Its strange how sometimes you set out with an aim in mind, and that may or not work out, but something else turns up instead of, or in addition to, the original aim, that perhaps turns up trumps in the most unexpected of ways.
This was not a particularly nice day, in contrast to the rest of the month to come, and when we set out towards the pond in meadows North I had little expectation of seeing much - and my expectations were fulfilled!
So no results, and no photos from the pond itself, but on the way back I saw the wall lettuce in its rosette form - obvious when you know where it is growing, to look out for these which grow late in the year from seed germinated earlier this year, after the previous year's rosettes have shot up their flowering spikes this year and gone to seed, that seed then germinating the following year - I think!
I also found just one insect during the day, a really nice shield bug that I hadn't seen before - that makes THREE shield bugs I have identified this year - WOW!
This is Pentatoma rufipes, that might be called the red-legged shield bug. ID features include the overall red legs with the chequered sidebars on the side of the abdomen. The antennae are reddish at the base (just visibly in one of the pictures) with two darker sections at the tips. The tip of the prothorax is orangey-red like the legs, which contrasts obviously with the sidebars. The wings just show light at the very tip of the abdomen. The "horns" at the shoulders are quite obvious and pointed.
This poor thing has lost a complete left rear leg and part of its left antenna.
Overlooking my efforts was the Hadlow Tower, wrapped in blue and waiting for the kind attentions of the restorers.
This was not a particularly nice day, in contrast to the rest of the month to come, and when we set out towards the pond in meadows North I had little expectation of seeing much - and my expectations were fulfilled!
So no results, and no photos from the pond itself, but on the way back I saw the wall lettuce in its rosette form - obvious when you know where it is growing, to look out for these which grow late in the year from seed germinated earlier this year, after the previous year's rosettes have shot up their flowering spikes this year and gone to seed, that seed then germinating the following year - I think!
This is Pentatoma rufipes, that might be called the red-legged shield bug. ID features include the overall red legs with the chequered sidebars on the side of the abdomen. The antennae are reddish at the base (just visibly in one of the pictures) with two darker sections at the tips. The tip of the prothorax is orangey-red like the legs, which contrasts obviously with the sidebars. The wings just show light at the very tip of the abdomen. The "horns" at the shoulders are quite obvious and pointed.
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