Insects – Page 2 – Forage France

11 May 202026 February 2022

The Ancient Order of Mayflies

Mayfly – unlike its name suggests the Mayfly emerges between spring and autumn and live, on average, 1 day as a full adult.

Ephemera sp. drying on Equisetum arvense

The Mayfly is part of an ancient order of insects known as Palaeoptera which translates to “Ancient Wings” (from the Latin paleo meaning “old” or “ancient” and Opera meaning “wings”). This order of insects also includes dragonflies and damselflies.

There are over 3000 species of mayfly around the world and they are grouped into 42 families (400 genera).

As part of this ancient order, mayflies, exhibit some ancestral traits with its long tail and wings that fold back and not over the abdomen like so many other winged insects.

Life cycle

The Mayfly starts life in water after the female drops between 400 and 1000 eggs onto the surface of the water. Incubation can last anything from a few days to a year. They hatch into larvae and moult as they grow anywhere from 10 to 50 times, as this is dependant on water temperature.

Depending on conditions mayflies can stay as larvae from anything between a few months to several years. They then emerge as adults usually all together when the light (usually at dusk or dawn) and conditions are right. This mass emergence is thought to be a strategy to minimise the chances of being eaten.

Once they become adults, or sub adults, the Mayfly is unique in the fact that it moults one more time to become a fully developed adult. Its surprising that after spending so long under water in the larvae stage they would spend so little time as an adult. Some species are adults for less than five minutes (Dolania americana) and some a couple of days.

The Ancient Roman encyclopaedist Pliny the Elder described the mayfly as the “hemerobius” (from the Greek word hēmerobios meaning living for a day), in his Natural History:

“The River Bug on the Black Sea at midsummer brings down some thin membranes that look like berries out of which burst a four-legged caterpillar in the manner of the creature mentioned above, but it does not live beyond one day, owing to which it is called the hemerobius.”
Pliny the Elder

Mayfly larvae have been chosen by scientists as bio-indicators because they do not tolerate polluted water. Their presence meaning the water is

Mayflies are consumed in several cultures and are estimated to contain the most raw protein content of any edible insect by dry weight. In Malawi, kungu, a paste of mayflies (Caenis kungu) and mosquitoes is made into a cake for eating.

Enjoy

Tom

7 May 202027 February 2022

Bats

Test yourself, how many of the following statements are true?

Bats are very clean animals and spend hours grooming.
Bats often choose to hang up in modern buildings, houses and bungalows.
Droppings are crumbly, consisting of insect remains which are neither unpleasant nor unhealthy.
Bats are not likely to attack people or pets. Of nearly 1000 species of bat in the world, only three living in south and central America, feed on blood.

Answer = All four are TRUE

Bats are night creatures, seen only dimly at dusk. Their large wings make them look bigger than they really are, and as they swoop down after insects people may sometimes feel uneasy.

What are bats?

Bats are mammals. Like all mammals including ourselves they have fur on their bodies and are warm blooded. A baby bat feeds on its mother’s milk for a few weeks after it is born. Bats are the only mammal that can fly.

The bat you are most likely to see is a pipistrelle. We now know there are two similar species of pipistrelle living in Britain, sometimes called the ‘brown’ and the ‘bandit’.

Types of bat found in Britain

There are 16 species of bat living in Britain

Greater horseshoe
Lesser horseshoe
Daubenton’s
Whiskered
Pipistrelle brown
Pipistrelle bandit
Nathusius’s pipistrelle
Noctule
Brown long-eared
Grey long-eared
Serotine
Natterer’s
Leisler’s
Brandt’s
Bechstein’s
Barbastelle

Food

All British bats eat insects. Each species has its favorite insects, hunting them in its own special way. Most are caught and eaten in mid air, though it is sometimes easier to hang up to eat larger prey. All bats have big appetites, flying uses up lots of energy. The tiny pipistrelle can eat over 300 insects in an hour.

Roosts

Bats do not make nests, they choose various places to hang up (roost). Some prefer hollow trees, others caves and some use both. Buildings and roof spaces are very similar to hollow trees or caves and make a suitable substiute.

Female bats gather in a maternity roost during the summer. they have their babies here and stay with them until they are able to feed themselves.

Winter

During winter there are very few insects to be found so British bats hibernate. they find a cool place and tuck themselves away. Their temperature drops and their heartbeat slows. They do occasionally wake up and look for food or water.

If you want to do your bit to look after our declining bat population you can’t go wrong with the Bat Conservation Trust you can find their website here. You can also find out a lot more information on bats.

2 May 202027 February 2022

A walk in the woods

So, we are all stuck indoors and only allowed out for our one form of exercise a day.

