Smokin'

Common Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis)

Along one edge of our property, we have the remnants of a huge pile of woodchips left after a long row of Leylandii cypress trees were felled some years ago (before we lived here). When we rented the place, back before we stumped up the cash to buy it, our landlord repeatedly promised to remove said chips, but he never quite got around to it. As a result, this has remained one of the wilder corners of the garden, covered with a burgeoning jungle of thistles, nettles, dock plants, and a few scattered flowering gems. Among the latter is a sizeable colony of Common Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), which is slowly expanding along a bank of nettle. It's a common annual weed of disturbed and cultivated ground across Britain, flowering from April to October. In fact, it's the most common fumitory in all of central and western Europe! It has also naturalised itself across parts of North America, escaping from garden plantings. Perhaps surprisingly, it's not a true British native; it's thought to have been brought to the islands by Neolithic settlers. It has been used as a medicinal plant since antiquity, used to treat everything from digestive issues and conjunctivitis to arthritis and skin blemishes. It's actually a member of the poppy family, despite its very different appearance. The name fumitory refers to the supposedly "smoky" appearance of either the flowers or the foliage, depending on which source you believe. Neither looks particularly smoky to me, but other species have greyer foliage and much paler flowers, so perhaps the group is named for them instead.

Longhorn moth

Meadow Long-horn (Cauchas rufimitrella)

While poking around in the garden yesterday afternoon, I spotted several small insects with huge long antennae flitting around above one of the flowerbeds. It took a while before I finally found one that settled long enough for me to get a look, let alone a photograph. Eventually, though, I found a few on some Field Forget-me-not. Unfortunately, they never really sat still, which is why the photo above is ever-so-slightly blurry. It turns out they're tiny day-flying moths, known as Meadow Long-horns (Cauchas rufimitrella). Measuring less than 6 mm (i.e. topping out at less than 1/4-inch), they'd be easy to overlook if it wasn't for those eye-catching antennae. Those are more than twice the length of the moth's forewing! The forewing itself is a flashy, metallic greenish-gold, and the moth's fuzzy black head often (as above) shows a patch of red or purple on the nape. Adults fly in May and June, particularly on sunny days, in areas of damp grassland (like our garden after all the recent rains) and moss. According to the Field Guide to the Micromoths of Great Britain and Ireland, they're local across much of England and Wales, and even scarcer in Scotland and Ireland. The larval food plants are Garlic Mustard and Cuckooflower, both of which we have in the garden, so it's a little surprising we haven't seen these moths before. It's another new one for the list!

14 spots

Fourteen-spot Ladybird (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata)

Right now, our garden is crawling with ladybirds. Most are the ubiquitous Seven-spot Ladybirds, but every now and then we find something different – like this one. This small beetle is a Fourteen-spot Ladybird (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata). Though it's black and yellow like the Twentytwo-spot Ladybird, it has distinctively square spots, which sometimes merge to form a checked pattern. The bold colours warn potential predators that they'll get a nasty-tasting, bitter mouthful. It's a small insect, measuring only 4-5 mm (less than 1/4-inch) in length. Despite that, it's a fierce predator, both as a larva and as an adult, gobbling up aphids as fast as it can find them. It also eats other small insects, as well as the eggs of various beetles, moths and butterflies. It's the most common black and yellow ladybird in the UK, and is widespread in England and Wales (less so in Scotland and Northern Ireland) in grassland, woodland and gardens. Elsewhere, it's found across Europe, North Africa and most of Asia, as far north as the Arctic Circle. We're just starting to see them now, months after we spotted our first Seven-spots. That's because this species has a much longer hibernation period (smart cookies!), only emerging in May to breed. Females lay some 400 eggs in batches of up to 15. These hatch within 12 days, and the larvae quickly develop after that. Adults are typically seen from May to August – a much shorter time than Seven-spots. By September, they're into hibernation, ready to snooze away the winter.

Speedwell redux

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)

This is certainly the right time of year to think about studying speedwells! We have a plethora of them blooming in the garden at the moment, including hundreds of little Germander Speedwell plants (Veronica chamaedrys) sprinkled among the grasses in the pocket meadow. The bright blue flowers appear from March through August, and are widespread throughout the UK. That white centre to the bloom is distinctive, and gives the plant some of its other common names, including Cat's-eye and Bird's-eye. The flower is bigger than those of the other speedwells I've profiled so far (Thyme-leaved Speedwell and Ivy-leaved Speedwell), measuring a whopping 9-10 cm across (about half an inch). They grow in spikes, like the one visible behind the central flower in the picture above, with the blossoms slowly fading to purple as they age. The plants are perennial, growing in grassland (including lawns), woodland and along roadsides. They were long considered to be a good luck charm for travelers – said to help you "speed well" – possibly because they formed large clumps along the grassy edges of highways and byways. The Irish even sewed them into clothes, reputedly to protect against accidents! The flowers are important sources of nectar for solitary bees, so are certainly welcome in our garden.

How could we even dream of mowing this?!

