Bindweed

Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)

We haven't yet tackled the "weeds" growing at one end of the bank that runs along an edge of our property. At this time of year, the twining tendrils and lovely pink flowers of Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) crisscross the lush mound. They coil their way through the grasses and docks and Mugwort, occasionally even stretching up into the lowest branches of a few of the nearby shrubs, decorating them all with a plethora of small, sweetly-smelling blossoms. Insects – particularly hoverflies – absolutely love them. The delicate pink and/or white flowers generally appear from June through August. While this scrambling perennial can sometimes be a bit of an invasive problem (particularly outside of its native range in Europe and Asia), we're not having problems with it here. Though generally most common on waste ground, rough grassland, scrub and disturbed areas (such as roadsides), it can sometimes be problematic in agricultural fields. It's widespread throughout much of the UK, though much less common in northern Scotland. Its seeds can number more than 500 per plant and can survive for upwards of 20 years! The plants put down very deep roots – up to 9 feet (nearly 3 metres), and exceptionally up to 30 feet (9+ metres) deep, which makes them very difficult to remove. I guess it's a good thing they haven't gotten out of control (yet anyway) in our garden.

Swallows

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

If one swallow doesn't make a summer, how about two or three or four? This pair of Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) youngsters spent some time resting on our phone wire on a recent afternoon, keeping a watchful eye on mum and dad (and the occasional passing Herring Gull) and vigorously preening. It's a popular wire with swallows; they often rest there. Sadly, they haven't yet nested in the garden, despite the platform installed especially for them. Our garden provides plenty of tasty little morsels though, so we regularly see them over the property. Swallows are summer visitors to the British Isles, arriving as early as March (though more often April) and leaving as late as October. They are the world's most widespread swallow, found for at least part of the year on every continent except Antarctica. In the UK, it occurs everywhere except the Scottish highlands. Their long tail streamers (shorter on youngsters) and rusty-orange throats help to distinguish them from other hirundines in the UK.

Swallow numbers can vary considerably from year to year. Cold, wet springs, like the one we had this year, can cause insect populations to collapse, which leads to a lack of food for both adults and nestlings. The RSPB says climate change is causing serious food and water problems on Barn Swallow wintering grounds and migration routes as well, with birds often returning to their breeding grounds in poor condition. Many are laying fewer eggs than they used to. Most European birds cross the Sahara to reach their wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa, and that desert grows larger every year. This makes it increasingly difficult for the birds to successfully cross it. Fingers crossed these two and their parents make it back next summer!

Slugger

Green Cellar Slug (Limacus maculatus)

When I went out into a gently misting evening last weekend, I spied this 3-inch (7.5 cm) long slug making its way up the wall beside the garage door. Its overall speckled pattern caught my eye. Back inside, I checked our copy of Slugs of Britain and Ireland (yep, we're nerds). Intriguingly, the only one that looked right showed a map with no occurence anywhere near East Anglia. This immediately interested Mike, who went out to retrieve it for a closer look. In the light of the kitchen, we confirmed its identity: it's a Green Cellar Slug (Limacus maculatus), also known as Irish Yellow Slug. Though initially known only from Ireland, this species is rapidly expanding its range, and is now common and widespread across much of Great Britain. It is thought to have been a relatively recent introduction from southeastern Europe; its native range stretches from western Russia through Romania and Bulgaria to Turkey. The heavy blotching on its mantle and tail, the coarseness of its tubercules (the small, closely-packed protuberances covering its body) and its blue-grey tentacles (its eyestalks and feelers) help to identify it. It feeds on algae, mould and lichens, (particularly those on walls) as well as on decaying plant material, and is regularly found in compost bins. Like all slugs, it prefers moist areas, such as under stones and logs; however, it also regularly occurs in buildings. It can be found at any time of the year, so undoubtedly – now that we know where it lives and how to identify it – we'll be seeing it again.

