The ivy canteen

At this time of year, Ivy [Hedera helix] le lierre is in full bloom.
We have a fine specimen on the bridge over the bief which is enjoying the unseasonable sunshine and warmth. Its many flowers provide an invaluable resource for bees, hoverflies and other insects that go particularly for the nectar, topping up the sugar levels in preparation for winter.

Even today, an overcast, humid November day, the ivy is busy with insects. No bees today, but plenty of flies, solitary wasps and beetles.

I hope someone may help me identify them!

A view from a bridge

Homing in

The closer you get, the more you can see

Closer still...

And the nectar-lovers are prey to the next level in the food chain - birds, lizards and spiders are lining up to be served. We have seen tits, robins, redstarts, wagtails and chiffchaffs diving in and out of the cloud of insects, snapping up the diners.

Meanwhile, the cats look on, more in hope than in expectation... maybe there will be a midair collision?

All through the year, the dense evergreen foliage provides shelter from wind and rain for small birds, insects and bats. Wrens are particularly fond of ivy as a roost.

In late winter, when other food is scarce, there will be juicy black berries which the blackbirds and thrushes love.

We've torn down this ivy more than once, but it has always grown back. Ivy quickly becomes too much ivy, and smothers more delicate plants, not to mention the damage its weight and clinging roots do to rendered walls. But we always leave some to flower - for the entertainment value alone!

More of a flutter than a twitter... but a few tweets included!

And I don't mean a gamble, either...

The beginning of the end of October and there are still plenty of butterflies around...
Yesterday I saw dozens of Speckled Woods [Pararge aegeria] Tircis as I walked around the meadow to assess this Winter's tree and land work...

There is an ant trying to hitch a lift here... or else he's practising his scales!!

also, in the potager area we still have appreciable numbers of Clouded Yellows and a few Peacocks, Red Admirals and the odd Map...

Clouded Yellow... they never stay still!!

and on the 15th an utterly mad Humming-bird Hawkmoth working the Gaura flowers in the front bed...
in the teeming rain!!
Needed its antennae checking, that one!!

The Chiffchaffs are still here in good numbers...
I saw the first of the seasons Great White Egrets in the long field on the left as I drove from Grand Pressigny towards Abilly...
and Pauline saw a Crane [Grus grus] Grue Cendre yesterday...
just the one trumpeting away... and flying North East...
must have taken off early that morning, got so far...
and then realised that everyone else had stayed put at the previous nights stopover!!
The Black Redstarts are still around and the Robins are back!

A bit of Eperon de Murat news...
Pauline and I went to Ferrière-Larçon on Thursday evening to see what the new plans for the site were...
it was a presentation by the Conservatoire du Patrimoine Naturel de la Région Centre.

Hopefully...
a walkway from the road to the Murat farm to the main fields of the site itself...
and a pathway round...
the mayor, Gérard Henault, bemoaned the current main access that requires people to be "below 30 years old and have alpiniste skills"...
and the fact that he is getting no help at all on purchasing the farm itself...
the intention being to turn it into an interpretive centre, housing permanent and occasional displays as well as providing shelter for visitors in inclement weather.
Then, a couple of people in the audience {owners of Murat?} started arguing about the size of the plaque [about a foot square, apparently]...
and I was reminded of a meeting long ago when a committee I was involved with spent three hours discussing the first item on the agenda...
of vital importance, of course...
the colour of the cover of the college diary!!
[If I'd been the chair that would have gone to a sub-committee!!!!]

And then comments were made about the size of the car park...
if it was for more than two cars it was going to be too big!!
"We don't actually want people to visit"... was the opinion of the very vocal minority...
the same couple who were concerned that a foot square sign was going to be too big!

Actually, neither do the guardians of the site want too many visitors...
understandable, considering the rare plants & insects and the ancient fortifications...
so they are intending to install infra-red footfall counters in a couple of places...
it was also pointed out that it is about a kilometre from the proposed car park to the site itself...
many people will satisfy themselves with any display that may be at the farm and drive on, mentally ticking it off as "visited".

There are too many trees now on the site... especially the junipers... mainly there through neglect / lack of management and the current sheep are too selective [read fussy] and are not munching them properly...
they really ought to use Scottish Black Faced sheep...
not as fussy, about the only thing they won't eat is Nardus stricta [Mattgrass] which is too siliceous for even them...
the Wildlife Trusts use these for their "Flying Flocks"...
as do the LPO [who advertise their excess for sale at the back of L'Oiseaux magazine...
along with their excess Highland cattle! 
I'm tempted by the latter for here... 
only tempted mind!]

