Globe flower and meadow saxifrage

 Teesdale is a favourite destination for botanists in spring, principally because it is home to the stunning blue flowers of spring gentian Gentiana verna, which is usually at its best in the first two weeks of May. But the dale is full of botanical treasures, including the beautiful globe flower Trollius europaeus (below). Last week we found it in a place where we've never seen it before, on the bank of the river Tees downstream from Egglestone abbey bridge.

This has also been a wonderful late spring for meadow saxifrage Saxifraga granulosa (below). While not nationally rare, it is a declining species. We found one meadow absolutely full of its elegant white flowers, which remind me of the finest porcelain. Meadow saxifrage reproduces by seed and also by tiny vegetative buds called bulbils, at the base of the leaves. I suspect that one of the reasons why the plant sometimes reaches high densities in meadows is that the bulbils are transported and dispersed on mud on the hooves of livestock, that traditionally graze the 'aftermath' in hay meadows after the hay has been cut. 

A fraught wolf spider courtship

  A pair of wolf spiders courting in the garden, with the male (in the foreground) frantically signalling his amorous intentions to her with his palps, moving closer a millimetre at a time. She is ultra-aggressive and lunges at him, so he dashes for safety. During a long, hot afternoon they repeat the performance many times, but I never witness a successful mating. But it happens, because .....

..... a few days later, here is a female wolf spider basking in the sunshine on a rock, carrying a silken cocoon of eggs under the tip of her abdomen.

Ladybird defenders of my blackcurrant crop

 Every year in late spring the blackcurrant bushes in my garden are plagued by aphids that multiply unnoticed under the leaves, until they began to curl. That's usually the time that ladybirds, those useful aphid predators, begin to congregate on the bushes. It's probably the ladybird larvae that are the most effective predators, rather than the adults, so it will be a while before they appear, but these three ladybird species were feeding on the bushes yesterday. They are all very small, about half the size of the most common, most familiar 6-spot species.

2-spot ladybird

10-spot ladybird

14-spot ladybird