Red-tail

Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) on Creeping Thistle

Once we get past the occasionally chilly days of earliest spring, one of our commonest garden visitors is the industrious Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). They're still going strong now, long after many of the other bumblebee species have disappeared for the year. This is one of the easiest British bumblebees to identify; the red backside on an otherwise black bumble is distinctive. Female workers and queens show this pattern, while males also sport yellow hairs on their faces and a golden band across the front, and sometimes the rear, of their thorax (the part of their body where their wings attach). Queens measure nearly an inch long (20-22 mm), while smaller workers may be little bigger than a house fly. The colour of the hairs on their pollen baskets (structures on their hind legs) distinguish them from several rarer relatives. This is one of the UK's "Big 7" – among its most common bumblebees. It occurs in a wide range of habitats right across Britain, and continues to expand northwards in Scotland. Like many bumblebees, these nest underground, often in abandoned rodent burrows or under slabs, stone walls or rocks. A typical colony holds 100-200 workers. As with all bees, they feed on nectar and pollen. They are important pollinators, visiting a wide variety of plants up to a mile (1750 m) from their nest and continuing to feed at higher temperatures than many other bumblebee species. They fly from April through November, so will continue to entertain us for some time yet.

Check out those packed pollen baskets (the yellow blobs)! And you can see her busy tongue here too.

Medic(k)

Black Medick (Medicago lupulina)

As this summer has progressed, we've discovered lots of Black Medick (Medicago lupulina) growing along the paths at the bottom of the garden. This low-growing annual (occasionally a short-lived perennial) prefers sunny locations and low-mown or grazed areas. It's widespread across the UK, and across much of Europe and Asia as well. Our walkways are the only bits of the garden that really suit it; the grass is just too tall elsewhere. The species is part of the pea family, so its yellow flowers have the classic pea flower shape – just on a miniscule scale.  The yellow flowers measure a mere 2-3 mm (about 1/8 of an inch)! They're clustered in eye-catching balls of several dozen blossoms, nicely framed by trefoil leaves that have a distinct point at the tip. As they develop, the plant's circular seeds change from green to black. Black Medick typically flowers from mid-spring through mid-summer, but like everything else, it seems to be running late this year; we're still seeing plenty of flowers even though we've now reached "late summer". The plant has been used since the 15th century as a low-grade forage crop on drier soils. Members of the pea family are famous for their ability to fix nitrogen (pulling it from the air and adding it, eventually, to the soil), which is helpful to other plants as well. That said, we probably get so much fertilizer drift from the surrounding farm fields that nitrogen fixing isn't really needed here! The flowers attract a variety of insects, including bees, day-flying moths and butterflies, which make them a welcome addition to the garden. 

Two hundred

Believe it or not, this marks the blog's 200th post. A lot has changed on the property since we started the project just over three years ago. The garden had been neglected for many years, and was little more than a few scattered trees and some overgrown shrubs (none particularly good for wildlife) with a scruffy lawn and a giant pile of woodchips left from a recently-removed Leylandii hedge. Here was the first bed we planted, the first year we lived here. We'd had to whack back a lot of very vigorous Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major) before we started.

And here's that same bed today, though from somewhat a different angle; needless to say, things have filled in a bit! The number of pollinators we get these days can be truly awe-inspiring. Mike counted 25 Peacocks on one Buddleia bush the other day (53 in the whole garden), for example. Our Elegant Deutzia (Deutzia x elegantissima) hosts hundreds of bumblebees at a time when it's flowering, and we regularly see uncountable swarms of hoverflies.

Mike's been hard at work establishing new beds as well, and they've come along leaps and bounds this year. These are on the shadier side of the garden and contain plants that can tolerate a bit less sun. The Common Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) were particularly spectacular this year.

And of course, this year we finally added the longed-for pond, which has brought a whole host of new additions to the garden. As the movie tagline says "If you build it, they will come!" Among our favourites have been the plethora of dragonflies and damselflies that have chosen to lay their eggs here, and the baby Smooth Newts slowly growing to adulthood among the water plants.

