What kind of eggs on the wall?
In the photo of Geert Jagers you can see several eggs on a wall. He wonders who those eggs belong to. I think these are bug eggs. I can see this because the eggs of bugs have circles on the eggs. Those circles are the edges of the lids from which most bug eggs can be recognized. Those lids are there because most bugs don’t eat the eggshell, but get out by opening that little lid. The bugs often lay these eggs under a bark, but this bug probably found this wall very interesting. Those eggs hatch very quickly and from those eggs nymphs emerge. Like their parents, these nymphs can produce a foul-smelling secretion from a scent gland at the back of the thorax.
Female of the scorpion fly found
Michel Felten’s photo shows a particularly beautifully built insect. He thinks this is a female of the scorpion fly. That’s completely right! These insects mainly eat carrion. Actually you have to say: they suck their bait empty. In addition, scorpion flies, if given the chance, also grab live insects. Usually these are weakened animals. The scorpion fly in the photo is therefore a female, because she has no stinger behind the body. Males do have them. The name scorpion fly is also based on that, because the sting of this insect resembles the sting of a scorpion, but it is only a show model.
Which caterpillars are in the flowering trusses of this palm?
Mrs. W Goossen sent me a photo of flowering palm clusters with some caterpillars on them. She asks what kind of caterpillars it is. It looks like the caterpillars of the patch. These caterpillars are quite hairy and have beautiful striking red bristles. Plakkers are moths that belong to the down moth family, just like the nun butterfly and the more famous merian brush. By the way, stickers are also active during the day.
The caterpillars pictured above can grow up to seven inches long. In general, these caterpillars have a gray ground color and a yellowish line drawing. The first five segments usually have two blue dorsal warts and two red ones on the rear six. After the caterpillars are fully grown, they pupate in loose silk, often in bark fissures of a tree. But you can also encounter them under a rock. The name of this butterfly is derived from the fact that the female spins a kind of mat from her own body hair and then sticks it on. She then lays her eggs on this mat.
It has a bright color and it looks like it has suction cups on it, what is this?
Carla de Laat sent me a photo on which you see a beautiful green leaf with a yellow-orange thickening with all kinds of ring-shaped crowns. This thickening occurs because a fungus has attacked the petiole. This fungus is called nettle sedge rust. In the photo you can see the fruiting body of the nettle sedge rust. Most rust fungi live on two different host plants, hence the name for this rust fungus.
Which butterfly am I dealing with?
In the photo above by Pascal van Geel you see a fairly large brown colored butterfly. Pascal wants to know the name of this butterfly. The forewings of this moth look a bit like the bark of a tree. The name of the butterfly is peacock pintail. Peacock pintails, also sometimes called evening peacock eyes, belong to the beautiful moth family of pintails. When disturbed, these butterflies suddenly reveal their hind wings, with two almost eye-like spots on them. Those two so-called eyes only show the peacock pintails when disturbed. They serve as a deterrent. They do this in a special way. They alternately show those eyespots by moving the front wings jerkingly back and forth. Birds, who like to eat insects, are scared and run away. You can observe these moths from the end of April. During the day they usually rest on tree trunks near the food plants, because they are only really active at night.
Waiting for privacy settings…
Robins couple in the breeding biotope
At the end of April, Jozef van der Heijden filmed a pair of Stonechats in their breeding biotope on the Neterselse Heide. A courtship was performed regularly. At one point they were sitting together themselves, and he was able to capture that moment. Both males and females of the Stonechat have an orange breast, but the males are the most noticeable. Females have brown striped upper parts in addition to the orange breast and two white spots on the upper wing. Males also have these, but they also have a white rump, white neck sides and a black head. Males often sit on the tops of heather bushes. Young birds resemble the speckled female, but are lighter brown and well camouflaged. Stonechats can be found on heathland areas, in the dunes, in rough, open swamp areas and in semi-open farmland.
Special moth photographed
Mariëlle van der Steen sent me a very special photo of the butterfly Merian brush. I often get a photo of the caterpillar of the Merian brush sent to me, but never the photo of the adult moth or the image. Both are nocturnal and rest during the day. What makes it even more beautiful is that both the males and the females hardly stand out due to their camouflage. Especially if they are on the host plant – hawthorn, pedunculate oak, birch, blackthorn or fruit trees – of the caterpillar.
Merian brush caterpillars stand out because of their beautiful color outfit, as you can see in the pictures above.
A bush full of web and worms found by grandson (4)
Mrs. Jansen sent me a picture of a web with worms, as she described it. This was discovered by her 4 year old grandson. What it really is is the work of speckled moths. They have woven this web for protection so that birds, for example, cannot eat them. This is a very nice collaboration between the caterpillars of the speckled moths and the shrub. This web can be found on blackthorn, mountain ash, bird cherry and American currant trees. By the way, there is nothing wrong with these shrubs, except that for a while in May and part of June it gives us a strange picture, if you don’t know what this is. What has happened? Butterflies called the spider moth have laid many eggs on these shrubs. The white-yellow caterpillars – with two lanes with black dots, hence the name spot moths – that hatch from the eggs, immediately start eating the leaves of this shrub. The bushes are then completely bare. When all the leaves are gone, the caterpillars will pupate into moths after four to six weeks. The moment this happens, the bushes get beautiful new leaves. So nothing to worry about!
Nature tip
The shepherd and his flock in the Loonse en Drunense Duinen
Saturday, May 28, from half past ten in the morning until half past one in the afternoon, a walk will take place with a shepherd and his sheep through the Loonse en Drunense Duinen. The sheep, the shepherd’s commands and the dogs busily trying to keep it all together: the flock of sheep never gets old! Do you know that this herd is indispensable to keep the Loonse en Drunense Duinen so beautiful? Our 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:
• There are costs associated with this walk, see this link.
• Registration is required and can be done via this link.
• Departure point is; Bosch en Duin at 50 Schoorstraat in Udenhout.
• Wear clothes that suit the weather.
• Always check yourself for ticks afterwards!
• This excursion is aimed at adults. Older children are welcome accompanied by an adult.