Pond Watcher

Thanks

Could this be leafminer damage in Buxus? East Yorkshire garden today @vc28wildlife.bsky.social

Flower-filled dikes attract bees: ‘Dikes are insect highways’ | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Traditional Dutch windmill beside a water channel in green countryside. The stone windmill with wooden blades sits on grassy embankments lined with lush vegetation and wildflowers.

🌱 River dykes are "insect highways" for wild bees 🧪
doi.org/pzns

Dykes are a lifeline for bees. Researchers found nearly half of all Dutch bee species live on river dykes, with 10% being endangered red-listed species.

#Botany #PlantScience 🧵 (1/10)

@alanknox.bsky.social

Four-barred Soldierfly, Oxycera rara. Found early yesterday morning on hedge only metres from a housing estate in East Yorkshire. It was not bothered by me moving the leaf to try to get a better photo (even so photos not that crisp, a pity).

A surprisingly effective way to save the capercaillie: keep its predators well-fed – new research Evidence suggests this alternative to culling the bird’s predators is effective.

theconversation.com/a-surprising...

Sorry, even the right way up, I dont know my fish well enough but @numenini.bsky.social might be able to help

Female Bog Bush-cricket, Metrioptera brachyptera, moulting, Strensall Common nr York 13 July. Spotted by sharp-eyed John K on Hull Nats field trip. @bladetail.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social @teamneyedc.bsky.social

Reminds me of Alderfly eggs but not seen those colours

Thanks. ID from a poor photo seemed doubtful. Presume other spp have similar larvae & its mainly coastal. However is known from inland sites, likes heat and feeds on isopods. So in a dry valley under log with Pill Woodlice seemed a possible longshot. www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds...

@nottscoleoptera.bsky.social

Surprised that iNaturalist proposed an ID for this single poor photo of a beetle larva: Broscus cephalotes. Found under log at bottom of dry valley in Yorkshire Wolds nr Londesborough 1st July. Could the ID be correct? @nottscoleoptera

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the wasp ID. Here are some more photos of the Sphecodes in case they help.

Exposed chalky bank at Cleaving Combe nr Londesborough, East Yorkshire, 1st July. Nesting site for Blood Bees (species?) and Digger Wasps (species?) , with an active handsome White-palped Jumping Spider

Yesterday 30 June it recorded 32.1 C air temperature, a blistering 41.7 C grass temp. (imagine what that's doing to the flora/invertebrates), and the concrete temp. was so high (50+ C) that the sensor couldn't record it. Even at soil depths of 10 cm it was 29.5 C, and at 30 cm depth it was 20+ C.

Many thanks for the reference. I will have a good read.

What aquatic plant(s) do larvae of this species eat?

Thanks for confirming.

Eriothrix rufomaculata with prominent eyes

I think this could be Chloreutis pariana , the Apple Leaf Skeletonizer, whose larvae particularly like to eat upper surface of Crab Apple leaves. Not too common in Yorkshire apparently. Found in East Yorkshire garden, nr Brough today. @doublekidney.bsky.social

The scavenger water beetle Hydrochus crenatus, categorised as Near Threatened in GB due to its highly restricted distribution. This species has a stronghold in Fenland drains and richly-vegetated pond margins, with records from around a quarter of the sites we sampled this week.

The story told within the industry is that until environmental assessment became a real thing in the late 80s motorways used to deliberately go through as much woodland as possible, because the land was cheaper.

Interesting background. Thanks

A few have been found in Hull

Thanks. I had wondered if the holes were linked to egg laying or nymph emergence of this plant bug. Thinking more about it I don’t believe this to be likely.

How a discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR - Richmond Scientific A discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR, the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight the global pandemic.

Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...

Hogweed in Helmsley (Yorkshire) hedgerow 12 June had lots of shiny green nymphs. Assumed they were Grypocoris stysi as adults present. Are holes in umbel buds anything to do with them? @rockwolf74.bsky.social