Rockpooling

Pendennis Point

Just round the headland from the seaside town of Falmouth is a tiny beach situated on Pendennis point. A spike of fine yellow sand covers a small portion of a beach framed by slabs of rock covered in Barnacles. Tunnels are cut into the stone, some large enough to crawl into from the waves and explore. Shags stand regally on the rock tips, conversing and watching the ever-changing sea.

A Shag - Phalalcrocorax aristotelis

At low tide rock-pools appear and this is what Rachel, Ben and I were looking for.

Pale Common Shore crabs were fairly common, bumbling around in the seaweed, waiting for the tide to come back in to continue hunting.

Common Shore Crab - Carcinas maenas

The wonderfully named Hairy Porcelain Crab Porcellana platycheles is covered in green/brown hair making it supremely well camouflaged against the rocks. The crab also has long hairs on his claws which are used rather like a Blue Whale’s baleen. He positions himself on the side of a rock before wafting his claws through the water in front of him. He then pulls the hair through his mouth, removing the microscopic plankton stuck in the hair.

Hairy Porcelain Crab - Porcellana platycheles

The Velvet Swimming crab is a fairly aggressive species and it is this with it’s red eyes that has gained it alternative names such as the Devil Crab and Witch Crab. Flattened legs act as oars, allowing the Velvet swimmer to scoot quickly through the water.

Velvet Swimmig Crab - Necora puber

Perfectly disguised as a strand of seaweed, a Straight-nosed Pipefish meanders through the rockpool. Having tiny fins the Straight-nosed Pipefish propels itself through the water rather like a snake.

Straight-nosed Pipefish - Nerophis ophidion

Under a rock lies a Cornish Sucker, or Shore Clingfish. Feeding on small crustaceans the Cornish sucker has a distinctive duck bill shaped snout with bulging eyes on top of it’s head. To protect itself from predators the small fish moves in a rapid darting motion or bury itself in the sand to hide.

Cornish Sucker - Lepadogaster lepadogaster

Cornish Sucker's Sucker

Mendip Invertebrates

My Grandma lives on the edge of the Mendip hills overlooking the Somerset levels, Glastonbury to the sea and South Wales across the Bristol Channel. The South facing slopes absorb the summer sunlight, the grassy hills are ablaze with the colour of butterflies and day-flying moths while a cacophony of insect noise fills the air.

Following an overgrown path through a small wood I clamber over a stile and into a grassy meadow. Quickly surrounded by Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers investigating this newcomer into their territory, I wander towards the corner with a mass of Clover, Majoram and Bramble. My attention is momentarily distracted by a lemon yellow Brimstone flying determinedly towards the opposite hedgerow.

Looking down the long grass is flattened in front of me by some nocturnal creature, probably a badger, snuffling about on the hunt for earthworms. This patch of the field, being irregularly shaped, has been left unploughed and uncultivated for generations.

The pretty little day-flying moth, Pyrausta purparalis, flickers between the tiny pink cups of majoram flowers, sipping daintily at each one as she passes. A Marmalade hoverfly suddenly lands on her flower head. Startled, she flicks open her wings revealing further yellow spots, scaring off the hoverfly.

Pyrausta purparalis

A flash of orange signifies the arrival of a Small Copper butterfly. Briefly alighting for a nectar refill on the majoram flowers he unfurls his proboscis and sips at the the sugary solution pooled in the flower’s base. Suddenly a Common Blue appears and the territorial butterfly sets off in hot pursuit, speeding across the grasses ducking and weaving in rapid, undulating flight. Taking matters into his own hands the Common Blue occasionally becomes the chaser and the two butterflies dart forward and back.

Small Copper - Chrysophanus phlaeas

The female Common Blue is a darker creature than the male but more interesting in decoration. Her dark wings are coloured with orange and white crescents at the wing fringes while a splash of blue surrounds her abdomen and thorax as if she has been dabbed with a blue powder brush.

Female Common Blue

Potentially confused with a female Common Blue is the Brown Argus. The wings of both sexes are painted with uniform brown fringed (forewings having a dark spot) with orange crescents and outlined by brilliant white.

Brown Argus - Aricia agestis

A deep buzzing fills the air as a large female Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee arrives in search of a drink. She lands on a purple thistle head and warms her wings against the hot afternoon sun. The season for taking over Bumblebee nests is almost over now as most are reaching the end of their working lives. This female is beginning to boost her food reserves before digging down into the soil in autumn to hibernate until springtime.

Vestal Cuckoo bee - Bombus vestalis

On a neighbouring thistle a white Crab Spider, Misumena vatia, lies in wait. Capable of taking smaller bumblebees such as the Common Carder, the ambush predator has to keep very still in order to avoid detection. The cunning spider has another trick up her many sleeves and this is her ability to alter the pigments in her skin to better match the colour of her ambush spot. This individual however must have recently moved to this thistle as she her white colour is in obvious contrast to the purple thistle.

Crab Spider - Misumena vatia

The bright black and yellow caterpillars of the 6 Spot Burnet have long since pupated and emerged as fairly lethargic red and black moths. These moths cling to the thistles, soaking up sunbeams and feeding almost all of the day, their distinctive markings acting as adequate protection from predators.

