Last week, more of the path-side vegetation was tidied up with some of the Oxeye Daisies being removed. The session on Sunday 18th also had time to look at a few of the minibeasts that were uncovered. There were the tracks of leaf mining grubs in a Sow-thistle leaf; the grubs, most probably those of one of the common flies that feed this way, eat the leaf tissue between the upper and lower surfaces as they advance and grow and leave this characteristic trail. After pupation they emerge as an adult, one of the very many tiny flies that could well be part of the food for one of the Pipistrelle bats that hawk along the edge of Crow Wood. Not surprisingly, some woodlice were also uncovered, bu
We had quite a bonanza of late flowering alongside the path where we sowed seeds back in May of this year. A visit in late August when the border was in full sun and sheltered from a brisk west wind showed that it was a magnet for a wide range of insects. The majority of the flowers in bloom were Corn Marigold, with some white Scentless Mayweed and occasional Cornflower and Poppy. Behind, in the grass dominated area sown by the cub group in 2015, biennial Wild Carrot were also coming into flower. Flowers of the daisy family have abundant pollen but rather less nectar, so though there were occasional bumblebees, they were few in number as they do not usually visit the open daisy type of flo
