A bit misty from the Trosley viewpoint.

A bit difficult to see far over the Weald from the viewpoint from the footpath (Harrison Drive). The mist and other factors.

Monty has been so good to me over the last ten years, and he has still got a few last lessons to teach me - it is up to me to learn them well.

I have been very lucky, but its not really the day for leaf-miners today.

I did spot a remarkable witch's broom on this Beech by the entrance road.

Trosley Country Park

I found one very likely Phyllonorycter tenerella (Joannis, 1915) Hornbeam Midget mine today - In this case much less than half the width of the available lamina between two side veins, and starting at the midrib running well over half the distance towards the margin. The mine was also inhabited, although having torn it open I may well have sealed the fate of this caterpillar to die before it achieved its further pupal and adult potential!

The picture below is of the mine from the upper-side of the leaf - well eaten and browned, narrow and tightly folded, and long. Interestingly there was some further feeding damage and even webbing at the ends of the mine - perhaps caused by something else, possibly a Tortricoid?

Phyllonorycter tenerella is a species of southeastern England, as well as of Europe. There are reasonable numbers of regular records from Kent, high in 2008 and 2009, as for other leaf-miners I think. David Solly seems to have been very good indeed at finding them over the years!

As far as other leaf miners go, there were also some (not many) Phyllonorycter esperella mines on the upperside of the leaves and quite a few Stigmella probably microtheriella mines running largely up and down the veins. I also saw a few galls caused by what I have called "vein mites" Aceria tenella (Nalepa).

The Hornbeams at Trosley are quite variable, some young, some older, some coppiced, some maidens. This one is a moderately young Hornbeam, apparently a maiden, never been coppiced. It does look possibly a bit root-bound!

This one is another potential maiden, but quite a lot older! This suggests that there hasn't been much coppicing going on in this are of this particular woodland for quite a long time. This might match the history of the wood as a private estate, rather than a worked woodland.

There is an older picture of the grounds on the internet, of unknown date, but indicating their amenity nature at that time.

I saw two trees that were covered in fruit, and wondered why the distribution of fruit was so unequal across the woodland. I collected a couple of dozen fruit to see if they could be germinated.

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.