The Grey Dagger and Dark Dagger moths

Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi) by M. Virtala

The Dark Dagger and Grey Dagger

The Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi) and Dark Dagger (A. tridens) are two British moths that look almost identical as adults but very different as caterpillars. Both moths have curious black dagger markings on their fore-wings, hence their name.

The Grey and Dark Dagger moths are also found throughout Europe, the Near East and many parts of Asia. They are in the Noctuidae, a very large family of moths that are also known as "Noctuids", "Owlets" and "Millers." Many species look very similar and there is often confusion in identifying them.

Strangely the Dark Dagger is often the paler in colour than the Grey Dagger. But the real natural mystery is why the two moths look so alike and yet their larvae are so different?

The Grey Dagger

The Grey Dagger is thought to be the commoner of the two species but this is not certain due to the confusion with identification of the adult insects. The only way of determining which moth is which is by examination of the genitalia by an expert on moths.

The Grey Dagger's fore-wings are a pale to a blackish grey and the dagger-like markings are also thought to resemble the Greek letterpsi ψ and this is how it was given its scientific species name. The hind-wings are a dirty grey but generally not as pale and as white as those of the male of the Dark Dagger. The wingspan is 34-45 mm. The adult moth feeds on nectar.

The Grey Dagger flies in June and overwinters in the pupa stage in a fairly flimsy cocoon that is spun under loose bark. The caterpillars usually feed on Hawthorn but also can eat, Blackthorn, Plum, Pear, Apple, Sallow and Birch. It has also been reported feeding on Pyracantha and is often found in gardens with fruit trees and ornamental shrubs.

It is a pretty creature with a bright yellow line down its back, black-edged red spots along each side and a raised hump on ring four of its body. It is far more colourful than the rather dowdy adult moth although the adult's black dagger markings add to its charm.

Grey Dagger caterpillar in Public Domain

The Dark Dagger

The Dark Dagger moth is found in England and Wales, and though present in Scotland and Ireland is thought to be not at all common in either. It is also distributed throughout Europe from Fennoscandia to the Balkans and down into Italy and Turkey. The species is found as well in Russia and as far over as China, Korea and into Japan.

Dark Dagger by M. Virtala

The Dark Dagger flies in June and July, and in captivity a second brood in October is sometimes produced. The caterpillar of the Dark Dagger feeds from August to October and is found on Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Rowan, Buckthorn, Plum, Pear, Apple, Birch and Sallow.

It does not have such a high hump as the related Grey Dagger's caterpillar, nor does it have a bold yellow line down its back. The larva of the Dark Dagger is black with a broad reddish stripe along it back in the middle and one other on each side. The middle stripe is interrupted with white and has a small black hump on the fourth ring and another broader one on the eleventh. The caterpillar, like that of the Grey Dagger has numerous hairs sprouting from its body as well.

Dark Dagger caterpillar by Lilly M

Like the Grey Dagger it overwinters as a pupa in a silken cocoon that it spins under loose bark. It is reported that it can sometimes spend two winters in this stage.

The Dagger Moths are well worth looking out for although you are more likely to see the colourful caterpillars.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Concert for Ocean Aid is an idea

Plastic rubbish on a beach

An idea based on Live Aid and Band Aid

I don't know about you but the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the appalling way the clean-up and stopping of the leak was handled really depressed me. I still cannot stop thinking about all the billions of sea birds, turtles, dolphins, fish and other marine creatures that will have lost their lives because of this tragedy, and the damage to the coast and marshland, as well as to the livelihoods of people who live in the States affected, is immeasurable.

Besides the ongoing ecological disaster, there is the very serious danger being caused by marine pollution by plastic. David de Rothschild sailed across the Pacific Ocean on 2009 on a catamaran made entirely from used plastic bottles and called the Plastiki. One of the main purposes of his expedition was to raise awareness of the pollution of the oceans by plastic waste.

