This month’s walks, in the cemeteries Old and New, were spread over two days. The warmth and short-lived dry spell on Monday morning brought out a myriad of insects; on Saturday there had been virtually none, but we were instead rewarded with the accentuated smells and colours of the wild flowers in the rain. The Cow Parsley was at its heady best, and the Bluebells, creating a swathe of blue, dotted with yellow buttercups, a feast for the eyes.

This special, sacred,  place has suffered from mismanagement at the hands of man over the years, but nature is fighting back to provide us with a refuge in these uncertain times.  The ancient gravestones, each of interest and worth a read – if only we had had the time! – themselves are mini-nature reserves, covered in lichens, and homes for mini-creatures, including four types of ‘bagworms’.  These are moths which live at least some of their lives in little ‘bags’ –  in the case of Psyche casta the bags are covered in little bits of grass; whilst the ‘Virgin bagworm’ is covered in lichen and grit, and remarkably spends its whole life in The Bag on its own (or rather ‘she’ spends her whole life there – no males needed in this species)!  Two other varieties seen on Monday were Narycia duplicella with the pupal exuvium sticking out of the end of the larval case, and the long Taleporia tubulosa.

Other insects found by the Monday group (sorry Saturday folk) included both Green and Hairy Shieldbugs, the Cinnamon Bug and Red-and-Black Froghopper (both in the ‘warning’ coloration combination of red and black, signifying that they are probably pretty nasty to eat), the Umbellifer Longhorn beetle, and a rather beautiful picture-winged fly Euleia heraclei.

A well-recognised plant occurring in our woody areas is Wild Arum/Lords and Ladies/Cuckoo Pint (to rhyme with Lint)/ Jack-in-the-Pulpit as well as being known by many other names – lots of them quite ‘naughty’ as the flowers are rather, erm, shall we say anatomical-looking!  A few other botanical delights caught our eye –  a delicate little flower, Hairy Tare growing alongside Common Vetch; Thale Cress, rather like the well-known Shepherd’s Purse, but with very different seed pods; whilst Shining Cranesbill with its varnished-looking leaves is certainly at home in the Old Cemetery, as is Garlic Mustard.

Of the larger vegetation a number of splendid trees create height, shelter and lend the place a certain grandeur – these include Himalayan Pine, Horse Chestnut and two species of oak, whereas shrubs like  Viburnum tinus provide valuable nectar early in the year when newly emerging insects need fuel.

We finished our hour in the newer Cemetery which is celebrating ‘No Mow May’ and the wild flowers are numerous and a joy to behold.  Many leaves on the Lime tree have unmistakable red ‘needles’ sticking out of them – these are fascinating little nail galls, created by gall mites (arachnids).  Each of these little structures contain many mites.

Walking on the lush grass certainly put a Spring in Our Steps – the mossy structure beneath your feet is unmistakable, and we hope that those who at first may have been unhappy that Grandpa’s grave had a few ‘weeds’ near it, will instead come to feel uplifted by the power and beauty of nature.

Thank you to all of you who came along ( and to those who had intended to be there but were unable to do so).  The weather left something to be desired, but we all made the best of things.  We have included some photos in this report, but some were taken on our recce a few days before the walk (when it was at least bright though not necessarily sunny). See you all soon.

Thanks to all who joined in with us for the first B&B sessions for 2021.  We both felt rather rusty, having had so many months off, but hopefully we managed to find enough to show you to make an interesting hour!

Due to the cold weather, particularly on Saturday, insects were very thin on the ground.  The main delight was the bees  – a few prospecting queen bumblebees  looking for a suitable hole to make a nest, plus some entertaining Hairy-footed Flower Bees. These are ‘sexually dimorphic’, ie the males and females are very different to look at, and they were very interested in each other (the males hovering closely behind the females) and the very important nectar sources of Red Dead-nettle and Blue Alkanet. This latter species is not native to the UK, but along with many other garden plants and escapes is such a lifeline to insects on the occasions when there is not much ‘wild’ nectar to be had.

