Every Sunday there is also a new episode of the Stuifmail podcast. Listen to it here:
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Which caterpillars eat my entire bush empty every year?
Peter Krikken sees a lot of caterpillars in the same bush every year, eating the bush bare. In addition, he notices that when the caterpillars are gone, the bush starts to leaf again. How beautiful is that! This is the design of the bush. The caterpillars are caterpillars of the moth family of silk moths.
In Peter’s photo you can also see that there is a lot of silk around the caterpillars. This phenomenon is most common in May and June. To protect themselves against enemies, the caterpillars of silk moths – also known as stippling moths – spin a large web together. This large web can cover an entire bush or tree. The web of the moth is quite tough and birds and other caterpillar-eating animals cannot get through it. The caterpillars can then eat such a bush or tree completely bare without being disturbed. Then the pupation takes place in that web. Then once the butterflies are gone, those wrapped shrubs and trees will get new leaves. So nothing wrong.
Jellyfish on Goeree-Overflakkee beach or not
Ton Kuijpers was on the beach of Goeree-Overflakkee and saw something strange lying there. He thought it was some kind of jellyfish and sent me a picture asking if this is correct. First of all, I also thought of a jellyfish. But when I enlarged the photo, I saw that this is not the case. It’s something I’ve come across before: the eggs of a common squid. These eggs are in a strand to each other. It can be more than a hundred. That Ton saw them now can be correct, because in the spring squid go to shallow water to mate. Then such strands sometimes wash up on the beach.
What is this animal?
Paul van der Vleuten sent me a picture of a black insect with yellow stripes. He wondered what this is. This insect is called small wasp longhorn beetle, this longhorn beetle does mimicry. The small wasp longhorn beetle imitates a wasp. Many people are shocked when they hear the name longhorn beetle, but that is not necessary. Most of these insects are harmless to us. Especially this little wasp longhorn beetle. The adults mainly eat pollen, but sometimes the females also eat another insect. You also don’t have to worry that the larvae of the small wasp longhorn beetle will do something to your house. The bugs live in – and mainly eat from – rotting deciduous wood. You see them most often in beeches, but sometimes also in dead trees that have been affected by fungi.
There are strange tubes in the forest
Monique van Leer came across strange tubes during a walk in Limburg. She wondered what these are. What she has seen is the work of leaf rollers. These are caterpillars of the moth family of that name. About 10,000 live in the world, in our country about 350.
The caterpillars of this moth family live in a rolled up, sometimes folded leaf from where they can safely feed on the leaves and fruits of the shrubs or trees in which they live. In the video by W. Popken you can see how the caterpillar of the flamed leaf roller spins itself into such a leaf.
It looks like a horsefly, but longer
On the beautiful photo that Tanja Stamps sent me you see an elongated hairy brown insect with black and yellow legs. We are dealing here with a forest edge robber fly. This name speaks for itself. You can certainly encounter this species in sandy Brabant and in the dunes. They are real predators who hunt in flight. With them on the menu are almost all flying insects. From flies and butterflies to dragonflies. They also engage in cannibalism. They hunt from a lookout and after a short chase they grab the prey with their spiny legs and kill it instantly. Then the victim is taken to a place where they suck the prey dry.
What is the name of this very large dragonfly?
Francine van den Broek-Jungbeker sent me a fantastically beautiful photo of an insect with yellow as its main color. In addition, the fairly wide rear body tapers and ends in a kind of point. We are dealing here with a dragonfly species from the real dragonflies. The name is four-spot. This dragonfly owes its name to the fact that you can see a dark spot halfway along the front edges of the wings. You don’t see that with other dragonfly species. And four wings means four spots. The aquatic larvae emerge from the water sometime between late April and mid-July. They cling to a stem and then the creeping out of this beautiful dragonfly species starts behind the head of that larva (also called nymph). Later you will see this beautiful species flying around our Brabant fens or around stagnant, not too large puddles.
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Creeping dragonfly – Josette Veltman-de Greef
In this fantastically beautiful and short video you can see how a nymph becomes a beautiful emerald dragonfly. Partly accelerated, because the whole party takes a few hours in total. This hatching party is a dangerous time, because it can last from an hour to a whole day (if it is very cold) and then the dragonflies are very vulnerable.
Which little butterfly visits the beautiful sea of flowers?
Nelly sent me a picture of a field full of flowers. In the middle of that field you see a small butterfly. In her message, she writes that the butterfly is about one centimeter in size and has four white dots on the hind wings. I think we are dealing with the coin moth. This beautiful little mint butterfly of about fifteen millimeters in size can often be found in sunny places in flowery meadows or other flowery places such as gardens. The name mint butterfly is based on the fact that the caterpillars mainly live on mint species, such as water mint and ear mint. Yet you can also find them on wild marjoram, field sage and stone thyme. Mint butterflies belong to the moth family, but in the case of this butterfly it is a diurnal moth.
Brown frogs
Ester Fermin made it easy for brown frogs last year by building a stone staircase in a cement tub. It was originally intended to use this cement tub to see how much water fell in the wet month of June. To her surprise, in addition to a lot of water, there were also two brown frogs in the tub. Laying down the stairs of bricks and a plank made it easy for the frogs to get in and out. It’s been their pond ever since and it doesn’t matter that it also contains algae. Nevertheless, they regularly remove the algae and the frogs have a good frog habitat.
Beautiful photos section
This time a photo of Erik Dinslage with a nice story. This cuckoo flew close to me in a reed collar. A bluethroat flew up alarmingly. After five minutes the cuckoo flew up again, with this greenish egg in its beak. Probably from the unfortunate host who is now allowed to raise a young cuckoo instead of her own. All this took place in the fourth mountain basin, somewhat north of Breda.
Nature tip
On Sunday 4 June you can participate in a walk across the Loonse and Drunense Duinen. It lasts from ten in the morning to one in the afternoon. Meet the shepherd and his sheep on this tour. The sheep, the shepherd’s commands and the dogs who are busy keeping everything together… the flock of sheep never gets bored! Did you know that the herd is indispensable to keep the Loonse and Drunense Duinen so beautiful? The forester will tell you more about this, while you walk to the sheep herd in the meantime. There you will find the shepherd who tells all about his work and the sheep.
More information:
• Registration required and can be done via this link.
• Departures from Parking Bosch en Duin at Schoorstraat 50 in Udenhout. This may, however, still change. But if you are registered, communication is good.
• Put on sturdy walking shoes.
• Wear clothes appropriate to the weather.
• Always check yourself afterwards for ticks.