Noticing Nature Blog

We had an hour or two surveying wildlife in the churchyard today. Helen found and photographed this larva on a Wild Parsnip seed-head. It belongs to a micro-moth Depressaria radiella (Parsnip Moth). It's a fairly common moth across the UK and feeds primarily on Wild Parsnip, and Hogweed if the former is unavailable. Nevertheless, we only saw Wild Parsnip in the churchyard for the first time last year. As plant diversity increases so will invertebrate diversity! Parsnip Moth l

Obviously, there's a wealth of information available on the internet but, how I've missed this until now, I don't know! The Ancient Tree Inventory courtesy of The Woodland Trust https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/add-a-tree/ Here, you can search any area in the UK for veteran and ancient trees through their interactive map. As you might expect, there's a cluster in Goodnestone Park. Visiting there today, I located this one close to the Serpentine Walk. A veteran Pendunculate O

I came across this Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus) in Staple churchyard today. A similar species to the Box Bug I found in Goodnestone churchyard a few days ago, but broader. Dock Bug

A few more butterflies from the fields, gardens and hedgerows around Staple today. Clockwise from top left: Ringlet, an increasingly scarce Small Tortoiseshell, one of several Small Blues near Rowling and a rather tatty Green-veined White.

A Box Bug (Gonocerus acuteangulatus) in Goodnestone churchyard today. At one time this bug was a rarity and only found in the Box Hill area of Surrey. Over the last 20 years or so it has spread rapidly and is now relatively common in the south-east. Box Bug

I came across this amazing creature today. It's an arachnid but not a spider. It's a Harvestman (a group renowned for their impossibly long legs), probably Leiobunum blackwalli. Leiobunum blackwalli