Blunt-tailed Snake Millipede (Cylindroiulus punctatus) |
The Half-acre Project
In late 2017, we moved into a house on a half-acre of land in rural England. We're working to make the site more wildlife-friendly and are hoping to document every species that lives in or visits the garden. Can we get to 1500?
The Running Total
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Snaky millipede
Saturday, 7 June 2025
18 spots
Eighteen-spot Ladybird (Myrrha octodecimguttata) |
Wednesday, 4 June 2025
Crabby
European Green Crab Spider (Diaea dorsata) |
Sunday, 1 June 2025
Hairy
Hairy Tare (Vicia hirsuta) |
Thursday, 29 May 2025
Leaf beetle
Cow Parsley Leaf Beetle (Chrysolina oricalcia) |
Larva |
Monday, 26 May 2025
Cleaver gall
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Cecidophyes rouhollahi on Common Cleavers (Galium aparine) |
While wandering around the garden the other day, I found a patch of Common Cleavers (Galium aparine) that looked rather strange. Some of the plants' upper leaves were pale and twisted, forming what looked like curly little tubes. They've been attacked by a gall mite, Cecidophyes rouhollahi. The presence of these mites causes the edges of the leaves to thicken and roll up, encasing the mites safely in the middle. Apparently, the pale leaves often go rust-coloured with time. Surprisingly, this mite was only described for science in 1999; prior to that, another closely related species was thought to occur in the UK. However, more careful studies since than have found no evidence of the other species, while C. rouhollahi has proved to be common and widespread across the islands. In places where Common Cleavers and the closely related False Cleavers are invasive non-natives (Canada, New Zealand, etc.), the mites can be used as a form of biological control as they stunt the plant's growth and keep its seeds from forming.
Sunday, 12 January 2025
Car-pet Moss
Silvery Bryum (Bryum argenteum) |
For evidence of how little we use the car – and how infrequently we wash it – you need look no further than the window "sill" on the passenger side. Sheltered from the summer sun by a thick Leyland Cypress hedge (and from the winter sun by the bulk of the house), it provides a perfect substrate for a diminutive carpet of Silvery Bryum (Bryum argenteum). Mike got these closeup portraits of the spiky little moss with its distinctively silvery tipped lobes. This widespread species is said to be one of the most recognisable of Britain's mosses, and is one of the most common in urban areas. It forms compact patches less than 1 cm (about a half-inch) high, typically appearing quite "shiny" and always showing those silvery tips. Tolerant of high-nutrient substrates, it cohabitates well with humans, regularly growing in places such as pavement cracks, railway lines, stone walls, roofs, tarmac, arable fields and path edges. In the "wild", it also grows on regularly disturbed ground, such as sand dunes and eroding river banks or cliffs. It's found around the world, from the cities of Europe and North America to the vast deserts of Australia and the frigid plains of Antarctica – quite a hardy and adaptable little plant!
Monday, 9 December 2024
Radiating
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Arthonia radiata |
Now that the garden has settled into its winter hibernation, I have had time to go through some of the many pictures that I took of things this past summer. And amongst them, I found this shot of a new species for the garden – the lichen Arthonia radiata. This crustose lichen (so-called because it looks like a crust, i.e. flat and inseparable from the bark) belongs to a group called the "script lichens". It gets that name due to those scribble-like black marks, which are its fruiting bodies (called apothecia). Those marks can range in shape from rounded to linear to star-like; the latter shape gives it the common name of "asterisk lichen". Each colony is surrounded by a thin dark line, which is an area of the thallus (the "body" of the lichen) that contains only fungal hyphae and no algae. The thallus itself can range from white through pale grey or fawn to brown in colour, and is sometimes partially immersed into the bark. This is a common and widespread lichen across the British Isles, growing on the bark of smooth-trunked trees and shrubs.
Tuesday, 6 August 2024
Galling
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Germander Speedwell Gall Midge (Jaapiella veronicae) |
Saturday, 3 August 2024
Six spots
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Six-spot Burnet (Zygaena filipendulae) |