Insects again :
Tansy beetles : found four this week. These are our very own little rarity, whose last stronghold is the banks of the Ouse between Selby and Beningborough.
The larvae & adults feed on the Tansy plant, and the adults are now mating and complete the cycle by laying eggs.
The adult beetle is impressive ; you won't mistake them for anything else, since they are as big as your little fingernail.
There are just a very , very few of them in our parish , rather more in Acaster Malbis and Naburn .
Please just look, but leave them alone.
If you have Tansy growing on your property , please encourage it, rather than strimming it away, as some have been doing along the river ........
It's a lovely native plant anyway.
Damsel flies:
We have two species that appear to breed in the river , the Banded Demoiselle
Calopteryx splendens , and the Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum.
Like all Dragon-and Damselflies, these have a predatory larva that lives underwater ,
sometimes for several years , before it emerges and hatches into the adult form.
The adults are spectacular , particularly the Demoiselle:
The hot weather at the beginning of last seemed suitable , so I went looking along the riverbank where I'd seen them in previous years : bingo !
The change in the weather makes them hide again , but if we have a sunny and warm day , keep a look out.
The males defend a territory , so are more conspicuous.
Pics Robert Thompson.
The promised swarms of Painted Ladies seem to have been stopped by the weather , alas.
I found one very faded and battered individual on Wednesday, but that's all .
Maybe they've just run out of puff.
One small but startling looking insect I saw today :
A Scorpionfly , Panorpa communis :
Apparently feed largely on dead insects , and have even been seen using their long snouts to
to remove insscts from spiders' webs.
Birds :
Linnets: this formerly common bird is now rare here : I saw a charming pair along the river on Wednesday.
They specialise on feeding on field weeds : their decline is linked to the manicuring of the modern farm.
Reckoned to have declined by 60% in the last decade:
.
If you watch the Television you might be forgiven for thinking that our wildlife is thriving.
It Isn't .
Although programmes like Springwatch do an excellent job in raising awarenesss, they also feed a kind of armchair complacency :" we saw it on Telly , isn't it cute, and all those nice people are looking after it ".
Well-publicised attempts to reintroduce glamourous rarities like Bustards and Beavers are splendid , but really just window-dressing .
Apart from the very few Reserves, and in the wilder fringes , throughout Lowland Britain our wildlife is in steep decline.
The reason is simple : there are far too many of us in these cramped little Islands,
we are all much richer than before and want houses, cars, and very cheap food,
more of the land is under concrete than ever, our farming is industrially intensive,
our habitat everywhere is quickly degrading.
Species like the Linnet , once uncountably numerous , are going down the plug, along with thousands of other things you have never even noticed, because there is nowhere for them to live , and nothing for them to eat.
Plants : Now flowering :
Dog Rose : if you want to see and smell these at their best , go out one nice evening and walk the cycletrack between Copmanthorpe lane and the Old Bridge . Go on.....
Ground Elder : I know it's a pest in some places , but I've only found one plant , so
no need to worry :
Meadow Vetchling : a member of the Pea family , tangling its way through the tall grass :
Ox-eye Daisies in old churchyard , and also along cycletrack :
Brambles just starting to flower ; think of the blackberries later :
Meadow Cranesbill , surely one of our most beautiful flowers . Along the riverbank.
and one or two clumps in the field edges :
Hedge Woundwort , appearing along shady edges :
Nettles : even they have flowers :
White Campion , growing sometimes close the the Red , which is closely related.
The two sometimes hybridise :
Stop Press : a dead adult swan in the river just north of the Old bridge ; apparently died snagged on something in the water : probably the usual angler's rubbish . Its mate and four cygnets still nearby .Thanks to the couple from Keble Park who pointed it out to me .
I have informed the Swan Rescue centre, who will doubtless know who else to inform.
Better news : whilst investigating the scene , a Kingfisher flew over my head !
At last , the first I have personally seen this year.
************************************************************************************************************
Tansy beetles : found four this week. These are our very own little rarity, whose last stronghold is the banks of the Ouse between Selby and Beningborough.
