It's SNOW FLEA time

 Lockdown 2

If you are looking for something to do for your "daily exercise" allowance during Lockdown 2 consider going out to your local patch and looking for snow fleas, Boreus hyemalis.

Photograph: David Williams

The above photograph is of a female found just before Lockdown 2 started at Corbet Wood near Grinshill. 

The insect is about 5mm in length and the male differs from the female in that its abdomen is blunt ended with claspers and its wings have developed into a pair of spine-like features that are used to support the female during mating.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

The spine-like feature is clearly seen in these photographs of immature males photographed at Corbet Wood.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Photograph: David Williams

Another feature of these insects is the beak-like extension to the head which can be seen in the last photograph above and in the one of the mating pair. 

This is described in the Royal Entomological Society's Handbook for the Identification of British Insects (Volume 1, Parts 12 and 13) - Mecoptera, Megaloptera and Neuraptera by Lt-Col F C Fraser I.M.S. as giving "a grotesque bird-like appearance to the insect's head".

Rather an insult to the insect (and birds) in my opinion.

If you would like a copy of the Identification Handbook you can download a pdf at no cost from the Royal Entomological Society's website - LINK. As well as this handbook there are many others available for download at no cost.

Where can you find them?

They are associated with moss. According to the handbook The moss favoured is short, compact and velvety, growing on a loose sandy loam (Polytrichum commune). From my limited experience they are found in or close to good sized patches of Polytrichum moss at the edge of woodland paths and rides, and within woodland, but where the canopy is more open.

This photograph shows one of the patches of Polytrichum in which they were found at Corbet Wood.

Photograph: David Williams

And this photograph the habitat in which they were found.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

(It is possible, of course, that having had some success finding them in such habitats, those becomes the only areas I look for them, thus missing other suitable habitats!)

How to find them?

My method of choice is a suction sampler as this is a very quick method of checking out a patch of moss. But patience is still required when sifting through the "catch" as the snow fleas have an uncanny knack of staying hidden in the leaf litter that is inevitably sucked up.

The more traditional method is to observe the moss for a reasonable time to detect any movement. Snow fleas will move around the moss, often on the surface, and can be spotted. Good eyes and patience are needed. I assume that close-focus binoculars may assist. But remember not all the movement will be caused by snow fleas, other insects take advantage of the habitat and its inhabitants.

Of course, a clue is in the common name, Snow flea. They have acquired this as they are "easy" to spot in the snow when they can be seen walking over the whitish surface. I have never seen this.

The "flea" part is that they do jump and are capable of a leap of a couple of inches (5cm for those readers only brought up on SI Units).

When can you find them?

They are an insect of the cold, winter period. The handbook states that they can be found between November and April. They have been found in Shropshire from November to February.

So they are an ideal insect to look for during the current lockdown, and the restrictions that will inevitably follow; when you are walking off the effects of Christmas Dinner; or just getting out and about.

Have a go. They are such a bizarre but delightful insect that finding one brings much needed joy.

Next:

Short-winged coneheads, Conocephalus dorsalis, have been found and photographed for the first time in Shropshire.

A trip to the former open cast mine named Huntingdon Lane in Telford recorded the first sighting of this insect in a grassland area. Our orthopterist had visited the site earlier and using his bat-detector was able to identify the presence of this insect from its call. Unfortunately his search for the insect was in vain.

A week or so later in October, when we were still allowed to meet in groups of six, a group of five of us met up to explore this area and, armed with sweep nets and suction devices, try to locate the elusive conehead.

Liberal use of the bat detector once again pronounced the presence of a singing short-winged conehead. But try as we might, using only manual random searching efforts, we could not catch sight of it.

Frustrated, what could we do?

Have lunch.

Then try again.

This time we we tried a more co-ordinated approach with the aid of powered help. Eventually we located a insect by using the bat detector and closing in, carefully, on the likely spot we thought it may be.

In the end powered help was not required as the insect was observed.

It seemed unperturbed by our presence and quietly posed for the press pack that recorded its presence.

Photograph: David Williams

It was then left in peace to get on with its life and we meandered our way home.

Also in October a few of us had another socially-distanced scramble up the scree slope and rocks of Pontesbury Crags to check on the state of the colony of the Purse-web spider Atypus affinis. We did not see any of the spiders as they tend to stay within their webs. Occasionally males will be found wandering around searching for females but, so my spiderman colleague tells me, this is usually at night, However we did find a good number of webs confirming that the colony was surviving. 

Photograph: David Williams

The climb up the crags afforded us excellent views on a beautiful day.

Photograph: David Williams

Having descended from the heights we spent a while checking out the scree slope. Here are three of the insects we found in the vegetation at the bottom of the slope:

Drinker moth larva

Photograph: David Williams

Lily beetle

Photograph: David Williams

A hoverfly, Rhingia rostrata

Photograph: David Williams

As with recent reports I now present a round up of photographs of other interesting things that contributors have been kind enough to send me.

In a garden in Church Stretton there lurked ...

A Sloe bug, Dolycoris baccarum ...

Photograph: Graham Wenman

And a pair of Rosemary beetles.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

On the Long Mynd at Gogbatch lots of pupal cases of, perhaps, a cranefly, were found scattered on the ground.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

In the same area an unidentified reed beetle was found and photographed.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

As well as a Knotgrass moth larva.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

Staying on the Long Mynd we move to Cwmdale where more larvae were photographed.

A Ruby tiger;

Photograph: Graham Wenman

A Bright-line Brown-eye;

Photograph: Graham Wenman

And another Drinker.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

One other larva of interest was found at Corbet Wood. A large beetle larva that is probably a Carabus species.

Photograph: David Williams

And to finish a couple of springtail photographs that arrived yesterday. I will let the photographer tell the story:

"After a few weeks of respite, the neighbours were once again treated to the site of me apparently praying to my pond this morning (or drinking it), bum in the air, nose to the surface. Reason: aquatic springtails have finally appeared. Not Podura aquatica but Sminthurides cf aquaticus. Photo attached of a 0.9mm long monster. 

Photograph: David Williams

"I also fished out a 1.2mm long Dicyrtoma fusca while I was at it; it perched on my thumbnail for the attached photo."

Photograph: David Williams

Keep well.