a pupa, some as a caterpillar and some as adult moths. Most of the tree dwelling larvae will have already headed towards the ground and be ready to pass the winter but some hang on quite late.This grey dagger moth caterpillar(Acronicta psi)  is one of the several types to be found this late in the year, along with Pale tussock(Calliteara pudibunda),buff tip(Phalera bucephala), and Knot grass(Aronicta rumicis).

The adult moth is grey with dagger like streaks on the wings. It eats a variety of plants and tree leaves. The convolvulus hawk moth(Agrius convoluli) is mainly a migrant from southern Europe and north Africa, but some breed in the UK. A moth trap used at Durlston country park at Swanage in Dorset attracted at least nine individuals and other migrants such as the crimson speckled(Utethesa pulchella) of which there were several.Moth trapping on the South coast during September can conjure up anything strange and beautiful.

There is much variation between many moth races and no two individuals are alike.

The Grey bush cricket (platycleis albopunctata) is a coastal  living species on cliffs, dunes and rough grassland. They, like other cricket and grasshopper species are very obvious during autumn time.They too are yearly living and die off before the winter leaving their eggs to start the next generation in early summer.

Many spider species are also very obvious at this time of year because the orb weaving species are annual; they hatch from egg sacks layed by females the previous autumn, and over winter inside the egg, to hatch in the springtime and they slowly grow during the summer and only become visible late in the year, mainly females as they grow large and make large orb webs. They mate, lay eggs and then die.Many other spiders live for a year, linked in with our seasons and yet others that hunt on the ground or indoors ,houses and caves or in trees or rocks can live for many years. The spider below is the four spot orb weaver (Araneus quadratus).

Roe buck traditionally rut during the warmest part of summer time usually at the end of July, but it varies according to the weather as they are triggered mainly by hot temperatures, and so if we do not get the usual hot weather at the end of July or August the bucks may come in and out of pseudo rutting behaviour. The bucks this year had a long rut as it was very warm in both July and August; even at the end of August, many  roe buck were in rut and showed typical behaviour such as being blatant when chasing away younger bucks and standing out in the open ready for a fight! looking obvious. sometimes roe buck will chase humans and other animals and once a young buck chased me around a beech tree, I laughed out loud because it was so funny and even a badger came out of its sett to check out what was going on !.

This older buck has its antlers going back, a term used when the antlers have reached their peak in annual development and start to shrink and be less symmetrical and balanced, losing tines.(see collections part of website, antlers and horns).He grazes in an open field oblivious to people. I am amazed at the high numbers or roe in Gloucestershire especially the Stroud valleys. It will be part of the reason as to why there are good numbers of large cats living in the same areas !

Also in the same county at Woodchester park, the largest common shrew (Sorex araneus) I have ever seen was laying dead by an oak tree having been stepped on by a person or sheep.

It was more the size of a water shrew( Neomys fodiens) but clearly was not that species.

Medicinal leeches(Hirudo medicinalis) are now rare in the UK but Someone I know found one in the river Stour near Christchurch. I was delighted to know that they were still around this area. As a boy I used to find them in the upper reaches of the Stour in north Dorset, but did not see any for years. The herds of cattle and horses within the flood plain may have something to do with them still being around, and I assume that they must be within the New forest also.

A visit around Poole harbour last week showed up a few butterflies including a clouded yellow(Colias hyale) which was taking nectar from birds foot trefoil.

Grayling butterflies (Hipparchia semele) were abundant as they have had a good year like many other butterfly species.

One was egg laying on tussocks of dried out purple moor grass(Molinia). The tiny white egg was easy to spot, although it was only the size of a pin head !

An osprey(Pandion haliaetus) checked out a portion of the harbour putting up all manner of wildfowl.It was just a speck in the distance yet my great workhorse of a camera(Sony DHC -H20 ) managed to snap an unclear photo of it about half a mile away !

ospreys are members of the kite family, and when watched, their typical long wings and M shape when viewed from front or behind is obvious, similar to red and black kites.

The ringed plovers stayed put, as their biggest defence is to freeze and not panic.That is until a disobedient dog ran amok through them as usual.The owners were totally oblivious to eight people with binoculars looking at them !

There are many species of beetles that hang around carrion, although many species do not eat the rotting flesh but feed on other beetle or fly larvae that do. Many species of rove beetle do just that.The larger species of these attractive animals home in on carrion smells and it was under a dead roe deer that I placed by a infra-red trigger camera that I found many of the species(Creophilus maxillosus), one of our most striking of the large rove beetles. They move very fast and with  sort of animated movements, with jerking movements.

These predators were feeding on blow fly maggots.

Another species known as one of the sextant beetles is (Nicrophorus vespilloides). This species along with the other three similar species usually like a small item of carrion to themselves, and offspring. Usually a male finds a female at a carrion site and together they both bury the small carcass of any animal, by digging underneath it until it sinks into the ground, then the female lays her eggs and when they hatch, both parents feed them with regurgitated rotting flesh. They are great parents and herd them up and tend to them like any mammal or bird would. This kind of care is not common within insects but there are many species that do it including earwigs and some spider species.

Another different type is (Oliceoptoma thoracicum) a pretty, flattened beetle.This species does not look after its young and is attracted to animal dung as well as carcasses.