So these, along with the trees that have rooted into the defensive wall [vallum] and are slowly destroying that, must be controlled with more vigour!!
Major snag here...
removing the trees on the vallum will lead to erosion of the unprotected wall....
so a long roof will need to be constructed until other vegetation establishes...
don't hold your breath on that one...
apart from the obvious cost...
the example shown [from elsewhere] met with assorted gasps and disapproving grunts!!
It did look ugly... like a poorly built wood store!!

The two speakers were very poor, though...
the first swallowing the latter half of most of her sentences...
and the other spoke at the computer screen all the time!
Fortunately, monsieur le Maire often sub-titled what was being said by his comments!!

More interesting and understandable was the PowerPoint presentation... including two aerial views of the site...
one from 1950 showing all the little fields and very few trees...

Look at all the very little fields in the top right corner...
and the vallum is already marked by a tree line...
the smaller wall [muraille] is just visible as a faint line almost the same distance from the main wall...
as the main wall is from the tip.

and one from 1970 showing one vast field over all but the tip of the protected area!!

So we watch with interest....
whilst I can still manage to scramble up from the stile at the bottom, Pauline cannot...
so effectively is barred from the barré!!

SPOTTED ON THE WEB: Magnificent... giant mushrooms...

View the video...

The "Spotted on the Web" widget won't save any updates again...
so I thought I'd send readers a quick heads up on a great bit of video.

View the video...

"Giant woven willow sculptures of some of the UK's edible mushroom varieties have sprung up on the lawns at Kew Gardens in west London.
Kew's experts look after the largest collection of dried fungi in the world - which also includes more sinister, inedible varieties.

The fungarium at Kew Gardens  is opening to the public on 13 October to mark National Fungus Day. " BBC

View the video...

Kew have commisioned an willow sculptor, Tom Hare, to create huge willow mushroom sculptures of edible UK mushroom species.
The video is here and is well worth watching [only 4.5 mins long].

"Take a peek with Bryn Dentinger, Kew's head of mycology - and see artist Tom Hare's larger than life creations. " BBC

Especially to see how he did the Cep!!

I SAID VIEW THE VIDEO

 

Mellow morning mists... and a lost football...

Of Autumn Mists and mellow fruitlessness...

It was wet on the way back from Chatellerault on Friday...
[see the end of Saturday's "Days on the Claise" blog entry]...
but on the way there I had seen something large lurking at the edge of a field.

On the way back, having endured deafening rain on the skylights of Lidl...
lakes in the carpark at Le Clerc and speeding-irriots without any lights on on the way back....
I was hoping that the rain would have eased once we'd crossed the Claise.
Some hope!!

I leapt quickly out of the car and grabbed the creature...
it hadn't moved!!
But I wasn't taking any photographs....
not with the rain teeming down.
What was so marvellous that I braved teeming rain....
this....

A Giant Puffball.... but I took the picture Sunday in the sun!!

Food source of extreme size... but very good for the waistline [unless you fry it in butter!!]
More about this will be on "De la Bonne Bouffe" later....
but I will say more, here, about the Giant Puffball [Calvatia gigantea] Vesse-de-loup géante itself...

Not over appetising from underneath... but there is enough here to cut this bit off!

On average they grow to around 10 to 70 centimetres (3.9 to 28 in) in diameter...but specimens have been found up to 150 centimetres across with a weight of 20 kilos!!
Now there's a food source...
This one was 23cm across and weighed 872 grammes.
All smaller ones must be cut through regardless of their maturity...
they are easily confused at this size with the immature unopened white mushrooms...
some of which are deadly!
The inside of a Giant Puffball is white and mealy [in fact, it looks & smells wonderfully floury]

Inside the puffball... note the thick skin surrounding the mass of spores

But the puffballs aren't when mature, and white inside... which this one was!!
Maturity goes from a yellow stage to a ghastly dry, greeny brown spore stage....
all of these actually look most unappetising...
and I honestly don't think that any sensible person would even consider using one!

Trying to measure it... no giant callipers... had to use two hardback books!!

