Tipperary Biodiversity

Hoverflies

2011-04-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hoverflies are some of my favourite insects,their slow drone on a warm day,beautiful colours and aerobatic displays always attract my attention.Their capacity to hover and fly backwards is amazing.They are also good pollinators and devourers of aphids.

These are some of the ones I have seen and identified;

Platycheirus rosarum

Volucella pellucans

Leucozona laternaria

Scavea pyrastia(Hoverfly at Bennetsbridge)

Sericomyia silentis

(Helophilus pendulus)(Male) also called the Sun fly because it like to bask in sunlight.

Leucozona lucorum

Episyrphus balteatus. This one is also called the Marmalade hover fly as it has extra orangy bits ! it is a migrant and I have seen it from Jan-Dec if the weather is mild.

Bumble bee mimic

2011-04-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

I have volunteered to do Bumble bee transects and am currently learning to id them .Today what I thought was a small bumble bee ,both by sight and sound ,came near me as I worked.On closer inspection however it turned out to be a Hoverfly Volucella bombylans, a bumble bee mimic.A really beautiful insect that feeds on flowers and hedgerows,the larva scavenge in the nests of bumble bees and wasps.
The female enters the nest to lay her eggs and if discovered and stung by the bees or wasps lays her eggs immediately by reflex action ,her death not being in vain !

Bottom Dwellers

2011-04-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

On 05/04/2011 I was doing my butterfly transect when I saw movement in the bottom of an open drain. It was a raft spider walking her baby!She had to mind it well as two pond skaters had their eyes on it and kept making little runs at it.

A newt came into view then moving slowly through the mud as below,

Last year Coillte blocked one end of a drainage pipe ,creating a pond at one side of a bridge ,this area has thousands of tadpoles at the moment.Any of the hundreds that gather where the water overflows the barrier that are swept over face a huge threat, Great diving beetles,the newt,several Sticklebacks and 2 Water Scorpions are all looking out for a free meal, andtadpole tastes good !

Water scorpion

The stickle backs also had parasite to avoid 4-5 fish leeches were moving along the mud.

Fish leech can stretch from 25mm to 75mm.

This is a Water measurer ,note the position of the eyes (about half way along what looks like its neck)A strange looking creature for sure.

A hot day in mid March.

2011-03-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today was 12-14 C around lunchtime, several Small Tortoise butterflies flew around and on a flowering Willow on a sheltered bank plenty of insects were taking advantage of free pollen.3 bee species and 4 fly species made the most of the opportunity.

Queen Bombus terrestris

This bees pollen sacs were full.

Honey bee

This might be Cheilosia grossa a hoverfly.

A Dung fly

A Flesh fly.

The Dock beetle (Gastrophysa viridula) a lot of these were in evidence too,this is a female with a swollen abdomen.

More Signs Of Spring

2011-03-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

The lovely warm days recently enticed 6 of the 7 Marsh Fritillary caterpillar groups recorded last September to come out and bask in the Sun.More info in a post last Oct.

I also saw 3 Bumble bees, my first this year ,nectaring on crocus,mahonia heather and snowdrops.

They have been identified as a Bumble Bee (Bombus Cryptarum) this is a rather enigmatic species and is generally lumped in with B. lucoreum.Some regard the faint S between the neck and wing joint as being diagnostic although this is darker in northern area records that southern records.

the Eritalis drone fly was also working away.

Things in the Night

2011-02-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

I went out after dark tonight and lots of things are starting to move,firstly I met two Dotted border moths on the gable end of house under the yardlight ,these are fairly common moths with a long flight season from Feb -April .

Dotted Border Moth (Agriopis marginaria )

Then I saw a 20 plume moth, This is a small moth that can be found all year round

Twenty Plume Moth (Alucita hexadacytla)

Then I went near open water to check for frogs ,none about yet but some water insects were in evidence.