Today, for my one form of exercise, I thought I would take you on a short 15 minute journey through a small wooded area that is local to me. Warren Farm, which although separate, is part of Nonsuch park in Cheam.

So this is for you, the person who can’t go out on their usual walk in the park or woods, or would like to know more about what our local parks have to offer.

It’s important that we observe the rules of lockdown so I have filmed this as one continuous shot only pausing to look at the plants and trees we come across during our journey.

Below is the information for the photos that I have added to the end of the video.

Enjoy, and best wishes,

Tom

Link to post on nettles – Nettles, misunderstood.

Link to post on ancient trees – Six ancient trees of Britain

Peacock butterfly – I mention this when we look at nettles Click the link for a look at my video and post of a peacock butterfly.

Silver washed fritillary – Unusually for a butterfly, the female does not lay her eggs on the leaves or stem of the caterpillar’s food source (in this case violets), but instead one or two meters above the woodland floor in the crevices of tree bark close to clumps of violets. When the egg hatches in August, the caterpillar immediately goes into hibernation until spring. Upon awakening, it will drop to the ground, and feed on violets close to the base of the tree. The caterpillar usually feeds at night, and usually conceals itself during the day away from its food source, but during cool weather will bask in the sunny spots on the forest floor on dry, dead leaves.*

Orange tip butterfly – The first butterflies to be seen each year are ones that survive the winter by hibernating in adult form, such species as the brimstone and peacock can even be seen on mild winter days. Not many butterflies are born from pupae as early as April but the orange-tip usually manages this feat.*

Small blue butterfly – Britain’s smallest butterfly is easily overlooked. Its sole food source is the plant kidney vetch. Males perch on tall grass or scrub. From late afternoon onwards they can be found in communal roosts, facing head down in long grass. The butterflies live in small colonies which are declining in most areas. Found throughout Britain and Ireland but rare and localised.

Common blue butterfly – Measuring 35mm it is one of the most widespread butterflies in the UK. The common blue caterpillars like to feed on birds-foot trefoil.

Cinnabar moth – Day and night flying moth with a black body and red hindwings, it is commonly found on ragwort where it feeds and pupates.

Ferns and the Fibonacci sequence – Ferns are a good example of how the Fibonacci sequence is found within nature. Plant growth is governed by this sequence and is known as the ‘law of acclimation’ the sequence is created by adding the last two numbers in a sequence to find the subsequent
number. 0-1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34-55-89… 89 would be added to 55
to get the next number = 144 and so on. This sequence describes
how things grow, how trees branch out, how flowers form and how
ferns, like bracken, unfurl.

Mossy rose gall – Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall (that mossy growth) known as Robin’s pincushion, or moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf or bud, mostly on field rose or dog rose. Up to 60 eggs are laid within each leaf bud. The grubs develop within the gall, and the wasps emerge in spring 99% of which are female.

Lichen – 1800 varieties in the uk and 17000 globally. Lichens cover approximately 6% of the earth’s surface. Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between and algae and a fungus. Simply these fantastic lichens can be split into three broad categories;

Crustose – firmly attached to surface and cannot be easily
detached with a fingernail
Foliose – leafy lichens and can be easily lifted away with a
fingernail. They may also appear to have fine roots.
Fruticose – Bushy lichens attached at one point and look more
like plants.

Six spotted burnet moth – A daytime moth that has 6 distinctive red (occasionally yellow) spots set against a black body on each wing. Commonly found on grassland and meadows feeding on thistles, and scabious.

Speckled wood butterfly – Prefers the dappled light of woodland and likes to feed on honeydew which is produced by aphids when they feed on the sap.

Silver washed & Orange tip – credit*

28 April 202027 February 2022

The Peacock Butterfly

One of the most common and prettiest of the garden butterflies, the peacock butterfly is found throughout England and Wales but less so in Scotland.

They lay their eggs in sets of up to 500. When the caterpillars hatch they weave or spin a communal web, where they stay living together and feeding together. Gradually as they grow the caterpillars move more and more into the open.

They pupate alone and emerge in July to spend a frenzied time in the search for food ready for a winter hibernation. Emerging again in spring they’re ready to mate and continue that circle.

The caterpillars feed on those lovely plants called nettles. More information about nettles can be found here…

As you can see in the video, the peacock butterfly is brightly coloured. It’s name refers to the big peacock feather like black spot it has on each wing. Those spots are trying to mimic the eyes of a bigger predator so it is not predated itself.

It’s underside is almost black and when the wings are closed this makes for extremely good camouflage.

I hope you enjoy looking at these beautiful butterflies as much as I do.