Life on Toft Logs

Though more or less confined to home by the aftermath of a Christmas Bug, I did manage a walk to the old railway track in Toft to gather a log or two for slime moulds etc which I photographed back at base. I think the first three are all stages of Hemitrichia spp but was excited by the very small black shiny balls thinking a new species of mould but turns out they are a ?mite species. There was also one very active Ichneumon which I am sure is Ophion obscuratus,the Cream-striped Darwin Wasp which does not hibernate in the winter, instead, it disappears for a few months in the late spring and early summer. The female lays her eggs inside the caterpillars of different species of nocturnal moths. The green coloration of the oak log is a funal infection and I collected a piece of coal from the track to see if it had any moulds - negative so far (Oxford Cambridge line ran steam trains from 1860s to 1940s through Toft)

Completing Dorset Visit: Day 6 - Sabre Wasp

Preparing 2023 images for archiving, I realised that I never sorted and processed images from day 6 of our Dorset Trip when we visited Hook Woods - general insects to follow but here Rhyssa persuasoria, the Sabre Wasp, trying to locate a beetle larva in a fallen trunk. the male is much smaller shown at the end.

Sharpenhoe - Other Insects

I went hunting for these Thistle Gall flies having been fascinated  on a previous visit by their iridescent eyes and bright orange antennae and mouthparts. They were joined during our RPS visit by a host of other species

Churchyard Survey Toft 20/03/23

Delighted to record the first Hairy-footed Flower bees and the solitary bee Andrena bicolor (both males) at Toft Churchyard yesterday, along with a 7-spot ladybird and a very small Ichneumon wasp. There also some very attractive toadstool - Scurfy Twiglet Tubaria furfuracea blending in perfectly with the scales from the Cypress Cedar.

Insects in Summer Garden

I try to record the insects in the garden most days.  Even with the drought conditions, there are enough plants and flowers to support a very varied fauna. Yesterday there were Hoverflies, Greenbottle, Woolly Carder Bees, several species of Plant Bug, two species of Snail-killing Flies and Ichneumon Wasps.