All over the world people who are disgusted by what has happened to our seas are saying something must be done. I have been thinking deeply about it all and have come up with an idea based around the success in the past of the Band Aid charity single and the more recent Live Aid rock and pop concerts.

Ocean Aid the concert

The original idea for Band Aid had been hatched by Sir Bob Geldof, who with the help of Midge Ure, had assembled a collection of pop and rock singers to lend their talents to a charity single entitled Do They Know It's Christmas? It was recorded and released under the collective name of Band Aid.

Bob Geldof

It swiftly became a number one single. Singers involved included Bono from U2, Boy George, George Michael, Bananarama and Paul Young.

From this in 1985, Live Aid followed on and in 2005 there was Live 8. These massive charity concerts featured appearances by a host of internationally famous pop and rock stars and were screened worldwide so were seen by billions of people.

If such events could be organised to help benefit the starving and poor people of the world then why not a similar effort being made to raise awareness about the dangers to our oceans and to raise funds for their protection?

As to where the money raised would go that would have to be worked out. There are activist groups like Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd that work on marine environmental campaigns but there are many more organisations that are concerned with keeping the oceans as they should be. Perhaps a new one could be set up inspired by the growing need for something to be done to protect the oceans and their ecosystems?

It is not just plastic pollution and the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is killing marine life. Overfishing, bottom trawling and over-acidification of the seas are all wreaking havoc too. Because the water is becoming too acid coral reefs are disappearing and along with them go the complicated and very beautiful ecosystems of life that depend on them.

Anyway, having come up with the idea I did a bit of "Googling" to see if the term Ocean Aid was already being used. I was very pleased to find that a team of people have thought like me and that Ocean Aid 2010 had already been organised.

That doesn't stop a much bigger global event or series of concerts at stadium-sized venues to also happen though. An Ocean Aid single could be written, recorded and released and possibly to be followed by an album of songs written specially for it. The concert or concert series could all be recorded both as sound recordings and as visual footage that could be broadcast on worldwide TV and sold later as DVD releases.

Then there would be Ocean Aid merchandising. The possibilities are endless.

I am sure very many stars from the world of pop and rock music would be only too glad to be involved in this. Film stars and other celebrities could appear on stage at the concerts too as special guests.

It would of course be a lot of work organising all this that I have outlined here, but it has all been done before and to great success. I am presenting here the seed of the idea.

What is needed now is Sir Bob or someone else with the celebrity status and power to make this happen! Now are we going to make this happen? Who can help?

Ocean Aid links

·        Marine pollution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

·        David de Rothschild's supporters and fans on Facebook
Facebook site for David de Rothschild's supporters and fans

·        The Plastiki Expedition
The Plastiki, a boat made from 12,500 Plastic bottles, sailing from San Francisco to Sydney on a mission to showcase waste as a resource and highlight plastic pollution.

How do spiders build their webs?

Garden Spider in web

So how do spiders do it?

I have been studying nature all my life and am still totally amazed by spiders. I am astounded by what they do. Their webs are a miracle I am sure you will agree?

There is a Garden Spider female with a web hanging over my balcony and I have wondered how she created it. The balcony is around 14 ft wide, and I know that having measured it, but somehow the spider has lines to both walls and another to the ceiling, as well as one to the balcony railings.

She is suspended in space with at least 6 ft between the one wall and the centre of her web. There is something like a 40 ft drop below into a car-park.

To weave a web

Apparently the spider puts out a line of silk that may be carried by the breeze to a nearby wall, trunk, twig, leaf or other solid surface. As soon as it hits the spider senses this and runs down it as well as creating another thread to make the connection stronger.

I have never seen this myself whilst observing spiders in the wild but have seen it captured on film in a presentation by David Attenborough so I know this is how it is done. It has been filmed in time-lapse and speeded up so we can view the process.

The spider creates other main lines below and to the side of the web and then starts filling in the rest of it around the central hub point. The spider uses as many as six different types of thread to create its work and there can be as much as 60 metres of thread in a single web. This is how the orb-weavers go about it and they make fantastic webs with intricate webbing and precision.