Water Cricket (Velia caprai) This is a water cricket just the one tonight but I have seen small packs of them hunting along the water surface for smaller prey.They seem to work in groups moving along the waters edge at first while others move along the centre driving the prey into the edge for cover and their comrades in waiting.

Water Boatman (Notanecta sp.)

This is a Water Boatman ,which swims on its back,you can just make out the small hairs at its tail that it uses to propel itself through the water.There are several species and can be identified by looking at their backs for colour patterns.

A Diving Beetle larva. ( Don"t know much about his fellow.)

Caddisfly Larva (Glyphotaelius pellucidus)

This is a Caddis fly larva the white threadlike structures are gills that it uses to breathe.Caddisfly larva can be identified by the kind of cases they build to protect themselves.This one is I believe Glyphotaelius pellucidus which makes a case of fallen leaves.

This was the suprise of the night, this catterpillar was head down about 150mm (6") under water,catterpillars seemingly don"t know how to reverse out of trouble,but some also can live under water like the Brown china mark.I havn"t id ed this yet but will update when I do.

Moths again!

2011-02-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

The rain has brought a rise in temperature, and the moths are back after a long break,the December moth only lasted 3 days this season due to the cold spell,hopefully it will recover in the next few seasons.

Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) 06/02/2010

The Winter moths are back in small numbers and have been joined last night by the Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) this is one of the bigger moths flying at the moment,and with its mottled colouring and bi-pectate antennae is easy to identify.

Signs Of Spring !

2011-02-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

A beautiful day today and signs of Spring ,Snowdrops in flower,and one of my favourite birds the Starlings were bringing straws into a nest that they have been using for at least 40years.

These pictures were taken last year on 16/01/2010,they started out at opposite ends of the shed and gradually after much noisy courtship ended up together at the entrance to the nest.I don"t know how long they live, but only one pair nest here so how they decide its time to change tenants is a mystery to me.They seem to raise two broods of 3-4 young and constantly amaze me with the amount of food they bring in all day every day,regardless of weather.The farm cats sometimes try their luck at catching them as do some magpies but after a lot of screeching are usually driven of ,the magpies try to lure the young out to the entrance to catch them and so far have not been sucessful as far as I know.

A very large "murmur" of Starlings have also spent alot of time this Winter feeding on one of the silage fields,they must eat grass because no insects could have survived the low temperatures ,and constant "grazing of Lapwing,Redwing,Rook,Fieldfare and seagulls etc.

Sexton beetle (not for squemish)

2011-01-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

As previously mentioned I sometimes run a mothtrap and more than moths turn up,flies beetles,caddisflies, etc,etc.Last June as I worked one a beetle with an atrocious smell arrived ,being covered in small brown mites it didn"t look to wholesome either.

Sexton beetle (Nicrophorous humator )

I identified it as a sexton beetle, so called because it buries dead birds and rodents before laying its eggs on it.It buries them to deny access to other carrion feeding species .When the carcase is buried it injects it with strong antibiotic solutions to slow down decay,then lays its eggs.The brown mites also have a role ,they feed on fungi that might speed up the decay and so the beetle doesn"t seem to mind transporting them from foodsource to foodsource.It is also unusual in that it remains until the grubs hatch and will cull the numbers if too many survive and threaten the survival of all.It has evolved a way of concentrating the smelly fluids of the corpse which it uses to deter anything which threatens it .
A.M Massie a reknowned beetle hunter was conducting a bug hunt in the New Forrest when he found the body of a dead tramp,"You take the feet I"ll take the head" he called to his companion,they shook the corpse over a sheet laid out for the purpose ,several beteeles fell out and these are still to be seen in the British Natural History Museum labeled "Dead tramp.New Forest.A.M Massie .

Ladybird killer

2011-01-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

On April 29th last I found this seven spot lady bird on a fence post

,it wasn"t moving and had a small brown cylinderical object under it in a

cocoon of some kind.It was the pupa of a ladybird killing wasp.

