Another LNHS outing, this time to Bookham Common, a patch of land just outside London in Surrey that’s been subject to study by the LNHS for over 50 years. This was meant to be a dragonfly study day with Neil (a man whose knowledge of plants, birds, butterflies and dragonflies always astounds me), but the odonates had other ideas about flying that day. Fortunately there were butterflies a-plenty. We passed by some bramble patches before opening out into an excellent wildflower meadow full of Agrimony, Selfheal, Germander Speedwell, Ragwort and Perforate St John’s Wort. Annoyingly I got bitten by a cleg fly which buzzed me for a good ten minutes after swatting it. It’s impressive, in a way, that it can crawl across the palm of your hand undetected, underneath a book and settle in to munch on the skin between thumb and forefinger. I was less impressed with the way my hand ballooned in reaction over the next day!
Sweeping the area brought out both the orthopterans (speckled bush-cricket, meadow grasshopper and Roesel’s) and a tick (presumably Ixodes ricinus) which suitably disgusted the others. By this point in the summer, nearly all the beetles appeared to have transformed into the very common "bonking beetle", Rhagonycha fulva. I also saw some new plants for me being shown Meadowsweet and discovering Marsh Woundwort for myself.
Wandering back into woodland, we came across the small, green Dock Leaf Beetle, Gastrophysa viridula (a species I was unaware lasted as an adult so long into the summer – I’ve found it before in March!). Here I came across another new plant for me (new in that I can now put a name to it) - a Marsh Thistle (that the Francis Rose book listed as growing up to 150cm) growing significantly taller than a lanky humanoid specimen such as myself. A couple of individuals with more access to light were at least 2.5m tall!
We popped out the woods onto a main track leading to the warden’s house. We then had a bit of a herp-tastic 10 minutes. First a couple of the guys went to roll a stone for ground beetles but instead found Great Crested Newts underneath. Four presumably juvenile ones in terrestrial form; we moved them gently to the side so we could roll the stone back and let them crawl back under. In the same area I found a froglet clambering up a tree stump. Rolling another log revealed a juvenile slow worm and then just 5 minutes later I pulled a toadlet from the lawn at the warden’s house! Later on some of the others also came across a small grass snake.
After lunch and comparing finds, we did a bit of log-rolling and came across the always spectacular Carabus violaceus (one of the violet ground beetles, pictured above). I also spent way too long on my backside IDing what turned out to be non-flowering Verbena officinalis. The group headed on a loop that took us past one of the larger ponds, along the way we saw our first (and only) dragonfly of the day: a Ruddy Darter. Treading out onto the marshy edges amongst the Watermint and Sparganium we found plenty of leaf beetles happily munching away on the plants – mainly Chrysolina polita and Chrysolina menthastri.
C. menthastri (aka the Common Mint Beetle) is a particularly smart-looking creature, resembling a large green metallic raindrop on the surface of reed and mint leaves.
Further on we came upon spotted wood and ringlet butterflies under the trees amongst the stinging nettle. As we came down on the home straight towards the warden’s house again we passed a mixed hedge and wildflower border with plenty of umbellifers in it. Much of it was Hogweed but I also found some Upright Hedge-Parsley which was a new one for me. On top of one of the umbellifers was an unfortunate Rutpela maculata (pretty wasp-mimicking longhorn beetle) that had been mistakenly pounced upon by an overly amorous Rhagonycha fulva. The poor thing blundered about, trying to shake it off, while the little orange beetle on top tried in vain to mate with it. After an epic minute long struggle, the larger longhorn beetle managed to shove itself free and fly off to find somewhere presumably a little less rapey.
I eagerly await similar amazing scenes of nature in the next David Attenborough series
Around this point I hung back to chat and catch up with some friends who were going to split and head to the “arboretum”. In the process I also lost track of the main group, and decided on doing my own bit of wandering. As I walked down one of the tracks to the west I heard the same buzzard cry I’d been hearing all day come closer and closer. Now I’m used to seeing buzzards now and then but they’re usually circling up high or perched on a tree on the other side of a field. This juvenile flew low over the trees and directly over my head. An absolutely beautiful creature and the closest I've ever been to one!
Wandering back into woodland, we came across the small, green Dock Leaf Beetle, Gastrophysa viridula (a species I was unaware lasted as an adult so long into the summer – I’ve found it before in March!). Here I came across another new plant for me (new in that I can now put a name to it) - a Marsh Thistle (that the Francis Rose book listed as growing up to 150cm) growing significantly taller than a lanky humanoid specimen such as myself. A couple of individuals with more access to light were at least 2.5m tall!
We popped out the woods onto a main track leading to the warden’s house. We then had a bit of a herp-tastic 10 minutes. First a couple of the guys went to roll a stone for ground beetles but instead found Great Crested Newts underneath. Four presumably juvenile ones in terrestrial form; we moved them gently to the side so we could roll the stone back and let them crawl back under. In the same area I found a froglet clambering up a tree stump. Rolling another log revealed a juvenile slow worm and then just 5 minutes later I pulled a toadlet from the lawn at the warden’s house! Later on some of the others also came across a small grass snake.
After lunch and comparing finds, we did a bit of log-rolling and came across the always spectacular Carabus violaceus (one of the violet ground beetles, pictured above). I also spent way too long on my backside IDing what turned out to be non-flowering Verbena officinalis. The group headed on a loop that took us past one of the larger ponds, along the way we saw our first (and only) dragonfly of the day: a Ruddy Darter. Treading out onto the marshy edges amongst the Watermint and Sparganium we found plenty of leaf beetles happily munching away on the plants – mainly Chrysolina polita and Chrysolina menthastri.