An orb-weaver can complete making a web within an hour after it has created the basic lines to hold it in place. Some orb-weavers make a new web every night.

Orb-web spiders make their webs under the cover of darkness for obvious reasons. They are a lot less likely to be seen moving about then, whereas in the daytime a hungry bird might spot them.

I love to see spider webs when they are covered in dew-drops. They look really magical glistening in the sunlight of an early morning, as if they weren't already magical enough!

In the UK there are lots of Garden Spiders about in late summer and early autumn. The females can be recognised by their larger size. They have a white cross on the back of their bodies too.

There are other types of webs including tunnel webs that do not appear so complex but the system of spinning a web is pretty miraculous I think even if some sorts of webs do not look as attractive to the human eye. And then there are spider types such as the Hunting Spiders, Crab Spiders and Wolf Spiders that do not build webs but rely on their hunting skills to catch their prey.

Tent-web spiders

In Tenerife where I am living we have a very common spider which is one of the tent-web spiders. Cyrtophora citricola tends to live in communities of males and females. They spin large sheet-like webs that they drape over foliage and hence the name "tent-web."

Tent-web Spider

The females spin cocoons in which they lay their eggs and these hang in the middle of their webs where they can stand guard over them.

This particular species, which is also found in the other Canary Islands and in Africa, tends to spin its webs in clumps of Prickly Pear cactus (Opuntia ficus-barbarica) and in the massive spiky leaves of the Century Plant (Agave americana). Living like this presumably offers the spiders some protection from predators and humans too! Many people are scared of spiders and kill them but I think they are amazing little animals!

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Flowering Currant and Vapourer Moth and Magpie Moth caterpillars

Flowering Currant

I will always remember my visits to my grand parents’ house in Cardiff because their back garden had two very big Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) bushes.  It wasn’t the pretty dark-pink flowers or even the strong resinous and fruity smell the leaves gave off if brushed against, though these were very enjoyable to see and smell that captured my attention, it was something that I could discover hiding in the foliage. It was the amazing caterpillars I could more or less guarantee finding on these bushes.

I would take a jam jar to capture some and take them home to keep so I could watch them as they changed first into pupae and later into adults. I was fascinated by all of this at an early age and still am! I used to learn about the species of insects I found by looking them up in good books on the subject.  I used to have the Observer’s Book of Larger British Moths.

Magpie Moth

The Magpie Moth (Abraxas grossulariata) is a beautiful species of moth with white wings dotted with black and yellow and a yellow body also marked with black. 

Magpie Moth

 It is in the Geometer moth family, or Geometridae,  and all species in this group have very cute “looper” or “inchworm” caterpillars that, as the name suggests, don’t crawl but make a loop out of their bodies as the pull the rear end up to catch up with the head section. They can stretch out in front of themselves as if they are testing or measuring what is ahead. Some types are camouflaged to look just like twigs and are almost impossible to see when they are completely still. Many types of caterpillar in this large family can also spin a long thread of silk if they are dislodged from where they are feeding. They can defy gravity by climbing back up these threads after all danger has gone.

The caterpillars of the Magpie Moth are a similar colour scheme to the adult moths and are mainly black and white like the Magpie bird the species is named after. They change into shiny black pupae striped with yellow. They are anchored loosely in a very flimsy cocoon that is almost non-existent and is made in dead leaves or tucked away somewhere on the bush the caterpillar fed on or near it.

The Magpie Moth was once a very common species though for some reason its numbers have declined drastically in recent years.  . This is somewhat surprising because it has a very wide range of food plants and besides the Flowering Currant can also feed on Gooseberry, Plum, Spindle, Hawthorn, Privet and many other shrubs and small trees. Maybe this decline is due to Climate Change because the caterpillars are the stage of this moth that has to survive the winter months.

