Wood Mouse - Kempston

This photo was taken by Martin Palmer in his garden in Kempston. As Martin said not all that come to his garden birdfeeders are avian, this Wood Mouse is a regular visitor searching for fallen seeds.

Jersey Tiger in Kempston

This Jersey Tiger was photographed in his Kempston Garden on 22nd August 2012 by Martin Palmer. It is the 3rd record for Bedfordshire following records at Biggleswade in 2009 and Bromham in 2011.

Dark Spinach in Lower Stondon

A Dark Spinach on 11th August was a new moth for our garden and the third record for the county this year, following ones at Biggleswade and Bromham earlier in the year. Photo: Melissa Banthorpe

Small Ranunculus moth larvae are about now

Checking some Prickly Lettuce, Lactuca serriola, in Kempston today I found 15 larvae of the Small Ranunculus moth. These distinctive larvae are green or brown and and can be hard to find but look for plants where the flower buds have been obviously eaten away. The larvae tend to rest along the stalks.

Below are a couple of photos taken today (8th August) and also the distribution map of the species in Bedfordshire up to the end of 2011.

Please look out for these and report your findings with count, location and a photo if you are not sure to Melissa and I as we are the county Macro-moth recorders (macromoths@bnhs.org.uk)

Two quite well grown larvae

A single larva eating a flower bud

Distribution of Small Ranunculus in Beds up to the end of 2011

Purple Emperor

It's only taken me four years to seen one of these things on the ground at Chicksands.  Purple Emperor, Chicksands Wood, 22nd July 2012. (ps not a bad photo considering it was taken using my phone!)

Black beetle duo

Beetles are a species group that I know little about, other than the well-known and more distinctive species (partly because I have not really looked much). Here are two black ones that I have come across, one I recognised and one I don't...

Minotaur Beetle found in Rowney Warren at the end of April while unsuccessfully searching for potential Firecrest, Woodlark and Tree Pipit in what looked like suitable habitat. First I had seen.

UnID beetle from my garden moth trap, 28th June, Thanks to replies received, seems to be Nicrophorus humator which I have had in the garden twice before but previously looked longer than this. Seem to remember the previous one being a bit smelly as well...

Horned Leafhopper (Ledra aurita) - our largest leafhopper at c.15mm (5p) - The Lodge 2/7/2012  at TL187479. Not often seen because of damn good camouflage!

Interesting micro moths from King's Wood

Three interesting tortrix micro-moths caught in King's Wood Heath & Reach on the Beds Moth Group field trip on 26th May 2012

Capua vulgella - new to Bedfordshire

 Lobesia reliquella - the first Beds record since publication of the Victoria County History in 1904

Epinotia tetraquetrana - the 3rd Beds record (the other two were at Sutton Fen in 1982)

Totternhoe and Bison Hill butterflies

Had an excellent day in the sun this weekend, seeing 13 butterfly species although unfortunately Duke of Burgundy wasn't amongst them. Highlights included:

Small Blues at Totternhoe Quarry



Green Hairstreaks at both Totternhoe and Bison Hill


Grizzled Skipper at Bison Hill

Dingy Skipper which took a brief break from chasing off the small blues.

Argyrotaenia ljungiana?

I caught the above named species last year and was wondering if this is also this species - seems similar but not exactly the same.

Brown Hare - Woburn Rd wetlands

 

A Brown Hare at the Woburn Road wetlands. Photographs by Martin Palmer.

Aethes smeathmanniana

My first micro of the year - yes its that good in my garden...  Thanks for confirmation Ben

MVCP - 12th May 2012

 

Common Lizard, Dingy Skipper & Large Red Damselfly at the MVCP today. The Common Lizard was the star of the show for me. I've not seen many on the park and this one, which was found on the board walk by a couple of young girls, was so tame if even walked under one of my boots at one point. The Dingy Skippers were the first I've seen this year with around 8 -10 seen between the boardwalk and the area around the bridge at the Stewartby Lake outlet of the sewage works stream. Bob Hook and I also looked for Grizzled Skippers and Green Hairstreaks in this area with no luck. Photos by Martin Green.