This year’s season of Spring seems very ‘odd’ (but when doesn’t it?) – some things seem to be out early and others weeks behind what you might expect. For example some areas of Elm scrub have done flowering already and are producing seeds, whilst others have barely started to flower. This could be due, in part at least, to the vestiges of Dutch Elm Disease which has never quite gone away. This malady is caused by a fungus introduced to Elms by the Elm Bark Beetle.

The beetles are only able to burrow into trunks when they reach a certain size, the ingression introducing the fungus that kills the above-ground parts, whilst the roots survive, and suckers continue to sprout afterwards. Hence you will still see lots of small Elms around, but few large trees. A notable exception is in Brighton where a ‘fire break’ from back in the 1960s meant Elms within a mile or two of the town were felled when the disease was first noted approaching, the potentially damage-causing beetles being unable to fly that far to spread it. Social distancing! As a result the place can boast many fully sized Elms, which nevertheless need constant monitoring (Test, Track and Trace) as the pandemic may reappear at any time.

Back to our walks, we were at times serenaded by avian life including Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Chiffchaffs, Blue Tits and Wrens whilst Golden Plovers, Green Woodpeckers and a Buzzard were seen overhead.

We popped into the Wildlife Garden to see what has been happening.  Lots of hard work has gone into improving the pond which had been suffering from a leaky liner and had become rather overgrown. The overall impression at the moment is that all is rather bare, but lots of plants have been put into the areas surrounding the pond, which will be able to get going once the weather warms up, and a few Kingcups are in the pond itself. Sadly no sign of frogspawn this year, but we are confident that by next spring all will be back to normal as far as the amphibians are concerned and it will once again be a good breeding ground for our croaky friends. It is brilliant that there is a band of concerned individuals locally who are prepared to work hard for this very important site.

Directly over the field from the garden our attention was caught by the beautiful flowering Blackthorn bushes.  In full snowy-flower they were a sight to behold.  However, their usual promise of sloes to make our much-enjoyed sloe gin may not be guaranteed this year due to the distinct lack of any pollinators at this crucial time (having said that, our Monday group were treated to the sight of lots of hoverflies buzzing from flower to flower).

Other plants don’t rely on these third-parties for pollination but employ the powers of the wind – letting their male catkins dangle free and hoping pollen will be blown onto female flowers.  Good examples of this are the Hornbeam and White Poplar both found on KGV.

We finished our tour on the ‘Hay Meadow’ a section of the KGV which has been allowed to escape the regular three-weekly mowing regime for the past three years and is now an interesting area comprising all kinds of grasses, chickweeds, knapweeds and dandelions.  Not much sign of flowering at the moment, due to the extended cold, but we are confident once we have some warmth and refreshing rain all will be well.  We found what we think to be a newly recorded species there too – Field Wood-rush.

Short and sweet, and at least with its slow start we still have much of Spring to enjoy now we have been allowed out…

Another very pleasant set of walks was held at the beginning of September, to an area which we had not fully explored as a group before. The hour passed very quickly for each session, and we hope that everyone enjoyed learning a bit about the history of the place as well as the ecology. Thanks to all, and we would like to send a special Get Well wish to a dear friend, a regular ‘B&B-er’ who unfortunately is poorly in hospital at the moment.

First the history of ‘The Chase’ and the seawall. Four hundred or more years ago, to protect sheep flocks which grazed on the marsh, a seawall was built along our stretch of the estuary (as well as much of the Essex coastline). The clay/soil was burrowed out to build the wall, leaving ‘borrow dykes’ ie the ditches that we see today. The wide path, ‘The Chase’, leading from the wall towards the old railway line, historically belonged to the otherwise landlocked parish of Elmstead, provided a legitimate access to the water and its trading potential. Trade would have been food and agricultural produce shipped up as far as London, the barges often returning with horse dung for manure. Where extra ballast was required, this was readily available from the gravel pits in north Wivenhoe, and easily transported to the quays via Ballast Quay Lane.