Vapourer Moth

The second species of moth caterpillar I could often find on the Flowering Currant bushes was the Vapourer Moth (Orgyia antigua). This is a really weird insect because the females don’t look anything like a moth but more like a fat woodlouse. They have no wings apart from tiny stubs and cannot eat either. Basically they are a living bag of eggs and after mating with a male they lay their eggs and then die.

The male Vapourer Moths get a much better deal because they have normal wings which are coloured a rusty brown and they fly by day and night.

 Female Vapourer Moth

The caterpillars are really pretty creatures with dark greyish bodies covered with hairs and tufts of hair in yellow and blackish. The ones that will become female moths are much bigger than those that are the males. They pupate in a proper silk cocoon that they spin up somewhere on the bush or tree they are on. The female moths very often stay put after emerging and actually lay their eggs all over their old cocoons. They overwinter in this stage and hatch out in spring.

Vapourer Moth caterpillar

The Vapourer Moth is a very widely distributed species and can sometimes become a pest because its larvae can feed on a very wide range of plants, shrubs and trees besides the Flowering Currant.

Both species of moth gave me a lot of joy when I was a youngster and, as well as teaching me about the sometime very strange things that happen in the natural world, I learned how to look after them and see to their needs. Later that summer I was rewarded by seeing the adults hatch out.

Ladybird Spiders need our help

Male Ladybird Spider (Eresus sandaliatus). Photo by Viridiflavus.

You have probably not even heard of the Ladybird Spider but this is hardly surprising because it is a very rare creature indeed.  Named after the brightly-coloured beetle everyone knows, the male Ladybird Spider (Eresus sandaliatus) has a vivid orange-red back with four larger black dots and two smaller spots on it.  If you saw one there wouldn’t be any chance of mistaking it for something else.

Well, actually there are many other species of spiders in the Eresus genus and several of these are known as Ladybird Spiders because of their colourful appearance. These spiders are collectively called “Velvet Spiders” because of the minute hairs that cover their bodies and legs.

Endangered species

In Britain the Ladybird Spider (E. sandaliatus) was so rare it was believed to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1980 in a small population in Dorset. The species is listed in the British Red Data Book as “Endangered” and is, not surprisingly, protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.

In 1993, it was thought that there were only around 50 individual Ladybird Spiders still surviving in the UK, and that they were dying out mostly because of habitat destruction. In 2000, however, there was some very good news because more than 600 separate Ladybird Spiders were counted, and this number has been increased since then to 1,000 spiders.

Since 2000, other colonies have been successfully created on the Dorset heaths which are the sort of habitat the Ladybird Spider needs. Captive bred specimens of this very rare and but distinctive spider were released bringing the number of populations in Dorset from just one to eight.

Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust

Buglife - the InvertebrateConservation Trust, has started an important campaign to help ensure the safety and future survival of this very attractive but endangered spider.  The organization is collecting funds that will be spent on carrying on the captive breeding programme, establishing new populations of the Ladybird Spider, and monitoring the existing ones.

Buglife are accepting donations to assist in this vital conservation work but will reward those helping their efforts.  All those people who donate over £20 we will be sent a special Ladybird Spider pin badge, as well as an electronic newsletter  keeping them up to date on the progress of the project. Anyone who makes a generous donation of  £1000 or more will receive an exclusive invitation  to actually visit a site where you will be able to see the Ladybird Spider in its natural habitat.

Ladybird Spider lifecycle

The Ladybird Spider species sandaliatus is also found in Europe from southern Norway to the northern parts of Italy. They make their webs as tubes under the ground and mainly feed on small bettles and millipedes.

The smaller males become adults in early September, and overwinter in their webs.  They emerge from hibernation in spring and search for females in May or June of the following year. As well as being larger in size the female Ladybird Spiders are different in appearance to the males because they are a jet-black colour all over. After mating, female Ladybird Spiders lay between 35-80 eggs. After these hatch out, the baby spiders are fed with a liquid from their mother’s mouth. The female then dies and the spiderlings feed on her body. They stay in her web until the next spring when they leave to go and make their own.

