A couple of garden ticks

A quick 15 minutes with a tray and a stick yesterday, resulted in loads of spiders that I have neither the desire nor the skill to identify plus a load of plant hoppers. I let those all go on their merry way and concentrated on what I thought I could probably identify.

Along with several Meligethes aeneus and a couple of species of larger ladybird I managed to get a couple of ticks.

The first was the tiny ladybird Nephus quadrimaculatus. At only 1.7mm it really is small. It was beaten off mistletoe but apparently is often found on old ivy and there's quite a bit of that nearby.

The second new species for me was a sawfly. I have never knowingly identified one before seemingly knew what it was as soon as I saw it. A quick romp through the key took me to Abia sericea and a female to boot.

A very stunning beast with the most immense jaws too. But although I tried, I just couldn't get a pic of them so the above will have to suffice.

Pasque-ing in the sun

Today was the first day of spring, or at least it felt that way. Sun, blue skies and a temperature that required the removal of jumpers whilst walking. It's been so bloody miserable and depressing recently that the effect of a sudden change in weather felt like a shot of something illegal, my mood was that different.

We had lots of jobs to do but I persuaded the kids to go for a walk on Therfield Heath near Royston. It is a chalk hillside which is still traditionally grazed and has a golf course and horse racing right through the middle of it plus an inordinate number of dog walkers.

Despite this, on the steeper south facing slopes one can find the rather lovely Pasqueflowers Pulsatilla vulgaris which flower each spring. They were easy to see and several hundred were out in force, scattered across the slope. A new plant for me.

Apparently, according to legend, pasqueflowers spring from the blood of Viking Warriors and grow upon their graves. I didn't see many dead vikings, but it's a nice story, nonetheless.

Despite all the golfers and dogs there were also a ridiculous number of skylarks both singing and on the ground. Can't remember the last time I've seen so many.

A couple of weeks of good weather looks likely now so I'm hoping for some moth outings with a little beetling on the side. Fingers crossed.