We're creeping up on 1200 identified species for the property, with plenty of photographed 'mystery guests' still to puzzle out. We've even started to tackle some of the trickier groups, like aphids and woodlice. We hope you'll continue to share the journey with us. As I said in our 100th post, there's still plenty more to discover out there!

Investigator

Banded Sexton Beetle (Nicrophorus investigator)

When we run our moth trap (which we've hardly done at all this year), we regularly catch a few of these big, brightly-coloured beetles over the course of the season. But this is the first time I've ever found one out "in the wild" rather than caught in the trap. It's a Banded Sexton Beetle (Nicrophorus investigator), one of Europe's so-called "burying beetles", and it was clambering around on a Common Ragwort plant in broad daylight. That's pretty unusual for this typically nocturnal insect. It looks very similar to several other species found in the UK. The small break in the red band closer to its back end is an important ID feature, as are the dark red-orange tips to its antennae. It lacks hairs on its thorax (the part of the insect right behind its head), and the tibia of its back legs are straight rather than curved – two additional features that help to distinguish it from other burying beetles. And they're amazingly stinky; we can always tell as soon as we've opened the moth trap whether we're going to find one of these beetles roaming among the egg boxes.

Like other burying beetles, this one feeds on the rotting carcasses of small animals, which it can reportedly smell from up to two miles away. Pairs of the beetles work together to bury a carcass. First, they strip all the fur or feathers off the corpse, smearing it with a secretion that kills both bacteria and fungi. They then use their heads to push the soil out from under the carcass, while simultaneously fending off rival pairs, eventually burying it as much as 8 or 9 inches (20 to 22 cm) underground. The female lays her eggs in the corpse's rotting flesh, and the larvae, which hatch within days, feast on that banquet as they grow – but only after it's been "pre-processed" by their parents. Beetles in the genus Nicrophorus are among the very few insects with parental care. The pair hang around and feed on the carrion, regurgitating a digested liquid for their larvae, which use specific postures to beg for food. This diet apparently helps to speed up their development. Tha adults also protect their offspring from potential rivals and parasites, such as fly larvae. The offspring pupate in the soil near the carcass overwinter, emerging as adults in the spring. This is a common and widespread species across the UK, found in a wide variety of habitats. While adults can be found year-round, they are most common between May and September.

Faker

Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis)

While wandering around the garden the other evening, I found a big hoverfly climbing over the Common Marjoram (Origanum vulgare). Though it was nearly the size of the Hornet Mimic Hoverfly I profiled a few months ago, this one was clearly different, with much more yellow on its distinctively broad abdomen, and a dark brown, rather than chestnut-coloured, thorax (the part of the insect just behind its head). It's a Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis), another of the UK's larger hoverflies. What looks an out-of-focus photo artefact around its eyes is actually a thick coating of hairs on its eyeballs – and how it can see through such a thicket is beyond me! It also has plumose antennae, which is a fancy way of saying they're branched like feathers rather than hairlike or paddle-shaped, like those of most hoverflies.

Like its larger cousin, the hoverfly mimics a wasp in an attempt to deter predators that might be put off by the possibility of getting stung. From its former stronghold in southern England (particularly around London), it has expanded its range across much of the country in the last 30 years, now reaching as far north as Yorkshire and beginning to edge into Wales. Despite the expansion, however, it's still listed as "infrequent and local" outside of the London area. Like all hoverflies, the adults are nectar feeders. The larvae, however, are predatory; the female lays her eggs in a wasp or hornet nest, and the hatched larvae feed on the wasp or hornet grubs. Adults fly from June to September, but are most common in early August. They're typically found in gardens and along roadside and hedgerows. Elsewhere, they're found across southern Europe and northern Africa.