Dinocampus coccinellae
The braconid wasp D. coccinellae injects its egg into adults of large
ladybirds, especially the 7-spot. The eggs hatch into larvae which grow within
the ladybird but do not kill it. They emerge and build a cocoon below
the ladybird, attaching it to a leaf or trees trunk.They sever the nerve endings
to the ladybirds legs and it starves to death, The larvae pupate here
before emerging as full grown wasps. The living-dead ladybird may act as a
defence form other predators.

2010 was a very good year for ladybirds, numbers were up particularly
in August September .2011 will probably have a big wasp surge s a
result.

The BIGGEST fly I ever saw !

2010-12-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

Last July while conducting my butterfly transect I encountered the biggest fly I ever met,at first I thought it was just an unusually large Noon day fly but it quickly became obvious that it was something else .
A visit to the reference books turned up Tachina grossa a tacnid fly,these prey on large hairy catterpillars on which they lay eggs, that hatch and burrow into the caterpillar eating it alive, leaving the vital organs till last so as not to kill it prematurely.

Uncommon Things

2010-12-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

In 2010 I have found some uncommon things in the Horse and Jockey area.In June I found several Bee orchids at a site where I had previously seen them,so called because bees try to mate with the flowers and in so doing pollinate them,although they can self pollinate if bees don"t show up.

A Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)27/06/2010

27/06/2010

I also found the Marsh Hellebourine another beautiful orchid.

On the 7/07/2010 I found the caterpillar of the Small Eggar moth which has only been previously found in the Burren, and earlier this year in Donegal.This caterpillar lives in tents in Whitethorn hedges and the moth flies January to March.

Adelphocoris seticornis nymph

Adelphocoris seticornis adult

Later in July I photographed a shield bug I didn"t recognise ,it took a while but it has been identified as Adelphocoris seticornis ,a rare bug only previously recorded 3 times in the S E of the country.I found both adult and nymph stages so it is breeding on site.

The site also has Marsh Fritillary butterflies on site these have been covered in a previous blog report.

The site is small all these were found in an area of less than 100m x 100m of cutover bog.

December Moth (Poecilocampa populi)

2010-12-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

It was a tropical 6C last evening and I was surprised at the number of moths that surfaced ,5Wintermoths,the Mottled Umber posted already ,and my favourite the Decembermoth of which there were 3.

This is a large black moth with big antennae,that flutter about urgently before settling down.It is one of ten moths of the Eggar family .

Mottled Umber Moth

2010-12-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

After the cold weather one mild night and nature recovers ,tonight we met several moths as we travelled the road (slowly due to unmelted ice) and on arriving home found this moth at the gable end yard light.

Its a Mottled Umber (Erranis defoliaria )a male (female is wingless),its flight period is Oct -Jan

Beetles

2010-12-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

Beetle are a hugely important part of our biodiversity disposing of huge amounts of waste ,be it plant or animal waste in a natural biological way.These are some of the ones I was lucky enough to find this year.

Dor Beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius)

Great Silver Diving Beetle (Dyticus marginalis

Hypera (Antidonus) zoilus (Weevil)

Click beetle (Athous hirtus?)

Cockchaffer Beetle ( Melolontha melolotha)

TWO BANDED LONGHORN BEETLE (Rhagium bifasciatum)

RED HEADED CARDINAL BEETLE (Pyrochroa serraticornis)

Type of longhorn beetle Grammoptera ruficornis

A CLICK BEETLE (ATHOUS HAEMORRHOIDALIS)

Donacia vulgaris

Phratora vulgatissima

Agonum mulleri

Acilius sulcatus or possibly Acilius canaliculatus

Galeruca tanaceti

Aphodius rufipes (dung beetle)

Soldier beetle (Rhagonycha fulva

Visitors to my bird feeder

2010-11-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

This cold spell has a lot of people feeding the birds, and other creatures that they might not suspect are visiting their feeders .

