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About a week ago I noticed this cluster of tiny eggs on our broccoli plants, which I think must have been laid by a moth - cabbage white butterfly eggs are taller and yellow and look like this.
I've been checking every day to see if they've hatched and yesterday, after a shower of rain ...
.... I got there just in time to catch the last few hatching. As is usually the case with hatching caterpillars they ate the egg shells before they left. In this picture there are just six left unhatched (with the dark centres) which are in the act of chewing their way out of the egg shells.
I'm not particularly keen on eating broccoli anyway (I'm more interested in the insects that feed on it), so will follow their progress as they chomp their way through the foliage. Top left here you can see a newly hatched caterpillar striding off to do just that.............
The coastal flora was particularly beautiful during our stay in Northumberland in early July. These are some of the highlights.
Pyramidal orchids on the sand dunes at Embleton.
Agrimony on the coastal path south of Howick.
Bloody cranesbill (above and below) at Low Newton.
Common mallow on the coastal path between Low Newton and Football Hole.
Hawkweeds and quaking grass at Football Hole
Lady's bedstraw at Low Newton.
Meadow cranesbill growing close to the beach at Howick (typically crowded Northumbrian beach!) and ..
..... just above the high water mark at Low Newton
A magnificent display of ragged robin on the coastal path south of Howick.
Rest harrow at Low Newton.
Sea mayweed at Budle Bay (top) and on the black dolerite boulders at Dunstanburgh.
Sea pink at Cullernose Point (top) and at Dunstanburgh (above).
Silverweed (showing silvery underside leaves) on the shingle at Budle Bay
Wild carrot at Low Newton
White stonecrop and ....
.... yellow stonecrop, both at Budle Bay
I found numerous examples of mummified, dead flies of various species (but mostly dung flies) attached to plant stems in the garden during the early days of July, although the incidence of diseased flies has declined during the current hot weather. They've been killed by the fungus Entomophthora muscae.
The fungus invades the fly's body and slowly weakens it. In the final stages of infection the disease modifies the host's behaviour so that it crawls to an exposed position at the top of a plant stem and then dies. Soon fungal spores erupt from the insect's body, as you can see in the photo above, and the corpse is perfectly positioned to pass on the infection to other flies in the vicinity.
There have been numerous attempts to culture this fungus so that it could be used as a commercial biological insecticide for reducing house fly populations - with limited success.
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