Every Sunday there is also a new episode of the Stuifmail podcast. Listen to it here:
Waiting for privacy settings…
Special moth during a night walk
Christian van Laarhoven sent me a picture of a moth. He would like to know which butterfly this is. The name of this moth is light corona moth. It belongs to the grass moth family. The caterpillar of this butterfly likes to come to ragwort (another reason to spare those plants), but also and especially to the beautiful queenwort (see the previous Polling Mail of Sunday 20 August). This moth owes its name to another member of this species, namely the common corona moth.
So this has nothing to do with beer or that nasty corona period we’ve had. The name is based on meteorology. The common corona moth has light circles on its wings and similar light whorls (corona) sometimes form around the sun or moon, which are created by water droplets or crystals from a cloud.
On the sheet of the pool bar in Rhodes
Rob Vermeulen was on holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes and took a picture of an animal there. He thought of a cricket. He sent me the photo. I imagine he thought of a cricket, but this is another species from the order of right-winged or the order of grasshoppers and crickets. This is a locust and its name is Egyptian migratory locust. This species may be called migratory locust, but this is not entirely correct, because these locusts do not move through the landscape in large swarms like other migratory locusts. Leaving such a landscape bare. Egyptian locusts do have the appearance of those other locusts, but they are quite harmless and live solitary. Very special, by the way, in this species is having a diapause. This means that they can temporarily halt the reproductive process.
Very small animal spotted
Tjerk Langman sent me a photo, but did not know what exactly he had photographed. In the photo you see a yellowish animal with wings and a brown-red head. I think we’re dealing with a dwarf cicada here. In principle, you will find this kind of dwarf cicadas on oak trees. They grow to a maximum size of 8.3 millimeters. You can therefore encounter them in forests, parks, but also in avenues. The eggs of the dwarf cicada are laid by the females on the buds of young oak leaves. The nymphs, like the adult dwarf cicadas, then suck plant sap from the buds and leaves of oak trees.
Young swans with different colored plumage
A number of young mute swans (pulls) are swimming at Anita van Wanrooij’s home. She asks whether the color of the feathers in these animals says anything about the sex. The answer is no. The young mute swans get either brown or white plumage. Incidentally, the pullets (baby swans) are already swimming and walking mighty a few hours after birth. In the beginning they always stay close to the mother. While the father scans the area and fiercely approaches all enemies with swollen wings and a hissing sound. Usually this also scares people off.
Caterpillar spotted, which butterfly belongs to it?
Auke van Veen sent me a picture and would like to know what kind of caterpillar this is. I think this is the caterpillar of the common sickleworm. The caterpillars of this moth crawl into the ground after they have eaten their bellies. There they hibernate as a pupa. After the winter, from April onwards, the adult butterflies come out.
The butterflies often come towards the light. During the day you can often see them resting on tree trunks. But you have to look closely, because they are hardly noticeable.
Waiting for privacy settings…
Bring nature into your garden: drought-resistant plants – Vitens NV
Drought-resistant plants use much less drinking water, are easy to maintain and also very beautiful! Look at here the top five drought resistant plants.
There are trees with stripped barks on the Planken Wambuis
Ria Boertjes was walking on the Planken Wambuis on the Veluwe and saw a few trees there, the bark of which had been eaten away. She wondered who or what did this? This large nature reserve of about 2123 hectares is home to red deer, roe deer, wild boar, foxes, badgers and pine martens. Of all these beautiful animals, the red deer are the ‘culprits’. They strip the bark from the trees.
During the summer time they do this in addition to the food, as a variation from the soft crops that they also eat in abundance. But especially in winter they go for the bark of trees, because there are less soft plant crops available. In addition, they attack the bark of the trees by brushing their antlers against it. The difference with what you see in the photo above is that deep grooves can be seen.
Insects that cause terrible pain
Gerrit Janssen sent me the photo above of his arm with a stinging insect on it. He wondered what kind of insect this is. I think Gerrit has to do with stable flies. Cattle in particular suffer from these flies, but humans can also be quite bothered by them. Stable flies, in contrast to the normal housefly – which have a sucking snout – have a stabbing snout and with it they pierce a hole in the skin of mammals (and therefore humans) and then suck the blood. The annoying thing is that this stable fly is quite similar to other fly species, so you are often too late to knock this stable fly away. By the way, you will hardly encounter them at home. But especially in stables and where there is a lot of cattle, they can be found in abundance. The best remedy for combating stable flies is to remove manure quickly. In addition, you can access it Knowledge and advice center for animal pests for more information about stable flies.
Bugs photographed at the Astense Aa
Riky Driessen has photographed a bug at the Astense Aa. She wonders what bug this is. I think this is the nymph of the narrow edge bug. Narrow band bugs, like all other bugs, have an incomplete metamorphosis. After the animals have hatched from their eggs, you see an animal that already looks a lot like an adult bug. At a later stage, when they are almost adults (imago), we call the animals nymphs. These narrow edge bugs are mainly found on berry-bearing shrubs, especially in full sun. You see them for example on sporkehout, various types of roses, but also on mountain ash and hawthorn. The menu of these narrow border bugs consists of the juice of the ripe fruits.
Beautiful photos section
In the section beautiful photos this time a photo that Marianne Wijten Navest made of a beautiful insect she saw. This is a hornet predatory fly, the largest predatory fly in the Netherlands. More information about this hornet predatory fly via this link
Nature tip
A desert walk will be organized on Saturday 2 September along seven special places in the Loonse and Drunense Duinen. The walk lasts from ten in the morning to half past twelve in the afternoon.
It is not for nothing that this tough walk has been given the name desert walk. He takes participants eighty percent across the loose sand plain of the Brabant Sahara, where the participants pass seven special places. We start at the memorial monument in honor of the fourteen resistance fighters and then continue on the wheelchair path to the viewpoint, where you can enjoy a beautiful panorama and experience the vastness of the Loonse and Drunense Duinen. They then walk to the Highest Point in the dunes and to the striking Scots pine, which bears the name ‘Tante Truus’. The participants continue their way to the more than five hundred year old oak tree, which has a circumference of 5.50 meters and whose thickest branch measures 1.60 meters. From there they leave for the Sint Jansberg and finally pass Bivouac 19, which dates back to the time when the soldiers practiced here.
More information:
• Registration required: you can through this link.
• The starting point is the Bosch en Duin car park at the Schoorstraat 50 in Udenhout.
• Participation costs members of Natuurmonumenten seven euros, non-members pay ten euros.
• Put on sturdy walking shoes, with which you can walk well through the loose sand.
• Wear clothes appropriate to the weather.
• Always check yourself afterwards for ticks!
• This excursion is aimed at adults. Older children are also welcome if accompanied by an adult.