Tag Archives: Yellow Iris

Summer’s End Wildlife at Gunnersbury Triangle

Buff-tip moth caterpillar Phalera bucephala, top
Buff-tip moth caterpillar Phalera bucephala, top (22 September)

Buff-tip caterpillar, side view: fully 70 mm long
Buff-tip caterpillar, side view: fully 70 mm long

White Ermine caterpillar Spilosoma lubricipeda
White Ermine caterpillar Spilosoma lubricipeda found in the anthill meadow

Handsome Ichneumon, similar to but not I. stramentarius
Handsome Ichneumon, similar to but not I. stramentarius, which lacks the yellow crescent marking on the thorax.

 Plump Frog
Plump Common Frog

A big Funnel fungus Clitocybe
A big Funnel fungus, perhaps Frosty Funnel, Clitocybe phyllophila

Oak Gall, seemingly Marble Gall, though cracked
Oak Gall, seemingly Marble Gall, though cracked

Mining bee Lasioglossum on Ragwort
Mining bee Lasioglossum on Ragwort

Robber fly Dysmachus trigonus (Asilidae)
Robber fly Machimus atricapillus (Asilidae)

Yellow Iris fruit (nibbled seed pod)

Common Darter
Common Darter

Mangrove Swamp, wet
The “Mangrove Swamp”, wet and pretty. No air-breathing roots, though.

Yay! It’s Frog Day! Pond-dipping at Gunnersbury Triangle

I try to get down to the pond on Frog Day because, whatever the weather, it’s always such fun looking into trays, seeing what people have caught, and helping people to get a rough idea of what sort of wildlife they are looking at. The parents too are frequently fired up with (especially boyish) enthusiasm. One dad turned out to be expert at catching newts; another family caught dozens of tadpoles (all still without legs).

Pond Dipping on Frog Day
Pond Dipping on Frog Day

People come and go; some are regulars, some are new, some were just passing by and are astonished to find a nature reserve here, let alone a pond and volunteers and free pond-dipping and wriggly wild animals.

Beetle larva from the pond
Beetle larva from the pond

And there definitely weren’t just the usual suspects in the water, either.

Budding Hydra, with head of a damselfly nymph
Budding Freshwater Hydra, with a nymph

This really was a surprise; a Hydra, not just bright green but actually budding. These tiny animals are coelenterates, like corals and jellyfish, with no proper gut running mouth-to-anus, but just a mouth surrounded by the tentacles, and a hollow bag of a body; anything undigested has to come out the way it went in. The animal is green with symbiotic algae, so it has quite a bit of plant about it, and when it isn’t in a white dish, it’s practically invisible.

Stonefly
Stonefly

This little fly has two tails, and may well be a Stonefly; it is a lot smaller than the common Mayflies, which have three tails. It seems like a special animal today.

Looking at a Dragonfly Nymph
Looking at a Dragonfly Nymph

A fine Dragonfly nymph was captured in one dish; here it is, being examined closely by one youngster. I saw a Broad-Bodied Chaser near the pond some years ago, so it might be that species.

Nymphs and waterfleas
Nymphs and waterfleas

With their characteristic three tails, the Mayfly nymphs are distinctive. Here in one dish are some, along with what seems to be a long slim beetle nymph, and the Dragonfly nymph. There were quite a few Damselfly nymphs about too, some quite boldly green.

Yellow Iris or Flag
Yellow Iris or Flag

At four we packed up to go and have a well-deserved cup of tea. As I turned round, I realised the Yellow Irises the other side of the boardwalk were in full bloom.