Looking it up on Wiki created a wonderful guide to cultures...
English Wiki was informative and very scientific with comments about boring taxonomic details...
sorry Susan [I know that taxonomy is important... but I can't afford new guide books which are out of date on publication]...

"The classification of this species has been revised in recent years, as the formerly recognized class Gasteromycetes, which included all puffballs, has been found to be polyphyletic.
Some authors place the giant puffball and other members of genus Calvatia in order Agaricales.
Also, the species has in the past been placed in two other genera, Lycoperdon and Langermannia.
However, the current view is that the Giant Puffball is Calvatia.
Recently, some members of the genus Calvatia have been re-located into the genus Handkea."

Which is why I can never find anything if I use my Collins Guide from 1965!!
You can all wake up now!

Whereas the French Wiki entry has the basic info...
then a whole section on usage...

Utilisations effectives ou envisagées

Génie génétique & biotechnologies : Cette espèce intéresse certains généticiens par sa taille et sa capacité à produire de la lipase extracellulaire qui a justifié son étude approfondie et une utilisation éventuelle pour le génie génétique. on a ainsi montré que sur un milieu de culture optimisé pour le carbone et les nitrates, le pH initial et la température du milieu de culture, la production de lipase peut être augmentée de 87 % pour atteindre 22,4 unités/ml de culture, ce qui le rend complétif avec les autres moyens de produire la lipase. La lipase produite par ce champignon est active à un pH neutre (7.0) t à 30°C avec dans ces conditions une demie vie à pH neutre de 75,7 minutes à 45°C et 22,9 minutes à 55°C.
En présence d'amidon dans le milieu de culture, il excrète aussi de une amylase (alfa-Amylase (EC 3.2.1.1).
Épuration : Cette espèce produit aussi une enzyme dégradant la catéchine; deux formes isométriques en ont été identifiées. Ce système enzymatique qui était inconnu lui permet de dégrader les tanin]s hydrolysables et condensés, et des composés phénoliques simples (à pH 7,5-8,0 et 40-45°C); Ce champignon pourrait donc être utilisé pour biodégrader certains composés phénoliques et polyphénoliques toxiques (fréquents dans certains effluents industriels ou sur certains types de friches industrielles polluées) et les tanins condensés.
Pharmacologie : Des recherches semblent indiquer que Calvacia gigantea contient de la calvacine, un anti-cancéreux.
Il a été testé pour la production de protéines microbiennes et l'épuration conjointe de déchets et effluents de brasseries.

but, before all that, one on cooking... [with a dire health warning!!]

Comestibilité et gastronomie

Jeune et tant que sa chair est bien blanche, il est comestible (cru ou cuit). On peut le poêler en tranches ou en cubes, on peut le paner à la manière d'une escalope et même le griller. Il peut aussi être mangé cru en salade, découpé et saupoudré d'un peu de sel et de citron, après 2 heures de macération environ.
[Nice this way or use lime juice or orange juice... and add the zest of whichever you use.]

Comme tous les champignons, il est très peu calorique et contient beaucoup de fibres, c'est de ce point de vue un bon aliment en cas de régime.

Mais comme beaucoup de champignons sauvages, il contient également des toxines en faible quantité et peut fixer certains métaux très toxiques (dont mercure et méthylmercure par exemple) et il est donc déconseillé d'en manger de grandes quantité ou plusieurs fois par semaine. il bioaccumule particulièrement bien le mercure avec des teneurs atteignant jusqu'à 19,7 ppm en poids sec mesurées lors d'une étude qui a analysé des échantillons de 32 espèces de champignons prélevés sur des sols scandinaves a priori non pollués.

Par rapport à d'autres espèces (agarics par exemple), il semble moins bioaccumuler le méthylmercure que le mercure (dans les agarics, très bioaccumulateurs de mercure et méthylmercure, sur sol non-pollué on peut trouver 20 à 50 fois plus de mercure que dans le sol environnant).

With a strong warning about what it will pick up from the soil!
Marvellous!!!

So, it is Autumn and the season for fungi...
but...
be careful what you pick...
if you are unsure about your identification...

BIN IT!!

Something is nibbling my nuts!

Well, not the nuts, but the leaves of one of the hazels...
they are caterpillars of the Buff-tip moth [Phalera bucephala] la Bucéphale...
and they were decimating the leaves of one filbert.
just the one, mind... the greenest leaved one!!

Just a few here....

