Grab
the sweep nets and we’ll take advantage of this rare sunny afternoon and go
somewhere we haven’t been yet. The weather has thrown everything at us this
week: hail, sleet, storm force winds and we’ve had the lowest January
temperatures for ten years or more. There is even a tattering of snow on the
Thriptis Mountains – something we don’t usually see until February which is
when we generally have our two weeks of wintery weather down here in the south
east of the island.
This
is a lovely area of grassland just a kilometre or so up the hill and we’re
particularly looking for grasshoppers today but I’m sure we’ll find many other
interesting things besides so, select your patch of grassland and get sweeping.
 |
| Slant-faced Grasshopper |
Many
grasshoppers, as their name suggests, spend their lives hopping through grass
in great, prodigious leaps often augmenting this with short, whirring flights.
This makes them relatively easy to catch with a net; you just have to disturb
one, watch where he lands and which direction he’s facing then make a low sweep
towards his head. Invariably he’ll jump straight into your net. By their very
nature it’s difficult to get the close-up shots you need for identification
while they’re hopping about like Tiggers on springs so I always carry a small
plastic box with me to temporarily contain them while I photograph them from a
variety of angles. When you let them go they often sit for a moment to get
their bearings so you can photograph them in their natural habitat. That’s a
nice one you have there, one of the Slant-faced grasshoppers. From the markings
on the pronotum (between the head and the main body) I should say either Chorthippus biroi or Chorthippus bornhalmi.
 |
| Bermuda Buttercup and Broomrape |
While
we’re sitting here on these sun warmed rocks admiring our captures have you
noticed that we are surrounded by a sea of green leaves with purple blotches?
As the leaves are grouped in threes you may be forgiven for thinking that it is
a type of clover but it is in fact the leaves of what is commonly known as the
Bermuda Buttercup. A strange name as it is neither from Bermuda (it is
originally from South Africa) nor a Buttercup (it is a type of Wood Sorrel).
Very soon this area will be covered with its bright yellow flowers attracting
insects by the score. And dotted between them will be some different, leafless plants
with purple and white flowers. These are Broomrapes and the reason they are
leafless is that they don’t photosynthesise like most plants but are parasites
on the Wood Sorrell. They drain nutrients from their root systems proving that
even in the plant world there is more than one way of making a living.
 |
| Gill Mushroom |
And
if we probe down here between the stems I think I see… yes I do… the first
mushroom of the season. Small but beautifully formed it’s one of the gill
mushrooms. Edible? Quite possibly, many of them are but I wouldn’t want to risk
it without checking it out thoroughly. We’ll have to go fungus foraging sometime
in the next few weeks and do a bit of identification work on the fungi we find.
Meanwhile it is starting to cloud over as evening begins to draw in and that
mushroom has whetted my appetite so we’ll wander back down the hill, have a
nice hot cup of tea and some crumpets then have a look at some of our home based
projects.
 |
| Mould growing on Moss |
Now
that we’re all suitably refreshed you may recall that last
week we constructed a desk top mossary and found a couple
of insect eggs amongst our moss samples. Well the moss is thriving even though
the eggs haven’t hatched yet but we do have a development. In one corner a few
silvery threads of mould have appeared. Moulds are part of the Fungi kingdom of
course, the same as the mushroom, and incidentally, led to the development of
antibiotics. We’ll let it mature a bit and then have a look at it under the
microscope because they’re quite fascinating forms of life and really quite
pretty when you get to know them.
 |
| "Alice" |
You
may have noticed that just outside the lab we passed a bird table on the way
in. we used to get warblers, tits and all sorts coming to the table but the
most I’ve seen this winter is four sparrows. A sad reflection on the state of
the small bird populations in Europe but with such limited numbers it gives us
the chance to study them as individuals rather than just counting their
numbers. I was listening to a radio programme the other day about animal
personality and was delighted to hear that someone had actually detected
personality traits in Sea Anemones. So I thought that this year we’d take a
closer look at the personalities of some of the animals that we see every day
starting with Alice and Beatrice. The dumpy little lady on the right is Alice
and she is first to the table in the mornings. She’ll sit down to a full
breakfast with scarcely a glance up. Beatrice on the other hand is far more
wary, only coming down to the table when she is sure that it’s safe, grabbing a
few mouthfuls and flying off again, only to return a few minutes later to
repeat the process.
 |
| "Beatrice" |
So
who has the greatest chance of surviving to pass on her genes? Is it slow and
steady Alice who ensures she gets her fill but could fall prey to any passing
cat or sparrowhawk - or fast and flighty Beatrice who may find that Alice has had
all the food? It will all depend upon the balance between food availability and
predator activity. In all walks of life there are times when fortune favours
the bold and times when discretion is the better part of valour which makes the
study of individual animals (including the human animal) such a rewarding
pastime.
Until
next week – happy hunting.
***********************************************************************************
Naturalists
(the facebook page that accompanies this blog)
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