Down to Whetsted Gravel pits

As I got down to East Lock I paused to check for insects and particularly hoverflies at the wild-flower seed enhanced area just north of the lock. I had by now seen several Eristalis pertinax and here was my first Sphaerophoria female of the day, hovering about the Perforate St. John's Wort, Hypericum perforatum.

There was also this very nice hairy red beetle, which I feel should really be recognizable to someone if I had the gall to put this single side view on ispot !

While I was looking at the pictures of this Lesser Stitchwort, Stellaria minor, I noticed a tiny grub, possibly a Lepidopteran caterpillar (?) on the left-hand flower.

Crossing Poor's Meadow I saw that the farmer had started to cut the grass for hay, as is the tradition. The meadow is not particularly flower rich, but may contain some Dyers Greenweed on the southern wooded margin according to the BSBI visit report.

As well as keeping the field traditionally managed, the farmer has also, by accident or design, left the broken down old oak tree as a dead wood habitat.

After Poor's Meadow I crossed the wheat crop, which was ripening well, on the clay field which contains the Shepherds Needle Scandix pecten-veneris,

Moving on to the gravel pits themselves, there was a very nice patch of Hare's-foot Clover, Trifolium arvense, on the gravelly patch down at the southern end of the causeway across the west gravel pit. This plant is locally common in the Southeast of England, particularly at coastal sites and almost always on sandy soils. I am sure this particular patch has been here for several years, annually regenerating itself from the seed, which has effective dormancy mechanisms.

These are the woolly pink inflorescences that are the most obvious sign of the plant's presence - the leaves are fairly insignificant by comparison.

Here is a close-up of a single inflorescence - you can see the tiny whitish flowers in amongst the purple hairs of the calyces, each in turn fringed with a light pink fuzz, most easily seen in outline on the side of the inflorescence.

This is an older inflorescence in the centre, with the flowers browning from the base of the inflorescence upwards. On the left-hand inflorescence. a single white "pea-family" flower is absolutely fully open.

This may be a better close-up of a fading inflorescence specifically to show the hairs arising the calyx in the centre and the fuzz on the side of the inflorescence.

These are the narrow, grey, somewhat hairy (the hairs are adpressed) trifoliate leaves, with the two pointed reddish somewhat filiform stipules.

The plant keys out on the BSBI crib sheet for the genus, http://www.bsbi.org.uk/Trifolium_Crib.pdf. It is potentially a very important plant - it apparently contains a gene affecting tannin condensation that if successfully transferred into white clover could both increase yield and also reduce both bloat and methane emissions from cattle. This is due to be commercially available in about 2025, if it comes to market.

Another plant I found, in good numbers along the paths around the gravel pits, was the Common Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, in the pictures below possibly the cultivated variety cv. sativus. This variety, often used in wild flower seed mixes differs from the normal wild plant in having a hollow stem, being more generally yellow, and is also larger and more robust than the native wild form. When I cut the stem of this plant across it was clearly hollow, so my thinking is that it should be cv. sativus. I also checked the key species-characteristic feature, that the sepals were forward pointing, and not reflexed in the bud stage as in the Greater Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus.

In the picture below you can see the suffusion of orange in the petals at bud stage, the way the developing pod pushes the brown remnants of the corolla forward as the pod ripens and lengthens, and the generally forward pointing nature of the sepals.

I do keep on looking for the Greater Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus, but never seem to find it. This is known to be a similar robust plant which also has a hollow stem, but should be easily distinguished from corniculatus, whether sativus or not, by the reflexed sepals in the bud, no suffusions of red in the petals, and more than 5 (7) flowers in one inflorescence.

Another plant I was very glad to see today was the Common Centaury, Centaurium erythraea, which is only just starting its proper summer-long flowering season.  The flowers are a lovely pink, held on square stalks (both the pedicels and peduncles are square I think).

Part-way along the causeway I had come across a Long-Winged Conehead nymph, Conocephalus discolor, green with a dark stripe down its dorsum. I hadn't come across this insect before, and in its nymphal stages it is certainly a striking animal.

On the brambles in the hedge-line between the two western gravel pits there was what looked like an adult male (no oviposter) Dark Bush-Cricket, Pholidoptera grisoaptera, with its vestigial wings. I used this great site to try to compare the species. http://www.orthoptera.org.uk/account.aspx?ID=13 but I could not see the underside, which should have been yellow.





This is the first time I have seen the Azure Damselfly, Coenagrion puella, down here at Whetsted Gravel Pits - so I shall have to check the so-called "Common Blues" far more carefully in future. As this was also in the brambles by the big hedge between the gravel pits it may have come out of the small ditch there, as opposed to the Common Blues coming out of the main gravel pits themselves. I still believe the vast majority of the blue damsels seen on this site and around it to be the latter species.

For comparison, here is a Common Blue Damselfly, Enallagma cyathigerum, seen earlier, slightly tangled in some silky fibres, sitting quite quietly on the top of a fencepost along the causeway.

