Every Sunday there is also a new episode of the Stuifmail podcast. Listen to it here:
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Which spider is preparing a meal of slug here?
Veerle Snijders sent me a photo of a spider packing a nudibranch. She wondered what spider she was dealing with. The name of this spider is large steatoda. This is a relative of the black widow. By the way, leave out that ‘big’, because this spider is no bigger than a centimeter. The spider is poisonous, but not as poisonous as the black widow. It is clear that this spider did not originally occur in our region. When exactly they entered Europe is unclear. You generally don’t see them. They basically stick to their webs. In the winter they will of course look for shelters and that can be near houses. In themselves, these are fine animals, which catch many animals that are difficult for humans. In addition, the large steatoda is not aggressive in nature. This spider will therefore never actively attack a human. If you come across this spider, it is best to carefully put it outside.
Runner ducks
On Thursday I received the first copy of the beautiful walking guide ‘Walking in the Meierij’, which is of course a great honor. The writers are Rutger Burgers, Rob Wolfs and Henrie van Zoggel.
Before the ceremony we walked a beautiful route and during the walk we saw ducks, geese and beautiful beaver tracks. In the conversation after that walk, one of the writers asked me if there are also runner ducks. The answer is yes. That duck is called Indian runner duck. These runner ducks – another name is bottle ducks – originally came from Java, Lombok and Bali. There the breed originated from the wild ducks also known to us. Around 1850, these runner ducks came to Europe, among other places. So they cannot fly. The nest they make consists of a shallow pit in the sand in which some feathers are laid. But these Indian runner ducks are best known for the fact that they lay a particularly high number of eggs. There are figures of 150 to 200 eggs per year, but sometimes even more. In this video you see runner ducks running.
What wants in the house?
Remco Appeljan sent me a picture of a bug. He finds one or two in the house every day. The latter may be correct, because in his case it concerns the brown marmorated shield bug and they like to hibernate in houses. This bug species was first observed in our country in 2018, then only in Limburg. Since 2019, the advance of this bug has started. Now they are increasingly observed everywhere. Brown marbled shield bugs are plant suckers. Both nymphs and adults suck sap from leaves and fruits.
Magpie and blackbird attack the garden mirror for the first time in ten years
Ans Loffeld-Weusten has had a garden mirror hanging for years and we see a blackbird and magpie pecking hard at it. They also fly up against it. Both birds think the mirror image they see is an intruder. They don’t realize it’s them.
Why they didn’t do this for ten years and now they do? There may have been some changes in the incidence of light on the mirror, so that the light reaches the mirror better. In the photo you can see that even a small piece is enough for a bird in mating season. They then see competitors everywhere and they have to get rid of them as quickly as possible.
Are there black herons in the Netherlands?
Ida van de Reijt was walking in the flood plain of the valley of the Beerze. She saw a large black bird there and wondered if there were black herons in our country. We do indeed have different types of herons here. The great egret and blue heron are about the largest species we know here. Black herons are not included. But what is possible is that she has seen a black stork, because they are seen with some regularity in our country. Especially with the Kampina. I myself have seen the black stork several times on the north side of that area. In addition, the valley of the Beerze, part of the Kampina, is ideal for this large bird. Just to be on the safe side, I am enclosing a photo of a black stork. This photo was taken by Joep Smulders, who spotted the bird at the Kampina.
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Black stork – Alex Molin
In the video above you see a black stork, filmed in the Haarlemmermeer. In our country, black storks are only seen in transit. But they are popping up more and more. Most black storks are seen in May and August. These are often immature animals that visit the Netherlands – including the Kampina – during their wanderings. Sometimes the birds stay in the Netherlands in the summer. A breeding case has not yet been demonstrated, but they do breed in Belgium and Germany. It could just be that they will also breed in the Netherlands soon.
Ball on the oak bush
Pieter Hermsen saw a ball on the terminal branch of a small oak tree. He wondered if this was a product of a gall wasp and if so how many gall wasps came from that gall. It’s true that this is a gal. The name is marble bile. Most people are familiar with gall apples – which hang from the underside of an oak leaf – but people hardly ever recognize marble galls. Yet these are like galls galls. However, marble galls are hard and are located on the leaf axils of young oaks. A marble gall is caused by a marble gall wasp laying eggs in the leaf axils of oak trees. Those trees are stimulated by this and form marble galls. Only one egg is in the gall per marble gall, so only one marble gall wasp hatches.
Who collects alder plugs?
Peter van den Elzen has a tree nursery in Boekel. His business includes harvesting tree seeds. Now he saw at his company that someone else was also doing this. In the photo you can see a collection of alder plugs and Peter wondered whether this is the work of mice. I think so and then I think especially of the wood mouse.
Wood mice can be found everywhere, in forests and open areas, as long as there is sufficient cover such as low vegetation or scattered stones. The wood mouse was also the first mouse to be found on the new polders near the IJsselmeer. Wood mice often build up an enormous food supply of seeds, cereal grains and maize kernels. Before the food is stowed in such an underground storage room, it lies in mountains in front of the ‘door’.
Beautiful photos section
In the section beautiful photos this time a photo of Jozef van der Heijden of the wren. In the book ‘Nature Stories’ by Els Baars you can read how this little bird got its name.
Nature tip
Those looking for a nature outing could opt for the theme path archeology in the Maashorst. This trail is open between sunrise and sunset. Traces of habitation and the land use of former inhabitants can be found in the Maashorst. Often not very striking, but if you have an eye for it, you will see traces of man’s past. Weather and wind and fractures in the earth’s crust also shape this landscape. The route teaches people about the way of life of people in the Maashorst in a distant – or less distant – past. About the use of iron ore, farms and convex fields to border beacons, wood production and the use of trees and wood. As early as the ninth century, the local inhabitants started cutting down the primeval forests present. Over the centuries, a densely wooded landscape changed into a more open landscape where agricultural use played an increasingly important role.
More information:
• Nature Center De Maashorst, see the website of this center.
• The address is Erenakkerstraat 5 in Nistelrode.
• You are welcome daily from ten in the morning to five in the afternoon. On Mondays and Saturdays, the center opens at noon.
• The route is free to walk from the nature center between sunrise and sunset.
• The flyer can be picked up during opening hours and the various exhibitions in the center are also free of charge.