New Species - Red and Black Froghopper

I spotted this distinctive bug sitting on a bracken frond and luckily its colouration allowed me to identify it by flipping through the plates of my insect guide. It is the only British species in the Cercopidae family of bugs, one of ten species of Froghopper found in the UK. It is the Red and Black Froghopper (Cercopsis vulnerata).

First ever May Waxcap - Golden Waxcap

I usually have a waxcap or two in late June or July - the early ones tend to be Dingy Waxcap, Citrine Waxcap and Fibrous Waxcap. This year however there was a single Golden Waxcap fruiting on 28th May. It must be the strange weather patterns we have had this Spring.

Common Spotted Orchids @ 28th May

I keep a record of the number of Common Spotted Orchid rosettes counted as at 28th May and this year it is a whopping 442 compared with 208 in 2020 and 67 in 2019. However the overall increase in Orchids (including a few Helleborines and the two Twayblades) over the final figure last year is 44% rather than the 113% as at 28th May. What is certainly true is that the dry weather and the underlying trend to less volumes of grass each year has meant that a much higher proportion of the orchid rosettes have been seen by now. I suspect the overall increase in Orchids will turn out in the range 50% to 60% rather than 100%+. Still 50% to 60% is a very healthy increase. I'll take that.

Second Twayblade!

In the 'lawn' near the house as well, rather than in the haycut and aftermath grazed fields. This follows one Twayblade in 2019 and one in 2020. Suddenly we have doubled our numbers. They are all in different spots and very spread out so I have no idea what is going on. Maybe there are seeds spread around in the soil and our management has encouraged them to move to flowering which they have done over a ten year period. Although the lawn area is not cut for hay it is allowed to grow in the summer and it does get some sort of grazing from rabbits so maybe it is not so different to the fields. Now I have two I'll have to get pollinating.....

Yellow Archangel

Has really got a foothold under our small group of Oak trees after some sporadic floering in previous years. Meanwhile closer to the house I am trying to eradicate all of the cultivated version of the flower with its horrible variegated leaves.

Badger cubs?

I spotted this tiny Badger paw print so I suspect there are some cubs about. Time to get the trailcam out!

Dryad's Saddle

The Dryad's Saddle on the big old Ash tree just keeps getting bigger each year. The Ash tree is unlikely to survive very long as it is somewhat rotten at the base before Aash Dieback gets a hold. At the point it comes down I shall have many years supply of firewood!

New Species - Spring Fieldcap

I knew it was something I hadn't seen before when I found this fungus in the rough grass I laughingly call a lawn. With some help I can confidently identify it as Spring Fieldcap (Agrocybe praecox), a common spring species that is probably based on some wood in the grassland. The small ring on the stipe is one of its features and the brown spore print also distinctive.

First 7-Spot Ladybird of the year

There was two or three in the field - good to see when a lot of Ladybirds are of the Harlequin invasive variety.

Red and white in tooth and claw

I mentioned the two white rabbits last month and there is a definite thought that they might be more vulnerable to predation, particularly from a Buzzard or Goshawk. This morning I saw a dog fox kill a white rabbit in broad daylight. I assumed that it was one of the two born last month but this afternoon I saw the original two in their usual feeding place and a further, smaller white rabbit also. I am now assuming it was one of the younger, less street-wise white rabbits that was taken. Th fox picked it up and took it down into the woodlqand, presumably as food for some cubs.

A Twayblade appears.....

Not a new species as for the last two years we have had a single Twayblade - but not the same one. For the third year in a row a single Twayblade has appeared but again nowhere near where the other two came up. I'm hoping a second one comes up this year and then we might get some serious Twayblade pollination going on.