Conny had never seen this butterfly before, Frans tells more about it

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Conny van der Vloet met a beautiful butterfly on her pumpkin plant. She had never seen this before so she would like to know which butterfly it is. The beautiful, striking, light -colored and quite large butterfly belongs to the family of the tensioners and the name is Vliervlinder. You can see this moth in the Netherlands mainly in deciduous forests with elder bushes, in parks and gardens. Elder butterflies love a moist environment. You can see the adult elder Butterfly mainly from June to August. Vlier butterflies fly in the evening and night and rest during the day at shady locations. After the mating, the female drops the eggs in groups, usually at the bottom of leaves. The caterpillar is also active in the night. This mainly eats the leaves of the ivy. During the day, the caterpillars of the Vlier butterfly have a nice camouflage. Then they go all the way in the leaf of the ivy and look like a branch.

A strange mushroom or fungus

Francine van den Broek came across a mushroom or fungus on a field in Bergen op Zoom that she never saw before. She would like to know what it is and sent me a photo. In that photo I think I see the fruiting body of the pleated pussy mushroom. If you look closely at the fruit body you see a kind of stem (very small in the photo) and at the top of that handle a kind of spherical whole. You can see the pleated swam for example on sandy soils, in the litter layer. You will come across them in needle and deciduous forests, in road verges (see photo), in parks and on poor grasslands. Inside the spherical head are the traces. When that spur mass is ripe, they come out through an opening in that sphere, just like with potato bovists. After drifting away the tracks, the top of the fruiting body has disappeared. What remains of the mushroom looks a bit like a drinking cup.

Ron Molenbroek saw a plant in a park behind his house and thought it could be the Gifsumak or Poison Ivy. It is not, it is a plant with the name Zevenblad. Some people find the Zevenblad a pest plant. People often ask me how you get that plant away. The Zevenblad, which is in that park, is indeed a herb that is sometimes very difficult to get rid of. Yet it works, as long as you last. For me, the Zevenblad has almost completely disappeared after five years. What mainly helps is a healthy soil or a soil that is in balance. Zevenblad likes compacted soil. By loosening the soil a little, placing various herbs and consistently pulling the Zevenblad with roots and all out, it goes away.

Zevenblad is a useful plant, it is edible. You can use Zevenblad in different ways with meals. The young leaves taste fresh and can be eaten raw in salads or cooked as spinach. In addition, you can also use tea from Zevenblad or use the plant dried as a replacement for parsley.

The Gifsumak does occur in our country, but in just one place. That is a dike in Friesland. In 1919 the Gifsumak was planted there by water managers at the time and this is still present. The plant is doing well here and also gets fruit every year. Whether the seeds are spreading and new places are also achieved is unknown.

This lady flies nicely around a pond, what is the name?

Hetty Uijtdewilligen-van Hest likes to send me some nature photos occasionally. I’m happy with that. This time she sent me a beautiful picture of a very beautiful lady. The name of this lady is azure water teacher. She captured a man. The female looks different, see the photo below of a mating wheel.

The azure water lady is quite common in Brabant and becomes a maximum of 35 millimeters in size. After the mating, the females and males, like a tandem, dismiss the eggs in the water at aquatic plants. That tandem is important, because in this way the male prevents the female from being fertilized by competitors. Larven appear from the eggs, which hibernate in the water. Then they crawl up via a stem and sneak out of the larva skin. This usually happens between May and August. The adult azure water teachers then live for about four weeks and in the meantime the process starts again.

Type of small fly of two centimeters

Tom and Nellie van den Heuvel, who faithfully send beautiful photos, saw a kind of fly but did not know what it was. Well, we are dealing here with the Wall Wire. These are delta -like flies – see the photo below – with largely black wings and a black abdomen with white dots.

Wall lifes are typical summer species. Especially in June these special flies appear from last year’s nests. To see the photo of Tom and Nellie, I think it is a female that they have captured and she has just shot an egg or is she orientation to orient herself to shoot an egg. Beautiful photo! A larva comes from the egg, which feeds on the host’s larva. Wall livers are insects that belong to the family of the wool sweaters. These wool sweaters are heat -loving flies. Then you may also have the explanation why this species can be found much in an urban environment.

So it is parasitic insects that lay their eggs on eggs or larvae from other insects, including bricklaying wasps and mason bees such as the red mason bee, see the photo above.

Wall flea, throw eggs in beehotel – Roy Kleukers
The Wall Wirver is a flying type from the family of the Wolzwevers. They are striking species with darkened wings and a complete black body with, only with fresh ones, clear white spots. These animals are usually on walls with the wings half spread, like a Delta Leager. All species from the wool sweaters family are parasites on eggs or larvae from other insects, ranging from locusts and butterfly crawls to bees and wasps. The vast majority of species parasitize on the latter groups, including the Wall Wirver. This parasitizes on mason bees and masonry wasps that nest in holes in walls, wooden posts and fences. The female deposits a egg in the nest of these bees and wasps before the nest is closed. See the video, made in the Heemtuin Leiderdorp.