Unusually Warm Day Encourages Garden Minilife

Unusually warm today - 18degrees at midday with very little wind brought out  a lot of insects, spiders etc including this Beetle Larva, Harlequin ladybird and various other insects. Spiders were also on the move and I think the white 'mushrooms' are spiders egg sacs. Even a small Geometrid caterpillar feeding on the Knapweed.

 

Miscellany of Fungi from Brandon and Santon Downham

 On Saturday at Brandon, I used a UV light on a variety of toadstools and must research what causes the consistent different colours that are emitted under this light source. At Santon Downham was well as finding a wide range of new species, we tried using a smoke machine and a crystal ball with some of the toadstools growing on the abundant branches and in the pine cones. I photographed what I thought was a small beetle and it turned out to be a sheep tick while the white '?gall' from Saturday is a Sputnick Spider's egg sac. 

More Garden Minibeasts

Quite a few more sessions clearing the paths in the garden and recording any minibeasts taking shelter there. Not sure how many are new species for the list (IDs at end) but I haven't recorded the striking striped Hemipteran nymph (Nysius spp) before. Mainly small spiders but also one large beautifully marked snail.

 

Paxton West Scrub Survey

A few images and full ID sheets from our survey of West Scrub at Paxton. My favourite (not for its sharpness or exposure!) is this Mangora spider and its incredibly even and intricate web unlike the Garden Spider's more random one. I can see a project on spider web construction commencing this autumn.

The Next Generation in the Garden

The garden has lots of caterpillars and nymphal plant bugs and minute spiders as the next generations begin. Calophasia lunula, the Toadflax Brocade moth, is a recent immigrant to the UK but is now very widely spread - we have a good population every year, a very attractively patterned caterpillar. Plant bug nymphal stages are difficult to tell apart but generally they are found on the same plants as the adults which helps!! The garden has dozens of small flower spiders with different colours and pattern.