NEWSLETTER29 September2003 Feedingon thistleat WillesleyFlashes. Moths.Butterflies and PurpleHairstreak (Quercusia quercus) Ladybirdsin a Wigstongarden 24'nJuly 2003 on top of an Oak tree alonga naturetrail between Oakthorpe and Donisthorpe. Againthe yearstarted off quitepoorly for moths,with the exceptionof 1 Oak Nycteoline CloudedYellow (Colias croceus). At (Nycteolarevayana) on the 614103,which was Oakethorpeon 26'n(1) & 31" 1'1;July, 2"" (3) a new recordfor ourgarden. & 6th(1)August 2003. By Junethings started picking up, we had someold favouriles like Silver-ground carpet Common Blue ( Polyommatusicarus) (Xanthorhoemontanata) and EyedHawk-Moth 31'tJuly 2003. Hundreds around the banks (SmerinthusOcellata). Then laterDark Sword- aroundAlbert Village Lake, a formeropencast grass(Agrotis ipsilon) and GoldenPlusia sitenear Swadlingcote. (Polychrysiamoneta). On the 1416103there were two surprises;a James Sharpe Sandy Carpet (Perizomaflavofasciata) and a Swadlingcote, Clouded-BorderedBrindle (Apamea crenata) Derbyshire. bothof whichwere new to ourgarden. Colonizersof a NewPond It was niceto seethat the OrangeLadybird (Halyzia16-guttata) is stillaround as we recordedit on 31.05.03&'14.06.03 in ourMV We havealways had a wildlifepond in our ITAD. garden,but dueto the lackof spacewe have neverbeen happy with its size or shape. Whilstat Hunstantonon the EastCoast for a Alongone side,we had builta smallrockery holiday,I wassurprised to seethe huge andevery spring, in wenta few alpineplants numberof SilverY moths(Autographa onlyto be lostthrough winter rain and f rosts gamma), PaintedLady butterflies(Cynthia (theyrotted). cardui)and Wall Brownbutterflies A decisionwas made.Out with the rockery,in (Lasiommatamegera). When we got backto witha new and and,hopefully, better pond. Wigstonour Buddleiawas coveredin Painted Emptyingand movingthe residentCommon Lady'sand SilverY's; Wall Brown butterflies Frog (Ranatemporaria) and SmoothNewt wereabsent. (Triturusvulgaris) populations into a large containeralong with Canadian Pondweed Adam Poole. (Elodeacanidensis), took up one day alone. Sixweeks later, one skipfull of soiland a lotof Records from a new sweat,in wentthe new liner. Butterfly Withshallow water now allaround the edges, member birdscan now batheand drinkfrom the edge. The frogs and newtsthat had not already found pondwere returned. Over White-letter Hairstreak(Strymonidia w-album) theirway backto the we watchedthe pond 13'nJuly 2003. A smallcolony (2+) in Wych the nextfew days Pond Elmin a gardenat Packington,near Ashby-De- carefullyfor newarrivals. A single Skater (Gerrisgibbifer) the f irst to arrive, La-Zouch. was skimmingacross the surfaceafter insects that the water.A dav 241hJuly 2oo3 hadthe misfortuneto landon or two latera Q Broad-bodiedChaser (Libellula depressa)appeared and began to lay eggs, dippingher abdomenwhilst hovering just over LEICESTERSHIRE the water'ssurface. ENTOMOLOGICAL Aftera few momentsshe was gone anda J L. SOCIETY depressaappeared patrolling the garden.He too soondisappeared and we sawneither Affiliatedto: dragonfly again.lt makesyou wonder just how Leicestershire& RutlandWildlife Trust manydifferent species of insectvisit our Chairman& gardenswhen we arenot there to seethem LES OccasionalPublications Editor: andtherefore they go unrecorded.For Ray Morris example,last year we weresitting in our 142Hinckley Road, Barwell, gardenwhen over the fenceflew a Banded Leics. LE9 BDI'' Telephone:01 455 842145 Demoiselle(Calopteryx splendens). We liveat Email:ray.morris @ ntlworld.com least3 milesfrom the nearestsuitable habitat for thissoecies. Secretary: The pondhas now beenplanted and the frogs JohnKramer 31 Ash Tree Road,Oadby, and newtshave bred. Brown Hawker Dragonfly LeicesterLE2 5TE (Aeshnagrandis), Blue-tailed Damsef ly Telephone:01 16 271 6499 (lschnuraelegans) and CommonDarter Email:jk @chezejog.demon.co.uk (Sympetrumstriolatum) have now been Treasurer: recorded,so we musthave got something StuadPoole right.lt is the beginningof Augustso thereis 1BCroft Drive, Wigston, stillplenty of timefor morerecords so I will LeicesterLE18 1HD keepyou posted. Telephone:01 16 288 0236 ad.ap@ virgin.net Stuart Poole CommitteeMembers: L.E.S.Treasurer Dave Budworth 121Wood Lane. Newhall,Swadlincote 2003the yearof the Painted Derbys.DE11 OLX Telephone:01 283 2151 BB Lady? Email:dbudO1 @aol.com Maggie& Roy Frankum Thisyear has beenan exceptionalyear for the 3 ChapelLane, Knighton, PaintedLady butterfly(Vanessa cardut). I saw Leicester LE2 3WF my first in earlyMarch in my gardenin Telephone:01 16 270 5833 Houghtonon the Hill(SK 680037). By June royfrankum @ tiscali.co. uk hugenumbers had arrived in the UK having Derek Lott sweptthrough Malta and Spainand up through HollyHayes Environmental NorthernEurope. The PaintedLady