Biology – Page 18 – David Bradley

Moth larval nests

UPDATE: I mentioned this larval nest to the County Moth Recorder, Bill Mansfield, and as he was not too far from the site in question, he took a look. It’s on a type of cherry tree, he found, so he’s narrowed down the moth species, to Bird Cherry Ermine, Yponemeuta evonymella. He points out that the tree is largely defoliated at this point and the web mostly now covering evergreen fir trees.

Friends often come to me with their lepidopteral and avian queries, it’s often a bird they’ve seen that they imagine is some great rarity, a mega, but often turns out to be something common, a Long-tailed Tit mistaken for a Great Grey Shrike for instance. One friend spots lots of moths in his farm-facing garden and on his allotment and jokingly emails me as MothMania…I can usually put him straight.

Another friend’s sixth-former offspring was perturbed to see what she thought was a huge spider’s web on the way to college, it shook her up a little. The friend asked me to take a look at the photo, I immediately thought – not spiders, moth larval nest! But, I didn’t know which species.

From the photos I’ve seen, I initially thought it to be the caterpillars of the Small Eggar moth, but that’s quite rare and present in the UK in specific, sporadic colonies. Other moths that make nests like this on bushes and trees would be The Lackey and the Brown-tail of which I’ve talked here in the past. It would be worrying if it were the invasive Oak Processionary Moth too, but thankfully it’s not that.

Over on Facebook, friend and fellow Cottenham moth-er Martin Fowlie suggested one of the ermine moths (Yponomeuta species) and that is what we’re settling on for the ID. Can’t be more specific without additional details at this point.

Photos kindly shared by Ken Bateup who posted on the Cambridgeshire Moths Facebook group.

Introducing Mother Shipton

Let me introduce Mother Shipton. This is the moth Euclidia mi. It’s a day-flying moth, darts between resting places quite quickly during May and June. It’s a fairly common species, but I’d only ever seen it briefly once before and didn’t get a decent shot of the upper side of its wings. This one was feeding on hawthorn alongside some Common Heath moths on Devil’s Dyke in Cambridgeshire. The larvae feed on trifolium, clover, and some grasses.

Oh, one more thing, some people might call it a Mother Shipton butterfly because it flies during the day, but all butterflies are moths by definition.

The vernacular name alludes to the renowned 16th Century soothsayer and alleged witch Mother Shipton (aka Ursula Southeil (ca. 1488–1561) of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, England.

The markings on the moth’s forewings are said to resemble a fa fanciful and cartoonish impression of Mother Shipton’s profile featuring a beady eye, prominent nose and chin, and toothless maw. Judge for yourself.

Also seen on Devil’s Dyke: Green Hairstreak (21x), Brimstone butterfly, Orange Tip, Blue (possibly Adonis, given time of year as opposed to Chalkhill, which emerges much later)

Brimstone butterflies courting on the wing

Bluebells and Oxlip at Overhall Grove

We discovered Overhall Grove woodland many years ago through a book of woodland walks given to us by the aunt and uncle of Mrs Sciencebase. It’s a small nature reserve, mature woodland, lots of Bluebells and Oxlips in spring, various butterflies too, including White-letter Hairstreak, which I mentioned here in the summer of 2021. Anyway, a visit today was mainly for the Bluebells, the walk, and the fresh air.

Cetti’s Warbler, Cettia cetti

I hear (but don’t often see) Cetti’s Warblers all year round out here in the Cambridgeshire Fens. They have a loud and distinctive call, which varies from region to region (they have dialects) and sometimes vary between individuals even on the same patch. To my ear, it sounds like “whi-choo, whi-chooey-choo, whi-chee-choo” or something like that. Quite harsh but a not unpleasant song, can’t be confused with anything else I hear in the fens. Have a listen to some across the UK here.

But, they’re rather shy birds and lurk deep within trees and brambles. Usually, they prefer not to have their photo taken although I have snapped them once or twice before as Sciencebase Instagram followers will know.

There are lots of them on the local bird reserves, including RSPB Berry Fen, where I got a snap of one after it called and popped out from hiding. I hear them in Winter, all through the Spring into Summer and across the Autumn. I’m sure some of them will be migratory like other warblers, but there are enough that stay put that you can catch their call any time of year.

Incidentally, the bird is named for Francesco Cetti (9 August 1726 – 20 November 1778) an Italian Jesuit priest, zoologist, and mathematician. IN case you were wondering, it’s pronounced cheh-tee, not seh-tee, although you do hear a lot of birders saying it with an “s” and not a “ch”.

A gateway guide to mothing

Other people’s hobbies are weird, aren’t they? Bird watching, trainspotting, stamp collecting…what’s that all about. But, some are particularly strange, at least until you find yourself introduced, intrigued, interested, and then heavily invested in that particular hobby.

