insect – Forage France

18 May 202026 February 2022

Cockchafers

A large nocturnal flying beetle that is attracted to light and can often be found bumping into windows or street lights.

Life cycle

Known as May bugs, they start to emerge and be seen during the month of May; however, they can actually be found, as adults, from Late April to July. Their adult lifespan is between five and seven weeks.

The female lays around 80 eggs in the soil using her pygidium which looks like a stinging point on the abdomen, to ‘inject’ eggs into the earth. The cock chafer is totally harmless to humans and carries no sting.The cockchafer larvae then spends between three and four years in the earth in depths of up to 100cm. They then work their way to the surface only in spring, hence the name “May bugs”.

Appearance

Because of their long development time as larvae, cockchafers appear in a cycle of every three or four years; the years vary from region to region. There is a larger cycle of around 30 years on top of that, in which they occur in the tens of thousands. They are found, more commonly, in the south of England, but are widespread in the UK.

The cockchafer has “feather-like” antennae that are splayed, the female has six fingers on the antenna and the male has an extra one making seven. As with many insects, it is thought that, the more complex the antennae the greater their sensitivity in locating breeding partners and food, detecting danger and possibly for navigation.

The word cock chafer derives from the late 17th century use of the word “cock” meaning size or vigour and to the English word “chafer” which simply means beetle. They are known by many colloquial names such as; May bug, doodle bug (mainly due to how loud it is when it flies), mitchamador, billy witch and spang beetle.

So get out and try to hear of see them flying around lampposts or hear external lights.

Enjoy

Tom

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

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.

24 March 202027 February 2022

Minibeast Discovery

It’s that time of year when all the insects and the like start emerging from hibernation or their warm place of safety in search of a good bit of wood to munch, reproduce or emerge as a flying insect. So, It is also a great time to go looking for them.

Here are a few links to really useful websites for ID sheets that you can print or use on an iPad etc. Just click on the pictures.

When you are collecting your minibeasts please remember to replace moved logs or detritus and gently place the minibeasts back to their homes gently, i mean, imagine someone 1000000 times bigger than you dropping you from a great height. Also a key tip is some insects are predators, try not to mis predators with prey, or little Jimmy will wonder what happened to Francis the Fly…

Look under logs, leaves, stones (if you have stepping stones in your garden, lift one of them), under flower pots, in corners of sheds, under mats, and in bushes.

Most of all… have fun!