Facing the water, the marsh to the right of The Chase is in Wivenhoe, whilst that on the left to Alresford.  A cursory glance at each will show their differing topography, the Alresford expanse being much bumpier than the Wivenhoe counterpart.  The reason?  Each ‘bump’ is in fact an ant-hill. The Wivenhoe stretch of marsh was given over to agriculture during the war, the area flattened out, thus fewer and smaller bumps remaining today.

The number of ant-hills on the Alresford stretch is truly staggering.  Each, probably housing thousands of ants, is a small ‘island’ with its own peculiar suite of vegetation, at this time of year some with Sow Thistles, others Common Toadflax or lichens eg Reindeer Moss.  Rushes (‘Sedges have edges and Rushes are round’) grow on the damper soil in between. See Chris’ blog from earlier in the year for illustrations of the wonderful flora of the marsh https://www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/lockdown-diary-the-ant-hills-of-barrier-marsh/.

Bugs weren’t particularly thick on the ground, though the Saturday groups were able to see a splendid Brassica Shield-bug, as well as observing some dragonflies in action looking for flying insects to catch for dinner.  A few butterflies were seen flickering over the marsh – a Small Copper, Small Heath and Large White amongst them.

Both of the Monday groups were treated to a close up of a huge Fox moth caterpillar….it was wandering to and fro across the path by the Sailing Club, possibly searching for somewhere to pupate for the winter. We helped move it to a safe spot, and hope it decided to stay put and not attempt to cross the busy path again later in the day.

Some estuary plants of interest included the Tamarisk trees now growing in abundance along the old railway line, as well as Sea Wormwood, Strawberry Clover, Cord-grass and Sea Aster.

NATURE ON YOUR DOORSTEP

And thanks to everyone who has been sending us interesting bugs and beasties that they have found in their gardens and living rooms.

An Orange Swift moth in Little Oakley and a Harlequin Ladybird in Lawford…

…and an Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar in Wivenhoe and a Large White butterfly just about to emerge from its pupa near Brighton, showing clearly the pattern on its wings through the translucent pupal skin. What a photo!

As ever, we are indebted to everyone who has been in touch with photos, anecdotes and has supported our walks.

Additional photos: Nicky Meckiff, Caroline Hall, Nel Mooy, Val Appleyard. Thanks all!

How we enjoyed our foray into the natural world with our Botany and Bug friends this weekend. The past few months have seemed long and difficult at times, and I think we all felt it was good to get back to a shade of ‘normality’ (whatever that will come to mean). So thank you to everyone who came along and supported us. ‘Social distance’ was no problem and we all saw lots. The small groups for an hour worked well and we look forward to arranging some more events soon. Our outings took place on two separate days, so the following report is a compilation of the ‘best bits’.

Our place of discovery was Lower Lodge, somewhere that is bounding with insect life and botanical interest. Important nectar sources at this time of year include Knapweed, Wild Carrot and Scabious. Many insects could be found enjoying these in the sunshine – butterflies such as Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Whites and even a Purple Hairstreak, as well as the rather smart Burnet moths,  both 5- and 6-spotted varieties, which are not as numerous as in some years, a probable result of the drought in April/May. One of their major food plants is Bird’s Foot Trefoil, a pretty, low-growing plant which suffered during the dry weather, thus not being there when the moths needed it. Another insect not to have done well this summer seems to be the Common Blue Butterfly which also depends on this particular flower.

Bees were out and about in force – Buff tailed Bumblebees, Leaf-cutter Bees (‘bum in the air’ trademark), plus tiny but charismatic Green-eyed Flower-bees. These can often be heard before being seen – their loud (for their size) buzz heralds their arrival, and then when they come into view their green eyes are distinctive.

