Great spots

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major)

Occasionally, we get an unexpected visitor to our feeders. For a while, it was a wary female Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) who snuck in for a quick nibble of sunflower seeds or fat balls every now and then. Her all-black nape identified her as a female; a male would have had a small red patch on the back of his neck. We know there is at least one breeding pair in the neighbourhood, as we regularly see them flying back and forth over the garden, and hear their challenges ringing from the strip of Holm Oaks along a nearby roadway. But we don't often get to see them in the garden itself – too few trees, presumably! 

Great Spots are common and widespread from southern England to southern Scotland, and have recently colonised several areas in Ireland. Unlike the ant-eating Green Woodpecker, they are almost exclusively arboreal, spending little (if any) time on the ground. Their strong claws and stiff tail feathers help them to prop themselves up as they hitch their way up and down tree trunks and branches. The broad white wing stripe and bright red undertail help to separate them from the smaller (but also black and white) Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, which lacks the stripe and the red undertail. Sadly, Lesser Spots are now very rare in the U.K. and would certainly be extremely unlikely in our garden. Like all woodpeckers, Great Spots feed primarily on insects, but will also eat some seeds, particularly conifer seeds. They're also know to take bird eggs and nestlings.

Against the wall

Wall Screw-Moss (Tortula muralis)

While most of the garden goes into some level of hibernation for the winter, mosses are an exception. Right now, many of them are in their prime – lush and green and studded with numerous spore capsules. Our windowsills, roof tiles, and the top of the stone wall between ours and a neighbouring property are currently bristling with the lance-straight sporophytes of Wall Screw-Moss (Tortula muralis). This is one of the commonest mosses on brick and stone in Britain, and one of the first that neophytes like us learn to identify. Like the Grey-cushioned Grimmia (Grimmia pulvinata), this one has a long hair (called a "nerve") that extends from the tip of each leaf, as seen in the picture below. (Click on the picture to see it at a larger size.) Its leaves, when wet, like now, are bright green and opaque, developing into little cushions about a centimetre high. When it's dry, as in the summer, those nerves make the moss look frosty grey. Currently, the spore capsules end in spiky caps, but once the spores have finished developing, those caps will drop off. Then, a network of twisted hairs known as the peristome (the partial remnants of dead cells) which surround the mouth of the spore capsule will help to ensure that the spores are dispersed gradually rather than all at once. Given the vast number of little colonies sprinkled throughout the garden, this must be a pretty successful strategy.

Showing the twisted peristomes

Buttoned up

Buttoned Snout (Hypena rostralis)

Typically, we don't see a lot of moths in the winter here, but occasionally, there are exceptions. Mike found this Buttoned Snout (Hypena rostralis) flying around in the kitchen the other day. (In his picture, it's sitting on the lip of the "spider jar" he used to transfer it outside.) This is a species that overwinters as an adult, typically hibernating in hollow trees, caves, unheated buildings and the like. We're not exactly sure where it started the winter, but it clearly woke up early! This species typically flies from August to early October, overwinters, then flies again from late April to mid-June. Larvae are primarily found in July, though they can be seen as early as June and as late as mid-August. As larvae, they feed only on Hop (Humulus lupulus), which we don't have anywhere in the garden. However, there is some Hop about a quarter mile away and it's widespread across the county, so the moth probably didn't have to venture far to get here as an adult. Buttoned Snouts are named for a little mark on their forewing – unfortunately not very visible here – that looks like a buttonhole. And, of course, its "snout" (in reality, small sensory mouthparts called palps) is pretty obvious! Prior to the 1940s, this was a common species across southern Britain. By the end of the century, however, a steep decline had led to it being designated "Nationally Scarce". Since then, its numbers are slowly increasing again. Now reasonably well-distributed in the southeast, it's no longer considered Nationally Scarce.