Pauline spotted them as she harvested the nuts... they were quite visible...
these yellow-and-black striped, silver haired caterpillars live gregariously...
and feed on a number of different deciduous trees*...
sometimes, as on our hazel, defoliating entire branches.
"Wiki" seems to think that it is only gregarious when young...
but these were large caterpillars... around two and a half inches long and a quarter of an inch thick.
I knocked the branches they were on and collected them in a plastic box...
and then 'broadcast' them at the "hazel beyond the brambles"....

at the bottom corner of the verger...
[the one we can't get at to pick]
They can decimate that to their hearts content...
but they can leave my nuts alone!!

Which end is which?

I knew the moth well, having seen it many times...
and have even seen it here...

Buff-tip...  or dead twig? [Click on this picture to enlarge it and see the real beauty of the scales.]

and as can be seen from the picture above it looks fairly like a broken bit of twig.

The buff ends look like rotten wood and the silver-grey between like a silvery bark...
all the books liken this to Silver Birch...
but around here, I would reckon this is better on dead Poplar....
in fact, a damn sight more successful...
Silver Birch branches up to about three-quarters of an inch diameter are usually a dull, mid-brown colour!
Dead Poplar branches become silvery-grey at quite small diameters.
As do those of Ash!!

Team strippers in action...

The adults fly June and July...
and their caterpillars can be found between July and October on....
*and this is based on the "Wiki" list...

Norway Maple... down by the river
Field Maple... everywhere
Birch... we've planted some
Hazel... yes, well!!
Laburnum... not around here... not ever!
Lime... in the front garden
Poplar sp... just a few... thousand
Prunus sp... mainly Blackthorn... then there are our plums, etc.
Oak... yes, plenty...
Robinia... NO! Never...
Rose... plenty
Willow... eighteen species here...
Elm... mostly Wych Elm in the hedges
Viburnum... we've planted V.opulus for the birds [and Autumn colour]

so there's plenty of other plants for Buffy to eat!!

Most sources give the wingspan as 42-56 mm [except "Wiki"... 55 to 68mm?]
and the caterpillar 65-75mm [2.5 to 3 inches]

The tail-end view of a bunch... the middle one is wearing a bandit mask... and well it should!!

The Wildlife Trusts gives the following information...

"The Buff-tip is a medium-sized moth that is on the wing at night from June to July.
It is quite a common moth in parks and gardens, as well as woodland edges, scrub and hedgerows.
The caterpillars are striking: large, hairy and yellow, with a black head and a ring of short black stripes on every segment.
They often gather together in large numbers, eating the leaves of Lime, Birch, Hazel and Willow trees, sometimes defoliating whole branches, but rarely causing serious damage.
This moth pupates on the ground and overwinters as a chrysalis."

The Forestry Commission points out that..

"although they occur rather later in the summer than oak processionary moth larvae...
from a distance they can resemble this species when their abundant fine grey hairs (setae) catch the light. However, on closer inspection they are easily identified by their distinctly patterned yellow and black body with grey and yellow stripes."

Eurostar design concept?... they were certainly speed eating!

From the Saga website...
{not one of my normal haunts, but was linked to from elsewhere...}
so I followed where no self respecting over-50s would wish to tread...
there one David Chapman introduces a master of disguise...

"Moths tend to be active by night, a strategy which offers them safety from the majority of predators, with the exception of bats. However this approach does present them with a problem: what to do to remain safe during the day!

The answer is that moths hide away in all sorts of nooks and crannies and dark places where they might be safe from predatory birds and mammals. To help them remain hidden most moths are drably coloured, and this is sufficient for them to avoid being spotted but some have a much more precise camouflage.

The buff-tip moth has one of the most amazing camouflage patterns and even its shape has evolved to help it blend in with its chosen surroundings. When a Buff-tip moth rests amongst broken twigs on the woodland floor, or amongst branches on a tree, it almost disappears from sight.

Buff-tip moths can be found in gardens and woodland, their flight season is mostly June and July. Having spent the winter as a chrysalis underground the adult moth takes to the wing and the females soon lay a large batch of eggs. Their larvae hatch out en masse, eating the leaves of various trees including sallows, birch, oak and hazel, and for a while, stick together making them a good deal more obvious than their parents! Once they have the strength, they spread out before pupating underground in the autumn and so the life-cycle begins again."

More from "Wiki"...

"The Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) is a moth of the family Notodontidae. It is found throughout Europe.