As night falls over the South West the quiet country roads are lit up by tiny green pinpricks of light. Closer inspection reveals the source of the light is that of the female Glow Worm. ‘Worm’ is not a correct way of describing this creature as they are, in fact, beetles. The adult males have wings with which they fly on the lookout for a mate. The females do not have wings but instead are endowed with a beautiful lamp. Only the females have the characteristic bright green lamp and they use this to attract males. She lives, as an adult, a rather ephemeral life; as soon as she has mated she turns out her light, lays eggs and dies. I count 10 pinpricks of light as I wander down the lane, a fairly low number in comparison to previous years but then it is late in the season. The bright stars above are mirrored by the glow worms below.

Glow Worm - Lampyris noctiluca

The morning’s moth trap contained a good haul; Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwings with their beautiful green faces and subtle reds on their forewings, a Blood Vein with his characteristic red stripe, a Pebble hook tip with his angled wingtips, a large Pebble Prominent with buff eye-like markings and a Brussels lace who is an immigrant from the continent with his subtle green tones. A tiny tortrix species Pammene aurita was also found, its jewel like wings shining in the early sunlight. Perhaps the most exciting for me was a pair of Oak Eggar moths, male and female. These large moths are rather gentle giants and will quite happily sit on you while being recorded without the need for any kind of holding chamber. Their small faces are surrounded by a mane of buff coloured, fur like, hair giving them a lion-like appearance while their wings are of a warm brown; the male being darker than the female. I release them into the long grass at the edge of the field where they quickly scurry to find more adequate shelter before waiting for darkness to fall again.

Pebble Prominent - Notodonta ziczac

Oak Eggar - Lasiocampa quercus

Male and Female Oak Eggars

Above the house and to the left lie Draycott Sleights, a small nature reserve on the edge of the Mendips. Steep sheep tracks head purposefully up the slope, the path bordered by great slabs of grey slate. The air is filled with the harsh stridulation of the Common Grasshopper, the more melodious trill of the Bush Cricket and the rhythmic ‘tak tak’ of a territorial Wren.

A pale blue butterfly alights on the yellow Bird’s Foot Trefoil that has sprouted from the shallow, chalky soil. This butterfly is one of the rarer British species that is a local speciality, the Chalk Hill Blue.

Chalk Hill Blue - Polyommattus coridon

On the crest of the hill a number of insects have gathered on the Wild Carrot flower umbrellas. On one such flower head the Noon fly (Mesembrina meridiana) basks surrounded by parasitic ichneumon wasps and dainty hoverflies.

Noon Fly - Mesebrina meridiana

A large Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) sits on a rock. She raises herself on her front legs and orientates herself to face the sun. Here she stays, warming her body until she has enough energy to return to feed.

Painted Lady - Vanessa cardui

Small Skippers rest on seed heads in the grassy meadow, their angled orange wings facing the sun. Common Blues join them, making the most of the evening light. 

Small Skipper - Thymelicus sylvestris

Common Blue - Polyommatus icarus

Female Common Blue - Polyommatus icarus

Mottled Grasshopper - Myrmeleotettix maculatus

Near the base of the grass stems a tangle of gossamer thin web has been hung in a rhomboid-like shape. The creator is a female Nursery Web spider. She carries her egg sac around with her until they are just about to hatch. Just before hatching she constructs this tent like web where she gently places the egg cocoon. She now stands watch over the cocoon, opening it slightly so the spiderlings can clamber out. A watchful, caring mother she now guards the spiderlings until they have left the nursery web and dispersed into undergrowth to start their lives.

Female Nursery Web Spider - Pisaura mirablis

A Nursery Web Spider guarding her young

Walking home past an ivy covered wall a Great Green Bush cricket crashes into me and rebounds onto the wall where she sits patiently amongst the green ivy. Long orange antenna fidget restlessly as she surveys the area, the dusk light illuminating the green veins of her wings.  

Great Green Bush Cricket - Tettigonia viridissima

As the velvet cloak of night wraps itself around the Mendip hills and the pipistrelle bats hunt their prey, all is silent to human ears.

August moths

Lots of moths this month; 104 species! I travelled around a bit and so I’ve separated the list in terms of location. I spent a week on Bardsey and went through a moth trap or two every day which has really boosted my still ropey Moth ID skills! The Convolvulus Hawkmoth was especially exciting as she was a resident of North Africa and was blown to North Wales by strong winds!