Other insects seen were three kinds of ‘true bugs’ in various stages of development – an empty clutch of eggs plus ‘teenage’ versions of Dock Bug, Box Bug and Green Shield-bug.  All quite endearing little critters.  A Candy-striped Spider was enjoying her lunch under a Wild Carrot umbel, and we espied a large funnel web of a spider who was no doubt waiting in her lair to catch anything silly enough to land nearby.  A family of Buff-tip moth caterpillars were seen on one walk, but had mysteriously disappeared the following hour.  We wondered if a bird had had a good feed!

Lower Lodge, part of the Colne Nature Reserve, is a large area divided into patches of grass which are mown on rotation every three to four years allowing closely cropped patches (places of recreation for humans and their canine companions which also provide good ant-digging territories for Green Woodpeckers), plus areas of different levels of growth, all important for biodiversity. Other feathered friends seen and heard included Yellowhammer,  Whitethroat, Blackcap and Buzzard.

Oaks are an important feature of the landscape here – not only the statuesque mature ones, but also the many self-seeded saplings. Although we tend to revere oaks, when in the wrong place in the wrong quantities they are in effect ‘weeds’ and should be removed before becoming  too large and start to shade out important nectar plants.  Having said that an oak tree can be home to many kinds of insects, including  small flies, aphids and wasps. Often too small to be seen or identified with the naked eye, these creatures can easily be named by looking at the little ‘homes’ (galls) they organise for their larvae. These ‘gall-causers’ introduce a specific chemical into a tree, which carries out a damage-limitation exercise, creating these often remarkably designed growths. Oaks support over 50 gall-causing insects, and we chalked up quite a few different ones – Silk Button and Spangle galls on leaves, Marble galls (a source of tannin for ink and dyeing in days gone by) and Artichoke galls attached to branches, and Knopper galls on acorns.

We observed others on Wild Rose, including the familiar Robin’s Pincushion and the slightly  more unusual but delightful Sputnik gall.

Many more of the photos we have taken of wildlife on Lower Lodge over the past month can now be found on a new Gallery on our website – Wivenhoe’s Lower Lodge.

Talking of Oaks we would like to plug a book by our friend Dr James Canton ‘The Oak Papers’ – just published, it is a personal account of his encounter with an ancient tree, the Honywood Oak at Mark’s Hall estate. Excitingly it is being serialised on Radio 4 Book of the Week, this week .We are delighted that we were able to help in a small way and we get a mention!.  Whether we are immortalised by Radio 4 remains to be seen (heard) of course!

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Before we finish the report with details of future events, we just wanted to let you see some of the photos sent to us by nature-watchers now dotted all over UK and Europe. Please keep on sending your images: Poplar Hawk-moth in Spain…

Jersey Tiger moth in Islington…

… and touching stories:  a special Red Admiral which brought comfort to a sad lady and landed on her wedding ring.

A rather unusual photo from Wivenhoe (something not witnessed by us before) a Leaf cutter bee with piece of cut-leaf attached…

and a most amazing aphid which appears to be sitting on a disc.  As our friend in Brighton told us ‘It’s an aphid that’s been parasitized by a tiny wasp Discritulus planiceps. It lays its egg inside an aphid then changes into an adult in the disc under the aphid’s body. The aphid is then just a husk’.  Cracking! We would love to see one here, so whoever shows us our first one round Wivenhoe gets a free Bug & Botany walk!

Additional Photos: Belinda Bamber, Ro Inzani, Sue Minta, Val Appleyard

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We feel that, unless things go horribly wrong COVID-wise we will go ahead with socially distanced hour-long walks for the remainder of 2020.

So dates for your diary –

Sat  5th/Mon 7^th September  10-11 and 11.30-12.30     Barrier Marsh, including walk along The Chase checking out the curious ant hills plus other stuff (see one our Lockdown Diaries for more details).

Sat 3/Mon 5 October 10-11 and 11.30-12.30           The University, looking at some of the interesting trees and (if last year is anything to go by) an incredible variety of fungi.

At the moment each walk will be limited to a maximum of 6 participants, so do please let us know if you would like to book a place.  Cost £5 per person please.

