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Wild Garlic

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This blog is about a recent trip to Lower Wood Ashwellthorpe, a Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve, to look at ancient woodland indicators. One of these is Wild Garlic or Ramsons ( Allium ursinum ). Wild Garlic interspersed with English Bluebells (another ancient woodland indicator species). These beautiful white flowers coat the woodland floor during spring, and have a strong garlic scent, making them difficult to miss. Each flower has 6 bright white petals and cluster in groups of around 25 on the end of the stems, appearing like pompoms. Flowering early in the spring allows the plants to make the most of the sunlight reaching the forest floor before the canopy emerges and it is much shadier. Wild Garlic is in the same family (Alliaceae) as onions, chives, leeks, daffodils, and other garlics. It reproduces by bulb division and occasionally seeds. It provides an important nectar source for early pollinators and the bulbs are eaten by Wild Boar ( Sus scrofa ), though these are not found at...
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Winterton Dunes

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A brief note- this blog is again about a field trip, and not about wildlife that can be found on campus. However, this was a field trip to Winterton Dunes, an incredible acidic dune system on the East Norfolk coast. It is home to lots of rare and unusual wildlife, for example a Little Tern colony, Natterjack toads, and Grayling butterflies, but this blog is about the exciting Cladonia lichens. A picture of the landscape at Winterton, showing the sea in the background, and the grey dune system in the foreground. The sand dunes at Winterton are carpeted in nationally-significant numbers of these amazing lichens. They are indicator species for grey dune habitat, which is a rare and protected habitat. These dunes are particularly interesting as they are acidic, rather than calcareous like those found on the North coast. This is more similar to the habitat types found in the Baltic region. Embryo dunes at Winterton: embryo dunes forming around tufts of grass (L), the dune system looking in...
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Phasia hemiptera

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Round and fluffy, this is Phasia hemiptera , a parasitic Tachinid fly. This individual is a female, with clear, unpatterned wings. The species is strongly sexually dimorphic, and the males have amazing metallic blue patterns on their wings. The species is also easily recognisable from other similar species by the tufts of ginger hairs on each side of the thorax. Tachinid flies are parasitoids and parasites, preying on other invertebrates, including other Dipterans (flies). Parasites are species that live in association with another species, causing it harm, and parasitoids are parasites that ultimately kill their host. P. hemiptera  is a endoparasitoid of shield bug species, for example the Green Shield Bug ( Palomena prasina ). The larvae live inside shield bugs (hence endo-) and ultimately kill their host (hence -parasitoid). The species name hemiptera  apparently alludes to the wing shape of the fly appearing like that of the true bugs, not its taste for Hemipteran flesh as...
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Common Plume Moth

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A Common Plume moth resting on a bench. At first glance this might appear to be a small twig, but it is in fact a moth! This is the Common Plume moth ( Emmelina monodactyla ), which has some of the most amazing camouflage. Despite this particular individual resting on a bench where it stands out, it still took me quite a while to notice it! Perhaps I can be forgiven however, as it is very small too (so much that it is classified as a micro moth)- only up to 3 cm across in fact! The caterpillars of this moth feed on Bindweeds ( Convolvulus and Calystegia spp.) and Morning Glory ( Ipomoea ). It is a widespread species, found in a wide range of habitats across the UK. The caterpillars feed in two overlapping generations from September to May, and the adults can be seen year-round. A photo of the top of the moth, where you can see its head. Although it initially appears to be cross-shaped, the wings actually fold out when it flies into feathery structures, which is where it gets the name ...
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Snowdrops

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Bright and cheerful, Snowdrops ( Galanthus nivalis ) bring excitement to the earliest days of spring. Whilst they are a non-native species, they act as a well-known indicator of warmer days to come when they flower in January to March. Snowdrops on campus, there was a good display this year! Growing to 15cm tall, the straight stems have drooping white flowers at the ends, leading to the name Snowdrop- drooping and white, like snow. They are found across the UK, favouring damp soils so are often found in woodlands and along riverbanks, but can also be seen in parks, gardens and meadows. They normally flower at the start of the year, but increasing numbers of sightings have been reported in December, and even some in November. Therefore they are being used to monitor climate change and its impacts on wildlife. You can report Snowdrop sightings here:  Nature's Calendar (woodlandtrust.org.uk)  . The Woodland Trust are monitoring changing climate and have a range of indicator speci...
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Parasol Mushroom

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This dinnerplate-sized monster of a mushroom is a Parasol mushroom ( Macrolepiota procera ). So named for being so broad that it appears like a small parasol! The cap can reach 25cm across and the mushroom can grow as tall as 30cm. Its height is even reflected in its species name, procera , meaning tall. This species is also the type species for Macrolepiota , meaning it was used to describe the genus. A Parasol mushroom, with my hand for a size comparison. A common mushroom around the UK, this mushroom has a habit of growing in rings, known as fairy rings in folklore. These were believed to act as a portal between the human and fairy world, and people were warned against stepping into them for fear of being transported to the fairy world and not being able to return. But some people believed that they were just places for fairies to dance. Growing in rings is actually a phenomenon mimicking the growth pattern of the mycelium (underground part of the fungus). When the first mushroom (f...
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Holly Leaf Miner

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This interesting patterning on the leaves of the Holly tree ( Ilex aquifolium ) is caused by the Holly Leaf Miner ( Phytomyza ilicis ), a parasitic leaf-mining fly in the Agromyzidae family. Its larvae burrow between the cuticles of Holly leaves, leaving a distinctive trail behind. The adult female fly lays eggs inside the soft, young leaves using her ovipositor in spring. A maximum of 5 eggs are laid per leaf, although no more than 2 become larvae, so as to avoid competition for food between individual larvae. The species is univolitine, meaning it only has one brood of young each year. This mining seemingly has no great negative effect on the host plant, presumably because not many larvae are in each leaf, and there is a high mortality rate in larvae. Old mines provide habitats for algae and mites, sheltered from predation by the leaf. A P. ilicis  mine that has been predated by a blue tit ( Cyanistes caeruleus ). Holly Leaf Miners are quite vulnerable to predation, largely by bl...
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