Ceiriog Valley

Angle Barred Pug - Eupithecia innotata (f. unicolor)

Antler moth - Cerapteryx graminis

August Thorn - Ennomos quercinaria

Brimstone - Opisthograptis luteolata

Barred Red - Hylaea fasciaria

Black Arches - Lymantria monacha

Buff Footman - Eilema depressa

Buff tip - Phalera bucephala

Burnished Brass - Diachrysia chrysitis (f. juncta and f. aurea)

Clouded Border - Lomaspilis marginata

Common Footman - Eilema lurideola

Common Rustic - Mesapamea secalis

Copper Underwing - Amphipyra pyramidea

Dark Arches - Apamea monoglypha

Dark Marbeled Carpet - Chloroclysta citrata citrata

Dingy Footman - Eilema griseola

Double Square Spot -  Xestia triangulum

Dun-bar - Cosmia trapezina

Dusky Thorn -  Ennomos fuscantaria

Engrailed - Ectropis bistortata

Foxglove Pug - Eupithecia pulchellata pulchellata

Flame Shoulder - Ochropleura plecta

Flame Carpet - Xanthorhoe designata

Flounced Rustic - Luperina testacea

Gold Spangle - Autographa bractea

Grass Emerald -  Pseudoterpna pruinata atropunctaria

Grey Pug - Eupithecia subfuscata

Heart and Dart  - Agrotis exclamationis

July Highflyer - Hydriomena furcata

Large Yellow Underwing -  Noctua pronuba

Least Yellow Underwing - Noctua interjecta caliginosa

Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing - Noctua janthe

Lesser Swallow prominent - Pheosia gnoma

Lesser Yellow Underwing - Noctua comes

Magpie - Abraxas grossulariata

Marbeled minor - Oligia strigilis

Plain Golden Y - Autographa jota

Plain Wave - Idaea straminata

Ribaned Wave - Idaea avesata

Rosy Rustic - Hydraecia micacea

Scalloped Oak - Crocalis elinguaria

Scarce Footman - Eilema griseloa

Shaded Broad Bar - Scotopteryx chenopodiata

Silver Y - Autographa gamma

Shuttle Shaped Dart - Agrotis puta puta

Small Dotted Buff - Photeded minima

Small Square Spot - Diarsia rubi

Square Spot Rustic - Xestia xanthographa

Straw Dot - Rivula sericealis

Svensson’s Copper Underwing - Amphipyra berbera svenssoni

Tawny Speckled Pug - Eupithecia icterata subfulvata

Thyme Pug - Eupithecia distinctaria constrictata

True Lover’s knot -  Lycophotia porphyria

Triple Spotted Clay - Xestia ditrapezium

Willow Beauty - Peribatodes rhomboidaria

Yellow Tail - Euproctis similis

Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing

True Lover's Knot

Black Arches

Common Footman

Shaded Broad Bar

Least Yellow Underwing

Dusky Thorn

Micros

Agriphila straminella

Agriphila tristella

Bird Cherry Ermine -  Yponomeuta evonymella

Chequered Fruit Tree Tortrix - Pandema corylana

Dark Fruit Tree Tortrix - Pandemis heparana

Gold Triangle - Hypsopygia costalis

Mother of Pearl - Pleuroptya ruralis

Spindle Ermine - Yponomeuta cagnagella

Somerset only

Autumnal Rustic - Eugnorisma glareosa

Blood Vein - Timandra comae

Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing - Noctua fimbriata

Brussels Lace - Cleorodes lichenaria

Buff Ermine - Spilosoma lubricipeda

Cabbage Moth - Mamestra brassicae

Coxcomb Prominent - Ptilodon capucina

Dark Sword Grass - Agrotis ipsilon

Ingrailed Clay - Diarsia mendica mendica

Light Feathered Rustic - Agrotis cinerea

Lime Speck Pug - Eupithecia centaureata

Oak Eggar - Lasiocampa quercus

Orange Swift - Hepialus hecta

Pebble Hook-tip - Drepana falcataria falcataria

Pebble Prominent - Notodonta ziczac

Purple Bar - Cosmorhoe ocellata

Rosy Footman - Miltochrista miniata

Ruby Tiger - Phragmatobia fuliginosa fuliginosa

Rustic - Hoplodrina blanda

Straw Underwing - Thalpophila matura

Yellow Shell - Camptogramma bilineata bilineata

Pebble Hook-tip

Blood Vein

Pebble Prominent

Brussels Lace

Oak Eggar

Oak Eggar Face

Male (R)  and Female (L) Oak Eggars 

Micros

Garden Pebble - Evergestis forficalis

Pammene aurita

Pyrausta purpuralis

Small Magpie - Eurrhypara hortulata

Pyrausta purparalis

Abernethy only

Barred Straw - Euliithis pyraliata

Common Wainscot - Mythimna pallens

Green Carpet - Colostygia pectinataria

Juniper Pug - Eupithecia pusillata pusillata

Neglected Rustic - Xestia baja

Northern Spinach - Eulithis pupulata

Plain Pug - Eupithecia simpliciata

Twin Spot Carpet - Perizoma didymata didymata (Wigtownshire and Ross Shire specimens)

Welsh Wave - Venusia cambrica

Barred Chestnut

Northern Spinach

Micros

Acleris laterana

Scoparia ancipitella

Bardsey only

Convolvulus Hawkmoth - Agrius convovuli

Drinker - Euthrix potatoria

Garden Tiger - Arctia caja

Swallow-tailed Moth - Ourapteryx sambucaria

Drinker Moth

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Northern Eggar

Swallow Tailed Moth