One of the nastiest insects around is the Horse Fly or Cleg, Haemotopota (pluvialis perhaps) with its vicious bite. There was one on the causeway which I admired before I fully realised its identity.

To the West of Hartlake Bridge

Quite a few White butterflies around today, and if the picture below has been correctly identified, they were all Small Whites, Pieris rapae.

There were also several Comma butterflies (Polygonia c-album) along the path - I was particularly glad to see these as it seemed to me that the numbers of Commas are a bit down, in contrast to the recovery of the Small Tortoiseshells. I really cannot tell if these are the "lighter underneath and brighter on top" Hutchinsonii form that should produce a second 2014 generation in early autumn this year, as the sunlight and shade so affect our perceptions.

A little further on I found a tiny insect on a Mayweed flower that I thought might be a solitary bee. On looking at the photos on the computer screen it turned out to be Microdynerus exilis a solitary "potter" wasp that uses old beetle holes in decaying wood and whose larvae are fed on weevil larvae. It is nationally scarce, Southern in distribution, and only added to the British list in 1937.

Here is a link to a Flickr page showing the sort of hole this potter wasp might possibly be using.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennymetal/14499206175/in/pool-wild_bees

On the Bramble flowers there was a well posed Episyrphus balteatus, a very common hoverfly indeed this year.

As usual there were a lot of Banded Demoiselles, Calopteryx splendens, around the river area.

and this is a close-up of the female on a Bristly Oxtongue, Helminthotheca echioides, inflorescence:

Tower path

Walking from the start of the access trail in the village, it is possible to turn West behind Hadlow Castle and the Tower, along a shady path that comes out on the grassy path area between Meadows North, the Fisheries pond and the ha-ha of the Castle Grounds. Here the grass is allowed to grow longer and in consequence it is a small haven for insects.

After a couple of Meadow Browns (Maniola jurtina) I saw a small skipper flying too fast and orange to be a Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus). I was pretty sure they would be Small Skippers (Thymelicus sylvestris) as it is fairly early in the season, and the Small Skipper is usually a fortnight ahead of its congener species, the Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola), but after I saw the close-ups of the photos I became very unsure. The antennae looked black-tipped from most angles I was able to get at, and IF at least some of the insects were males, then the scent glands were short, thin and parallel to the wing edge.

The two photos below are the same insect at different magnifications, and show what I think is a male Essex Skipper, with a short thin scent gland parallel to the edge of the wing. It is really difficult to be sure of the antennae tips.

This is the same male, demonstrating I think at least on the right antenna the deep black on the antenna tip, which does seem to extend to the underside.

This photo is of a different butterfly but it also looks very like a male Essex Skipper. I must admit I was surprised, as I hadn't thought that we had colonies in the Parish, and it looks as though this is one just under our noses.

This is another individual, but again clearly showing the black-tipped antennae

The behaviors involved in mate location, courtship, and mating are described for Thymelicus lineola . Males emerge first and patrol in search of mates, spending >50% of their time in flight. Mate location appears to be primarily visual although males do not readily discriminate between sexes, approaching conspecific males as frequently as females. Both males and females have a typical refusal display, but males are persistent in their approaches, which could explain the occasional aggregation of males around a mating pair and the recovery of two male pairs “in copula.” Male behaviour is discussed in the context of maximizing mating success, given that T. lineola females generally mate only once and sex ratios are often strongly biased in favour of males.

There were very good numbers of male Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum) in the long grass area, and this one was hanging on to a Cats Ear (Hypochaeris radicata) head. It slowly bent its abdomen up in a stretching movement, for unknown reasons!

There are also a lot of Cinnabar moths, Tyria jacobaeae, and their caterpillars around. Here is a caterpillar on the flower head of Ragwort, Senecio jacobaea.

and here are two more, on top of another inflorescence cluster.

There are also starting to be increasing numbers of the common soldier beetles, Rhagonycha fulva.

Oare Marshes

After collecting some water from the Artesian Well, the Fern and I had a quick walk on the seawall around the outside of the East Scrape, seeing Black-headed Gulls, Avocet, Redshank, Mallard, Shelduck, Greylag, Swans, Reed Buntings, Pipits, Starlings. Reed Warblers sang from the edges of the scrape.

Growing well were Birds-Foot Trefoil, Common Vetch, Wild Carrot, Fleabane, Sea Lavender, Sea Aster. There were quite a few Meadow Browns and some possible Small Heaths, as well as undetermined Dragonflies. 

Dene Park on a very muggy late afternoon

When I looked at the Lesser Spearwort down the back straight of the square walk again I was again able to see the fly feeding marks on the leaves that I had seen yesterday. I believe that this is connected with the leaf mines, that are very similar to the Chrysanthemum leaf miner I used to be so familiar with on various Asteraceae weeds.