This is a fairly large, heavy bodied species with a wingspan of 55–68 mm. The forewings are grey with a large prominent buff patch at the apex. As the thoracic hair is also buff, the moth looks remarkably like a broken twig when at rest. The hindwings are creamy-white. This moth flies at night in June and July and sometimes comes to light, although it is not generally strongly attracted."

Ready for transportation to the colonies...

Honey on Monday... Cut-leaved Maples... Evening Bonks.... Woolly 2CV...

A few disjointed notes...

Saw a large raptor try and land in the small willows...
too slim to be a Common Buzzard... but too heavy for the top...
it tried the walnut... for a moment...
saw the tail as it flew on toward the Poplars... not the Black Kite...
managed to get the big 'scope on it... head "too small" for a Buze variable...
it kept stretching its neck out... panning around...
at last, a profile view... it looked like a Honey Buzzard [Pernis apivorus] Bondrée apivore!

The Honey Buzzard has a cuckoo-like profile... but with a hooked beak!
This bird was all brown, no grey head... so probably a juvenile.
Pauline's been hearing a raptor call that she couldn't identify...
need to check the call later.
The local birdbook says that they are presumed to breed here...

With the recent sun everything has warmed up...
so we've got the insects back...
butterflies through this weekend included a Great Banded Grayling...

This is a BIG butterfly... it is difficult to confuse with anything else.

lovely drifting flight... like many large butterflies...
including the almost transparent Flambé [Scarce Swallowtail - I prefer the French name: more descriptive] that I have just seen.
It had no colour and, at first I couldn't work out what it was...
so went to "'avagander" and saw that it had lost all the scales on both wings...
it looked strange, being able to see the lower wings through the upper!!
Wish I'd had camera in hand for that one... sorry reader[s?]!

A few days ago we had something go "bonk" in the evening....
large it was... bigger, bodywise, than a Stag Beetle...
For once Chinnery actually had it identified.... as Susan of LVN confirmed, once I'd sent her the pix.
It was a Longhorn Beetle... Prionus coriarius... no common names [it isn't common]...
the larvae live in the roots of trees...
"surtout les souches!" [Above all the stumps].
Most beetles have an....
"I learnt take-off, I learnt most of level flight... but boredom set in and I bunked off the landing classes!" mode of flying...
and this one was no exception!
It hit the lounge door... stopped flying immediately... and dropped!
Straight into the glass jar that is half full of Kestrel pellets.

Longhorn Beetle [Prionus coriarius]

Jaws designed to mill wood... they are offset like a crossbill's beak.

The door is 96cms wide... the jar it fell into 7cms... a one in fourteen chance...
she [female, Susan reckoned] had obviously been out with the boys when that "how to land, gracefully" class was on!

You can see by the movement that she'd begun to wake up!!
Upside down was the only way I could make her stay still enough to be recorded!

She tried to take off...
it is a Benedicta Mayonnaise jar...
it bulges to about 9cms in the middle...
this allowed her to open her wing-cases and attempt lift off...
but with the wing cases open, she couldn't fly through the opening.
I rescued her, gave her a night in the fridge to slow her down...
then photographed her in the morning.

Free at last... she makes off into a shady corner to await nightfall...
and another "blunder about"... the missing foot didn't seem to hinder her!!

When last in Le Blanc... for their Fête de la Nature...
I saw a very nice cut-leaved Maple that had been planted all over the place...
sometimes, these are nice from seed, but never like the original....
that would have been grown from a cutting.
I collected some of the still slightly green seeds and planted four of them in a pot the next day...
they've come on well... but with a marvellous leaf shape I've never seen in a maple before...

A Leaf cutter cut leaf Maple... styling by beeeeee!

...a leaf cutter bee has had fun trying to confusculate me!!

I also saw my first "recognised" wool carder bee Anthidium sp...
wearing a nappy as described and pictured here in "Days on the Claise"...
must have seen them before... just unaware!
And, on opening the '56 2CV passenger door, I found this.........

Mobile Home?
[or makeup remover]
Carder bee "wool" balls.

Moving pictures....

Regular readers will know that I occasionally use some of my brother's pictures....
but I felt I had to publish this...
now he's into moving pictures...
on the Breckland Express!!
even though it has nothing to do with Aigronne Valley Wildlife....
[although it is famous for the Stone Curlews on one of the Thetford Forest heaths.]

