A camping window full of urns on the Adriatic coast
Carla de Laat sent me a photo and there you see all beige elongated heaps around the window of a caravan. If you look closely at the photo, you will see a kind of flat lid at the top of the piles. We are dealing here with the cocoons of a kind of urnted wasp. These are completely harmless insects, not at all dangerous to humans. The heaps are unique constructions and so it is a shame that they were removed, because then you could have seen how the animals had come out of their cocoons. Urn wasps belong to the large group of mason wasps. They are solitary wasps that make a beautiful urn-shaped nest from loam or clay, often mixed with gray sand.
You will see a rim around the small opening of the urns, which offers the urn wasps something to hold on to. This way they can land on that urn and push prey inside through the hole. Later, as can be seen in the photo, the urn is closed.
Mating of weapon carriers on a plastic bottle
Will Kemps sent me a photo with a strange insect on it. He wondered if this is a butterfly. It is indeed a butterfly. Actually even two butterflies. He recorded the mating of the two armor bearers: the female above and the male below. These moths have a bark-like color on their bodies and you can see a pale yellow round spot at the wing tip and thorax. These are beautiful camouflage colors. Especially when they sit on a birch or oak, they look just like twigs. These moths like to come to the light. They live in deciduous forests, but also in gardens and parks. During the day they are almost invisible because their camouflage is perfect, unless they sit in a bottle like in the picture. The head of the caterpillar has the shape and drawing of a twill (the wires are arranged at an angle) coat of arms. But according to some people, the name is based on the shield-shaped spots on the tips of the forewings.
Bumblebee nest in a nesting box, but what are those white strings?
Riek Span sent me a photo of an open nest box where bumblebees have nested. The bumblebees are now gone. When she opened the nest, she saw all kinds of white wisps on the sides of the nest box. She wondered what these strands are. I myself regularly have bumblebees in the garden. Sometimes in the ground, but also sometimes in a nesting box. But I’ve never seen such white streaks. So my question to the readers and listeners is whether they are aware of this phenomenon. I’m curious. Of course I will also investigate further. Hopefully we will find an answer to Riek’s question.
Which insect is this?
Klaas Schoen saw an insect he had never seen before. He sent me a clear photo in which the insect stood out nicely against the green leaf. In that photo you see an insect in the shape of a T. When I see such pictures, I immediately know that it is a feather moth. Feather moths are moths that take on such a T-shape when resting. This T arises because they have deep incisions in the front and rear wings. These wings are often curled up and stand away from the body. In this case we are dealing with a sharp-angled feather moth. You can encounter these feather moths almost all year round. Like peacock eyes, they hibernate as adults, also known as imago.
Is this a well-known Japanese loan shark that I removed from my yard?
Bob van Soolingen sent me a photo of a plant that he had removed. He would like to know which plant it is. He hoped it wasn’t a well-known Japanese loan shark. It certainly isn’t. What he removed is a beautiful homegrown plant with the wonderful name bittersweet. This beautiful plant belongs to the nightshade family, as does the potato and black nightshade. Bittersweet is a real creeper that usually wraps itself around other plants. The plant has thin, vining stems with a lignified base at the beginning.
The most beautiful thing about bittersweet are the beautiful purple-blue yellow flowers, see photo. This plant got its name because when you chew the stem you taste a bitter taste. The saliva that is mixed with this bitter juice ensures that sucrose is released. That gives a sweet taste.
Waiting for privacy settings…
Bumblebee nest inside – Tree harvester
In the video above you can see a bumblebee nest from the inside. This nest comes from a badly neglected garden of an empty house that was completely cleared. The nest was located in a pile of tree leaves and waste right next to the garden door of the house in the Bospolder district of Rotterdam. Because it is a shame to destroy such a nest, it has been moved and placed in a designated nest box with as many bumblebees as possible.
Beautiful picture of two butterflies in Slovenia
Lau de Hond sent me a picture of two butterflies that he had photographed in Slovenia. He wondered what the name of these butterflies is. What I immediately saw is that the butterflies are butterflies that belong to the blue family such as the tree blue and the rare gentian blue. I didn’t know which one it is, so I grabbed the books. I think we are dealing with the pale blue here. Pale blues are no longer found in the Netherlands, because they have horse hoof clover as a host plant. This plant no longer occurs in our country and so the pale blues cannot reproduce here. The pale blue has probably disappeared here since 1959. Between 1959 and 1990 some vagrants were seen in South Limburg and the Maas valley, but after 1990 the pale blue was only seen five times in our country.
Strange insect that stayed but can fly, what is it?
Dave Ekkel saw an insect that could fly, but it just stayed put as he approached. In the photo you can see that it is an insect with long feelers and a slender body. Often we are dealing with longhorn beetles and I think that is also the case here and we are dealing with the common thistle longhorn. This longhorn beetle has elytra, which can vary from brown to black with light yellow to yellow-grey hair. They are common on the sandy soils on roadsides, at field margins, on rural areas and on dikes, but hardly ever in the rest of the country. You see them most often near thistles and nettles.
Nature tip
On Wednesday 27 July, a children’s activity will take place in the De Kraaijenberg visitor center in the Markiezaat. This lasts from three to four in the afternoon. The traces of the ‘drowned village’ in the Markiezaats area are then sought. Can you find a piece of pottery? Who knows what it was? Here, on the transition from high to low, many traces of history can be found!
More information:
• The activity is intended for children from 7 to 12 years old, accompanied by an adult (maximum one adult per child, so as not to get too busy).
• Departure location is De Kraaijenberg visitor center at 21 Fianestraat in Bergen op Zoom.
• The costs are two euros per child (pay with pin), protectors of Brabants Landschap and members of IVN Groene Zoom participate for free.
• You can sign up through this form (maximum 25 children, no adults sign up.)