wildlife
Giant Vampire Cricket Bites Man
Sitting up late chatting with an old friend last week I saw a gigantic locust-like insect climbing up the kitchen wall. It was bright shiny green, about 10cm long and heading for the breakfast cereals. We decided it belonged outdoors so I put one hand over it and cupped it with the other and walked towards the door with the giant green cricket safely trapped. Then it bit me, so I dropped it with the shock. I wasn’t expecting a harmless cricket to bite, although this was like no cricket I’d ever seen before. Gigantic, enormous and brightly coloured it looked like a tropical specimen or else some new form of hybrid mutant vampire cricket. We escorted it to the outdoor world eventually but it did try to get back in again once or twice.
To help with identification, here’s a picture of the giant green cricket before it bit me.
giant bush cricket
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- giant bush cricket
The location is near St Agnes, Cornwall, UK
Great Green Bush Cricket
Thanks to Barbol on Flickr in Zaragoza, Spain, the monster bug can be confirmed as Tettigonia viridissima, or the Great Green Bush Cricket. Apparently female, too.
These insects inhabit most of Europe, including the South of England , as well as North Africa and the Middle East. One of the largest crickets, the Great Green Bush Cricket reaches a size of 30-40mm, with males generally being smaller than the females. As the name suggests, the Great Green Bush-cricket is brightly coloured shiny green. One characteristic that helps to distinguish crickets from locusts is the length of the tentacles that start at the head and grow back, reaching almost the length of the body, as opposed to locusts that have short tentacles. Some cricket species can grow tentacles up to three times the length of the body. Both males and females have wings.
Carnivorous.
Wild Badgers to be Culled in England
There will be a wild badger cull in England.
The new Conservative Liberal coalition government has said the vaccination programme isn’t enough so badgers in TB hotspots will be killed.
Culling badgers to control Bovine TB in dairy cattle is controversial with many farmers facing increased incidence of TB reactors in cattle supporting a cull, and wildlife conservationists pointing out that culling badgers is not effective anyway.
New DEFRA farm minister Jim Paice, Conservative MP for South East Cambridgeshire has confirmed that badgers will be culled in England to combat bovine tuberculosis in cattle. A targeted cull of badgers will take place once the right “hot spot” locations have been identified.
The Badger Trust opposes culling, which they say would be in reality an unselected slaughter. The badger is one of Britain’s best loved and iconic animals and as such is part of our National Heritage. They are a poignant symbol of the British countryside and a protected species.
On culling badgers, Trust chairman Dave Williams says “The overwhelming scientific evidence and research shows that it is not the way to control bovine TB It has been tried for many years in one form or another, and it has never worked.”
Badger
Creative Commons Badger photo by Andreas-photography
Ram
Ram , originally uploaded by gil thorp princess.
I think this handsome ram is at Boulder city farm.
Urban Fox Takes The Tube
This Urban fox was captured coming up the escalator from the tube in London.
by Kate (@radiokate on twitter) via Steve Lawson
Arriving at my home tube station late last night I was greeted by this fantastic/unexpected sight!
Building a log pile
I started building a small log pile a couple of years ago in order to add to the environmental diversity in my back garden. There were only a few pieces of wood though, left over from some grubbing out and thinning. Then there was the incident with the dangerously overgrown eucalyptus tree which had to be taken down or severely pollarded. When the tree surgeons came to do the job I told them to leave me the logs, so this is what I had as my raw material to build my substantial log pile with.
The rest of this story can be told largely in pictures, I think. Unless there are any questions.
How to make a log pile wildlife habitat
How to make a log pile habitat for wildlife
Take the worry out of disposing of those bulky cuttings and create a home for wildlife. Log piles are a valuable habitat for mosses, lichens and fungi, as well as many insects.
Leave woody cuttings from trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in piles within a shrub bed.
It is best to not cut the wood into small pieces. Leave it in direct contact with the ground, in dappled shade and in compact piles to maintain humidity. Larger diameter pieces are of most value, but even small twigs and branches should not be discounted, and neither should the cut stems of herbaceous plants.
Full sun will dry and heat the wood and it will support little life. Dense shade is good for fungi, but may be too cold for most insects.
Add to your decaying wood, using wood from friends and neighbours. A local tree surgeon may also be able to supply you with some logs. Avoid taking logs from woods and hedges as you will be removing the resource from its natural environment, along with any associated flora or fauna.
Logs at least 100mm thick (4 ins) with the bark still attached provide the best wood. Hard wood trees such as ash, oak and beech are particularly good. Birch logs can look particularly attractive. Be careful of freshly cut willow and poplar logs, as these can easily re-sprout if left lying on the ground.