You can find the original on Nick's flickr pages...  the picture next left from this.

All in all a total of five of his pictures were used on this train.
Not bad, methinks... certainly one for the portfolio!!


There is more on the Brecks. including yet at least another of Nick's pix in the header [the one with the light streaming through the trees], here at The Brecks.
For lovers of natural history, I would happily recommend an exploration of this area...
apart from the Ice Age relict pingos on Thomson Common, there are sites where freeze/thaw action toward the end of the last Ice Age created geometric shapes...
mainly hexagons...
in the soil by separating the stones from the soil...
in these areas a different growth occurs on the two types of substrate...
and the resulting shapes can be seen from the air.
This leads to a more open habitat that favours plants that find competition difficult.

06/08/2013... Just discovered that there was only one other photographer involved...
Debbie Harris of 2up Photography...
she gives a fuller account of the launch on her website...
there's a nice shot of Nick in action fouteen pictures down...
he's developed quite a good "image stabilizer" [much like a darts player]...
I think he needs to come and do some raking of the grass here!!


To take a leaf [sic] from Susan of DotC:
Meadow update...
we lost about half of one of the original five "trognes" in the storm that followed one day after the last posting. I managed to cut a way through the rank vegetation, yesterday, with Betsy and found that it is still connected at the root end.

So, this winter, I will cut all the top growth off at an oblique angle and let it regrow as a supplier of small rods... and become a nesting place for the birds.

Almost all paths are re-cut...
and future work noted...
a lot of clearance this winter being one of the priorities...
it is getting really too dark and gloomy up the weir end!!

Butterflies abound.... huge quantities of Gatekeepers are around... also the biggest numbers of Marbled Whites and Clouded Yellows I've seen.... both in the teens [visible at any one time].
I've not yet managed to photograph the Clouded Yellows...
they only stop and pose when they know I haven't got a camera!!

The huge Sauterelles [Bush Crickets] have arrived in the potager area...
so watch out you Doryphores....
to the Sauterelle, orange means food...
not "yuck"  don't eat.
The Glow-worms are glowing...
saw three the other night...
two were using our white calcaire path as an "amplifier"

I'll post more on all this, but, with the harvest in full swing, watch out for the bigger raptors...
we've had Hen and Montague's Harriers around after hay has been cut....
but, as the rape in the field next door was being cut, a Black Kite was following the combine... swooping to catch rodents that had been pushed into open ground!
And, on the way to Loches, I caught the unmistakable profile of a Booted Eagle heading towards an area being worked!

No pictures of mine... don't want to detract from Nick's picture [as if mine could!!]

Stormy, stormy night.... totally orageuse!!

We knew it was coming...

This was the Carte de Vigilance

This was Meteo60's animation last evening... the red is the heavy rain!

so, after unplugging all the internet connections,...
and with cold-water-bottles in hand...
we went to bed!


Then... around 3:10AM...

FLASH, BANG, WALLOP!!

...it hit!!

This is the longére... lit by "flash"... the double images are movement over a 10 second exposure.

Strikes over Chevernay way... looking toward Petit Pressigny

Strike above La Jarrie / Grandmont / La Borde...

The trees were bent at a crazy angle as they thrashed in the wind...
the rain hammered down...
we can't be accurate about it, as there has been something jamming the rocker mechanism in the rain gauge...
but suddenly it started recording...
the problem had been flushed away!!

[Could have been a spider's web... or a potter wasp pot... we've had both!!]
It finished at 3.3mm...
however, the fizzical gauge, which was at around 15 or 16mm...
now is reading over 40mm! [Scale stops at 40!!]
Much closer to what we observed...
We waited until the electrical activity had stopped and reconnected the internet and took a look...

This is what the Level Orange Storm Warning said:

Bulletin de vigilance Régional.
CENTRE METEOROLOGIQUE INTERREGIONAL DE RENNES
Numéro:2607O02   
Emis le : vendredi 26 juillet 2013 à 04h00
par : Météo-France Rennes
Date et heure du prochain message : au plus tard le vendredi 26 juillet 2013 à 06h00
   
   
   
Type de phénomène
Orages.
Phénomène en cours.
Fin de phénomène prévue le vendredi 26 juillet 2013 à 09h00

It actually finished around 6:50AM here and we now [7:12] have broken cloud and blue bits!!   
      