The larvae & adults feed on the Tansy plant, and the adults are now mating and complete the cycle by laying eggs.
The adult beetle is impressive ; you won't mistake them for anything else, since they are as big as your little fingernail.
There are just a very , very few of them in our parish , rather more in Acaster Malbis and Naburn .
Please just look, but leave them alone.
If you have Tansy growing on your property , please encourage it, rather than strimming it away, as some have been doing along the river ........
It's a lovely native plant anyway.
Damsel flies:
We have two species that appear to breed in the river , the Banded Demoiselle
Calopteryx splendens , and the Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum.
Like all Dragon-and Damselflies, these have a predatory larva that lives underwater ,
sometimes for several years , before it emerges and hatches into the adult form.
The adults are spectacular , particularly the Demoiselle:
The hot weather at the beginning of last seemed suitable , so I went looking along the riverbank where I'd seen them in previous years : bingo !
The change in the weather makes them hide again , but if we have a sunny and warm day , keep a look out.
The males defend a territory , so are more conspicuous.
Pics Robert Thompson.
The promised swarms of Painted Ladies seem to have been stopped by the weather , alas.
I found one very faded and battered individual on Wednesday, but that's all .
Maybe they've just run out of puff.
One small but startling looking insect I saw today :
A Scorpionfly , Panorpa communis :
Apparently feed largely on dead insects , and have even been seen using their long snouts to
to remove insscts from spiders' webs.
Birds :
Linnets: this formerly common bird is now rare here : I saw a charming pair along the river on Wednesday.
They specialise on feeding on field weeds : their decline is linked to the manicuring of the modern farm.
Reckoned to have declined by 60% in the last decade:
.If you watch the Television you might be forgiven for thinking that our wildlife is thriving.
It Isn't .
Although programmes like Springwatch do an excellent job in raising awarenesss, they also feed a kind of armchair complacency :" we saw it on Telly , isn't it cute, and all those nice people are looking after it ".
Well-publicised attempts to reintroduce glamourous rarities like Bustards and Beavers are splendid , but really just window-dressing .
Apart from the very few Reserves, and in the wilder fringes , throughout Lowland Britain our wildlife is in steep decline.
The reason is simple : there are far too many of us in these cramped little Islands,
we are all much richer than before and want houses, cars, and very cheap food,
more of the land is under concrete than ever, our farming is industrially intensive,
our habitat everywhere is quickly degrading.
Species like the Linnet , once uncountably numerous , are going down the plug, along with thousands of other things you have never even noticed, because there is nowhere for them to live , and nothing for them to eat.
Plants : Now flowering :
Dog Rose : if you want to see and smell these at their best , go out one nice evening and walk the cycletrack between Copmanthorpe lane and the Old Bridge . Go on.....
Ground Elder : I know it's a pest in some places , but I've only found one plant , so
no need to worry :
Meadow Vetchling : a member of the Pea family , tangling its way through the tall grass :
Ox-eye Daisies in old churchyard , and also along cycletrack :
Brambles just starting to flower ; think of the blackberries later :
Meadow Cranesbill , surely one of our most beautiful flowers . Along the riverbank.
and one or two clumps in the field edges :
Hedge Woundwort , appearing along shady edges :
Nettles : even they have flowers :
White Campion , growing sometimes close the the Red , which is closely related.
The two sometimes hybridise :
Stop Press : a dead adult swan in the river just north of the Old bridge ; apparently died snagged on something in the water : probably the usual angler's rubbish . Its mate and four cygnets still nearby .Thanks to the couple from Keble Park who pointed it out to me .
I have informed the Swan Rescue centre, who will doubtless know who else to inform.
Better news : whilst investigating the scene , a Kingfisher flew over my head !
At last , the first I have personally seen this year.
************************************************************************************************************
Good news Tony.
The family of swans that are much loved by the regulars that walk the river bank is still intact.
I saw them this morning by the marina.
There has been a lone male around for a while so perhaps it was him. Someone told me that the two males have been seen fighting. Perhaps this was the cause of his demise.