Mists and mellow fruitfulness

Keats' vision of Autumn was a tad warmer and drier than the other day: a very misty vista across the site - a chill in the air, and a fine grey wetness over everything cast thoughts of the summer behind me.  Even the buzzard seemed diminished by the cool grey damp, and sat calling most mournfully from its perch at the top of the telegraph pole.

Buzzard on the look-out for breakfast on a foggy morning

The summer hay cut has been made across the whole field, which has changed the appearance of the sward (and so, of course, the whole site) immensely - no longer a flower-rich meadow of waving grasses studded with colour and humming to the summer song of bees, it's low, green and rather wet underfoot, as the plants start to cut back production, and the bees slowed down by the cooling days.  This bumblebee (B. pascuorum) was very  v e r y slow, and sat on the scabious flowerhead looking rather damp for at least half an hour.  

Bumblebee Bombus pascuorum waiting to warm up

As the mist lifted, a brief break in the clouds let some sunshine in, and that touch of warming sun meant more insects were on the wing making the most of the day.  The flowers may be mostly gone from the field, but there's fruit aplenty in the bushes and scrubby field margins - hawthorn bushes offer up their own ruby-red berries, and support scrambling brambles heavy with tender sweet sugary blackberries.

Wasps go crazy for blackberries - thorns AND stings to watch out for when picking my lunch!

The Marmalade Fly (Episyrphus balteatus) maybe fancying some bramble jam

These small winged creatures actually catch the eye by virtue of their movement; softer-bodied, more slow-moving residents in the field rely on camouflage to avoid predation: snails frequently rest partway up plant stems, and Lepidoptera larvae use colouring and posture to fade into their immediate background.

Kentish snail taking a break

Pug moth caterpillar on ragwort

Beetles were also out and about - an upturned chair (to prevent rainwater puddles, which are unpleasant to sit in!) provided shelter for a number of woodlice and these rove (staphylinid) beetles, which have a bright red pronotum and basal abdominal segments.  Their bright colouring may be warning indicators; the Paederus genus (which these may belong to) produce toxins associated with irritant dermatitis (Nasir et al. (2015) biomedcentral). 

Rove beetles hiding out under my chair

After seeing the hundreds of Harlequin Ladybirds (Hormona axyridis) that emerged from overwintered pipework and other hardwares, it's been satisfying to see some of our native ladybirds on site.  We have over forty native species (remember the downy 24-spot ladybird (Subcoccinella 24-punctata) from May's post last year? Spring comes to Upper Seeds)

Native Seven-spot Ladybird (Cocchinella septempunctata) munching on late aphids

The Harlequins have been named the most invasive ladybird in the world (ladybird survey website), and have spread across the whole of the south and midlands of England, and into northern counties, since they were first recorded in 2004 in the UK.  They can outcompete our native ladybirds, and will take eggs, larvae and pupae of other insects, including other ladybirds, butterflies and moths.

Harlequin ladybirds emerging into the Spring sun, 2017

 So there you are - a few observations from a changing field.  Many of the features that we think of when picturing a lowland grassland have gone or are fading as the year's page turns towards another season, but there's still plenty of activity on site.  A taste of things to come...