Take mothing, it’s like birding, but with moths. What could be weirder? Many people think of moths as pests, dull grey and brown fluttery things that fly around lights at night and eating clothes and carpets. But, nothing could be farther from the truth. There are indeed some moths that are grey or brown and just two species whose larvae (caterpillars) eat textiles. However, there are about 2500 species in the UK alone and something like 150,000 species around the world and they come in all shapes and sizes, colours and patterns, many that outdo their lepidopteral cousins, the butterflies, for glamour and flamboyance.

Moth-er extraordinaire James Lowen who first went from intrigue to interest to investment when he first set eyes on the magnificent and enormous Poplar Hawk-moth has travelled far and wide to see some of those tens of thousands of species of moth. Now, in “British Moths – A gateway guide“, he reveals some of that intrigue and interest in the hope of enticing his reader into sharing his investment in the world of moths. And, what a world it is from the aforementioned Poplar Hawk-moth to the Angles Shades from the Emperor to Mother Shipton. The names are as diverse and distinctive as the shapes and patterns of this richly diverse group of insects.

In the pages of this handily spiral-bound book, Lowen introduces to what might be our first 350 or so ticks (as it were) on a novice moth-er’s list. Each described in crisp detail with an equally crisp photo. Labels highlight the highlights of each moth’s features, patterns on its wings, their antennae, even the males’ pheromone-releasing tail, its so-called hair pencil.

There is much to learn, but you will learn fast if you take a seasonal tour through Lowen’s lovely introduction to what some of us already see as the most fascinating of hobbies. Many of us see make use of our hobby as citizen scientists reporting sightings to the professionals and the county moth recorders and such.

Be warned though…your trainspotting and stamp-collecting friends will think you’re weird. Let them! Maybe even invest in a copy of Lowen’s book for them, intrigue them, interest them, get them invested in this fascinating hobby. Don’t let moths flutter by without taking a closer look.

Moths over models

What if famously mono, celebrity photographer David Bailey had opted for moths over models?

This is a Spruce Carpet, so-called because its larvae like spruce trees and its patterning reminded the 18th-century naturalists of the beautiful patterns of carpets (fairly novel and a grand status symbol at the time).

David Bailey is a well-known British photographer who gained fame in the 1960s for his iconic portraits of celebrities and models. He was born in 1938 in Leytonstone, London. He left school at the age of 15 and worked as a freelance photographer for various publications before being hired by British Vogue in 1960.

Bailey’s style was characterized by his use of high-contrast black and white photography and his ability to capture his subjects’ personalities in a candid and intimate way. His subjects included many of the most famous people of the era, such as The Beatles, Mick Jagger, The Kray Twins, Andy Warhol, and Catherine Deneuve.

In addition to his work for Vogue, Bailey also worked for other publications such as The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, and The Face. He also became known for his work in advertising, shooting campaigns for brands such as Burberry, Sony, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Bailey’s personal life has been marked by a series of high-profile relationships. He was married to the actress Catherine Deneuve for a short time in the 1960s, and later married the model Marie Helvin. He has also been linked romantically to many other famous women, including Penelope Tree and Jean Shrimpton.

Throughout his career, Bailey has received numerous awards and honours for his work, including being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE, in 2001. He continues to work as a photographer today and has also directed several films and documentaries.

Overall, David Bailey is considered one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, and his iconic images continue to be admired and emulated by photographers around the world.

Grasshopper Warbler, Locustella naevia

If you’ve never seen or more to the point heard a Common Grasshopper Warbler, Locustella naevia, then a visit to East Anglia right now might be merited. There are quite a few noted in our local countryside and on nature reserves (April 2022).

They’re summer-visiting migrants and will depart in August. The male’s song, isn’t so much a melody as a churring, turring, reeling tone reminiscent of the sound made by grasshoppers.

I was lucky enough to catch sight of one this morning and with a decent-sized zoom lens it didn’t mind me recording a snippet of video while it reeled. I used an audio editor to add a low cut (high-pass filter) and a high cut (low pass filter) that bracketed the bird’s sound to isolate it from the noise of the gravelworks, wind, and aeroplanes. You can see the spike that is the warbler’s reeling on the right of the image, the mound of noise on the left is rumbling works and wind.

Nearby where the street has a name…

Photographing butterflies

When the first Orange Tip of the garden year turned up just moments ago, I grabbed the nearest camera and rattled off a quick burst when it landed briefly on a wildflower (weed) in the garden. Pre-programmed settings on a Canon 7dii with a Sigma 150-600mm lens pulled to 600mm. 1/1600s, f/8.0, auto ISO jumped to 1600. No chance to do any bracketing or exposure compensation, before this male had flown. So, thank goodness for shooting in RAW.