The very similar and closely related Ladybird Spider E. cinnaberinus is also known as E. niger, but the males only have the four black spots and are missing the smaller ones. It is found throughout Europe and as far as the North Africa and La Gomera in the Canary Islands. It lives in underground tube-webs too in small colonies like its cousin and is also very rare.

I am sure you will agree with me that these Ladybird Spiders are fascinating creatures. If you would like to do something to help their survival in future then please get in touch with Buglife.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Chickweed is a common edible plant

Chickweed in flower

Chickweed (Stellaria media)  is a very common weed found growing in many places in the world, but whilst it is despised by gardeners, it is actually a delicious and nourishing edible wild plant. So instead of throwing it away or into the compost heap why not try saving some to use in the kitchen?

Chickweed is very common in the UK and many parts of Europe and likes to grow in cultivated ground and in damp soil. It self-seeds itself and easily forms large masses of its tiny green foliage. It is often found growing along paths and even in the cracks in concrete and paving stones.

Chickweed description

Chickweed is a fragile and straggling plant. It has small bright green leaves, and minute white, star-like flowers, with five deeply divided petals. It flowers throughout the year and often grows well in the autumn and winter months.

Chickweed forms mats of its green foliage and its branched stems reach about 40 cm in length, though they are mainly to be seen creeping over the ground.

It is an annual plant but quickly re-establishes itself from seed if it has died down due to dry conditions. Chickweed is native to the UK and Europe but is naturalised throughout the world. It likes to grow in nay reasonably moist soil in sun or partial shade.

The plant's Latin name Stellaria comes from "Stella", meaning a star, and referring to the shape of its flowers. It was called its English name of Chickweed because it was once much-used as a food for hens and other birds.

Chickweed's uses

Chickweed is a surprisingly enjoyable edible wild plant to eat. It is good in salads but also cooked as greens or added to soups.

Chickweed is also a medicinal herb with a number of uses in herbal medicine. Taken as an infusion it is a treatment for rheumatism. It can also be made into a poultice or an ointment and used as a remedy for eczema, skin irritation and other skin diseases.

Chickweed is rich in the minerals potassium and calcium, as well as being a source of vitamins A, B and C.

It is used in homeopathy to treat rheumatism, arthritis and bronchitis.

Chickweed recipes

The following recipe is taken from Richard Mabey's classic book for foragers -  Food For Free.

"Wash the sprigs well, and put in a saucepan without any additional water. Add a knob of butter, seasoning, and some chopped spring onions. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, turning all the time."

Mabey  goes on to say that a dash of lemon juice or a sprinkling of grated nutmeg completes the dish, and that Chickweed cooked like this is very good served with rich meat.

Another recipe from Jessica Houdret's The Ultimate Book of Herbs & HerbGardening is as follows:

Chickweed and parsley dip

25g/1oz fresh chickweed, 25g/10z flat-leaved parsley, 225g fomage frais, 1 tbs mayonnaise, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Rinse and pick over the chickweed, and chop it finely with the parsley. Put in a bowl with the other ingredients and mix well.

Serve as a dip with raw vegetables such as carrots, cucumber and red or green peppers.

Find out more about edible and medicinal plants that can be foraged for here.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Arthritis worsened by Oxalic Acid in edible plants

Many people today suffer from arthritis and gout but what a lot of them don’t realise is that their painful condition is made worse by many commonly eaten foods and their acidic content. There are plenty of greens, vegetables and some fruits that contain oxalic acid and this is where the problem lies. Purines in foods become uric acid in the body. Even black tea is one such source of the problem. Cranberries can be good for you but they are a fruit with a high acid content. Moderation is the key with many such foods.

