Lazy Days

Wednesday 24th August 2022, Millichope Park.

This outing took us back to Millichope Park where we had had a very successful visit last year.

As before we met in the field off the B4368. We had been warned that there may be some cattle wandering about this large field, but, it turned out, the cattle had wandered off elsewhere. However, their earlier presence was evident in the many brown patches amongst the grass. 

The stream that ran down from the area of the Hall was the initial attraction.

Most of the morning was spent in the habitats that surrounded it, which proved to be well used by the invertebrate population:

An inconspicuous ladybird, Coccidula rufa;

Photograph: David Williams

A muscid fly Graphomya maculata;

Photograph: John Martin

A micro-moth, Pyrausta aurata;

All of this activity created a need to take time out to consider what we had found.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And the discoveries kept coming thick and fast.

There were several hoverflies:

Melangyna umbellatarum;

Photograph: John Martin

Eupeodes luniger;

Photograph: John Martin

And a pair of Eristalis nemorum where the male was hovering over the female on the flower in the hope of wooing her.

Photograph: John Martin

I have no idea if she fell for his charms.

And talking of no ideas, we have not been able to identify this insect other than believing it is an Ichneumonid wasp. (There are over 2000 species of them so our lack of a specific identification is understandable!)

Photograph: John Martin

[This insect has now been provisonally identified as Vulgichneumon saturatorius.]

We are on surer ground with this:

Photograph: David Williams

It is a Long-winged conehead.

Then, from my point of view, disaster struck. 

To be fair, on a disaster scale of 1 to 10 it was 0.01.

I have been nursing a sore ankle for several weeks. Generally I have been able to carry on although it has been with some discomfort. As I reached up to beat the lower branches of an alder I overbalanced slightly, but, in shifting my feet to steady myself, I aggravated the ankle. It took some time for the pain to subside. When it had I limped to a spot a little way from the stream and declared lunch!

Lunch over I realised that I could take very little part in the activities of the group in the afternoon. Certainly there was no chance of me being able to explore the further reaches of the site. 

On offering to let the group go on and leave me to potter and return to the cars I was very surprised that the rest were happy to hang around this area. 

I could say that they were staying to provide support for me but I think the truth was that the weather, although not hot, was very humid and energy sapping …

And their energy had been well and truly sapped!

However we did manage to stir ourselves from our collective torpor and explore the slightly more formal areas around the main pool and gardens.

Well, some of us did!

The three people in the photograph were not really just sitting around whiling away the time, they just happened to be in the area where I had dumped my bag when I took the photograph!

Early finds after lunch were:

A Roesel’s bush cricket;

Photograph: David Williams

And one of the finds of the day, the leaf beetle, Bruchidius varius.

Photograph: David Williams

Photograph: Nigel Jones

Wandering, or should I say, limping around, trying to keep to firm level ground I came across a heavily-ladened spindle.

Progressing further I passed by the Temple;

Then reached the edge of the main pool where pink water-lilies were in flower.

Photograph: David Williams

Along the edge of the pool from the lilies there was a stand of Reedmace. This plant provides a home for a small ground bug Chilacis typhae.

Photograph: David Williams

These are easiest to see when the sun is shining as it reflects off their wings highlighting their presence. 

Quite often you find them half buried in the seed head, rather like the one on the left, with only the tips of their abdomens and wing on show.

Continuing to explore areas of easy walking I discovered a pair of dogs frozen to the spot …

Before finding the upper reaches of the stream that had so entertained us in the morning and still held the attention of one member of the group.

Whilst I was trying to gently walk off the discomfort of my ankle, the rest of the group were busy following up their interests. Amongst their finds were:

A collection of Woundwort shieldbug adults and nymphs;

Photograph: David Williams

A Meadow grasshopper;

Photograph: David Williams

A Nursery-web spider, carrying her egg-sac;

Photograph: David Williams

Another inconspicuous ladybird, Nephus redtenbacheri;

Photograph: David Williams

And a shieldbug, Eurygaster oleracea, sometimes called a crucifer shieldbug and sometimes a brassica shieldbug (and probably other things as well).

Photograph: John Martin

All things considered we had had an excellent and rewarding day and we went home content.

However, that is not the end of the tale. When one attendee was sorting through his specimens, retained for a detailed examination to determine the species, he discovered this tiny insect:

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

What amazing wings!

It was quickly identified as a “Fairyfly” - not really a fly but a wasp in the family Mymaridae. It has been tentatively identified as Mymar pulchellum, but this needs to be confirmed.

This was definitely the Invertebrate of the Day.

My thanks to the owners of the site for allowing us to do what we enjoy doing and to the photographers for providing their excellent images.