The warmer weather continues and has coaxed more insects into awakening from their winter slumber. After the first sighting of the year yesterday of a single Brimstone butterfly my tally today was 14. Also found were several active Seven-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata), all on brambles. Turning over some of the bramble leaves I spotted what I thought might be some sort of insect and took a couple of shots of the small (3mm) orange object. It turned out that this not an insect at all but a seed shed from a female catkin of a Silver Birch (Betula pendula) some months ago. It is stuck to the underside of the bramble leaf by moisture (or maybe tiny serrations on the edge of the seed’s ‘wings’).

Another newly active insect was a Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) on a Common Hazel male catkin. The shieldbug was sporting its darker blue-green winter hibernation colours and will gradually take on its more more familiar bright green colour.

Two days ago I reported that a Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) was circling over the Downs. Today there were a total of 4. I managed a reasonable photo of one of them, an adult bird.

One Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) tree laden with its white blossom was receiving attention from a large swarm of hundreds of Western Honey Bee, that could be heard at least 20m away.  

The latest tree/shrub to start leafing is European Privet (Ligustrum vulgare).

On the cut surface of a felled oak stump I found an early stage nymph of the Ivy Planthopper (Issus coleoptratus). 

Nature Note for the Day

The silver birch seed stuck to the underside of the bramble leaf made me realise that I had seen these before, without realising what they were, stuck in many a spider’s web. A little research came up with some interesting numbers. Estimates suggest that an individual female catkin produces about 125 seeds and a fully grown tree can release as many as 1,000,000 seeds. Yet no more than 100 of these seeds may germinate and develop into birch saplings.

For a short but very informative article on this topic click here.

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