Leggy #2

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Our little pond has brought in a couple of unexpected visitors in the past week, including this wary immature Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea). I first saw it from an upstairs window, but it flapped off as soon as it spotted me. Fortunately, it returned a few days later and Mike was able to snap its picture (while hiding behind some bushes along the drive). We're not sure what it's finding at this time of the year, but it's been back three or four times now, so there must be something tasty visible in there. These herons feed mostly on fish, but will also take newts, frogs, toads, small birds and small mammals. Grey Herons are common and widespread residents, both at the coast (which is only a few hundred metres from here) and in freshwater wet spots across the UK. Elsewhere, they're found across temperate Europe and Asia, and down into Africa. Youngsters like this one (identifiable by its lack of a black cap and the black on its bill) are more likely than adults to show up at garden ponds. We're happy to see it – but hoping that it's not clearing out all our Smooth Newts!

Her highness

Blue Emperor (Anax imperator)

Our pond was a hive of activity over the past month, with multiple species of damselfly and dragonfly buzzing over its surface, pairing up and egg-laying, or perching on sticks around its edges. One of our visitors was this female Blue Emperor (Anax imperator) which spent several weeks making regular forays to deposit her eggs under the Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) leaves. She's impressively large; at 7.8 cm (a little over 3 inches) long and with a wingspan of 10.5 cm (more than 4 inches), Blue Emperors are among Britain's biggest dragonflies. The species is named for the male, which is indeed primarily blue. The female, however, is gloriously green, except for that reddish-brown stripe running the length of her abdomen. They're found across much of Great Britain, with a range that's expanded considerably since the 1990s. They're still pretty rare in Scotland, where they only arrived in the early 2000s. They're primarily found on larger bodies of water, so we feel quite privileged that this female chose our little puddle.

Boxer

Philodromas dispar

Last month, I finally caught up with a spider that Mike first spotted in the garden a couple of years ago. The male Philodromas dispar is pretty distinctive: dark brownish-black with a white line running the length of its body on both sides, and yellowish legs. And how could you miss his big pedipalps, which look like a pair of boxing gloves held out in front of his face? These contain organs which allow the spider to "taste" and "smell", and the male also uses them for his courtship displays and to transfer sperm packets to the female. It's much harder to distinguish the female from several similar species. In fact, the books say you need a microscopic look at their sex organs to identify them, so I'm glad I found a male! He was scurrying along the edge of one of the flower beds, investigating the upper and undersides of leaves, weaving his way around stems and along vines, moving fast as he searched for prey. The species belongs to the family of "running crab spiders" – a group distinguished by their flattened shape and their particularly long second pair of legs. These spiders don't make webs, instead ambushing their prey. With a body that measures about 5 mm long (roughly 1/4-inch), it is said to be an "agile hunter" that tackles mostly flies and other smaller insects. It is found in various woody habitats, often near (and sometimes in) houses. It particularly likes the lower branches of trees and shrubs. The female uses silk to attach her eggs to a leaf, and guards them until the autumn, when the spiderlings hatch. They overwinter either in leaf litter (according to the UK Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme's website) or under bark (according to the Nature Spot website), emerging again in the spring. The species is common in southern England and Wales, as well as southern and western Europe. No doubt, we'll be seeing them again.

Bristly Oxtongue

Bristly Oxtongue (Helminthotheca echioides)

In a few of the rougher corners of the garden, Bristly Oxtongue (Helminthotheca echioides) plants have begun to open their yellow flowers to the sun. While these look very like the flowers of a dandelion, the plants themselves look totally different. For one thing, they're quite tall (stretching up to almost a metre/yard high) and roundly bushy, with multiple stems and dozens of flowerheads per plant. For another, they're incredibly bristly, as you can see in the picture above. Stiff bristles march up all sides of the plant's stems. The leaves are covered with whitish, blister-like bumps, with bristles arising from each bump. The phyllaries – the bracts which surround the flowerhead, holding it together as it develops and supporting it once it's open – are also bristly. And very large. Those large, bristly phyllaries make the Bristly Oxtongue easy to distinguish from other superficially similar plants. Like all Asteraceae (members of the daisy family), its "flower" is actually a flowerhead made up of dozens of tiny flowers. These bloom from June through November across lowland England, particularly near the coast. Native to the western Mediterranean, the plant was introduced to the UK many centuries ago, and has also spread (generally by accident) throughout much of the rest of the world as well. It likes rough grassy areas, field edges, streamsides and "waste places"; I'm not sure what that latter says about our garden!