Last December my plastic feeders were wrecked one evening when I returned home ,badly chewed up I replaced them with steel ones that lasted,then I saw the culprits one morning,3 red squirrels,eating the peanuts I had put out the previous night for the birds.
They usually visited at dawn and before dusk,peanuts being favoured over seed although seeds were eaten too.

On another night I saw a small mouse which was identifyed as being a Woodmouse ,they live and forage mainly in the trees eating berries and small insects,I found this one rather cute and camera friendly.

A memory of Warmer nights

2010-11-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

The colder nights put me in mind of the things I saw last Summer in particular the cockchaffer beetles also called "Maybugs".The first night I put out my moth trap they came in like bullets clattering into doors,the yard and me.The ones I felt weren"t bad it was the ones that attached themselves to my clothes and were found on the bedroom floor the following morning by my wife that caused problems :)

Cockchaffer Beetle (Melanthona melanthona)

As the photos show they are really beautiful if time is taken to examine them up close,(my wife and I disagree on this point)
Just look at those antennae !

FOXES CALLING!

2010-11-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

In these cold evenings I can hear foxes calling as they seek mates and defend their territories.Foxes mate in Nov-Dec and young are born in Feb -March,usually 3-4 cubs.Finding enough food for adults and cubs can be demanding and a varied diet of small rodents,birds,frogs ,worms and any uneaten pet food keeps them going till the arrival of the main rabbit season,cubs stay underground for several weeks cared for by the vixen ,who doesn"t leave the den and is fed by the dog (male).
The cubs start to play outside the den after 6-8 weeks but depend on their parents to feed them.
These pictures were taken in mid May.

Gradually they accompany the adults on foraging trips and learn the tricks of the trade.Last June I saw two adults and four cubs at dusk in a hayfield playing through the big bales ,looking for frogs and beetles,an occasional skelp from mom or dad kept an order of sorts! This playing lasted for over an hour before dad decided to do some serious hunting and went off on his own.
Cubs leave the family at 7-8 months and fend for themselves,saddley only one in four survive the first year.

The Sprawler

2010-11-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

This is the sprawler moth which is on the wing from late October till early December,it is not widely recorded as not much trapping of moths is done at this time of year and it is probably underrecorded as a result.This one came to my yardlight over the last few nights around 8pm ,it may be a female as they fly earlier than the males which usually fly after midnight.Any sightings of it would be welcome.
To

PLANT ID PLEASE !

2010-11-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

Can anyone id this plant please ,found beside flowing water in a bog.About 60-70cm high,a square stem ,flower pinkish, seen in November. I am thinking Marsh dock but not sure.

NOT ALL CATERPILLARS WILL BE MOTHS OR BUTTERFLIES

2010-11-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

Last year I found several of these larvae on Meadow vetchling and tried several times to id it .Photos were sent to various experts without success,but it was confirmed to be a sawfly larva ,this year I decided to keep one in captivity and rear it an adult to see if it could be identified.After 4-5 days it moulted and a larva with different pattern emerged as below I again sent of photos and John Grearson one of the uks leading sawfly experts responded with an id ,Tenthredo notha,a species that has only been photographed previously as a larva in Czechoslovakia,it apparently alters its pattern before retreating to plant root area to hibernate for the Winter.

Sawflies get their name from the saw like appendage they use to cut their way into plant tissue to lay eggs.The photo below is of a sawfly that drowned in a hoverfly pantrap,it is possibly Abia candens,the larva of which feeds on the leaves of Devils bit scabious.The "saw" can be seen at rear of abdomen.

Larval stage Abia candens below.

This is a rose sawfly larva Arge gracilicornis.
Sawfly larva have six or more pairs of legs , more than the lepidoteran caterpillars which have only five pairs.