Sunspots- MVCP

I took this photo with my 100-400mm lens through thick fog early in the morning. If you look at the full-size image you should be able to see some sunspots, particularly on the lefthand-side of the sun. Photograph by Martin Green.

Prairie Dogs

Prairie Dogs at Broom, 6th May 2012.  Up to four of these beasties are currently residing in a field edge near the gravel pits.

Chinese Water Deer - MVCP

 

This Chinese Water Deer was photographed by Martin Palmer from the MVCP access track.

A Tumble of Toads

I went past one of the ponds in Maulden Woods at the end of March and came across large numbers of toads making their way to the toad equivalent of speed dating. Not sure what the collective name is for this particular activity but a "tumble" seems suitable for what I was watching.
An orgy and a voyeur... ?

Ashy Mining Bee

Found a small number of males buzzing around a patch of sand at the lodge on Tuesday. Hopefully some females will make an appearance soon. From the distribution map on the BWARS handout they seem to be quite scarce this far east.

Scarce Bordered Straw larva

Diana McCarrick found this caterpillar on some locally bought Carnations she was throwing out on 7th Feb. We identified it as a Scarce Bordered Straw from a photo Mick, her husband, had sent us and Andy and I collected it this afternoon to breed through. It's the first larval record of the species in the county. All previous records refer to migrant adults but this larva has arrived on the Carnations. Although the origin of the flowers is unknown they are most likely to have been imported from Kenya. Thanks to Diana and Mick for allowing us to take custody of it. Photos Melissa Banthorpe

Stoat and Hare

I came across this around lunchtime today after three hours or so in the field searching for Hooded Crow south of Harlington. The hare was close to moribund with the stoat taking frequent bites around its neck area. Captured on Nokia N73 mobile phone after a few minutes of stalking to get within suitable range. Apologies for image quality. Andy Grimsey 4th Dec 2011

The Moon

A photo of the Moon taken with my Canon S95 compact camera attached to a Nikon ED50 scope (27x) via an adaptor. Photo by Martin Green.

The Streak

One of six trapped at Maulden Wood last night (31st Oct) by Andy and myself. Photo: Melissa Banthorpe

Phyllocnistis saligna leaf mines

Melissa found these leaf mines of Phyllocnistis saligna on Crack Willow on the bank of the River Ouse at Great Barford today (14th). This is the only the second record of this species in the county and the first time the leaf mine has been found. The first county record was an adult caught by us at Chicksands Wood in 2010. The mine here is up the main rib of the leaf and also down into the petiole.
Scan by Andy Banthorpe

Autumn Colour!

Merveille du Jour

These 2 turned up in my Upper Caldecote trap 1st October. First ones seen since 2009.

Mompha terminella new to VC30

After finding out from David Manning that an adult of the micro-moth Mompha terminella had turned up in Northamptonshire recently, Melissa and I went into Chicksands Wood on 4th September to see if we could find the leaf mines of the larvae in Enchanter's Nightshade.
We were successful and also found it is present in Maulden Wood. Scans of mines in leaves of Enchanter's Nightshade from Chicksands Wood below by Andy Banthorpe.

Raising little beauties

It all started with Ma Lilac Beauty above, who was trapped at Marston Thrift on 25th June. She laid a batch of eggs, which hatched on 9th July. I lost quite a few of them. I think the larvae could be cannabalistic as a couple grew quite large, while others disappeared. In the end I ended up with six, which I separated and now five out of six have pupated with one still to go.

A couple of shots of the larvae, which are quite distinctive.

A couple of shots of pupae

If you are lucky a male will emerge, this one was trapped in Wales in July.

All photos by Melissa Banthorpe

1719 Oblique Carpet

15/08/11: Garden, Leighton Buzzard, SP9326.
Twin 15w Skinner.
FW: 12mm

Frequents damp, marshy areas; the larvae feed on bedstraws. A complete surprise as the last Bedfordshire record was 1973 !