After hearing Mark Evans's great news on Sunday of him finding Pussy Moth Caterpillar I felt I had to try and see it. So on Monday myself and my daughter went looking for it, Mark give great directions and we found the bush staight away, we started our search and looked for about two hours but no joy. But in the Willows we found these caterpillars and have been told the top one is sawfly larve but still looking into what the bottom caterpillar is.
I also found this Shield bug and it looks like itis feeding on this Sawfly Larve ,
I also found this this Ladybird Larve and goes to show if you stare into a bush for long enough you will start see things. I also found this Cucumber Spider which was new for me and a great thing too see. In the Wheel Wash I found two Emerald Damselflies which was a nice surprise and also first for the year
As I walked back out popped this Bank Vole which ran across my path and watched me from the safety of the wire cage and we also found this male Common Swift Moth again a first for the year. In total we were there for two and a half hours We meet a group of kids doing their Edinburgh Awards, they were lost and showed me a very wet map and were supposed to be going towards Llwyn Onn camp site. They were very wet and decided to give up and phone for help as it was getting late. This patch forest seemed to be like the Bermuda Triangle for these young back packers, I have seen kids lost here before. It was great to spend time in the field with my daughter and she seemed to be enjoying it deep down.
I still haven't had the chance to go back up there and judging by the weather forecast, I won't be going there Sunday either.
ReplyDeleteThe shieldbug seems to be Bronze Shieldbug, which is preditory. I have no idea what the caterpillar is, but the Ladybird pupa looks a lot like Kidney-spot to me.
Judging by my experience of using Ordnance Survey maps in forestry areas, a hopelessly lost group of youngsters isn't all that surprising. The problem with OS maps is they haven't updated the forestry road system on their map for years. I know of several major forest roads that were created over ten years ago and are still not shown on OS maps. I have written to the OS about this and received the sort of bland, non-committal answer one expects from such an organisation. In my opinion, the OS needs to rethink its priorities and instead of cluttering their maps up with increasing amounts of tourist symbols, which obscure vital detail below, they aught to concentrate on making sure the basic map information is accurate and up to date for all areas of the map. They charge enough for the bloody things, after all!
Great comments mark and someone else said he thought Kidney Spot ladybird too and if i get a chance will go back up tomorrow after work
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