Further on we came upon spotted wood and ringlet butterflies under the trees amongst the stinging nettle. As we came down on the home straight towards the warden’s house again we passed a mixed hedge and wildflower border with plenty of umbellifers in it. Much of it was Hogweed but I also found some Upright Hedge-Parsley which was a new one for me. On top of one of the umbellifers was an unfortunate Rutpela maculata (pretty wasp-mimicking longhorn beetle) that had been mistakenly pounced upon by an overly amorous Rhagonycha fulva. The poor thing blundered about, trying to shake it off, while the little orange beetle on top tried in vain to mate with it. After an epic minute long struggle, the larger longhorn beetle managed to shove itself free and fly off to find somewhere presumably a little less rapey.
Around this point I hung back to chat and catch up with some friends who were going to split and head to the “arboretum”. In the process I also lost track of the main group, and decided on doing my own bit of wandering. As I walked down one of the tracks to the west I heard the same buzzard cry I’d been hearing all day come closer and closer. Now I’m used to seeing buzzards now and then but they’re usually circling up high or perched on a tree on the other side of a field. This juvenile flew low over the trees and directly over my head. An absolutely beautiful creature and the closest I've ever been to one!
I wandered into a recently cleared meadow (mown the year before) and found it already being colonised by thousands of willow shoots. Sweeping around brought out a decent insect load with a nice tortoise bug (I think this was E. testudinaria) and an interesting leaf beetle that reminded me of a pale yellowy-brown Galeruca tanaceti. I took this little fellow home and IDed it down to Lochmaea caprea using the provisional seed beetle key (This key is awesome and it's not even finished yet!). It’s a common seed beetle in the sub-family Galerucinae that feeds on goat willow which was presumably the species of willow shoots I’d been bashing there.
Completing my looping wander, I discovered another plant I didn’t recognise which I found was Yellow Balsam – a native species but presumably a garden escape here in the south-east. Nosing around another recently coppiced section also netted me one of those Conopid flies in the Sicus genus. Their larvae are parasitoids that prey on bumblebees and the adult females are equipped with a curled-under abdomen for the risky task of grappling and laying eggs on live prey.
Sicus sp.
I regrouped with what was left of the LNHS sojourners and was shown a few of the other finds of the day. A fairly elongate and weird looking weevil called Rhinocyllus conicus being one that I remember. I then bumped into my friends in the arboretum area and joined up with them again. This part of the woods has had several different species of tree planted here and my leaf-hopper specialising friend was hoping to find some species new to the site. He introduced me to some of the more distinctive species such as Idiocerus ustulatus (“Assoc. with grey and white poplar. Pale with brown scutellum and mucky brown suture/central line” according to my notes) and Pediopsis tiliae (“Assoc. with lime tree. Very short blunt head, barely visible from above as obscured by pronotum. Head is bright yellow and generally unmarked. Brown wings”). While poking around these trees we also came across a dead Grey Dagger Moth caterpillar that I can only assume had been parasitised by one of those entomophagous fungi. The network of hyphae(?) that held this caterpillar to the leaf were quite impressive.
Dead Grey Dagger Moth caterpillar
We also spotted a certain Max Barclay out collecting from some Lindgren funnel traps hanging from some of the trees as part of a NHM survey. He was kind enough to show me some Diaperis boleti beetles which previously were considered particularly rare. They’re very round black beetles with a broad pair of red zig–zags across the elytra; very distinctive The word on t’interwebs amongst coleopterists seemed to be that they were becoming increasingly easy to find by breaking up some Birch bolete fungus. Considering how common a species of fungus this is I’d hazard a guess that this has more to do with being overlooked than a population explosion but I really don’t have any facts to back that up.
Diaperis boleti
Overall an interesting day with plenty of new stuff to figure out. A relatively large barkfly I took home turned out to be Metylophorus nebulosus (I used the key at the National Barkfly Recording Scheme)
P.S. - Apologies for the awful title. I just can't help it.
I regrouped with what was left of the LNHS sojourners and was shown a few of the other finds of the day. A fairly elongate and weird looking weevil called Rhinocyllus conicus being one that I remember. I then bumped into my friends in the arboretum area and joined up with them again. This part of the woods has had several different species of tree planted here and my leaf-hopper specialising friend was hoping to find some species new to the site. He introduced me to some of the more distinctive species such as Idiocerus ustulatus (“Assoc. with grey and white poplar. Pale with brown scutellum and mucky brown suture/central line” according to my notes) and Pediopsis tiliae (“Assoc. with lime tree. Very short blunt head, barely visible from above as obscured by pronotum. Head is bright yellow and generally unmarked. Brown wings”). While poking around these trees we also came across a dead Grey Dagger Moth caterpillar that I can only assume had been parasitised by one of those entomophagous fungi. The network of hyphae(?) that held this caterpillar to the leaf were quite impressive.
We also spotted a certain Max Barclay out collecting from some Lindgren funnel traps hanging from some of the trees as part of a NHM survey. He was kind enough to show me some Diaperis boleti beetles which previously were considered particularly rare. They’re very round black beetles with a broad pair of red zig–zags across the elytra; very distinctive The word on t’interwebs amongst coleopterists seemed to be that they were becoming increasingly easy to find by breaking up some Birch bolete fungus. Considering how common a species of fungus this is I’d hazard a guess that this has more to do with being overlooked than a population explosion but I really don’t have any facts to back that up.
Overall an interesting day with plenty of new stuff to figure out. A relatively large barkfly I took home turned out to be Metylophorus nebulosus (I used the key at the National Barkfly Recording Scheme)
P.S. - Apologies for the awful title. I just can't help it.