Thunder thighs #2

Thick-legged Hoverfly (Syritta pipiens)

We've been struck this summer by the relatively low number of insects in the garden compared to years past. Hoverflies in particular are notable by their absence, with only a fraction of the hordes we saw last summer. Despite that, I'm still racking up new species. The Thick-legged Hoverfly (Syritta pipiens) is one that Mike spotted last year but I managed to miss. This slim little nectar feeder is one of the smaller hoverfly species, measuring only 4 to 7 mm (about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch) in length. Those bulging hind femora – its "thighs" – are distinctive. The combination of its hefty femora and the dusty grey sides to its thorax (the part of the fly right behind its head) are diagnostic; no other British hoverfly shares those two characteristics. It's a common and widespread hoverfly, found right across the UK, though missing from the highest and most exposed locations. Larvae develop in damp, rotting compost, silage and manure. Adults fly primarily in the late summer and into the autumn, with numbers sometimes augmented by arrivals from the continent. They feed on many different flowers, and can be abundant on Common Ivy (Hedera helix). We'll have to keep an eye on our small ivy patch this autumn to see if they're still around then. Britain's Hoverflies says the males can be quite territorial, facing off and shoving each other back and forth until one finally gives up. That could be amusing to watch!

Hummingbird

Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum)

Every now and then, some clueless but well-meaning Brit breathlessly announces on social media that they have a hummingbird in their garden. This is impossible, of course, since hummingbirds are restricted to the Americas. But they're half right. What they're actually seeing is a moth – a Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum) to be precise, and we had just such a visitor last week. Judging from the wear and tear it showed, it must have had a rather arduous journey to get here. In most of the UK, Hummingbird Hawkmoths are immigrants. Though they are known to overwinter in small numbers in south-western England (and are suspected of possibly breeding there as well), those seen over most of the UK have come from southern Europe and northern Africa – a pretty impressive feat for such a small creature! Despite its battered appearance, it still zoomed around the garden without a problem. Unlike most moths, this is a daytime flier; it flits from tubular flower to tubular flower,  hovering over them and unrolling its long proboscis to get a sip of nectar. Its orangy-brown hindwings, visible as the peach-coloured blur in the picture above, help to distinguish it from two species of similarly-sized (and equally zippy) day-flying "bee hawkmoths", which have clear wings. These travellers show up from April through December, though most arrive in August and September. They can show up anywhere, from the coast to urban gardens, and from the Channel Islands right to the northern edge of Scotland. Some years, more than 1000 make the journey! Our visitor only stayed one afternoon, but it was nice to know that our garden helped "top it up" after its long trip.

Pimpernel

Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagalis arvensis)

They seek him here

They seek him there

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere

Is he in heaven or in hell

The demned elusive Pimpernel

Once upon a time, while reading The Scarlet Pimpernel as a youngster in America, I dreamed of seeing the namesake plant that the hero wore as his identifying badge while rescuing people from the French Revolution. Fast forward more decades than I care to admit, and my wish was granted. Not only that, but now we even have it growing wild in the garden! This annual arable weed, which blooms from May through October, was once common in fields of cereal crops. Unfortunately, it has declined significantly due to intensive farming practices, including the heavy use of herbicides. However, it's still common and widespread across much of the UK, particularly south of the Scottish border. It occurs around the margins of farm fields, along roadways and cliff edges, on chalk downlands and waste ground, and in gardens. Though generally a low, sprawling plant with trailing stems, it can grow up to 30 cm (about a foot) high. As its common name suggests, its five-petalled flowers are usually red, but the occasional plant has blue flowers instead. They open around 8 a.m. and typically close by around 3 p.m., a habit which has led to one of the plant's many folk names: Shepherd's Clock. It also closes its flowers on overcast days, leading to other folk names: Shepherd's Weatherglass and Old Man's Weathervane. The leaves are oval and stalkless. Originally found across Europe, this little plant has now been spread around much of the world, both intentionally as an ornamental and unintentionally as a minor arable weed. It is still used medicinally in India, as it once was in Europe, and is still sometimes eaten in salads.