Localisation
       
Début de suivi pour :
Aucun département
Maintien de suivi pour :
Eure-et-Loir (28), Loir-et-Cher (41), Loiret (45), Indre-et-Loire (37), Indre (36) et Cher (18).
Fin de suivi pour :
Aucun département
   
Description
       
Qualification du phénomène :
Situation fortement orageuse d'été qui nécessite une vigilance particulière dans la mesure où il existe un risque fort de phénomènes violents.
Faits nouveaux :
Confirmation de la prévision. Les orages ont gagné notre région, des rafales de vent proches de 90 km/h sont relevées à Blois, ainsi qu'une lame d'eau proche de 10 mm localement. De la grêle a été observée dans le Loiret.
Situation actuelle :
Les pluies orageuses couvrent une moitié ouest de la région Centre.
Le département du Cher est pour l'instant peu touché.
[but we could see a bulge in the storm heading that way....
look at the animations below!!]
And see Walt's post for the 26th July 2013....

Evolution prévue :
La zone orageuse traverse la région Centre du sud-ouest au nord-est. Les orages pourront s'organiser en lignes et être forts. Ils pourront s'accompagner de précipitations soutenues, de grêle ainsi que de rafales de vent pouvant atteindre 80 à 90 km/h, voire les dépasser ponctuellement.
[No hail (grêle) here... fortunately!!]
Quelques foyers orageux pourront déborder ponctuellement sur les départements limitrophes au nord (entre le sud-Anjou et le Perche en cette fin de nuit).
Cette zone pluvio-orageuse s'évacuera vers le nord-nord-est au lever du jour.
    
Conséquences possibles
       
Orages/Orange
* Violents orages susceptibles de provoquer localement des dégâts importants.
* Des dégâts importants sont localement à craindre sur l'habitat léger et les installations provisoires.
* Des inondations de caves et points bas peuvent se produire très rapidement.
* Quelques départs de feux peuvent être enregistrés en forêt suite à des impacts de foudre non accompagnés de précipitations.
   
   
Conseils de comportement
       
Orages/Orange
* A l'approche d'un orage, prenez les précautions d'usage pour mettre à l'abri les objets sensibles au vent.
* Ne vous abritez pas sous les arbres. [No ess-aitch-one-tee Sherlock!!]
* Evitez les promenades en forêts. [As above!]
* Evitez d'utiliser le téléphone et les appareils électriques. [If they are still working!!]
* Signalez sans attendre les départs de feux dont vous pourriez être témoins.

And here we have some animations for you...

This is the same map as above... but from 1:45AM to 4:45 AM

This shows rain that is too light to be felt....
however, these...
from...
show a more narrowed band of detail...
and, in the last one, the lightning!!

This is the rain picture...

and this is the lightning [each yellow cross!]

Have a nice day!!

"It's life Jim... but not as we know it!!"

We have plenty of the alien Harlequin Ladybirds [Harmonia axyridis] Coccinelle asiatique around here...

This ladybird was brought in, originally, to control aphids in commercial greenhouses.
[it is also known as the Asian Harlequin]

Not as tricky as it seems with "velcro" feet!

The male is a "two-spot" variation of the Harlequin.

But it soon escaped and is increasing uncontrollably across Europe...
and at the same time apparently causing a massive decline in our native species.
Scientists say the alien is winning because its body fluid contains a parasite toxic to other insects.

There is a lot of information on the web about them... just look up Harlequin Ladybird!
So I'll not repeat it here... but Auntie Beeb had this article recently...

"Invasive ladybirds wage 'biological war' on natives."

on some new research published in Nature

A selection of the colourways...
you will see that all the "multi-spot varieties have one thing in common...
the four central spots form an oval...
none of the native varieties do this.

It would appear, from the article, that the larvae and eggs are infected with a fungus...
to which they are immune...
but, if any other insect eats the larvae or eggs, they are infected with a fungus for which they have no natural immunity ...
Susan of Loire Valley Nature is shortly going to be publishing a deal more on this subject.

Two different colourways of the same pattern on a pair of  Harlequins.

All but the first two of these pictures were taken in Leeds, on a wall just outside our front door....
I have put a goodly selection up as it shows just how numerous and variable they are...
these had all dropped from the Sycamore above the wall.

Looking damaged on hatching... this Harlequin looks the closest to the colour of a human harlequin!!

