What is Patton's Tiger?

I have been immersed in natural history since I was 18 and started work at the (then) Wildfowl Trust at Arundel. I met, worked and lived with some brilliant naturalists and a lifetime's obsession was born.
Birding was followed by mothing and the height of 'achievement' was obtained when a moth was given the above vernacular name in recognition of the fact that I trapped the first British record.

Thursday 19 February 2015

Take a Beating!

I've continued to thrash unsuspecting evergreen trees and bushes in search of overwintering insects. Yew seems to have given up all it's surprises now so I've been looking out for other species to attack. Ivy is supposed to host a lace bug but I haven't found it as yet. However, tapping some Ilex near Mogador in Surrey did produce a rather lovely Box Bug.


I was so busy looking for tiny things on the net, I overlooked the bug for a while!

After leaving the recent Weevil Workshop at Dinton Pastures CP, I stopped off at Wellingtonia Avenue on the way home. Tapping some of the lower branches of the species from which the road gets its name, a Heather Ladybird appeared along with a couple of picture-winged flies, which key out to be Tephritis conura.


Targetted searches save time and the Eleagnus in my mother's garden had the expected psyllid Cacopsylla fulguralis.




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