Outdoor carpet

Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata)

For those who think that all moths are boring little brown jobs, I present proof that this is not always the case. This Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata) flashed up in front of me the other day as I walked the garden paths, and eventually settled back into the grass where I could photograph it. Yes, it's brown – and black and cream and grey and rust – but how about that patterning?! Gorgeous. And very good at breaking up the outline of the moth. This is a common and widespread insect across the whole of the UK, even in many of the offshore islands. It's found in a remarkable range of habitats: woodland, moorland, some grasslands, heath, fens and marshes as well as urban areas and gardens. Those of us in the south see them from May through Octocober (as many as three separate generations!) while those in the far north of Scotland typically only get them in June and July. The one broad dark band across the midwing (often with a grey component), the single sizable "point" at the back edge of that band and the thin grey line that runs through the white stripe just beyond that point all help to separate this species from a few supeficially similar ones. As with all UK moths, the adults are nectar feeders. They visit flowers primarily at night, though they often begin feeding at dusk. Common Ragwort is a favourite, and we have plenty of that, so our visitor should be happy here. The larvae feed on various species of bedstraw, including Common Cleavers – another thing we have plenty of – so any potential offspring should be provided for as well.

Waspish

Wasp Beetle (Clytus arietis)

While wandering out to the pond the other afternoon, I spotted this waspy looking insect on one of the old clothesline poles. That yellow and black pattern is certainly eye-catching! Once I'd snapped its picture, a check of the books quickly led to an ID. It's a Wasp Beetle (Clytus arietis), a common and widespread species in gardens and hedgerows across England and Wales (but rarer in Scotland) and a new one for the list. It's not just its striking pattern that makes this trickster look like a wasp; it also moves like one, waggling its long antennae and scuttling around on twitchy legs in the same jerky fashion that wasps do. That's enough to convince most potential predators to avoid it. In reality, however, this 1.6 cm-long beetle (just over a half inch) is totally harmless. It's one of the so-called "longhorn beetles". Like most other longhorns, its larvae develop in dead wood, including such things as fence posts and old gates. Adults feed on pollen, so this one was presumably finding plenty to eat at the flowers in our garden. They fly from May through July, so perhaps we'll see another one or two before they disappear for the season.

Spinner

Microlinyphia pusilla

One of the things this project has been great for is helping me to conquer (sort of, anyway) my very irrational fear of spiders. Knowing that there are no dangerous (native) spiders on these islands certainly helps with my comfort level. But it's the process of putting a name on our eight-legged fellow residents that's doing the most good. Heck, I've even gotten to the point where I can pick them up and put them outside if I find them in the house – well, most of them, anyway. This little lady was investigating the back of one of our outside chairs on this date a few years ago, and I finally got around to identifying her today. It's a female Microlinyphia pusilla, a common and widespread species across most of Britain (as well as much of central and western Europe). This species is particularly partial to grasslands, but is found in a variety of other habitats as well. Its web is a horizontal sheet spun in low vegetation. Females are larger and plumper than males, with a dark central line on their mostly white abdomen, often with triangular dark patches overlapping towards the back end. The whole abdomen is surrounded by a dark band too. Males are shiny and black with a narrow abdomen that often shows two white spots near the front edge. Adults are seen from spring into mid-summer, with a few persisting into the autumn, so we should be seeing them around for a few more weeks yet.