We are also thinking we may offer a few day-long walks in Wivenhoe or Suffolk Coast or the Naze areas.  I will be sending out a separate email with our thoughts soon…

Before we go, we would like to give a mention to ‘Wildsmiths Wildlife Services’- our friends Greg and Sarah Smith who are off on adventures to Scotland soon.  They hope to be arranging guided walks and talks on a beautiful Scottish island and will be writing regular blogs and reports.  If you would like to find out about what they get up to, please visit their website www.wildsmiths.co.uk.

So, if you have read thus far many thanks, and hope to hear from or see you soon!

Welcome to the latest instalment of our Lockdown Diaries. As always a big thank you to everybody who has been kind enough to get in touch  – we really couldn’t do it without you, as they say!

I must begin, however, with an apology. Chris had an unfortunate malfunction last time and misidentified a plant ☹. In case you didn’t notice, the ‘Bur Chervil’ flower seen on a local ‘green’ area ( currently a sickly shade of brown) was in fact ‘Knotted Hedge Parsley’.  But the good news is that this is actually less common than the Chervil, so a reason to celebrate! (As long as he doesn’t make a habit of it).

We had an uplifting email from our correspondent in Hadleigh, Suffolk, telling us about the Heath Spotted and Southern Marsh Orchids growing in his local wood, ‘a glorious exotic marvel’ as he poetically put it. In his garden he had ‘ Bees going nuts …. bumbles fighting over access to our flame red poppies, while honeys browsing over thyme & oxalis’. Love it.

We mentioned Stag Beetles last time, and thank you for your reports and sightings. We have had this fabulous picture of a very handsome male taken in a Wivenhoe garden, and had an interesting report from Suffolk  of ‘not one but 2 staggies emerging from the garden (one still had a thin layer of mud on her ‘head & shoulders’, having just tunnelled out of the earth). The other was clattering around in the air beside me, and the real novelty was that they were both female!’ A female Lesser Stag Beetle has been seen locally too. Let us know if any turn up where you are…

Following on from the Red-and-black bug theme in the last ‘Diary’ we had a smashing picture sent to us of a different insect which employs this colour-way –  the Red and Black Froghopper, friendly and totally harmless to us, although perhaps not to something that may try to eat it …

Other insects that you have seen include a Hornet (much maligned, but generally non-aggressive and harmless if left alone. Poking sticks into their nests not recommended however!). This photo was taken before it escaped from a greenhouse.

A couple of friends borrowed our little portable moth trap one evening and included in the catch the following morning was this stunning Eyed Hawkmoth. This creature tries to bamboozle any would-be predator by flashing it’s ‘eyes’, pretending it is a big beastie.

Another rather attractive, but it turns out not particularly welcome due to its predilection for Box bushes, moth was seen sunning itself, rather artistically-posed, in a local garden last weekend.

Demoiselles were seen flying in a Suffolk garden – these are stunning creatures – large damselflies in effect,  and in Frating these beautifully crafted little ‘pots’ were discovered, part of a Potter Wasp’s nest.

One of my favourite plants is White Bryony, with its beautifully  understated colours, and it is also much loved by a couple of not-so-common insects – this picture-winged fly and bee were seen on a plant on the edge of KGV last week.

Spiders are not everyone’s thing, we appreciate (we love them as you would expect due to their clever design, ingenuity and general usefulness), so look away now if you aren’t a fan. But  I  wanted to include this picture of a real beauty – a Crab Spider sitting hopefully on a Hydrangea waiting for a careless fly to land so she can have her dinner in a wildlife-friendly garden in Wivenhoe. Her colours perfectly blend with the petal.

Flies, as we know, are important pollinators, and although we appreciate they are all an important part of the ecosystem, some are definitely  more attractive than others. A particularly handsome family of flies are the ‘Hovers’, with which we are all familiar. All harmless, they generally use the natural ‘warning’ colours of yellow and black, thus mimicking the more ‘dangerous’ wasps and bees – giving them a certain amount of protection from predators. This particular one (a Helophilus species) was photographed in an Elmstead garden,  where the sender of the picture spends lots of time watching the goings on in and around his pond. It is a hotspot for dragonflies and damselflies, and he tells us a very entertaining story of how he rescued a dragonfly nymph from the jaws of a Sparrow, only for it then to scuttle off and hide in the undergrowth before emerging as a beautiful Broad-bodied Chaser some five hours later.