Margaret Hills

The late Margaret Hills, who had been a nurse, became famous for her book Curing Arthritis the Drug-Free Way, and a main part of her theory and the remedy she prescribed, is the avoidance of the foods and drinks that cause arthritic conditions. Hills had once suffered the painful ailment herself but had found a cure for it. 

Cider Vinegar

She claimed that apple cider vinegar counter-acted the problem by helping to break up the crystals in the joints. It contains malic acid, and this has an alkaline effect in the bloodstream. So, apple cider vinegar is a very important way of treating osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, according to Hills.

Hills helped many people cure their arthritis and soon had thousands of followers. She set up a clinic and also went on to write other books, all dealing with the subject of how to treat yourself if you suffer from arthritis and how to live a lifestyle that prevents the condition starting or returning if you once had it. She recommended eating a healthy diet that is low in purines and avoiding commonly eaten food such as citrus fruit and drinking black tea.

You see, the inflammation in the joints is caused by uric acid crystals that have accumulated over time. Oxalic acid and oxalates not only add to this problem but cut down the absorption of calcium, which is needed for the strength, repair and growth of bones. It is believed that oxalates, and calcium oxalate in particular, cause kidney stones.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Honeygar

Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes healed himself of terrible arthritis with cider vinegar in a product known as Honeygar, which also contains honey as its name suggests. He takes Honeygar daily and swears by its efficacy. His story was published in the Daily Mail in 2008 in a story by Matthew Dennison entitled: “Sir Ranulph Fiennes: I beat my arthritis with a vinegar cure passed down from my mother”.

Parsley Salad

Parsley

Amongst the plants that contain oxalic acid, Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) has large amounts of this substance in its leaves. Many people think of this herb as being healthy to eat, and whilst this is mainly true, because of the oxalic acid it should be eaten with caution by anyone with a tendency to suffer from arthritis.

Spinach leaves

Spinach

Many of us were brought up watching the Popeye the Sailor-man cartoons in which the hero of these animations derives all his strength from eating Spinach. Again, this plant is very good for us in moderation because os the vitamins and minerals it contains. However, Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) too has a lot of oxalic acid in it, as does its very close relative the Beetroot.  Beetroot and the Beets are all in the Beta genus of plants. Sea Beet or Wild Spinach, which is regarded an ancestor of the cultivated varieties, is Beta vulgaris. Chard too contains oxalic acid in its leaves and is actually a descendant of the wild plant just mentioned because it is known to botanists as B. vulgaris subsp. cicla.

Rhubarb on sale

Rhubarb

Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) may make delicious pies but the leaves of this vegetable are actually poisonous due to the acids in them. The pinkish-red stalks which we use in our cooking admittedly do not contain anywhere near as much oxalic acid but it is present. This has been known for a long time and many old books will include a caution that this food should be avoided or eaten in moderation by those who suffer from gout and arthritis.

Bermuda Buttercup

Sorrel

There are two sorts of plant known as Sorrel. First there are those in the Rumex genus including the Common Sorrel (R. acetosa) and the Sheep’s Sorrel (R. acetosella). They are known for having a sharp and tangy taste and make good additions to salads and can be cooked as greens. However the acidity of these Sorrels is caused by oxalic acid.

The second type of Sorrel that also contains high levels of this harmful acid are those in the Oxalis genus. Even their generic name tells you this is the case. Wood Sorrel (O. acetosella) and the Bermuda Buttercup (O. pes-caprae) are two of the many species. They all have pretty foliage like four-leaved clovers and many have dainty flowers too. The Oxalis species have a tangy taste and are eaten in salads but again the caution needs to be applied because of the oxalic acid they contain.

Purslane

The Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a common weed in many places in the world. This little plant with its semi-succulent leaves makes a popular and tangy addition to salads but again it has oxalic acid present in its leaves in the form of oxalates.  It can be cooked as well as eaten raw and has many other health-giving nutrients but care should be taken because of the oxalic acid present.

A useful list of edible plants and how much oxalic acid they contain is published here by the USDA: