earwigs

12 September 2013

Earwigs

 
Today I have learnt that you can tell a mummy or daddy earwig by the shape of its pinchers. A mummy has straight pinchers and a daddy has curved pinchers.  Yesterday I found a daddy earwig when I was shaking the bushes.  Thank you to Colin at http://florafaunauk.blogspot.co.uk for encouraging me to look up and learn about this and also for the lovely post written just for me about someone who also likes to find things, just like me, take a look at this:

http://florafaunauk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/finding-things-toads-woodpeckers-mice.html

Did you also know that you can also tell a mummy or daddy cranefly by the shape of its bottom?!! ha ha isn't that really funny!

Finding life inside the bushes......

10th September 2013

Finding life inside the bushes......

When I got home from school I had a lot of fun hitting the bushes with a big stick and shaking the branches to see what bugs would fall out.  When I shook one bush, mummy was standing under it and got a big bramble stuck in her hair and couldn't get it out, she couldn't move for ages!

I was very surprised to find woodlice dropping from the big bushes as I thought that they were only on the ground. I also found a ladybird, ear wigs, tiny flies and lots of different types of spiders, many which I have not see before. I didn't find any moths, where do the moths live? my hair now feels itchy.

me - I think I need a bath!

Earwig

Ladybird and spider

Metellina Segmentata Spiders

Devils Coach-horse (Staphylinua Olens)

7th September 2013

Devils Coach-horse (Staphylinua Olens)

I found a devils coach horse. It feeds on slugs. It is awake at night.It was in my front garden under a big black cover and eating a slug. It looked scary and was doing a frightening dance, lifting up its bottom and pointing it at me and snapping its jaws together.  It didn't even try to run away but stayed as if to attack me.  I didn't dare to pick it up as it looked like it would bite me. 

 

The Devils Coach-Horse is the largest Rove Beetle.

QUOTE: "It is active at night, hunting invertebrates which are seized and eaten with the large jaws.  It can give humans a painful but harmless nip.  When disturbed it performs a threat display with its abdomen curved upwards, tail high and jaws open wide and snapped together - at the same time, the end of the abdomen emits a secretion that gives off an unpleasant smell - scorpion like'  (RSPB Garden Wildlife, Peter Holden & Geoffrey Abbott)

Can you see the bits of slug stuck to the Devil Coach-horses feet and mouth?!  What a horrible insect!

Threating dance moves (coach-horse sitting on a piece of paper for photo)

This photo was taken when the devils coach-horse finally decided to stop dancing and run away!!

The slug was very big, it was almost as long as my hand.

Rhydymwyn Valley Nature Reserve

1 September 2013 -  Rhydymwyn Valley Nature Reserve

I was very excited to go to the nature reserve as it is not normally open to the public.  The reserve was used in WW2 to make mustard gas.  I saw a lot of old buildings.

Slow Worm and Grass Snake
There are three types of reptiles at the reserve - grass snakes, slow worms and a common lizard.

We looked for a grass snake and a slow worm under things but we didn't find one. We had to get in the car lots of times and drive to different areas within the nature reserve as it was very big.

I saw a grass snake and held a slow worm when we got back to the centre. The slow worm pooed on mummy's hand ha ha! It was sheding it's skin all over me. It felt wet.

A slow worm

A grass snake

A Common Lizard

We found this common lizard in the grass when we were walking in the grass. It moved very, very quickly so we put it in a box to take a photo.  I loved seeing the lizard.  It looked a bit like the newt which we caught in our garden, but the lizard was longer and moved fast.

Marbled Beauty (Cryphia domestica)

Moths

Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) & Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua janthe)

Large Yellow Underwing

Canary Shouldered Thorn (Ennomos alniaria)

I couldn't I I couldn't believe the number of moths which were caught overnight.  There were so many.  It was funny when the moths decided to crawl up my legs! Most of the moths were dark colours but some were yellow and white.  I like the yellow one the best, it was very pretty and had a fluffy head.  

Centre-barred Sallow

 

1764 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)

Sallow (Xanthia icteritia)

garden hunt

30 August 2013

I have been busy looking for bugs in my garden today.  I turned over stones and pots and dug in the soil.  I found lots of different bugs. I found two black beetles under a stone. They ran very fast so I put them in my pot. They had stripes on their backs and shiny heads. I also found a green larva in the soil, I don't know what it will turn into.

Pterostichus Niger - Large Black Ground Beetle & Small Green Larva

A Long Centipede which wriggled like a snake

I found a very very long centipede in the damp soil by a big tree. It was light yellow in colour and had little legs, it moved along like a snake.  I also found a funny looking millipede with lots of spiky striped legs, I don't know what type of millipede it is. It didn't move very fast and was happy staying still on my arm for a photo.

 

Nettle-Tap Moth Larva - (The nettle tap moth flies in the day time) - The larvae make 'tents' in the nettle leaves

When I looked closely at the nettle leaves I could see lots of white web like things, inside each web was a caterpillar which had spots.  The caterpillars had been eating the nettles and doing little black poos! ha ha!

Seven Spotted Ladybird  

I liked this ladybird it was very cute.

White legged snake millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger)

28 August 2013 

I went bug hunting in Moel Fammau. I found a millipede hiding in an old stone wall.  It had lots of white legs and a black shiny body.  It was a funny thing as when I picked it up, it spun around and around very fast in circles and then rolled up into a ball with its legs on the inside and head in the middle.  I also found a small box of treasure in the stone wall that was really exciting. In the box was a balloon, a toy dinosaur, a necklace, a pen, paper and a gift card.  I left the treasure in the wall for someone else to find.

The millipede was hiding in this stone wall.

Fungi

Finding Fungi

23rd August 2013

I found this in my garden growing in the grass

Fungi

I have found lots of different types of fungi which all look very different - different colours, shapes and sizes. I found them growing in lots of places - on the floor in the woods, on fallen branches and dead wood, by the side of a path, in the middle of the grass. They are all poisonous. I think Fungi look nice. I will keep looking for more.

I found this on the ground in Moel Fammau Woods

This was on the ground in Moel Fammau Woods

This was growing on a tree

I found this growing in the woods in my garden on a fallen branch

(Auricularia auricula-judae)

 

 

This was growing on some old rotting wood in my garden

This was growing in the grass in my garden

COMMON TOAD

18 August 2013

I FOUND A TOAD!

Do you like my toad? It was bumpy and it was crawling instead of hopping like a frog. I found it in the grass. I think the toad is lovely. It didn't turn into a prince when I kissed it... ha ha! I wonder what I am going to find next. It is exciting finding things. I am learning a lot.

A common toad is warty, has a big bump behind eye and crawls / walks along. 

LIFE IN THE SAND DUNES AT TALACRE BEACH

15 August 2013

Finding Life in the Sand Dunes..............  

At Talacre Beach

Today I have been to the beach. I found a grass hopper. I liked it and it jumped up my arm.I found a cocoon as well. I found it in the sand dunes. The cocoon was on one of the long grass. I liked the cocoon so much. I wish that I could see it again.  The caterpillars eat the ragwort plant, it has poison in it, the poison is stored in the caterpillars body. The stripes warn birds not to eat it. I found lots of insects at the beach when I did not think I would find any. 

Burnet moth cocoon (Zygaena spp.)

CINNABAR MOTH CATERPILLAR

http://www.buglife.org.uk/discoverbugs/bugofthemonth/Cinnabar+moth

Quote from Buglife.org.uk:

"The caterpillars feed on poisonous ragwort leaves. The poison from the leaves is stored in the caterpillars body (and even remains when they are an adult moth). Any birds or other predators that ignore the caterpillars bright warning sign will be repulsed by how foul they taste.
Numerous caterpillars on one ragwort plant can reduced it to a bare stem very quickly. They are also known to be cannibalistic.

The caterpillars overwinter as pupa in a cocoon under the ground. The adult moths emerge around mid May and are on the wing up until early August, during which time males and females will mate and eggs are laid"

GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY SITTING ON SEA HOLLY

Dolycoris baccarum -  Hairy Shieldbug

(Otherwise known as a 'Stink Bug' as it can produce a powerful defensive odour)

COMMON BLUE BUTTERFLY ON SEA HOLLY

A STENOTUS BINOTATUS
Family: Miridae - PLANT BUG

  A STENOTUS BINOTATUS
Family: Miridae - PLANT BUG

Grasshopper

Grasshopper

Bee

WHAT IS THIS?!

Evening Primrose