Slow Worms are out and about – this one was photographed in Dovercourt, and we have had sighting of one in Brighton, together with Common Lizards, Grass snakes and Common Newts in various parts of Essex.

As usual we keep an eye on birds from our window, their sights and sounds are a great joy.  We are still hearing Cuckoos, and we know that some of you have been delighted with seeing Buzzards so near us, over town. A local nature lover told us of his sightings of Little Owls, Common Whitethroats, Blackcaps and a Willow Warbler.  He was chatting with someone who has Barn Owls on his land who reported that the female hunts during the evening and the male overnight and early morning. Interesting division of labour. Before signing off, I must attach this amazing photo of a male Sparrowhawk having a bath on the South Coast.  What a stunning creature!

Here is a link to the latest email from Buglife which you may find of interest.  This important charity is one we like to support through sales of our cards etc.

Wishing you all a safe and measured emergence out of lockdown. And as always please keep in touch with any observations and pictures of nature in your world. Thank you.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES by Val Appleyard, Sue Minta, Jen Poyser, Martin Forth, Eric Strudwick, Andrea Williams, Sally Chandler, Roger Peak and John Goody.

Hello once again – hope you enjoy this, our fifth Lockdown Diary. Thanks to everyone who has been in touch with anecdotes, observations and photos.

Where to start?  Plants are all around, although of course many are suffering from the continued drought.  The Haymeadow on KGV is looking quite sparse in places.  Interestingly since it has been left to its own devices, bare patches are appearing where the grasses are not doing well due to the drought, but this is allowing space for annuals, e.g.  rare annual clovers,  and Sand Spurrey (see above) which normally would not have the opportunity to germinate.  All contributing to biodiversity –  the loss of which is a major concern of our time.

Some dear friends in Wivenhoe (who have an amazing garden), sent us a lovely olfactory picture: ‘Wisteria smells strongest with the sun on it, the honeysuckle only scented in the morning after the cold night air. An excuse to have our noses in flowers at all times of the day’. Delicious! A locally scarce plant, Knotted Hedge-parsley, was discovered on one of the grassy areas in Wivenhoe. Some interested folk are doing a survey of the (as it turns out quite a few) grassy areas in Wivenhoe. Until now all of them have just been mown regularly through the summer and left as short grassland, but it could be that with some thoughtful management at least some of these could have a new life – with some areas left unmown for certain periods of time new plants will emerge, creating a more interesting place for both human , and of course wildlife visitors. Watch this space for more information about this as the data are collected.

Birds are also very abundant.  We are rejoicing in so many House Martins this year, and Sparrows are more numerous around the Shipyard too. The drought must be making things hard for the House Martins to find mud for their nests (although there is abundant salty mud here on the estuary, they much prefer the salt-less variety). Anything we can do to provide water for birds right now is to be encouraged.

We were sent this amusing shot of a Sparrowhawk investigating a remote camera (you might need to look carefully!):

Great Spotted Woodpeckers have been seen in gardens, and a marauding bunch of Jackdaws were heard making a nuisance of themselves in lower Wivenhoe, before taking themselves off elsewhere. A fan of this newsletter sent in an entertaining story of birds in his garden, all of them interested in the mealworms he had put out….Robin followed by Blackbird followed by Magpie followed by Pigeon….

… and whilst not everyone’s favourite, pigeons have a certain charm, and friends in South Woodham Ferrers have sent in pictures of a mum and her (rather ugly) babies. She obviously loves them, however they look, as any good mother should!