Not pussy cats or big cats, but caterpillars. Many species, especially moth larvae are more visible as they grow larger or consume large amounts of leaves making it more obvious that something is stripping plants of their leaves. This is of course natural and no permanent damage occurs to the plants. A buff tip moth larvae has stripped a young sallow of leaves, it remains whilst its siblings are already marching away from the tree ready to pupate somewhere.

Emerald moths are some of the most beautiful coloured of geometrid moths. This is the small grass emerald, on its foodplant heather; in this case the local Dorset heath ( Erica ciliaris)

Crickets are also more obvious now as they chirp or leap about in vegetation.All grasshoppers and crickets start life in springtime as eggs then small nymphs and take all summer to grow into more noticeable adults before they can sing. grasshoppers are mainly vegetarian and stridulate with their legs, whilst crickets are omnivores usually and sing with their wing case parts. The southern oak bush cricket(Meconema meridianale) is a rather new inhabitant to the UK and looks very similar to out common oak bush cricket.(see archive post).

The Great green bush cricket is our largest species in the UK. They are mainly southern in their distribution and stridulate loudly in the warm sunshine or mainly at night.

this female was hit by a vehicle but lived, despite her ovi coming out and hardening in the hot sun.Hopefully she had managed to lay some of them.

It is so good that the weather in Britain has been as it should be this summer time, although a little warmer than average. Still, many species of animal bask in the sun shine including birds and insects.Many species of insects need the sun to activate them more than any other group of animals. Some species can be fooled by warm objects and in the case of horse flies, a warm car can mimic a large warm bodied mammal. I parked by car under some trees on heathland only to have three different species of horse fly try to bite into the cars surface to obtain a blood meal. At least the car was warmer than myself as I am usually the firstobject biting insects alight on !

The deer fly (Chrysops caecutiens) is a pretty creature. Its eyes show all different colours at differing angles to the sun. It was leaning on its side trying to push its biting proboscis into the car ! next to it was the large (Tabanus sudedicus)

This is the largest British species of horse fly. And on another part of the car roof was the smaller species (Tabanus Autumnalis)

Nearby was another fly but a very rare species, the mottled bee fly(Theridanthrax fenestratus); it was basking on a path. These flies parasitise the sand wasp(Ammophila pubescens) which are very numerous this summer. All of these species live on the Dorset heathlands and are common , with the exception of the latter which are locally common.

The Grass snake (Natrix) basks concealed under the heather when it is hot during the morning. Most reptiles retreat to the cooler earth when the temperatures rise.

This blackbird suddenly appeared beside me as I lay basking; one moment it was not there and the next it was, just there, looking like this, not moving a muscle or even an eyelid for five minutes!

I thought it most peculiar !

I nearly placed my hand on this nest of chaffinch chicks as I measured the girth of a Lime tree a few days ago.The chicks were still and quiet and the nest was not obvious amongst the various shades of green and brown . As I approached the nest, all four chicks stretched up to receive food but I was not the parents, they were keeping a low profile nearby, not even giving alarm calls as many other birds would have done. After three hours no sign of the parents led me to wonder if they had been abandoned, so I searched for some caterpillars and fed them a few times just in case, then as I and my friend were about to leave both parents skilfully appeared from nowhere flying over the ground and rocks keeping a very low profile and fed them.

In the same tree were some galls. There are many species of plant galls and they are created by different kinds of insects of mites, and in these two cases two similar species have created different forms of galls on different plants. The Lyme nail gall is caused by the mite (Eriophyes tiliae)

The similar Eriophyes laevis inangulis lives on alder tree leaves and makes a different form.

Most insects that form plant galls feed on sap and these mites are no exception.

On the Lyme tree was a very common and tiny spider(Theridion pallens) with its distinctive egg sack or Sputnik .This tiny spider varies in colour and lives on the underside of leaves or any broadleaved tree.

The evolution of species has had amazing adaptations for survival. One of the best strategies for survival is mimicry of poisonous species. Just how simple plants and insects have mastered this is unclear, but surely some of it must be through trial and error or accidental variations in pattern and colour that somehow lead to rejection by predators due to resemblance of other species.But, and there is a huge but here because many species have to go through a beginning point where for example spots and dots are simple and do not resemble eyes or coloured stripes of other insects.Just how so many species adopt this mechanism and always seem to get to the perfect image is strange to say the least. They do not know of their surroundings let alone other species, so how do for example ,insects, and even plants mimic smells, such as orchids that mimic bees and even their pheromones ? A lot of work needs to be done if science is to come up with a valid answer to this. Many insect species mimic bees and wasps that have stings. The ant beetle(Thanasimus formicarius) as its name suggests mimics ants and it does run about like one. the beetle and its larvae are predatory on other insects and they live in woodlands especially coniferous woodlands with good ground vegetation and decomposing wood.

The beetle may be mimicing the velvet ant(Mutilla europaea) which does have a painful sting even to humans if they do happen to sting somebody although one has to hold them between fingers for them to do so. Below is a specimen of this species, a wingless female. they are a parasite of bumble bee nests and are moderately common on heath lands.

Another mimic, this time a wasp mimic, is the harmless longhorn beetle (Clytus arietis) rather common in herb rich woodlands. Like most longhorn beetles, the larvae develop in decaying wood .

I came across an odd wood ant(Formica rufa) nest a week ago. The nest was sprawled out across the sleepers of a railway line. I have never found a wood ant nest in such a strange place before.