Evarcha falcata

Sorry, I've shown these before, but I can't stop photographing them when I find them. Common on Heathland in north Notts,  about 5mm in lenght and seem to have real character,  wave your finger in front of them and they will turn and pose for the camera.  

More beauties from Gedling Pit Top

Broad Bodied Chaser, Gedling Pit Top 18th May 2014 

"Improvement" ongoing up on Gedling pit top in anticipation of it opening as a country park "AKA dogs toilet", hence another trip up to record the invertebrate fauna present before wholescale change.  Highlights included good number of the Broad Bodied Chasers, more females than males and pristine Brown Argus. In my opinion the site is ripe to be managed as a butterfly reserve, with Dingy Skipper, Common Blue and Brown Argus all on the wing this week together with Small Heath.  Non of them all that rare but nice to see them in good numbers in a habitat that could be maintained if the relevant authorities notably Gedling Borough Council were willing.

Brown Argus - Gedling Colliery 19th May 2014 

Nice large spider, the common Trochosa terricola 

Broad Bodied Chaser Gedling Pit Top 18th May 2014

Ptinus sexpunctatus an association with Anthophora plumipes?

Ptinus sexpunctatus 14/04/2014 Stoke Weir Notts. 

Decent weather once more here in Nottinghamshire so another annual pilgrimage, this time to see a rather large colony of the Hairy Footed Flower Bee, Anthophora plumipes. These bees are probably the most active bees I know, constantly on the move and very rarely settling for a rest.  The site in question is a clay bank just downstream of Stoke Weir.  Here regular falls of clay leave plenty of bare clay, an ideal substrate in which the Bees can burrow.  Also present were a good number of the Cuckoo Bee Melecta albifrons.  These regularly inspect the holes created by the hairy footed's in the hope of stealing their way in to lay their own eggs in the provisions left by their host.  The highlight was however not the bees but a tiny 3 mm beetle Ptinus sexpunctatus.  I spotted this little chap scuttling across the clay, so a licked finger and a slight press onto its body and the beetle was potted for later identification.  Ptinus sexpunctatum is normally associated with the mining bees of the genus Osmia, and to date I have not been able to find a published reference to its association with Anthophora. It is described in Joy (1932), the bible for British coleopterists, as rare, south east England.   A nice new find for me and a good start to the new season.  Also included are a few other photographs from the day, couple of decent studies of Melecta a photograph of the jumping spider Salticus scenicus and finally guess the animal the teeth are from.

Melecta albifrons Stoke Weir Notts 14th April 2014 

Melecta albifrons 14th april 2014, Stoke Weir 

Melecta albifrons Stoke Weir 14th April 2014 

Salticus scenicus with prey 14th April 2014 Stoke Weir 

Guess the animal? Skull found 14th April 2014

Vespa vulgaris awakes and a couple more early season spiders.

Vespa vulgaris Carlton, Nottinghamshire. 30th March 2014

Yesterday was a particularly nice day here in Nottinghamshire and would have been perfect for a spring walk.  Unfortunately I was on the second day of a two day trip to Birmingham Think Tank museum with 100 pupils from school.  This involves a "night at the museum" sleeping around the exhibits.  Fun for the kids but after getting into school at 7.00 am on Friday and still dealing with pupils at 01.00 am Saturday, the fun bit for me was wearing thin. However it's now Sunday and the weather although still warm is a little cloudy with only brief spells of hazy sunshine. Too knackered to go out so I pottered around in the garden.  A peak at the bee log showed no signs of emerging Bees but a fine Queen of Vespa vulgaris the common wasp.  My log has a large patch of working made by the lesser stag beetle and it was from one of these holes that the wasp was emerging.  A couple of minutes sunning itself then it was away.  Also noted on the house wall was a pretty little Thomosid spider about 3mm in size, sunning itself on the warming mortar. 

Carlton Notts, 30th March 2014. 

I wouldn't like to put a name to it as colour is not indicative of species and I didn't fancy dunking it in alcohol in order to check it to species.  A picture is included, any arachnid experts out there wish to make a more educated guess then me please feel free to let me know what you think it is.  I also attach another spider photograph this time of a male Alopecosa barbipes, a good looking spider encountered on Budby Heath a couple of weeks ago. Very pretty!

Alopecosa barbipes Budby Heath March 2014. 

Garden Spider

Didn't even have to leave the house to take this photograph of the garden spider Araneus diadematus. Opening the back door revealed this fine lady with a recently captured common wasp, Vespa vulgaris.   I find spiders quite difficult to photograph, they are deep in the body so depth of field becomes a real problem. They are surprisingly sensitive to movement and get themselves into rather boring poses that do not make interesting snaps.  However hope you like this one, most gardens should have one or two of these at the moment.  Needless to say the wasp well and truly lost, had its life sucked out of it and two days later its corpse was disentangled from the web and lying on the doorstep.  

Another Jumping Spider "Evarcha falcata" plus a couple of nice beetles, Oiceoptoma thoracicum and Rhagium bifasciatum

Evarcha falcata Sherwood Forest 26th May 2013

Two sunny days on the trot, whatever next!  I wanted to avoid bank holiday traffic so a quick trip to Sherwood Forest and Budby Heath seemed the best bet.  Once you're away from the Major Oak and visitor centre it's still quite quiet whatever time of year. Indeed even today we had the heath to oursleves. Heard a couple of cuckoo calling which was quite pleasing as my last visit to Sherwood was noticable by their absence.  However first creature of interest was the beautiful little jumping spider Evarcha falcata. Pretty common in open woodland and perfectly camouflaged on last years dried bracken. Also a little pain to photograph as it did not want to stay still.  However shot shown shows side profile, and posterior eyes rather then those big anterior eyes so noticeable on jumping spiders.   

