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Earlier in May I visited Rainham Marshes with Tristan and Malin. This was my second visit to the marshes after previously visiting in March. We were fortunate to have a lovely sunny day and saw plenty of insects.

Rainham Marshes is nature reserve managed by the RSPB. It is located to the east of London and is fairly easy to travel to on the train (the nearest station is Purfleet, about 10 minutes walk away).

Rainham Marshes

We mainly were hunting for insects, although we did see some interesting vertebrates too:

Water Vole, Arvicola amphibius

Marsh frog, Pelophylax ridibundus

It was my first time hearing the marsh frogs and I thought it was quite nice to hear them, although they were very loud!

The invertebrate highlights included seeing my first lace bug (Hemiptera: Tingidae), bishop’s mitre (Aelia acuminata), woundwort shieldbug (Eysarcorus venustissimus), a cream-spot ladybird and a pair of Larinioides cornutus having what looked like a violent mating ritual.

Deadly embrace - Larinioides cornutus

Cream-spot ladybird, Calvia 14-guttata

Bishop's mitre, Aelia acuminata

I am still investigating the different ways to take microscopic images and have some images and a different system to show you. Previously I had been looking at microscopes which came with a USB attachment such as the Summit Microfix Digital Microscope. I first read about it in a Phasmid Study Group newsletter and the author, Tracy Dove, has kindly given me permission to use some of her images.

Eurycantha calcarata egg taken by Summit Microfix Digital Microscope © Tracy Dove

Peruphasma schulteii head taken by Summit Microfix Digital Microscope © Tracy Dove

Peruphasma schulteii eye taken by Summit Microfix Digital Microscope © Tracy Dove

These images were taken by hand, without a stand and without depth stacking. I think they are pretty good for a device which costs less than £40! The microscope does not come with a stand which would allow you to take images suitable for depth stacking, but it would probably be easy to make one.

The other system I found was ScopeTronix’ MaxView Plus, which allows you to use a digital camera with a variety of optical devices if they have the supported fittings. Whilst fairly costly at ~$300, the kit comes with multiple attachments, and ScopeTronix have a range of fittings for digital cameras. If you knew exactly which microscope adaptor you required, I think you could get it for a lot less than $300!

I have had a busy past few days. I went insect hunting on Saturday and Sunday, spent a day taking cicada photos at the museum on Monday and had my MSc graduation ceremony on Wednesday.

On Saturday I met with Tristan to explore Rainham Marshes. This was the second time I had visited the marshes and unsurprisingly, they were much more lively than they were in March. I will write another post to cover what we saw at the marshes.

I spent Sunday at Imperial College’s Silwood Park campus with Malin and saw lots of hoverflies that I am yet to identify. We picked some nettles (Urtica dioica) to make nettle soup which was very tasty. We used a recipe from ‘Seaweed and Eat it: A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure‘ by Fiona Houston and Xa Milne. I have not read any other wild food books for comparison, but it seems a reasonable book with anecdotes, history and folklore. We hope to try one of the seaweed recipes soon.

Finally, I wish to share a wonderful tool that Alan Phillips introduced me to: Grab a Grid Reference by Keith Balmer. If you do recording and need a quick site to look up grid references then this is the tool for you! It is easy to use and is much better than any other sites I have used (including the OS site). Thanks Alan!

Whilst most of the specimens I photograph are over 5mm long, I am finding that anything smaller does not have enough detail when I use my macro lens. My subjects are small insects in the field and small parts of (sometimes small) museum specimens. I am fairly certain that extension tubes will do the job for the leafhopper-sized insects and probably Collembola, but my museum work seems to be heading towards getting a digital microscope.

My supervisor and I have been looking at reasonably priced attachments and whole systems, but have yet to come close to reaching a decision. Unexpectedly, there was an article in The Phasmid Study Group newsletter (which arrived today along with the British Dragonfly Society newsletter and journal) about a cheap USB microscope. The model featured was a Summit Microfix Digital USB Microscope which can be purchased for <£50 on Amazon.

Although it is hard to see exactly how good the images produced by the microscope are, I can make out stick insect individual ocelli and fine hairs on the antennae. Whilst I think the image quality looks good enough, I am uncertain how easy it would be to increase the limited depth of field by “stacking” multiple images. From the photos of the microscope, it does not look like it comes with a stand. Amazon reviews of other microscopes made by what looks like the same company are not entirely favourable, with some potential driver issues for Mac and some XP users.

I will try and contact the author to see if it would be easy to attempt depth stacking and to have a look at her images in more detail.

My April holidays have ended and I am back at work. I spent a lot of time in the garden, digging vegetable beds and constructing some pallet-based compost bins.

Whilst last week was fairly rainy, the previous week had some nice sunny days so there was plenty of insect activity. I have seen much more insect variety, with various flies, butterflies and bees on the wing.

The holidays seem to use my time faster than when I am working so I will just post some spring insect photos for now:

Anthophora plumipes (male).

A leafhopper, Euscelis incisus.

A lateral fly shot, probably a bluebottle.

I recently purchased MapMate, a biological recording program for natural history in the UK. Whilst you can record a range of organisms using MapMate, I intend to use it primarily for recording insects.

The distributions of British records are now often given using both the traditional Watsonian vice-county divisions and a government agency (Ordnance Survey) grid reference system (both are shown below). In MapMate you specify both in the record for a particular site.

British mapping systems: Watsonian vice-counties (left) and grid reference (right). These images are adapted from the Biological Records Centre online resources.

