The Large Rose Sawfly

A few years ago I was given some unwanted seedlings of Dog rose, Rosa canina. I planted them in the garden with my usual carelessness, and they've grown fast, forming a mini-thicket! That'll teach me!

However one of the many resulting delights, quite apart from the beauty of the rose itself, is the presence of the Large Rose Sawfly, Arge pagana, which has found my thicket.

This is a very attractive sawfly which has a bright orange-yellow body. It has a slow-ish flight

so is easily spotted in the garden. What has fascinated me about this insect is its egg-laying process.

The female uses her ovipositor to cut a little channel in a rose stem, in which she then deposits her eggs from which the larvae eventually emerge and feed on the rose leaves. 

I spotted a female just starting to lay eggs around 8pm one evening recently. .

I kept an eye on her and went back into the garden from time to time, to see how she was getting on. To my astonishment she was still going at about 10pm, having created an incision about 5 mm long. I marvelled at the slow and steady progress - I'd no idea it would take that long.

Next morning I looked again and saw the channel with the eggs in, like the one below.

I'm now enjoying watching the colourful larvae scoffing the foliage; doubtless some of them will in turn be lunch for the many hungry birds visiting the garden.

In praise of Borage

I've always been fond of Borage (Borago officinalis). It has lovely fuzzy buds, stems and leaves, and its star-shaped blue-pink flowers are highly attractive to bees. It makes gardening on my allotment such a pleasure, hearing the varied sounds of different pollinators as they take advantage of this tough and opportunistic annual.

It's also a valuable companion plant, and luckily for me it has self-seeded between my spinach, tomatoes and strawberries. Left to its own devices it can form large clumps, but even just a few plants will help the bees.

As it's so easy to grow I decided to add it to the garden, and last season collected the seeds from my allotment plants. This spring I sowed them in a tray in my small grow-house. 

They grew vigorously and I transplanted them to larger pots, then finally to tubs.

I've been rewarded with several plants that are now drawing in the bees.

Its seems a favourite with honeybees, but the bumbles are attracted to it too (I think the one below is a Buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris). Photographing them is another matter however, as they don't stay still for long!

A fragrant garden for wildlife

One of my enduring pleasures, when the evenings are warm and still, is to stand in the garden and inhale deeply whilst listening to the dusk chorus of our local blackbirds and robins. I just planted things I like, which I knew would attract wildlife but which also had fragrance, and more by luck than design the garden consequently smells lovely right through spring and summer.

It begins in late spring with an unknown variety of Honeysuckle which scrambles happily and untidily over my fence, its small white to yellow flowers releasing a delicate scent that wafts through my open kitchen door, and attracts many bumbles and honeybees; a reassuring sign that summer is near.

Just as it begins to fade, it’s followed in early June by Mock Orange, Philadelphus, with its gorgeous citrus aroma, reminding me of my childhood garden where it grew abundantly on the heavy clay soil. This also attracts insects, especially some tiny bees.

Philadelphus with visitor

Not long afterwards Jasmine (Jasminum officinale) with its pale pink buds opening into small, delicate star-shaped white blooms fills air with its unmistakable smell. 

Jasminum officinale

Then the garden thug, Buddleia davidii - which I planted in the wrong spot, which has grown far too big, which the neighbours probably curse from the other side of the wall, and which every winter I say I’ll give a good prune - begins to fire on all cylinders producing huge pale mauve inflorescences which release a richly honeyed perfume. 

Buddleia davidii

A magnet to many invertebrates, my Buddleia especially seems to attract good numbers night-flying moths, like the Silver Y, which in turn bring the neighbourhood bats low over the shrub to feed on them.

I’ve had Brown long-eared bats (I’ve actually seen their long ears, they were so close!) and Pipistrelles hawking for moths on hot summer nights. During the day, bees, hover-flies and butterflies all seek it out. 

I’ll prune the Buddleia another time!

A moth surprise!

Earlier this month I was tidying flowerpots in my back garden in London. I disturbed some ivy growing on my fence, and several small moths took briefly to the air and then settled. Always interested to know what's around I took a closer look and snapped a few photos. 

I'm not a moth-er, but I had a go at identifying them. No joy. I tried various of my field guides, then checked online sources but was none the wiser. 

Finally I sought the help of social media, and fairly quickly received a reply from @RogerMorton11 who suggested it might be Clepsis dumicolana, a Tortrix moth relatively new to the UK with only a few records - Acton, Chelsea and Longwick in Buckinghamshire. 

I followed Roger's advice and quickly contacted my County Moth Recorder, Colin Plant, who'd already heard about my find and kindly confirmed the species! 

I sent him some photos, and my record was duly submitted. 

Which just goes to show it's always worth having a good look at any wildlife you find, however unassuming; it may be something interesting and new. 

This little moth's larvae feed on ivy and the adults are on the wing from around mid-May through to October. It has a 20 mm wingspan, and lovely complex wing markings in shades of brown. Though uncommon here it is widespread in continental Europe.

Here are a couple of the photos I took of the Clepsis dumicolana in my garden.

Autumn at Wakehurst

One of my favourite spots at this time of year is the National Trust’s Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. It offers a mix of Elizabethan architecture, formal gardens, arboretum and the adjacent Loder Valley Nature Reserve, not to mention an excellent cafe and shop, and a separate restaurant offering more substantial fare. It is also home to Kew’s splendid Millennium Seed Bank. There is so much to see, this really is a place with something for everyone.

Having dragged myself (not always successfully) past the enticing goodies at the entrance gift shop, I usually head for a viewing point in the Himalayan Glade, which has benches with stunning views across the Westwood Valley. Bird feeders are set up here and are regularly replenished by Wakehurst staff and visitors (including me) alike.

On my most recent visit coal tits, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches, pheasants, nuthatches, blackbirds, great spotted woodpeckers and robins were abundant. The birds here are accustomed to people, and feed close by; indeed you’re likely to be approached for food, especially by the Pheasants which are quite tame. Chaffinches were perched high in a shrub near the lookout, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine which made their pinkish plumage glow.

The trees were everywhere beginning to change their colours; the one below was spectacular though my photo doesn’t do it justice – it appeared ablaze.

 

In a number of places there are extensive plantings of Cyclamens; these are near the entrance and planted beneath oak trees. The mix of fallen oak leaves, and pink Cyclamen flowers created a beautiful natural carpet, over which at intervals blackbirds bounced and rummaged in search of worms, and squirrels bustled and rustled as they stashed their acorns.

At this time of year it’s always worth casting your eyes ground-ward, and having a careful look at what’s about. The wet weather seems to have benefitted some species of fungi and fairy rings have sprung up in places, like the one beneath this conifer.



I always discover something new here, and this time was fascinated to learn that during World War II, Wakehurst hosted a Zero Station which intercepted enemy radio communications and relayed them to Army HQ in Sevenoaks to be de-coded. It’s still possible to see where aerials were embedded in the trunks of nearby trees. Astonishing!

I shall be back again soon.