Speedwell no. 2

Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica seryllifolia)

Right now, the low(ish) turf in the back garden is a carpet of little Thyme-leaved Speedwell blossoms. The white flowers with their lilac veins stand atop upright stems, but they're only 10 cm (3–4 inches), so they wink among the equally tall grass. Rumour has it that the plant can reach 25 cm (about 10 inches) tall; presumably ours don't only because the grass gets cut occasionally. The flowers themselves are tiny, only measuring 6 mm (less than a quarter inch). This native perennial is widespread right across the UK, and is equally common elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. It's also been widely introduced elsewhere, and is now found on every continent except Antarctica. It generally prefers in grassy or disturbed places and is particularly common in lawns, churchyards,  and forest rides, but is also found on lakeshores and scree slopes. It forms creeping mats, flowering from March until October, so we'll have plenty of time to enjoy them.

Quack

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)

When we lost several of our trees to the big windstorm last autumn, Mike took the opportunity to finally put in the pond he's been talking about for years. It's a reasonably big one, particularly considering that he dug it out by hand – it's roughly 7ft x 10ft (2m x 3.5m) and ranges in depth from a few inches to nearly two feet. The water has already attracted plenty of wildlife, most of it small and six-legged. Yesterday, it attracted something considerably larger: when we went out before supper to do some path mowing, we found a pair of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) sizing up the scenery. Apparently they liked what they saw. After a bit of preening and splashing around, they waddled around the garden checking out various flower beds and corners. Eventually, Mrs. Mallard took a snooze right in the middle of one of the paths, while her mate stood wary guard. They even hung around while Mike mowed along the other side of the garden, shuffling a few feet at a time as he edged closer. They really didn't want to leave, but finally had enough of the noisy machine. We can't decide whether or not to hope they'll be back. We'd love it if they gobbled up some of the burgeoning algal mat, but we're worried they might munch our trio of Smooth Newts as well.

Mallards are probably among the UK's best-known birds, and certainly the most widely-known of the ducks. They're pretty much ubiquitous across the islands, found in ponds, lakes, broads, quags and puddles everywhere but Scotland's highest peaks. They pair up in late autumn, staying together until the female has laid her eggs. This she does sometime between mid-March and the end of July, laying one egg every other day until she has her full clutch of roughly 12. In total, they'll weigh almost half as much as she does! Well before the young have hatched, the male will go off to moult, leaving the female to raise the ducklings on her own. She too will moult as she raises her brood, losing her ability to fly for a few weeks as she does so. Maybe we'll see them again in the garden before that happens.

Crane's-bill

Dove's-foot Crane's-bill (Geranium molle)

Right now, parts of the back garden are covered with a carpet of little pink flowers surrounded by their (only slightly larger) plate-like leaves. They're the cheery blossoms of Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, one of Britain's native Geraniums. As you can see in the picture above, it's a rather hairy plant, wearing a thick, bristly coat on leaves and stems. It's named for its pointy-tipped fruits, which resemble the long, sharp beaks of cranes; these spray their seeds explosively in all directions when they're ripe. The flowers measure a mere 6–10 cm (roughly 1/4 to 1/2 inch) across. The notched petals are typically this lovely pink, though occasionally you can find a more washed-out version. The leaves are roundish, with 7–9 broad lobes. Though more common in the south, it's found right across the whole of the UK, except for Scotland's highest peaks. It's often found in cultivated areas, short grass communities and "waste places" (a joke between Mike and me, because when we met, my garden was full of what my wildflower field guide labelled "weeds of waste places"). Given that they flower from April through September, we should be enjoying their splashes of colour for months to come.

Fear no weevil

Liophloeus tessulatus

While rummaging in a flowerbed this afternoon, trying to remove some of the innumerable Ground Elder plants that are running amok, I pulled my hand out and found this little creature sitting on my thumb. It's a weevil – a surprisingly big weevil known as Liophloeus tessulatus. They're typically buff or pale brown, and often speckled, like this one is, and can be as long as 10 cm (about half an inch), which is sizeable for a weevil. When I put it back on the ground, it ambled off slowly and deliberately. Since then, I've learned that they're flightless; their tiny wings are only rudimentary. Despite this, they've managed to spread across much of the UK (though they're scarcer in Scotland), and are found from lowland meadows to mountaintops. They're likewise common across much of Europe, right up to southern Scandinavia. Like all weevils, Liophloeus tessulatus is a plant-eater. Favourite foods include Creeping Thistle, Common Nettle, Cow Parsley, Hogweed, Ivy, and Colt's-foot, all of which we have in abundance in the garden. Adults are found from spring through autumn. Females will be laying their eggs on the underside of leaves from for the next month or so. The larvae will hatch a couple of weeks later and drop to the ground, burrowing into the soil to munch on roots and rhizomes until next spring. Given that they're nocturnal, I guess I was lucky to have disturbed it. Though they're undoubtedly common here (given the perfect buffet we're providing) this is the first time we've seen one; it's a new addition to the list!