The grid reference squares are 100km² and represented by two letters. To describe smaller areas in these squares, successive figures are given after the letters, one for each axis. Each pair of figures refers to an area that is ten times smaller than the last, so two figures would refer to a 10km² area and six figures would refer to a 100m² area.

Six-figure grid references are the smallest generally acceptable area to have in a recording but are what I’m finding the most problematic and time consuming. After getting used to other online map services, such as Google Maps/Earth and the Flickr map, using our Ordnance Survey site is an irritating experience that makes me feel that they prefer you to buy paper maps: it only displays a 1km² grid, doesn’t always display the x and y axis coordinates, and has a small map (400×400 pixel) display which is sluggish to move around.

I am still thinking about what the easiest way work out six-figure grid references is. I think I may resort to paper maps with a transparent overlay. If anyone has got an easier way, please let me know! I want a system that will be usable for areas that greater than 1km², like country parks.

Left, unidentified 'toe biter' (Belostomatidae); Middle, Laccotrephes sp. (Nepidae) collected in Arabia; Right, Nepa cinerea (Nepidae) a British specimen. © The Natural History Museum

As you can see, the Belostomatid dwarfs them both! My supervisor tells me that the biggest Hemiptera are the Belostomatidae and some Pomponia cicada species. Our water scorpion is a relatively small member of the Nepidae, but the unidentified Arabian specimen looks remarkably similar.  I chose Laccotrephes sp. because it is part of the accessions, a veritable treasure trove of unidentified speciemens, and because it has nice patterns on the limbs.

Whilst looking for specimens to photograph, I noticed that the majority of siphons (the abodominal air tubes) of the Nepidae had separated into their two component tubes.

A few weekends ago I visited Wicken Fen, the UK’s oldest nature reserve. Since it was first bought in 1899 by the National Trust, the area of the reserve has increased from 0.008km² (2 acres) to 7.7km², and the trust plans to buy more of the surrounding land to enlarge it further.

Wicken Fen

The habitat of the reserve is a remnant of the formerly vast Cambridgeshire fenlands, land which is now used almost entirely (99.9%) for farming. The fen has long been a place of interest for entomologists, and continues to be so: as well as being species rich, the British Dragonfly Society will be opening a dragonfly center at the fen later in the year.

Even though I visited early in the year, the weather was nice and sunny, and I saw many insect species for the first time. On the start of our walk my girlfriend found a prowling water scorpion, Nepa cinerea, which was an exciting first Heteropteran bug of the year! This was also my first proper opportunity to use my new macro lens, and although I am still learning many basics, I was happy with most of the photos I took.

Water scoprion, Nepa cinerea

Some other firsts for me was seeing a slender groundhopper, Tetrix subulata, and a 24-spot ladybird, Subcoccinella 24-punctata. Whilst my girlfriend is (fortunately) fond of insects, she was particularly excited to see a common lizard, Zootoca vivipara, basking in the sun.

Common lizard, Zootoca vivipara

On the way back I saw many mining bees, Andrena clarkella, digging their burrows around an oak tree.

Mining bee, Adrena clarkella

I am hoping to visit Wicken Fen again soon, perhaps during my next holiday.

My Orgyia antiqua eggs hatched over the weekend.

Orgyia antiqua caterpillars

Just before I went to sleep on Saturday night, I noticed that 16 of the eggs had hatched. By Sunday morning many more had hatched (~40), and by the evening the majority had hatched. I intend on counting the number of eggs in the batch and calculating the hatch rate later in the week.

An Orgyia antiqua caterpillar, about 2.5mm long.

After an introduction to Vincent Holt’s ‘Why Not Eat Insects?‘, I thought I would share some recipes from the book. Before I do, I hope you enjoy a quotation about the delights of eating insects from the author:

Does not the sweet scent of our cooked bodies tempt you? Fry us with butter, we are delicious. Boil us, grill us, stew us; we are good all ways!

I have adapted these recipes slightly to make them into instructional lists with steps. In the book they are interdispersed and written in continous prose.

Whilst the book touches on the subject, as with any wild food, you should consider the source so the food is free from unwanted contaminants. Collecting along a busy road, a path frequented by many dogs, or a sewage outlet is unwise. I am not recommending that anyone tries these recipes, although after trying them I shall report back. The woodlouse sauce is the one I will probably try first.

Fried Grasshoppers
Catch some large grasshoppers of an abundant species (Chorthippus brunneus would probably be good)
Remove the heads, legs and wings
Sprinkle the bodies with salt, peper and chopped parsley
Fry in butter then sprinkle with vinegar

Dressed Snails*
Boil the snails for 15 minutes
Remove the boiled snails from their shells then clean them thoroughly
Boil the cleaned, shelless snails for a further 15 minutes
Rinse and dry the snails, then fry gently in butter until golden brown

Woodlouse Sauce
Collect a quantity of the finest wood-lice to be found
Place the woodlice in boiling water
In a separate pan, melt ~100g (1/4 lb) of butter
To the melted butter, add: a teaspoon (6mL) of flour, small glass of water, a little milk and some salt and pepper
Cook the butter-based sauce until thick, the add the boiled woodlice

This sauce is supposed to go well with fish…

* Note: The author recommends keeping a simple snail enclosure, allowing you to control the vegetation they eat and preventing them from eating unsavoury plants, or plants poisonous to humans.

Reference:
Holt, V.M. (2007) WHY NOT EAT INSECTS? Whitstable, Pryor Publications Whitstable and Walsall.
Note: The original was book was published in 1885. The version I have is a fascimile.