Friends of Bowland Wildlife Wander 15/07/19

Went along to a wildlife wander held by the Friends of Bowland. The walk started and finished at Dalehead Chapel and took in a visit to Bottom Laithe, a damp meadow with several interesting  plant and insect species.

Fly attacked by fungus

Found this poor fly attached to a leaf stem in the garden, I looked up what was the cause and its probably infected with the fungus Entomophthora muscae and releasing spores that will infect other flies. It devours the flies body fluids over the course of a week before hijacking its brain and making it climb to a perch where its own drool is used to attach it (I assume mine has swung round in the breeze) to a stem. The zombie apocalypse begins.

Fly infected by fungus

Dock Beetle

I love looking for these lovely shiny beetles in summer. The raggedy holes on dock leaves are a giveaway, turn the leaves over and you will find the black larvae that have done the damage and possibly clumps of yellow eggs. The actual beetles are green with a golden sheen and the females abdomens become hugely distended when they are ready to lay their eggs.

Female Gastrophysa viridula

Gastrophysa viridula larva

Gastrophysa viridula Eggs

Ingleborough Archaeology Group Walk

Had a wander around the Ingleton Nature reserve looking at some of the features in a leaflet by the Ingleton Archaeology Group. The path above Southerscales gives a really good view of the village and its now thought it could be up to 1,100 years old. The Neolithic Long Cairn would have housed burials 6,000 years ago, though the rubble on top shows its been dug into probably in the 19th century.

Southerscales Deserted Medieval Village

Limestone pavement below Ingleborough

Barrie stood on Neolithic Long Cairn.

Romano -British settlement, possibly prehistoric.

Not sure if these are intentionally erected or just natural.

Autumns here and I am trying to appreciate it although all I can really think is winter is coming. Its not helped by having a bad cold for over a week and having hurt my back sneezing. We have had a couple of frosts this week so I have had to harvest the Uchiki Kiri squashes which make a delicious soup with leeks and onions. The first fire of the year has had to be lit usually we wait till October. There is still plenty of colour in the garden and on a sunny afternoon, plenty of butterflies and ladybirds although a lot seem to be Harlequins. Yesterday  I saw crows mobbing a bird above Slaidburn and they sounded pretty wound up, looked up and it was a Red Kite with really distinctive black wing tips and a deeply forked tail. The Medlar seems a bit confused about the seasons, flowering and fruiting at the same time. I think the cat has the best idea, stay in bed and forget about the weather.

Caterpillars and wasps

We seem to have had an invasion of butterflies recently particularly Large Whites and Small Whites and now they are munching their way through my nasturtiums which to be honest I sow to distract them from my vegetable plot, although the deer and voles have mainly eaten everything there apart from the courgettes, which Barrie says proves courgettes are inedible.

Large White and Small White Caterpillars

Tree Wasp and Greenbottle

Growing Sweet Potatoes

I never had sweet potatoes until recently and when I found out how delicious they were in soups and roasted with other veg, I naturally wanted to grow some. Then I looked in the plant catalogues for plants and like my Dad before me on seeing what to me were ridiculous prices shrieked how much and decided to see if I could do it myself, ie grow plants from the tubers for sale in the shops to eat.

My first attempts in early spring, at just cutting in half and suspending in jars of water using toothpicks rotted off. I then tried in bags of compost, again just rotted off. Then I read that the tubers sold in shops are treated with an inhibitor to stop them sprouting. So I then gave them a good scrub, and again suspended in jars of water and this time they sprouted. I'm not sure if its the scrubbing or the exceptional weather but one half at least has put out a lot of growth. I have now put them into pots of compost.

I think I will attempt to seperate the shoots from the tubers and overwinter as house plants.