Please note...
early reports spoke of the Harlequins causing the decline by eating all the native ladybird larvae...
ladybirds are carnivores... all ladybirds will eat others of any soft-bodied creature...
including their own larvae... if aphids are scarce...
and by soft-bodied... I include Man...
as anyone who was in North Norfolk in 1976 will testify.
The bites of a large number of hungry ladybirds hurt!!
The bite of one hungry ladybird hurts!!

There is a You-Tube video of them here...
and a report on the 2009 invasion in the Daily Wail here...

"Plague of ladybirds puts families to flight! Holidaymakers overrun by tens of millions of bugs."

But as the Wail says... despite the numbers, it was a good news story as both the invading species were the native 2-spot and 7-spot varieties...
giving a welcome boost to the declining populations.

Perhaps not the best picture...
but these are two colour versions of the Two-Spot Ladybird...
much smaller and a different leg colour.

Norfolk, Suffolk and the South Coast resorts get the worst attacks as they are closer to the continent...
but the 2009 invasion moved in a wave across the country from the East coast landing points!
The 1976 one must have done too....
as this blog entry states, it hit the Wirral...
but I was too busy nursing the bites to care about reading papers!!

OH...Booger!! Three and one half new orchid species....

Well, thanks to the rainy weather, we have now found four new species of Orchids...
the half being yesterday's Pyramidal Orchid [Anacamptis pyrimidalis]Orchis pyramidal...
I had the chance to mow the verger [orchard] and on the second tour round with Betsy I noticed something pink lying at the side of the previous cut...

AAAAARGH!

I'd cut down an Orchid...
so, sadly, here it is... in a vase!!

Goes well with the repro Art Nouveau lamp!

The first bend in the stem isn't moving... but the growing tip is trying to compensate...

You can see, from the curve of the stem, that it was probably lying on it's side... having been trapped under the windblown grass. As with all the new orchids seen this year, it is in an area that is, normally, regularly mown...
I know roughly where it must have been cut from... somewhere between the Quetsch and the Mirabelle... so after a late cut this Autumn, I shall go looking for rosettes!!

The other species which wasn't spotted when I made the previous entry is a Bee Orchid [Ophrys apifera] Ophrys abielle along by the front fence...

As you can see... clearly marked!

It is interesting to observe orchids on your own patch as you can watch the same one day after day...
from that ability for a period of observation....
I now know that, for the Ophrys orchids....
the next flower does not open until the previous one has "gone over"....
this avoids self-pollination completely!!

The lower flower is the new one in the previous picture... just one left to open!

Susan has commented:

"Your observation of the Bee Orchid pollenisation is not quite right for the plant generally. 
They often have multiple flowers open at once and frequently self pollinate. 
They have a window of about 6 hours, after which they panic if they haven't been insect pollinated, and self pollinate. 
They are the only Ophrys that behaves like this."

So, although the Bee Orchid appears to have a mechanism to avoid self-pollination...
they make damned sure they reproduce if no one calls!!

The Pyramidal and the Greater Butterfly orchids were found on land that, until nine years ago, had been worked... the last crop was sunflowers in 2002 and Richard ploughed and sparingly sowed an unspecified grass mix on it in September 2004.
Since then, it has been left to its own devices... and Mother Nature!

A whether or knot report for May!

Just a quicky... 

Cloth of Gold at the end of a Rainbow...
[taken from our lounge window]

Wot a munth... 
wot a depressin' munth!!!
Still... here's a weather revue...

...for our very grotty May

Temperature in °Centipede
Minimum*          1.3°C on the 24th
Maximum          27.0°C on the 7th
Highest Minimum  13.1°C on the 8th
Lowest Maximum   12.4°C on the 20th
Mean Minimum     6.6°C
Mean Maximum     19.1°C
Air frosts*       0


Rainfall in mm [given what we have had... think of mm as Metric Metres!!]
Total for month  64.5mm
Wettest day      10.8mm on the 21th
High rain rate   16.2mm on the 8th
Rain days        17


Wind in kilometres per hour
Highest Gust     15.8km/h on the 8th
Average Speed    0.0km/h
Wind Run         0.4 km
Gale days        0


Pressure in millibars
Maximum          1014.4mb on the 13th
Minimum          989.0mb on the 16th



Here's hoping we get a better dose in the next couple of months... for the farmers as well as us!!

* For Susan.... on the 24th the Apparent Temperature was below Zero°C from 4:30AM to 6AM...