The Hucking Estate

Interesting to see the number of Hornbeam within the older woods, and the very few young Hornbeams in the newer plantings.

Phyllonorycter

On the Hornbeams in the older (ASN?) Woods there seems to be a lot of "caterpillar" style damage in the interior of the woods, leaving very tattered leaves indeed. There was also Phyllonorycter esperella on the upperside of the leaves, both remnant signs of the first generation of mines, and newer mines, some starting to bend the leaves up as they tighten (by the way, how physically DO they tighten?). Some of these appeared to have already left their mines. On the underside of the leaves could be seen long narrow mines, strongly narrowed by the contraction of the mines, with clear single creases running along their mid-lines, possibly Phyllonorycter tenerella. There might have been some Phyllonorycter messaniella mines as well.

Stigmella

There were a few Stigmella mines, probably caused by Stigmella microtheriella from their tendency to follow the leaf veins, but Stigmella floslactella may well have been there as well. One mine seemed particularly broader, a feature I believe more associated with Stigmella carpinella. Again, no signs of the hoped for Bucculatrix, Coleophora, Paracrania or Parornix style mines on this site so far.

Aceria

I did find the apparently common gall mites, Aceria tenella, that live in colonies within hairy "spots", each one in one of the leaf axils. Here is a close up showing the reddish-brown discolouration of the hairs induced by the mite in the axil below the midrib - compare this with the relatively tiny clump of whitish hairs in the normal leaf axil above the midrib just to the right. It is also worth noting the very long whitish hairs of the plant lying along the midrib - what on earth can they be for?

Hornbeam leafminers at Dene Park.

Had a lovely walk in Dene Park with Monty, taking a moderately careful look for Hornbeam leafmines. The weather was slightly cool, but nice and sunny - a lovely early autumn day.

None of the fairly accessible and easy to find Stigmella mines from today seemed particularly fresh, so I assume are from the June-July activity. This reduces the accuracy of the ID from species to genus, but almost all the mines seemed fairly thin and had some tendency to follow the leaf veins or midrib for at least part of their activity, so the best of my guesses would be Stigmella microtheriella, one of the two commoner species, and the one noted for following veins. The frass pattern has apparently deteriorated over time, so is now less useful for diagnosis I would say, and there were no larvae present to examine. The remaining frass pattern did appear to be restricted to the centre of the mine as opposed to filling the full width of the mine. However there is another quite likely possibility, Stigmella floslactella, which is equally thin, but rather less tendency for following the leaf veins, and where the frass width initially fills the early stage of the mine. The critical distinguishing feature is the relative thickness of the frass to mine diameter in the early stages. Both species could well be present!

On a few of the smaller leaves there were some notably white mines, which did seem significantly broader and much more convoluted - there is some minor possibility that they were Stigmella carpinella, a rarer mine in the UK, and not specifically noted to be in Kent on the UK Flymines site. There was no frass and there were no larvae to check, so these must remain entirely uncertain, especially as even David Gardiner's 2010 records were not validated.

Dene Park, 22.09.2017

It will be interesting to wait for the September - October activity, if it isn't there already, to see if diagnosis is any the easier slightly later in the year!

There were also some Phyllonorycter types, some on the underside between the veins, and some (more rounded usually) on the upperside centred above one or more principal veins.

Some of the ones on the underside could perhaps be Phyllonorycter tenerella and if so they should have a fairly strong single crease, and extend from midrib to leaf edge, or nearly so. None I saw completely filled these criteria, but none were fresh, so that might be the explanation. Others could be either Phyllonorycter messaniella (which may also have one strong crease, perhaps forked at the end) or Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella (which may have more and smaller creases), both of which are apparently less extended in length.

This old mine below is on the underside, bounded clearly by the veins, but not long enough to be typical P. tenerella, leaving one of the other two as the most likely candidates for this and the great majority of the underside mines seen on this site. However ulmifoliella is rarely mentioned apart from the UK leafminers site, and although this would indicate that messaniella is the most likely species by a short head, all options must remain open. ACTUALLY this is a mine of Stigmella possibly microtheriella that has "cut out" an oblong of leaf with its travels.

(I went back on Sunday, the 24th, and this time found two possibly fresher mines on the underside of the leaves - oval, but loose, between the veins, about half the distance between midrib and leaf edge, apparently empty, with no visible creases, neither single nor multiple. Therefore I was no further forward - except the continuing gut feeling that the mines are not tenerella, because they are too short).

The leafmine frequently found on the upperside of the leaf is much easier as it is the only upperside Phyllonorycter listed, and so keys out on UK Leafminers as Phyllonorycter esperella (Goeze, 1783), a leafminer specific to Hornbeam in the UK. This species, the adult moth of which is known as the Dark Hornbeam Midget, also occurs throughout mid to southern Europe across to the Near East, and as well as the Hornbeam, it also attacks the Hop Hornbeam, Ostrya carpinifolia where that tree occurs abroad.