is a long- ResourcesCentre, distancemigrant butterfly. Each year, it 216 BirstallRoad, Birstall, Leicester LE4 4DG spreadsnorthwards from the desertfringes of Telephone:01 16 267 1950 NorthAfrica, the MiddleEast, and central Asia, Email:dlott @ leics.gov.uk recolonizingmainland Europe, Britain and lreland.In someyears it is an abundant butterfly,f requenting gardens and otherf lowery Newsletter Editor: placesin latesummer. Because it is a wide- FrankClark rangingmigrant, the PaintedLady may be seen 4 Main Street, in any habitatin the UK in a goodyear. Adults Houghtonon the Hill, LeicesterLE7 9GD tendto congregatein openareas with plenty of Telephone:01 1 6 243 2725 thistles,which serve both as larvalfood-plants [email protected] or [email protected] andsource of nectar.Gardens are also popular habitatsfor PaintedLadies: lhe specieswas reportedby over ot the 1'1,000 Next Copy Deadline: 50% participantsin ButterflyConservation's Garden Butterflies Count survey in 2002.Although ,-rh . PaintedLadies can breedhere during the 17"' January2004 warmermonths, Britain s climateis notsuitable for theirsurvival from year to year.As winter closesin the butterflieseither miorate back southwardsor oerish. FrankClark v Vatu'ssa cardui Volucellabombvlans - an unusualcolour form In June2003, Gareth Burton brought me a deadspecimen of the hoverflyVolucella Volucella bombylans bombylans,that he had foundat the Universityof LeicesterAttenborough MaggieFrankum Arboretum,in Knighton.These are spectacular bumblebeemimics at the bestof times,but THEPREPARATION OF therewas somethingdifferent about this one ......ColourPlate 8 in "BritishHoverflies" INSECTGENITALIA FOR [Stubbs& Falk,2000] shows three colour MICROSCOPIC EXAM INATION forms:-a typicalred{ail form [1b], mimicking red-tailbumblebees such as Bombus Writingas a dipterist,it is noteasy to find lapidarius; and a white-tailform 11a)fvar. informationabout this topic in the currently plu matal mimicking wh ite-tail bumblebees availableliterature. Although'A Dipterist's such as Bombus hortorum: and a brown- Handbook'(Alan Stubbs and PeterChandler, hairedform ['1c] [from lreland], However, A.E.S.1978) is packedwith usefuladvice, the Garethhad found yet anothercolour form, textabout genitalia (p15) refers the readerto similarto var.plumatabutwith a red tail,not an earlierbook, 'Fliesof the Britishlsles' white,and a"lizz" very much like Bombus (Colyerand Hammond1968)for the detailsof pratorum. the technique.The implicationseems to be I managedto relaxand set the specimen, that perhapsinsect genitalia preparations are photographedit and sent it to RogerMorris at for the more advancedstudent, but I would EnglishNature, Peterborough. Alan Stubbs questionthat. lt is certainlytrue that a good mentionedthat he'd heard of sucha formbut microscopeof aboutX50 magnificationis hadnever seen one, neither had Roger, so essential,but for a dipterist,this is essential theythink it's unusual! anyway.The fact is that in manygenera, the sharpdiflerences between the genitaliaof Furtherreadinq:- species,which otherwise look rather similat, greatlyfacilitates identif ication. This is clearlyof Alan E. Stubbs& StevenJ. FalkBritish as greata helpto the beginner,as to the expert HoverlliesBENHS 2000. seekingconfirmation of a criticalvoucher FrancisS. GilbertHovertliesNaturalists' specimen. Handbooks5, RichmondPubtishing Co. Ltd. The basictechnique, is describedbelow. OliverE. Prys-Jones& SarahA. Corbet Bumblebees.Naturalists' Handbooks 6, A TECHNIQUEFOR THE PREPARATION OF RichmondPublishing Co. Ltd. GENITALIAFOR MICROSCOPIC Ted Benton The Bumblebeesof Essex EXAMINATION LopingaBooks. 1. Usinga needleand fine forceps, dissect off the hindtwo or threeabdominal segments. Leavefor an hour,or overnight,or as longas necessary,in 10%potassium hydroxide Althoughthe preparationof a permanentmount solution.I haveseen a numberof is timeconsuming,dissection and examination t differentcontainers used. Where a numberof is extremelyqulck and usuallyeasy. lt alsois genitaliaare preparedsimultaneously, the the best way to be certainof the identification plasticplaquettes used for pillsand tabletscan of many.species. be used.Another variation on thisis the multiplateused for the innoculationof bacteria. (Availablefrom BibbySterilin, Tilling Drive, The ClementsBlock - Smallspecimen tubes Stone,Staffs. ST15 0SA). The benefitof these held in a drilledwooden block. containersis thatonly a smalldrop of potassiumhydroxide solution is needed. 100/0KOH - _-.- Specimensmay also be transferredbetween Water --.- smallspecimen tubes of the solutionsand thesemay be placedin a hot water-bathto AlcoholSolutions speedup the processif necessary.The \f genitaliamay alsobe transferredinto embryo 'l cups.The advantageof the latteris thatthe specimensare