An exciting find in Comfort's Wood...

The way I have been updating this blog seems to have become just an annual thing these days. However, I do still visit the woods at every possible opportunity to soak up the undoubted mental lift it offers.

It's funny though, how as my eyesight worsens with creeping senility, I am seeing  more and more bugs! 

Here's an example...

Yes! This Comma butterfly was actually nothing more than dead plant matter.

And then there are the times when you miss your target altogether...

Missed the bugger!

Well at least I still have most of my faculties: I keep them locked away in a box at home!

Let's then swing from the ridiculous to the sublime; after decades of photographing and recording the invertebrates of Comfort's Wood, it is a rare thing to be able to add a new species to the long list. 

But...on the 25th of May this year, I spotted something very exciting. I'll share its scientific/Latin name first, and while you are figuring out how to pronounce it, I'll add a few images.

'Agapanthia villosoviridescens'

I have photographed this beautiful species of beetle locally

 before but never here in Comfort's Wood.

They can be found in wet grasslands,

 woodlands, places where there are herbs. On  warm days in late spring and summer, you may see them sitting on wildflowers, cow parsley or hogweed. They are 10-15mm in length with their antennae being longer than the body.

Most longhorn beetle larvae develop inside woody plants, but these grow in herbaceous plants instead. Females chew a hole in the stem of a host plant and lay an egg inside. After hatching, the larva feeds on the inside of the stem.

On the same day, I found these eggs. I am fairly sure that these will be Green shieldbug eggs. They looked healthy enough at this stage too.

Unlike these ones, which I found a few days later...

It's just possible that they are closer to emerging, or that they are a different species; but I don't like the colour of this clutch. When I have found them looking like this previously, it has been the work of a parasitic wasp.

A couple more photographs from the same visit now: this is the larva of a Common Quaker moth...

  

And a large, female Horsefly...

     Then an Oak bush-cricket (Meconema thalassinum}

      

Finally, I think this is a Pea-weevil. But it was smaller than any I have found before.

My next visit to the woods was on Friday  May 30 when I found this Vapourer moth larva...

 

And this Oak leafhopper nymph (Lassus lanio)

Also a White-legged damselfly. I seemed to miss out on seeing the blues and reds this year, although there are still some around...

My final visit to Comfort's Wood for this update took place just a few days ago on June 11th.

Another Vapourer larva was my first sighting this time. In a different part of the woods, and so not the same one that I saw on May 30 

Swiftly followed by this Coxcomb-prominent larva... 

Then a Dark Oak Bush-cricket...

A Common Froghopper..

And a plant bug: (Grypocoris stysi) 

This is a conspicuous bug found widely throughout the UK, usually on nettles in woodland, and sometimes umbellifers. The adults and larvae feed on both flower heads as well as small invertebrates such as aphids. Adults appear in June/July, but rarely survive beyond August...

Lastly, a Large Skipper butterfly...

That's about all for this update; other than to apologise if some of the text, or photographs seem a bit...Higgledy-piggledy'. I have been very careful to align everything correctly, but sometimes 'Blogger' decides it knows best!

 

A Springtime walk around Comfort's Wood...

 This update is a record of my walk around the woods on April 10th 2024.

This Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) was still fairly dark looking. They have the ability to turn almost brown during winter, and back to green come spring...

This is how they normally look ...

We always called these Sloe Bugs for years: now we have to refer to them as Hairy Shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum)

I guess this photo does show how the new name suits them...

And my first Dock Bug of 2024 (Coreus marginatus)

Lots of small Crab Spiders about on this walk...

This last photo is just to give you an idea of actual size...

Curculio glandium - A male acorn weevil...

There seemed to have been a mass emergence of these drone flies; they were everywhere...

I wondered at first if this could be the dreaded Asian Hornet, but no, it's just the European version...

And I think this is just a common wasp... 

Ladybirds next. Starting with this 14-spot (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata)

Honestly! That's its proper name.

And a pair of 7-spots (Coccinella septempunctata)

Then a Orange ladybird (Halyzia sedecimguttata)

More Hoverflies: this one is a female Epistrophe eligans...

And a female Helophilus pendulus...

I spotted a couple of Speckled Wood Butterflies; unfortunately for this early in the season, they were both tatty...

A Green Longhorn Moth - Adela reaumurella...

Also a micro-moth. Not sure of identity on this one, but possibly something like Esperia Sulphurella

This strange creature is most likely to be Chironomus plumosus: usually seen during spring and summer when males create mating swarms which people can find quite a nuisance even though adults do not bite or feed. This one is a male, hence the fancy head-gear!

And in my opinion, I saved the best find until last. there are a couple of very similar beetles, but I think this one is Pogonocherus hispidulus. The other possibility would be  Pogonocherus hispidus. 

What a stunning Longhorn Beetle this is: only small, but beautiful...

That's all for this update.