This I think is a very common mine in Kent, and I generally find it whenever I look carefully at Hornbeam leaves in woodland, or even quite urban trees (e.g. Hadlow College). I am fairly sure I also saw some in Ryarsh Wood last week. The ones I saw today were generally quite young, relatively small and oval, over the centre of a principal vein. These larvae will have come from eggs laid by the second generation of adult moths, which were on the wing in August.

This one however (the only one found like this) is probably an older mine of this species, demonstrating the upward folding of the leaf as the tentiform mine ages and tightens.

I didn't see any sign of an Eriocraniid type mine today, a long splodgy mine on the edge of a leaf. Eriocrania chrysolepidella is also known as Paracrania chrysolepidella. I was surprised not to find it, given its apparent reasonably widespread (ukflymines) if local (uk leafminers) coverage in the UK, and some existing East Kent records. Nor did I find any Parornix or Bucculatrix mines.

A slow, very relaxed walk, and Monty had a lovely time breaking up sticks in the mud.

Trosley again

Looking for the Ectemnius I still failed to get very good pictures, but they were improved on yesterday by getting closer! A quick sequence in which the wasp came close enough to be photographable, but I was a bit rushed and didn't do a very good job.

However one of the insects I saw today definitely had a golden-haired clypeus, as seen below. It was also possible to see the long hairs on the mesonotum, so it could have been Ectemnius cavifrons.

From Ardea:

The easiest to use is Yeo and Corbet Solitary Wasps, Naturalist Handbook 3, it's also fairly cheap - try Amazon or other. For female ID you need to get a clear view of the shape of the clypeus (basically upper lip) which you can only see well from the underside of the head, against the light. The clypeal hairs obscure the shape from the front. WIth your photos, long Mesonotal hairs, golden clypeal hairs = either lapidaries, ruficornis (scarce), cavifrons and sexcinctus.

The large black beetle laying eggs in the dead horsechestnut trunk might have been the Large Black Longhorn, Stictoleptura scutellata, I wait to have it confirmed or denied on iSpot.

Trosley Country Park

Trosley is a superb example of complex woodland structure, with trees of a multitude of species, ages and form. There are upright monoliths, fallen monsters (some with daughter trees springing up along their fallen lengths), tall lanky uprights, coppiced stools, seedlings, etc.

Below the Visitor Centre there are two Horse-chestnut monoliths, literally on their last legs. There are excellent fungal brackets, apparently of at least two different species, and also great opportunities for wood-attacking wasps such as Ectemnius.

The female above (sting fairly clearly seen at the rear in some of the other photos, and no knobbly antennae as in most males) might be Ectemnius cavifrons, one of the commoner and larger species. There appeared to be no yellow on the abdominal stergae, a supporting feature separating this species from E. sexcinctus in Yeo and Corbet. 

Oare Gunpowder Works on the first really hot day of the year!

A wonderful wander round the Country Park full of munitions production archaeology and natural history. Three Peacock, two Brimstone and four female Orangetip (?) butterflies. A nesting pair of Bluetits, Sparrowhawk, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Chaffinches, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Green Spotted Woodpecker, Woodpigeons, overflying Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gull.

Yellow-legged Mining Bees, Andrena flavipes ( a guess!), Lasioglossum poss calceatum, Episyrphus balteatus, Sphaerophoria sp.,

Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Veronica hederifolia, was in at least one spot in the ancient (rather dominated by sycamore) woodland, quite a common plant generally across most of the country, an early introduction by man (intended or not) and I think a very nice little plant to see. It is a "winter annual", probably germinating in autumn, spreading by seed. As the fruit ripens it bends downward, allowing the ants to collect the seed, attracted by the scent of the associated oily appendage.

Single small light lilac pink flowers with long stalks in the leaf axils, heart-shaped sepals (not always easy to see), petals short so said to be almost hidden in among the (claimed to be) slightly larger sepals, leaves with short stalks, veins only from base of the 5-7 lobed leaf, not from a central midrib, therefore "palmately veined leaves" (the only speedwell like this I think), small, softly hairy low-spreading plants, photos attached. Like the other Veronicas it has now been reclassified from the Scrophulariaceae (Figwort family) into the Plantaginaceae (Plantain family).

There are actually two recognised subspecies, ssp hederifolia (2N = 54) and ssp lucorum - aka sublobata (2N = 36), with different chromosome complements (Tetraploid and Hexaploid, as the seed is fertile?), I tend to think this is the latter, with longer flower stalks and lilac flowers with pale anthers which is rather less common, but typically found in woodland rather than arable/verges, although I think you really need it in fruit as well to give it anything like a reasonable guess (BSBI have an excellent online plant crib)! This subspecies does not seem to be recorded in this NBN 10K square.