CATERPILLARS

2010-10-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

There are over 1600 species of moth,35butterflies and many sawfly larvae here are some of the ones I have found and identified.Some change pattern and colour between instars(periods of growth stages when they get new skins to replace older ones that are to small),

Early instar Oak Eggar Moth

instar Final instar Oak Eggar Moth

Timothy Tortrix Moth

Buff Ermine Moth

Knotgrass Moth

Small Eggar Moth (only previously known from Burren)

Vapourer Moth

Dot Moth

The Magpie Moth

Burnet Companion Moth

Foxmoth

The Cinnebar Moth

Catterpillar for id

2010-10-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

This picture was sent in from Littleton a catterpillar crossing the road ,its name escapes me at the moment anybody know ?

FLOWER FOR ID

2010-10-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

This flower was photographed on 04/07/2010 at Laffansbridge near the quarry,can anybody help to d it .

It was 6-8 inches high,pink, and sprawling over exposed rock.

Butterfly in Coalbrook for I D

2010-10-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

Took the photo above last week here in Coalbrook, near Ballingarry,
Not sure what type of butterfly it is? Is it a speckled wood?

Elaine Dickson.

Hi Elaine ,yes your right its a Speckled Wood,one of the latest flyers if its warm and sunny.
John.

BUTTERFLIES OF 2010 AROUND THE FARM

2010-10-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

Green-Veined Whites (mating)

Small Copper

Orange Tips (male&female)

Orange Tip (roosting for night)

Green Hairstreak

Small Heath

Peacock

Ringlet

Red Admiral

Painted Lady (migrant)

Small Tortoise

Large White

Dingy Skipper (poor pic)

Common Blue

Brimstone

Speckled Wood

Silverwashed Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary (underside)

Marsh Fritillary (upper side)

Meadow Brown

These butterflies were all seen by John Fogarty around the farm in 2010,(Small Copper,Green Hairstreak,Silverwashed Fritillary and Dingy Skipper were new species on farm.)

CADDIS FLIES (Trichoptera)

2010-10-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

Caddisflies are another flying insect at the moment,by day and night, it is attracted to light at doors and windows.I would describe it as having elongated teardrop shaped wings ,long antennae and big eyes.There are nearly 200 species in the British Isles,they can be told apart by the number of spurs on its legs and the type of larva case it spends its larval stage in.

CADISFLY LARVA (Glyphotaelius pellucidus)

The larva live in still and slow moving water in cases made of leaves and other debris.The small white threadlike appendages on the sides are gills so that it can breathe under water.This photo was taken in Febuary 2010.

MOTHS ON THE WING AT THE MOMENT

2010-10-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

This is a Feathered thorn moth that is airborne at the moment the white spots are diagnostic as are the large bipectate antennae.

The Spectacle is so named because of its flying goggles!

This is an Angle Shades moth no mistaking this for anything else!

This is Green Brindled Cresent(Allophytes oxyacanthae)20/10/10

FRUITS OF THE FOREST

2010-10-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

Whitethorn

Elder

Privet

Dog Rose

Bramble

Crab Apple

Guelder Rose

Blackthorn

Lilac

Berberis

Chestnut

Spindle

DRAGONFLY

2010-10-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

We received this photo today can anyone identfy the name of dragonfly please?
it was seen in the Horse and Jockey area on 03/10/2010

MIGRANTS

2010-10-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

The warm Southeasterlies are bringing many migrants in tow from Southern Europe at the moment.

Recent observations are of Vestal moths all over Ireland ,the one above came to a mothtrap in Horse and Jockey on Sunday 10/10/10.A species of Southern Europe and North Africa has been appearing in greater numbers since the 80s.Apparently the warmer it is redder the cross line is!

On 11/10/10 while visiting Cabraghwetlands a Little Egret was seen in the main pond which is being cleaned at the moment ,while a small colony has been seen over the last few years this was the first sighting this Autumn.As we were so busy admiring it we forgot the camera, and Kevin Collins BWI kindly supplied the photo.