Essex

Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)

Now that we're finally into "summer proper", with temperatures regularly above 20 C (68 F), the numbers of butterflies have increased pretty dramatically. In addition to many Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns, Essex Skippers (Thymelicus lineola) are dancing through the grasses of the pocket meadow. They're typically on the wing from mid-June through August, though they were quite late in appearing this year. Like many skippers, these little butterflies often hold their forewings at almost right angles to their hindwings when resting, which gives them quite a distinctive profile; they remind me ever so slightly of the American A-10 military plane (the "Warthog"). Their darting flight and bright orange upperwings separate them from all but their close relative, the Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris). In fact, the skippers are so similar that until the end of the 1800s, naturalists didn't even realize that there were two distinct species. The best way to tell them apart is to check undersides of the tips of their antennae; those of the Essex Skippers are dark (see above), while those of Small Skippers are pale. Needless to say, that regularly results in us scuttling around the garden, and getting down on our hands and knees to peer at butterfly undersides. (Yes, we're still nerds.)

In our garden, Essex Skippers far outnumber their cousins. They're common and widespread across southeastern and central England, and edging into the eastern part of Wales; their distribution that has more than doubled over the past few decades, and they're one of the few UK butterflies that isn't in trouble. They like tall, dry, sunny grasslands, so our pocket meadow is ideal. Essex Skippers spend most of their lives in an egg: from July until early April, in fact! The female lays her eggs in the sheath between a grass stem and leaf blade. The larvae hatch in early spring and feed on grasses, particularly Common Cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata). The nectar-feeding adults prefer thistle flowers. Luckily, our garden's buffet includes plenty of choice for both larvae and adults!

Aphid on the menu

Deraeocoris flavilinea

See what happens when you don't spray your plants with pesticides? If you look closely at the picture above, you'll see that one of last month's Mugwort Aphids is being stabbed in the back by the spiky rostrum of this Deraeocoris flavilinea. The latter is a predatory species, and various aphids are always on the "menu du jour". Other Deraeocoris species feed on plant matter as well as insects, so presumably this one does to, though I haven't found anything online that specifically says so. The British Bugs website lists Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) and Field Maple (Acer campestre) as host plants; presumably these are the hosts for the insect's larval stages. However, the adults are often found on other species of trees and shrubs. The individual in the photo above is a female, identified by her overall orangish colour. Males are much darker. The pale edges to the pronotum (the section of the insect just behind the head) and the pale "V" on the scutellum (clearly visible in the picture) are good field marks for both sexes. According to online pictures, many show considerably more banding on the legs than this individual does. This species only arrived in the UK in 1996, but has already spread across much of south and central Britain. It came from the continent, where it is reasonably widespread in central Europe.

Darter

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)

Our pond continues to entice new visitors to the garden. Recent transients included this young male Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum), which spent a half hour or so checking out various perches near the water. It looks a bit like the Red-veined Darter that made an even briefer appearance a few weeks ago, but with some readily apparent differences. For one thing, its stigmata (those blocks of colour near the end of its wings) are dark rather than pale, as are the veins on its wings. For another, its legs are completely black, lacking the yellow stripes shown by the Red-veined and Common (Sympetrum striolatum) darters. It has small patches of yellow at the base of its hindwings, and some dark blotches on the lower side of each abdomen segment, and its abdomen is slightly club-shaped at the tip. When he reaches full adulthood, he'll be bright red with dark brown eyes, like the one below, which showed up about a week after the youngster. Females are bright yellow, darkening somewhat as they age.

This is a common species across much of Europe east to Siberia, though missing from most of the Iberian Peninsula and the far north. In the UK, it is one of the commonest darter species in the southeast, and its range is spreading north and west. It particularly likes standing or slow-moving waterways that are well-vegetated, even in shady woodland areas and often when they're eutrophic (i.e. heavily nutriented). Our pond, which is becoming increasingly eutrophic despite our best efforts, sounds perfect for it. Ruddy Darters fly primarily from June through September, but can be seen as early as May and as late as November. We'll be keeping an eye out for more of them.