Rhagium bifasciatum 26th May 2013

In my opinion one of the commonest longhorn beetles of Sherwood is the impressive Rhagium bifasciatum.  This beast is pretty common in spring wherever there is dead or dying Scots Pine.  This specimen was found by peeling a little bit of bark away from a well rotten and fallen pine on which another specimen was resting. Looks like this one was ready to emerge at any moment.   

Oiceoptoma thoracicum - Wellow wood Notts. 26th 2013

Also found the very distinctive Silphid carrion beetle Oiceoptoma thoracicum, unlikely to be confused with any other UK beetle. This was a single chap attracted to a pile of Dog faeces at Wellow wood to the east of Sherwood.  I once found about 30-40 of these beetles on a dead crow at Lathkill Dale Derbyshire (there is a picture on my flickr site of a pair copulating on the bird) and have also encountered them on stinkhorn fungus. Wellow wood is well worth a visit. I went to look at a rather large patch of Early Purple Orchid. These were nicely in flower but the site has already become a little to shady to allow for a good photograph.   


I also attach a photograph of a group of English Longhorn cattle on the Heath.  These lot were all particularly young and the middle one was doing a good bit of foot-stomping.  Now I'm not usually phased by these beasts but this group of young lads seemed to be behaving with a little more belligerence than normal.  So, I chickened out and hopped over the fence to avoid confrontation. Finally I see that BBC springwatch is back on the television, if ever a program brings out the cynic in me its got to be this one.  I'm not sure if I can take another owl eating its brother or sister or infra-red badgers doing very little apart from scratching their nether regions. Any rutting stags being filmed? Or am I confusing this with the similar fayre shown in the autumn. 

posse, gang, angry herd, these youngsters were a little too inquisitive for my liking. 

    

Green Winged Orchid, Sawflies and yet another Salticus.

It's not very often that I can say "I'd rather have been at work than out and about" but Friday was that sort of day.  How things can change in the UK. Today Saturday, not too hot but plenty warm enough for a bit of arthropod action.  However main quest of the day, off to Woolsthorpe in the Vale of Belvoir to take a look at the Green Winged Orchids (Anacamptis morio). Not a lot to say really, a herb rich meadow with lots of nice flowers of which the orchids are probably the star attraction. However as usual the flowers had to wait, one of the old wooden  gates leading into the field held a very healthy population of my Favourites "jumping spiders".  It's the eyes that do it for me, it makes them look rather intelligent and the fact that their other six eyes gives them 360 degree vision means they pretty much know your getting close and want to photograph them. However hope you like the pics, one eating a small hoverfly and one hiding in the mark left by a hammered nail. Also photographed is a not too common Sawfly, I think it's Tenthredo temula, but again as with all my sawfly determinations if someone knows better please let me know.  Found the Sawfly feeding on Cow Parsley "Anthicus sylvestris" but I observed it successfully ambush and devour a dipteran fly. On a non natural history not I also attach a "macro" photograph of Phantom of the Ruhr", or sometimes named "City of Lincoln" our last airworthy Avro Lancaster.

Salticus with Hoverfly meal, Woolsthorpe Leicestershire 25 May 2013 

Salticus at Home. 

Tenthredo temula, Woolsthorpe Leicestershire 25th May 2013

Lancaster and fighter escort Vale of Belvoir 25th May 2013 

Another Jumping spider on my wall, "Siticus pubescens"

Jumping Spider, Siticus pubescens - Carlton wall 07/05/2013

After returning from work I popped out the back to take in my Mason Bee colony.  The males are still making life a little uncomfortable for the females to the point whre the females have moved on to an overflow set of bamboo tubes I bought from, of all places, Morrisons.  However once the males have died off I expect the females to move back onto my log especially as I will clear the debris from a few of the vacated holes.  It is also noticeable that I have several holes still blocked by mud. I'm not sure whether these are late to emerge are dead due to the harsh winter or contain parasitic wasps. I'll wait and see on this one.
  
Anyway enough of bees.  When looking at the bees my attention was drawn to the chap in the photograph. He had taken up position behind my bee log in a little gap between the wall and the log.  He seemed quite happy with a small shaft of sunlight illuminating him nicely.  A rush inside for the camera and what you see is the best of some rather average shots, I think that there was not enough natural light, but it still gives a pleasing effect, give the picture a double click and you can see it a little more clearly. 

Siticus pubescens is a rather nice hairy jumping spider, slightly larger than my other wall dweller Salticus scenicus. Described as common and living on walls and fence posts. I have them on both wall and fence in my suburban  garden.  Still haven't got the extension tubes, but have spent a fair bit on 3 books on British spiders, an EBAY bargain!  

Salticus scenicus and why I need extension tubes.

Salticus scenicus, house wall Sunday 28th April 2013.

Scalticus scenicus better known as the Zebra spider or jumping spider is a common site on most house walls in the spring and summer.  3-4mm in length I find their silken nests in the smallest 4mm holes drilled in my bee log.  However I have always have difficulty photographing them.  They are pretty active, don't stay still for very long and are quite small.  That added to the fact that my macro lens has a depth of field of about 1mm at such short distances leads to photographs that are not as pleasing as I would like.  Indeed, a modern Point and shoot camera with a good macro button may well take a better image than my bit of expensive kit. However I want to get a bit closer and get their eyes in focus, it makes for a colourful and interesting shot.  So, I'm going to try and get closer extension tubes are to be ordered. Theses will not give me any greater depth of field but I should be able to get a lot closer to my quarry. Watch this space.