The Rough with the Smooth

So I started my chainsaw course this week.  Not sure I ever thought I would be doing that but apparently its good on the ol' CV in this biz.  So far, all limbs still intact, though next week is the big daddy part of the course, 4 days of felling, yikes.  I did manage to create something from all the destruction this week:

Poplar stool a la Cally

This is definitely its best side! The other angles take "rustic looking" to the absolute extreme.

Whilst breaking for lunch, I spotted this little moth on the hedge.  I am pretty sure it is a Carpet moth and I think it may be Wood Carpet Epirrhoe tristata but I would not put money on it...

Carpet Moth?

There were also a couple of white butterflies around.  The differences between the whites are subtle but identifiable by spots and wing tips.

Small White

Green-veined White

Dont sniff the flowers too closely

Didnt have much to report last week with the poop weather and my actually doing some work for a change!  On brief exploration around my bro's garden yesterday I added a new spider id to my list - Misumena vatia. I think this is the female and as you can see it's pretty sinister looking especially with freshly caught prey!

 

It is a species of crab spider that sits in flowers waiting to ambush its ill-fated victims.  The female can be white, yellow or greenish and sometimes with red marks.  It can change between these colours to camouflage itself on the flower.  The males are smaller and less distinctive.  It didnt have any trouble carrying its prey around in its palps.

A Mere Shell of his Former Self

Today was spent surveying a wildflower meadow at Buchan.  It was a beautiful day with the constant buzz of grasshoppers and crickets and plenty of flutterbies around.

Large Skipper

Meadow Brown

Meadow Grasshopper

Meadow Grasshopper

Peacock

Ringlet

Ringlet

Brimstone

To be or not to be

There were lots of other creatures around - here are a few, mostly yet to identify...

There were some great funnel-web spiderwebs around - they look pretty cool though you just know there is some kinda nasty down there!

This was a surprise - I was taking a picture of some lichen as you do and it wasnt until I looked at the photo on my computer that I noticed there was something else in the picture.  See if you can find it...

We decided to check out the ponds for dragonflies and damselflies and were not disappointed.  Though not many stopped long enough for pictures (as they only fly on clear, sunny days).  I think this was a blue-tailed damselfly:

If you look closely you can see a hawker dragonfly having emerged from its nymph stage, warming up so that it can fly:

And here is what they leave behind after they have emerged and become adults:

Looks like somethings from a sci-fi movie!

[NB You can click on the pictures to make them bigger if you want]

Thunder thighs in Ashdown Forest

I've just started volunteering at Old Lodge in Ashdown Forest and as usual I wip my camera out whilst no one is looking.  In between pulling out birch and pine saplings on the healthand I was investigating what life resided there today.  There were a lot of grasshoppers/crickets, wood ants and spiders.  I really have no clue when it comes to species of Orthoptera but there were loads bouncing all over the place occasionally ricocheting off me as I got in their way.  Here are a couple:

where is his face?

I also saw a bright blue damsefly but could not get a picture.  It was pretty small, could have been common blue or azure or maybe southern.

There were naturally plenty of Heath family species including lots of Bilberry.  Couple of heather sp piccies:

The piece de resistance however was definitely this little chap.  It is on a thumb to give you some idea of size but notice its rather chunky thighs - possibly a keen cyclist?

Thick-legged flower beetle (male)

More South Downs Magic

Yesterday I took part in a chalk grassland survey at Applesham Farm on the South Downs.  The site was a beautiful location with a rich variety of species making excellent habitat for numerous butterflies, moths and other insects (including lots of spiders, eep!).  Here are few examples:

Eyebrights

Perforate St John's-wort

Pyramidal Orchid

Yellow-wort

Marbled White butterfly

Six-spot Burnet Moth

Fritillary - dark green?

Not sure what these fellas will grow up to be...

We've also been doing a farmland bird survey over today and yesterday spotting skylark, yellowhammer, corn bunting, whitethroat and pipits to investigate crop/habitat preferences.  Not sure if these pictures will be too small on here but I believe there to be a young corn bunting in this tree...

The Lake District Part 1 - Fauna Highlights

The Lake District was beautiful and absolutely teeming with flora and fauna.  The wildlife highlight was seeing 2 red squirrels very close.  It was hard to get decent pictures but you can see what they are...

having a scratch!

We heard and saw loads of birds and it was nice to hear so many skylarks up in the hills.  We were even treated to a close up appearance by one:

Skylark

Redstart

Curlew

I have yet to work through some of my flora pictures to identify them but did discover this cool moorland plant up in the hilltops that looked like cottonwool on stems:

Hare's-tail cottongrass

This damselfly was cruising around Derwent Water and I believe it may be a female Common Blue Damsefly.  I had hoped that it might be a more rare species but I dont think so.  It's probably best as there is a small chance that I may have accidently sat on it.

And...the large mammal highlight of the week was definitely this...yummy!

Keswick Cow Pie