Bug Hunt

24 July 2010

27 adults, teenagers and children searched the Community Woodland, looking for bugs, insects and all kinds of creepy crawlies on a warm sunny afternoon; we were guided by John Woolliams and accompanied by one small enthusiastic dog. John began the hunt by capturing a range of crickets in the long grass of the glade: 2 iridescent Roesel's crickets, a grass green speckled bush cricket with a prominent ovipositor like a small tail fin, a brown dark bush cricket and a slim green immature oak bush cricket. All had long antennae and so were easy to distinguish from the green meadow grasshopper with stubby little antennae, found later in the afternoon.

Inspired by such impressive finds, the children then split up to sweep the glade with large butterfly nets, capturing a wide range of species in plastic boxes for John to identify. These included some real bugs: a large brown mirid and smaller green mirid bugs (including the Lucerne mirid bug). John explained that bugs are a more primitive type of insect that, unlike butterflies which undergo a complete metamorphosis from larvae to adult, only experience partial metamorphosis, with each developmental stage growing bigger and bigger. Also found were harvestmen (including leiobunum rotundum), woodlice, earwigs, ladybirds, orange soldier beetles, parasitic ichneumen wasps and gall wasps.

We avoided capturing butterflies, to protect their delicate wings, but spotted a wide range including gatekeepers, meadow browns, ringlets, peacocks, large whites, a blue and a red admiral butterfly. Similarly, bees were treated with some caution, but red tailed and buff tailed bumble bees moved steadily around the wild flower patch, amongst scabious, knapweed and St. John's wort flowers. A large blue dragonfly, probably a southern hawker, was observed in the hazel coppice.

We then moved from the long grass of the glade to dislodge insects from the trees by knocking the branches with sticks and catching anything that might fall on white sheets spread on the grass and nettles below. Round the hazel bushes we found sawfly lavae, hoverflies including a tiger striped hoverfly episyrphus balteatus, froghoppers and a fat round green aphid, its abdomen quartered with black spots. We were very pleased to see a forest bug (a large shield bug with a distinguishing orange spot); these usually favour oak and alder but may be found on other deciduous trees. Inspecting an oak tree, we spotted a xysticus cristatis crab spider: this type of spider holds its two forelegs in a characteristically crab-like position and lies in wait ready to grab its prey. Also seen were the shells of fruit flies, covered with hairy fungus filaments, showing that insects too are very vulnerable to attack. A vigorous shaking dislodged red spider mites from the oak; similar treatment of an elder bush yielded a vapourer moth caterpillar, which feeds on a wide range of deciduous trees and shrubs.

We are, as always, very grateful to John Woolliams for sharing his expertise and leading another enjoyable bug hunt.

Bug Hunt in 2009

2010 news index