Allowing a climber to ramble over woodpiles, logs and stumps can cover them and help retain moisture. However, the shade may make it too cold for some insects.
Alternatively, use an old 15 litre (3 gallon) bucket. Drill some drainage holes in the bottom and cut lots of holes (30mm or 1.25 ins) in the side of the bucket at 50mm (2ins) spacing. Put some large stones in the bottom and then quarter fill the bucket with garden soil and top with course hardwood chips. Completely bury the bucket in a discrete corner of the garden.
Lay a stack of logs laid on their side. To prevent them rolling, drive a stake into the ground either side of the pile.
You can create standing dead wood by partially burying logs vertically in the ground to an approximate depth of 450 to 500mm (18 to 20 ins). Use logs of different diameters and length and bury them side-by-side to form a pyramid. If space is a limitation, a single log either buried in the soil or on top is still of value.
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2009/11/07/building-a-log-pile
Rowan Tree Folk Song
The Rowan Tree
The little wild rowan tree (sorbus aucuparia) in my front garden is looking great at this time of year, although half the berries are gone already thanks to hungry blackbirds. I planted it there about ten years ago, and it’s taken its time to grow upwards in the shadow of a great big sycamore, but in the last two years it has managed to get itself firmly established and is turning into a mature specimen tree. I was told that its not uncommon for people in Scotland to plant rowan trees in front of houses, partly from sentimental attachment to the wild Scottish countryside, and also to help keep the witches away. I didn’t know anything about that at the time, but it does seem to have worked.
Rowan Tree Song
So I wrote my song about the rowan tree, whilst I was in Scotland as it happens, and then worked on the music and finishing off back home. Motivated by the approach of Halloween, which tends to get celebrated at Havering Folk Club, I’ve tried it out twice now, once at the regular Tuesday Evening 7.00pm webcast and once at the folk club last night, where it was encouragingly well received. There’s no video from the session last night, but the early prototype from the webcast is embedded below, followed by some form of the lyrics. Sometimes called the mountain ash, this is a native rowan tree, not a cultivar, and the berries glow a light red colour in the autumn sunlight, making for welcome food for blackbirds and thrushes, although they always leave the more difficult bunches at the end of delicate branches until last, due to the danger of falling off.
Lyrics of The Rowan Tree
Lyrics to “The Rowan Tree”, a folk song by Andy Roberts
Come hear my story, it’s a tale of four witches
but I could have added three more
And heed my advice if you’re troubled by witches
Just plant a Rowan tree outside your front doorAnd the branches sway in the faintest of breezes
the berries are red bright and fair.
And I’ve not had much trouble with those witchee witches
Not since I planted my Rowan tree thereWell the Witch of the West was cunning and sly
She had me always on the run
And I never knew which way her nose was pointing
Not until after she’d been there and gone.And the branch tips dance…. planted my Rowan tree there
The Witch of the East was just counting the years
and somehow that three became five.
Then her time was up and she vanished away
Now nobody knows if she’s dead or alive.And the branches sway…. planted my Rowan tree there
The Witch of the South was trouble from the start
Her fancy was playing with fire
The anger rose up as the coals glowed white
and the smoke billowed higher and higherAnd the branches sway…. planted my Rowan tree there
The Witch of the North is not like the rest
She uses her powers for good
As the Rowan tree watches and nods in approval
and keeps us both safe from the dark witchee woodAnd the branches sway…. planted my Rowan tree there
So that was my story the tale of four witches
I could have mentioned three more
Now heed my advice if you’re troubled by witches
Just plant a rowan tree outside your front doorAnd the branch tips dance in the faintest of breezes
The berries are red, bright and fair.
I’ve not had much trouble with those witchee witches
Not since I planted my rowan tree there.
Rowan Tree Berries
The Rowan Tree – Live
Updated with Higher quality video:
Here’s a version of the Rowan Tree performed live by Andy Roberts at the Halloween party, Havering Folk Club 2009
What’s this bug?
, originally uploaded by whiskymac.
Any idea what’s this bug might be?
It looks kind of prehistoric but it’s probably just tiny.
Green Eggs
Green Eggs, but no Ham
I still haven’t found out what these green eggs are, carefully laid out on a yellow iris leaf, like snooker balls in a frame.
If you look close up on the original picture at maximum size I think it’s possible to make out a circle of little hooks on each egg, like velcro presumably to help them stick to the leaf.
Missing Panamanian Golden Frog
Thanks for reading Andy Roberts articles about wildlife on Darnet
Andy Roberts is a writer who initiated DARnet. Catch me on 