I think the most likely miner is Phytomyza ranunculi, a very common leafminer on a range of Ranunculus species according to http://www.ukflymines.co.uk/Keys/RANUNCULUS.php, but they are extremely difficult to identify precisely. Perhaps it is best to stick to Phytomyza and leave it at that!

On one of the Beech leaves overhanging the path on the East side of the square walk I found some odd leaf galls that I didn't recognise. Clearly obvious white spots on the upper surface were matched by corresponding darker invaginations as seen from the underside of the light when viewed against the light. I thought these might be early stages of something and luckily when I looked them "Beech galls" on the net I found pictures by Ashley Watson on his blog http://adventuresofawildlife.com/2013/01/31/galls-on-beech/  that link these spots found at this time of year to the mature pustule galls of Hartigiola annulipes found in autumn that I am familiar with.

When a higher crop was used the white spots were seen to be surrounded by a small but presumably developing ring of hypertrophic growth, which would eventually turn into the mature conical hairy galls of late autumn. It is believed that there is only one midge larva in each gall, but I didn't see any evidence of the larvae when I looked at the undersides of the white spots myself - although I wasn't specifically searching for them - they are likely to be very small indeed at this stage.

As for other insects, it was so humid I wasn't surprised not to see any butterflies until virtually the last minute - and then I quickly picked up two Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria, and a Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, on the path back through Knight's Wood.

There were other plants around, and there was just one patch of Mouse Ear Chickweed just before the dip down at the parish boundary.

A little further on there were the first I think, (I really must check for P. anglica and its hybrids) Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) flowers growing along the east and back straight of the square path.

I think these two pictures indicate the change in colour of the flowers as they mature.

According to wikipedia the rhizomatous root is thick. It is inappropriate to be used for food due to extreme bitterness and low caloric value. It can be used as a vegetable dye to dye leather red.

The plant is particularly used in herbal medicine as an astringent because of its tannin content, which is unusually high for a herbaceous plant. This is linked to its use as a red dye, which is due to the structurally similar phlobaphene content. Phlobaphenes can be extracted from the root of the common tormentil and is known as tormentil red, alongside the triterpene alcohol tormentol. The plant has extremely low toxicity, which was studied by Sergei Shushunov and his team. The roots are a main ingredient of a bitter liqueur from Bavaria and the Black Forest area, called Blutwurz. It is also a main ingredient of anti-diarrheal preparation manufactured in the US by Lev Laboratories under the name Quicklyte.

Dene Park without a camera.

I popped up to the woods at Dene Park in the second half of the afternoon, and checked the Black Poplar in the car park and also the three Aspen trees at the junctions along the track for more Poplar Sawfly larvae and also (very hopefully) for the remnants of Hornet Moth pupae protruding from the trunk.

I was successful with finding the Sawfly larvae (Cladius [Trichiocampus] grandis), and there were at least four leaves on the Black Poplar with one to four tiny larvae chewing away at the windowpanes they had created.

I am not very hopeful that they will go to adulthood, as they are reputedly difficult to rear.  I wonder how they pupate - they are supposed to each form a chrysalis in a crack in the bark. I should at least go back to check for the "characteristic" egg scars on the petiole - they would be worth photographing! I didn't see any larvae on the Aspen leaves, but Andrew Halstead has apparently found them on Aspen at Wisley.

Note that other sawfly of the Nematus genus do attack Poplars, but in the more conventional Sawfly fashion, usually sitting on the edge of the leaves. The rarer insect I am dealing with here is sometimes called the Hairy Poplar Sawfly to help distinguish it from these other Nematus species.

I didn't find any Hornet Moth pupae, but it could have been very easy to miss them, as I have never seen them before. Of course, it may be that the insect I saw spent its larval stage elsewhere.

It was really nice to see the Lesser Spearwort  (Ranunculus flammula) flowering along the middle of the track on the far side of the "square", where the soil, and the shade, is heavier. Where it shares its ground with the Creeping Buttercup, Ranunculus repens, the difference in flower size, colour and shape is fairly obvious. I would describe the Lesser Spearwort as having smaller flowers of a slightly brighter and more acid shiny yellow, with the petals slightly more oval and more separated from each other, giving the flowers as a whole a finer and "classier" look. The sepals soon reflex, and fall early. The flower stem is said to be grooved, which I didn't pick up, but is a good character to separate even larger plants (var. major?) from R. lingua, the Greater Spearwort. In addition the flowers and the individual achenes are smaller, although there is some overlap. I also failed to notice a reputed reddish tinge to the stems, and to be honest I didn't believe this character, even when I went back to check the following day.

When I picked a shoot I hadn't realised that the plant as well as being toxic has an acrid sap that can easily damage skin! An alternative common name is apparently Banewort. It is understood to spread by runners, the stems rooting at the nodes, and that it can potentially form dense clumps,  but it has never seemed as aggressive as that to me. It has become naturalised in New Zealand.