Please refer to the Introduction Page to understand the context behind the monthly photographs.
Butterflies
Moths
A night time flying moth migratory from the Mediterranean area and also a resident in the UK.
Insects - Dragonflies
Dragonflies have an average life of two to three weeks with a maximum of six.
Insects - Harvestmen
Harvestmen having eight legs belong to the same order (Arachnida) as spiders. They are known to everyone being commonly found on house walls, fences and low vegetation. There are currently around 30 known species found in the UK.
Insects - Hornets
Hornets seem to be appearing frequently near walks in Woods at least 6-8 in the first weeks of this month. Although relatively slow flying do not stay still for long.
Insects - Shieldbugs
Fungi
Tyromyces chioneus, commonly known as the white cheese polypore, is a species of polypore fungus. A widely distributed fungus, it causes white rot in dead hardwood trees, especially birch.
Slime Moulds
Liverworts
Galls
Common Maple Leaf Galled by the Aceria macrochelus mite. The galls develop on the upper surface in the angle between the primary and secondary leaf veins. The mites are elongated and exceedingly small often less than 0.1mm long, blind with mouth parts for sucking liquid food from plants. Females are much more abundant than males with reproduction achieved without fertilisation. Found June to September and widespread in South and Central areas of England.
Willow Leaf Galled by the Pontania proxima Sawfly. The galls are genarally red on the top of the leaf and yellow/brown on the leaf underside.
There are more than 30 different species of gall wasp that lay their eggs on Oak trees, and each species produces a different type of gall - essentially a protective casing that shelters the wasp larvae as they feed and grow inside.
The Oak Artichoke Gall is a result of the Andricus foecundatrix gall wasp which lays a single egg within a leaf bud. The gall developes as a chemically induced distortion of the terminal buds on pedunculate or sessile (Quercus robur or Quercus petraea) Oak trees. The lavre lives inside a smaller hard casing inside the artichoke gall and is released in the autumn.
The wrinkly mutant Oak acorns are known as Knopper Galls and are made by the Gall Wasp Andricus quercuscalicis, which looks like a tiny black fly just a few millimetres long.
Lichen
Lichen are only recorded at each new OS Grid location (hover for Grid Ref). They are then entered on the British Lichen Society spreadsheet and submitted for their Warwickshire VC38 Lichen database and Lichen mapping.
VC37 - Worcestershire - Lichen
Ones that escaped the camera lens this month
a) Roe, Fallow & Muntjac Deer