Kevin also reported seeing Migrant Hawker dragonflies near both hides in Cabragh during the last week,a first for Tipperary.They apparently like to operate in groups and don"t mind attention ,and he sent us this lovely image showing the yellow "golf tee"on back of thorax which makes it easy to identfy.
This is a species mainly from the Mediterranean and southern Europe,it has only been recorded in Ireland since 2000.It prefers eutrophic waters and only breeds in warmer climates so its gradual northwards movement is seen as evidence of global warming .

THE VAPOURER MOTH (DISPERSAL)

2010-10-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

On October 5th 2009 I found a moth on the outside of my hall window to which it had been drawn by a light.On seeking to identify it I found it was a Vapourer moth ,a male easily diagnosed as the female has no wings,(yes no wings,it sits beside the cocoon from which it has emerged ,mates ,and lays eggs on the outside of the cocoon and dies).
On 24/09/2010 while walking I found the caterpillar of the Vapourer feeding on willow ,its very distictive and quite colourful.

I brought it home to show my children and when I went to release it the following day it had cocooned itself ,so I left it in its container,given its small size I thought it was likely to be a female as there was no way it could produce wings as big as the male.

Today 10/10/10 it hatched ,a small wingless insect ,woolly,swollen with eggs to be fertilised,its sole function to mate by attracting males using pherones.It will then die leaving the eggs to overwinter before hatching in batches from end of March on.

Given that the female can"t fly,the dispersal of the species is dependant on how far the caterpillar can travel from the pupating site,so it is quite local, and very dependent on its habitat not changing suddenly. Allowing for predation by birds etc it has a tough battle to survive without any environmental change.Another reason why we have to be careful in our environmental actions.

SPIDER ID?

2010-10-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

We received the following email from Anne Marie Looby
"Hello Cabragh Wetlands
love your pics of sunset
yesterday evening found this unusual spider on the wall of my house does anyone know what type of spider it is.

Ann Marie

Hi Anne Marie
I think your spider is a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus),fairly common at this time of year,this looks like it might be a female which are larger than males.

MARSH FRITILLARY BUTTERFLIES.

2010-10-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

The Cabragh wetlands article in The Tipperary Star issue dated 30/09/2010 had as its main theme a Marsh Fritillary workshop held in Cabragh.Below is a brief life history of a larval web in Doireville Littleton.

This is a picture of the larval web in which they live for the first few months protected from the weather and most predators by the web. 05/10/2009

After feeding until mid October they retreat into a denser web in undergrowth called a "Hibernaculum" where they hibernate till the end of Febuary or early March.
Then they come out to bask on dry grasses and feed again on Devils bit scabious their only foodplant as below.01/03/2010

As they get bigger they get more independent and leave the web and scatter to pupate in very distictive pupas on grass and other vegetation.09/05/2010

In mid May they hatch and fly out to mate and start the cycle all over again

This protected species is in decline due to habitat loss ,it needs open sparse ground with lots of Devils bit scabious,Drainage ,forestry and under/overgrazing are big threats to its survival,It also lives in meta populations,movng a few hundred meters perhaps every year making habitat management difficult,hopefully efforts by the NPWS will halt its decline.

2010-10-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello all,welcome to our new link where we hope to help you enjoy the great biodiversity around us.Knowing whats around us helps us to keep track of changes that may be slowly eroding the natural biodiverity of our environment over time.We would like to have reports of what you see,where it was seen ,when and on what it was feeding if you can.If you don"t know or are unsure of an identity send us a photo and or description and we will try to help identify it.
Below is an example of what we will try to do,

2028 Pale Tussock Calliteara pudibunda

This photo was sent in by S. Maher who found this caterpillar in Ballycahill last week,we have identified it as a Pale Tussock moth larva .
Adult moths fly in May - June and like the larva are quite hairy,the larva feed on deciduous trees and shrubs and were a serious pest of hops when they were grown commercially.
It is only locally common in Ireland and hasn"t been officially recorded in Tipperary since the mid 90s according to moths Ireland.

Tipperary Biodiversity.

2010-10-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

This was photographed in a reedbed area in Cabragh Wetlands near Thurles in May 2010.