My, My, My said the Spider to the Fly.

It is a butterfly or is a moth.

A not infrequent question when you come across one of the day flying moths such as this Latticed Heath. It sits like a small butterfly, it's about the same size as a Chalkhill Blue butterfly and it shares the same habitat. It is a moth in the family Geometridae, and taxonomically it is more closely related to the Butterfly families than it is to many moths.

My conservatory, where I empty my moth traps and try (not always successfully to identify what I've caught, it of course a great place to live if you are a spider. If it thought moths were difficult, then spiders are the next step up. I've looked for this chap but can't find his ID. (it's Araneus diadematus, see Rob's note below). I lives in the corner of my mothing room and has a fairly small web.

It is successful, and although I try and ensure the safe departure of moths that I bring in with the traps, it does sometimes catch one. It wastes no time in dashing out and imparting a lethal bite on the hapless insect. It also does a good job on the mosquitoes that I invariable bring in with me, as is whitnessed in this larder.

A bit of a sad case this morning. When I got to my fourth trap (Black no 2) I found this wing next to the trap. It's the remains of a Jersey Tiger, a stunning and quite scarce moth. This evening I found the matching wing from the other side, making the pair!

Help needed from Arachnophiles.

It's funny what you find when you're sitting in the smallest room in the house!

This rather splendid arachnid, has been dwelling in our downstairs wash room for a while. It's about 6cm across and when mildly disturbed has a very unusual habit of vibrating backwards and forwards on its web.

I decided to take some pictures and try to identify if in the Collins Guide to Spiders etc. So for I haven't had any luck, so if you're an expert let me know. A close up shows the three tone knees rather nicely.

I've only caught a few Kent Black Arches, the last one was almost exactly a year ago, about the time that Kent won last years 20-20 Cup. So when there was one in the trap this morning I thought that it might just be a good omen for today. They came so close to winning the final, loosing by just three runs with the game in the balance until the last ball. Consequently today's been a bit of a couch potato day with three games to watch.

Creepy Crawlies

Moths aren't the only things attracted to the light of a moth trap. I frequently find Ladybirds, Bumblebees, Wasps and an assortment of flies in the trap.

Unfortunately this beetle, which I think may be a Shore Sexton Beetle, has been quite frequent this year. They don't do any damage, but they do smell atrocious. The are normally covered in little mites and are always reluctant to leave the trap.

One group of insects that I know very little about are the Caddis Flies. I don't think that I'd ever seen one properly until I ran a moth trap. I catch quite a number of different species, although I can't identify them, I think the one above might be Mystacides longicornis, it looks quite like a picture I found, but with 190 British species it's a bit of a guess. Most of the adult Caddis Flies are nocturnal and although some may be attracted to nectar most don't ever feed. Nearly all of them grow up in ponds and streams, where the larvae surround themselves with portable "homes" made of sand and bits of debris.

Spider are of course familiar to most people, and despite their reputation, there are none to be worried about in the UK (this may of course change if the climate becomes milder and alien species become established). We already have about 800 species of spiders in the UK, of nearly half are in the very small "money spider" category.

This is the largest Spider I've seen in Europe. It resides outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and is by Louise Bourgeois.

Pam's Webs

While I was away Pam put up one picture of some spiders webs she had taken in the garden. I was looking through her pictures and noticed these two of almost "perfect" webs, that I though were well worth another look. I wonder if these patterns are related to the mysterious Fibonacci numbers, any mathematicians out there could let me know!

Web of Life

A small flock of birds was moving between two gardens near the Golf Course and I stopped for a quick check. I had to be careful to miss the Spiders webs that straddled the path.

A couple of squeaks (from me) brought an inquisitive Chiffchaff just above my head. They look very much like Willow Warblers but are slightly duller, have all dark legs and shorter wings.

The most numerous birds in the group were Log-tailed Tits, the one above is sitting unusually still.

This one is performing the acrobatics that they are well known for.

I did post a picture of a Speckled Wood in April. The one above is the nest generation, the offspring of the spring Butterflies having gone through the stages of egg, caterpillar and pupae (chrysalis) and have now reached adulthood. It is unique among British butterflies in that it can over winter as a chrysalis or a caterpillar

I noticed this different spider by the track and must admit I don't know the name of either species. Let me know if you do please.

Arachnophobes look away!

The Wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi is one of our more exotic looking spiders. It is actually a native spider of Mediterranean areas, and has only recently colonised parts of England. It was first recorded in 1922 and is mainly confined to the south coast. They live in long grass and low vegetation. Because the egg sac is made on grass leaves, this spider can only become established where grass is not regularly managed. This is the time of year to look out for this spectacular beast in the long grass along the cliff tops and in the paddock.

The male is much smaller than the female. He waits at the edge of the female's web until she has shed her skin to become mature. He then takes advantage of the fact that the female's jaws are soft to mate with her in safety. Many males, however, are eaten while mating, so let that be a lesson to you!

Other Wildlife The strong winds today meant that most birds stayed buried in the bushes and Butterflies refused to fly. There did appear to be a small passage of Swallow but these may have just been local movements. A good summary of the birds seen at Bockhill can be found on the KOS web site.