A butterfly haven in an old limestone quarry

This is Ashes quarry, a former limestone quarry near Stanhope in Weardale that is now a wonderful nature reserve. The quarry floor is partially flooded and is a breeding place for dragonflies and damselflies, but this sheltered western end, which is mostly rough grassland and quarry spoil heaps, is always a good spot to look for butterflies.

It was good to see a small colony of wall browns has become established here. This is a butterfly that needs warmth and shelter, so this sun-trap, with its sun-warmed rock, clearly suits it very well.

Wall browns are very skittish insects, never settling for long in one place. This individual alternated between basking on its pile of rocks and feeding on herb robert flowers blooming amongst the stones.

The convenient supply of floral nectar meant that this one was constantly disturbed by rival males that tried to take over its domain. Wall browns are ferociously territorial, so each one of these incursions resulted in an aerial dogfight, as the butterflies spiralled upwards, so close to me that I could hear their wings clashing, before they separated and fluttered back to their respective territories.

Eventually a female arrived and courtsship began, with the pair walking through the grass and the male tapping the female with his antennae. I think the male is the closer of the two in this picture, with some wing edge damage that might have occurred during one of those bruising dogfights with a rival.

Wall brown colonies tend to be small and don't often persist in the same place for long, but this quarry site is sheltered and warm, with plenty of the caterpillar food plants (grasses), so it might last for a few years.

The warm piles of stones in the quarry are also excellent habitat for sun-basking common darter dragonflies ....

..... chirruping field grasshoppers Chorthippus brunneus

..... and this devil's coach-horse Ocypus olens. This beetle (more pics here) isn't often seen out and about in bright sunlight - it's more often seen in twilight.

Cold-Blooded and Spineless

Last Friday saw the launch of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Cold-Blooded and Spineless project. Over the next five years it will train volunteers and local wildlife groups to identify and map the distribution of invertebrate animals in the AONB, as well as working with schools and artists to encourage them to appreciate and celebrate the wealth of  smaller elements in the wildlife of the region.

You can read much more about the project at http://www.northpennines.org.uk/Pages/Cold-bloodedandSpineless.aspx

After the various presentations at the launch, held at the Environmental Centre at Harehope Quarry near Frosterley in Weardale, we went on a short bug hunt. Predictably, there weren't many flying insects about in mid-March, although someone did catch this male mosquito with rather magnificent antennae.

But when we started turning over stones it was a different story.

Lots of ants

A common pygmy woodlouse Trichoniscus pusillus

I think this one is a young specimen of the common shiny woodlouse Oniscus asellus

Lots of black snake millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

More millipedes, that I've yet to identify

Two very small snails, awaiting identification

Several species of springtail. In the picture above, showing the underside, you can see the forked furca folded under the tail, that it uses like a pole-vaulter's pole to catapult itself into the air.

Click here for more about springtails

A very fine devil's coach horse, with a formidable pair of needle-sharp jaws

Click here for more about devil's coach horses

Numerous ground beetles, including ....

..... this one that played possum when it was turned onto its back, and ... 

.... this one, that was carrying a hitch-hiker on its back, which ...

... looks like it might be a very small tick.

I haven't had time to ID these properly yet, but am posting them now so that those who found them can download the pictures.

It's amazing what you can find if a dozen people spend half an hour turning over stones, even if it is a cold March afternoon!

If you'd like to know more about the Cold-blooded and Spineless project, or would like to become involved, contact samantha@northpenninesaonb.org.uk 

A late night cock-tail in the living room

Caught this devil's coach horse beetle galloping across our living room carpet late last night. 

As befits a carnivore it has a formidable set of jaws.

Devil's coach horses are the largest of the staphylinid beetles in Britain, which as a group have wings that are intricately folded under very small wing cases (elytra). But their most distinctive feature is only revealed when you do something to threaten them .....

......... when they raise their abdominal segments in a threat display that's reminiscent of a scorpion.In older books they were often referred to as 'cock-tails'. Totally harmless, though.

Devil's coach horse

This devil's coach horse beetle Ocypus olens crossed out path when we were walking along the promenade from Tynemouth to North Shields this lunchtime. These are usually most active after dark, when they hunt slugs and other small insects, so it's quite unusual to see one out and about at mid-day in bright sunshine.

Devil's coach horses are staphylinid beetles (commonly known as rove beetles), which characteristically have very short wing covers (elytra). 

This is one of the largest British staphylinids but the smaller ones (some only a millimetre or two long) fly very well; I'm not sure if devil's coach horses do fly, but if they do it would be something to see.......... the old engraving below suggests that they can get airborne... 

They do have characteristic and quite intimidating defensive behaviour, cocking up that long tail and opening their needle-sharp jaws. This one didn't oblige, despite being poked, but there are quite a few movies of this defensive behaviour posted on YouTube - this is a good one...