RAW mode saves all the data your camera’s sensor detects. There’s no processing in the camera, you have to pull the RAW file into appropriate software and convert it to a format that you can then edit with a photo editor. In this case, I opened the native RAW importing component of PainShop Pro. This, like almost all other RAW software, lets you choose the exposure compensation after the fact so that blownout whites like one would get with an Orange Tip butterfly can be rescued.

So, as you can see in the above before and after shot, I’ve set exposure compensation (highlight recovery, they call it in this software) to “normal” and it’s rescued some of the blownout details of the white part of the butterfly’s wing. RAWTherapee, Lightroom, and other tools let you do more sophisticated imports of RAW files. And, you can rescue the blacks too and then create a pseudo-bracketed shot or even an HDR if you wish with some software.

Once some rescue work has been done, I’ll usually then apply a few different adjustments to levels, clarity, vibrancy, and sharpness, as well as cropping and adding my logo.

Ukraine’s National bird, the White Stork on our local patch

TL:DR – The national bird of Ukraine is the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia), we occasionally see them in the local fenland. Often they are ringed birds or birds that have escaped into the wild from collections.

I went looking for a White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) that had been seen at the marina in the nearby village Earith this morning. I was lucky enough to catch sight of it on the wing circling with numerous gulls and several Grey Herons before it headed upstream and out of sight along the Great River Ouse.

As many readers will know, the White Stork is the national bird of Ukraine, feels rather poignant to have seen one today. Birdwatcher Oleksandr Ruchko writing in The Guardian from Lviv had this to say on seeing the birds return to his homeland:

The stork is very sacred to Ukrainians, a symbol of spring, of babies, and of peace. They are believed to be a kind of amulet, and protect your house against evil. Nobody here ever kills storks to eat, not even in the worst times

The White Stork is widespread on the continent and a bird of fable and legend even to this day in the British Isles despite our having driven it to extinction in the middle ages. Last nesting pair was observed in Edinburgh in 1416. Today, there are a couple of dozen seen sporadically in the UK, some will have come from collections. The one I saw today was unringed but well have been released from a breeding program or other place. Equally, it may well have arrived from continental Europe…perhaps even Ukraine, itself, no way to know for certain.

Meanwhile, I also went back for another look at the Garganey and female Blue-winged Teal on the flood. I caught the Garganey in flight and was rather hoping that I’d inadvertently caught the female Blue-winged Teal in flight too. But, it his looks like a female Garganey chasing a drake Garganey. Funnily enough, the drake has quite a reputation having mated on several occasions over the last few weeks…with the female Blue-winged Teal. So maybe the female Garganey has taken umbrage…hah!

The Garganeys are thought to have headed north from Spain when it got too dry for them there early in the year. There have been lots of reported sightings of this bird in the UK in the last few weeks. The Blue-winged Teal dropped in not long after a Green-winged Teal had already been sighted. Those are both American birds that should really be heading south for Texas not Cambridgeshire, but presumably chose the wrong line of latitude when they set off from The Arctic earlier in the year.

After the garganeys, I spent some time watching Whitethroats, tried to get a photo of one of the Cetti’s Warblers, snapped a Sedge Warbler, and spotted my first Orange Tip butterfly of the year.

A scarce flower for Passover and Easter

We took a walk along the Devil’s Dyke hoping to see Green Hairstreaks and perhaps the Dotterals that had been sighted on neighbouring Ditch Farm. We had no luck with either of those, although there were lots of Brimstone butterflies, a few Whitethroats, and our first Willow Warbler of the year.

Almost in passing we noticed a pretty purple flower with a yellow centre. Mrs Sciencebase suggested it might be some kind of anemone and it is indeed in the same sub-family, Ranunculoideae, but it is specifically Pulsatilla vulgaris, known colloquially as the European Pasque Flower. Pasque from the Hebrew word for Passover, Pasakh. Obviously, quite apt for this time of year.

The plant is also known as the wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter flower, and meadow anemone. The showy purple parts are sepals rather than petal. It’s a scarce plant that likes chalky or limestone-rich land. Happily, the very substance of the raised earthworks that is Devil’s Dyke is a good proportion of chalk. It is also the ‘county flower’ of Cambridgeshire and neighbouring Hertfordshire. Pulsatilla species are toxic and can cause vomiting and diarrhoea if ingested and in serious cases of poisoning, convulsions, a critical drop in blood pressure, and coma.

Thanks to Twitter friends for the ID, one, to my chagrin, I did not know.

Counted 11 hares on adjacent farmland, lots of cowslips, lots of Brimstone butterfly, one or two Small Tortoiseshell, half a dozen European Peacock and lots of the same beige moth (perhaps a caddisfly?)