Hedgehogs have been noisy in a local garden – our correspondent tells us that two large ones were in her feeding station ‘Lots of huffing as one had blocked the other in.  I had to take the lid off so that one of them could climb out.  Very noisy’

This tiny Grass snake was found in a local garden, and having been offered food (which it ignored) was released back to join the rest of its family.  This sized individual at this time of year is probably last year’s baby.

The section of the natural world that has been the most exciting (at least for us) this time is the insects. So many of you have sent in interesting information and pictures, thank you.   Very excitingly we have had our first reports of Stag Beetles in a Wivenhoe garden. Let us know if you find any – alive or dead! Wivenhoe is a nationally important area for these most odd creatures – their flight pattern is so awkward it is incredible that they ever actually get to where they want to go. And that after spending literally years underground chewing their way through dead wood before they emerge for only a few weeks at most this time of year. You couldn’t make it up really!

This smart 22-spot Ladybird was seen checking out a nature-watcher’s Kindle, whilst a mayfly was found on a garden wall, near a pond. These small creatures live as adults only for about a day. Their scientific Order name ‘Ephemeroptera’  has the same Greek root as  ‘ephemera’ meaning ‘short-lived or not to be preserved’. There are 51 species in UK and arequite difficult to identify to species level.

Say ‘Red and Black Bugs’ to Chris these days and he burst into a grin. The reason(s)?  Well a couple of weeks ago he came home with a photograph (below, left) of a very splendid bug indeed, seen near Ferry Marsh. We immediately recognised it from wildlife holidays abroad as an Ornate Shield Bug.  Our books said it was only a rare and recent arrival in the UK, and none of the online maps showed it had been found around here. We were pleased when it was confirmed by a national bug expert that this was the first sighting in Essex!

We sent photos to our nearest and dearest (not to boast you understand….) and daughter #2 responded by saying she too had seen unusual red-and-black bugs in her local churchyard in Dovercourt. Her photos (above, right) showed this to be a totally different insect,  but once more a first for Essex! This is the Fire-bug – again a common species in Europe, but only a rare visitor to UK. Chris discovered an interesting paper about it https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/55610-Pyrrhocoris-apterus.  I’m feeling a little left out as haven’t yet discovered a rarity!

Our friends on the south coast sent us a picture of a rather fine beetle which goes under the catchy name of Drilus flavescens. It is not yet found in Essex, but keep looking!  The male has these wonderful comb-like antennae.

Not so many butterflies around at the moment (known as the ‘June gap – the hiatus between the disappearance of spring broods and the emergence of the summer generations’  **), but some lovely moths have been found and photos sent to us – Small Yellow Underwing in Brighton, and Mother Shipton in Wrabness. This is a particularly interestingly patterned moth – on close inspection you can see that it looks rather like a witch with a big nose  ie Mother Shipton.

Following on from last time’s comments about the (in our opinion) over-zealous mowing of grassy areas and spraying of herbicides, we have some news.  Colchester Borough Council have said that ‘we  are starting to look at mowing regimes across the Borough and we will take the opportunity to look at how we could manage them differently’ ( we hope that means there may be less mowing in future rather than more!), but as yet Essex County Council have/will not confirm whether they use Glyphosates to spray the pavements, although they were quick to joyously say that they sprayed at least three times a year.  We will let you know of any developments.

Just to leave you with some lovely musings from a local nature fan   ‘I’ve been enchanted by the songs of Nightingales.  Everything in nature is so beautiful’.  Exactly.  If only everyone could see …we are the lucky ones.

Until next time – please keep in touch with us and let us know what you discover.

Jude and Chris 07503240387

**  This passage was quoted from a brilliant book ‘Wonderland – A Year of Britain’s Wildlife Day by Day’ by Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss. A lovely present from daughter #1, it has an entry for each day of the year – highlighting a specific plant/animal/bird that would typically be found on that day.  Thoroughly recommended.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES BY Val Appleyard, Clive Dykes, Margie Finn, Mark Halladay, Leonie Henderson, Bradley Marnes, Sue Minta and Jen Poyser.