Dedham trail day!
Jun. 24th, 2014 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanThis past Saturday I went to Dedham Trail Day. There were tables from local businesses and organizations (free pulled pork and ice cream!) and a friendly atmosphere. But the main reason I went was because my friend ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dedhamoutdoors was going to lead a nature walk on a newly opened trail!
As I waited for the nature walk to start, I walked along the milkweed looking for creatures. I found several longlegged flies, but they move so quick that the only way to catch one was to get this shot of its shadow from below.
I was HERE.
Ahem. And so were they.
This is a legitimate photo of interest for naturalists. First, notice the difference in colors and patterns of the two ladybeetles. This is Harmonia axyridis, an Asian species introduced to control aphids that is now the most common ladybug in our area. The are notable for their variability, ranging from yellow through orange to red and black with spots numbering from zero to twenty. Also I think you can see the male's junk in this photo.
A ladybeetle larva (from a different species, I suspect) crawled nearby.
Pretty sure this is the speckled sharpshooter Paraulacicizes irrirata, one of New England's largest leafhopper species.
A grape leaf bore the marks of where a gall-making midge laid her eggs, and the leaf flesh began to build tiny fortresses to guard them.
A snapping turtle dug herself a nest, but some predator found it and ate a few eggs. The nature walk leader left it as it was so we could all see, then reburied the eggs at the end.
Most of the plants we saw on the walk were either invasive or poison ivy. This one is Digitalis purpurea, common foxglove which is a Eurasian native but attractive and probably not troublesome to the ecosystem.
Pollinator runways.
This was a first for me: the fruit of garlic mustard, a terrible invasive plant, but festooned with some insect's eggs! Will they hatch into larvae or nymphs that feed on the invader?
dedhamoutdoors was going to lead a nature walk on a newly opened trail!As I waited for the nature walk to start, I walked along the milkweed looking for creatures. I found several longlegged flies, but they move so quick that the only way to catch one was to get this shot of its shadow from below.
I was HERE.
Ahem. And so were they.
This is a legitimate photo of interest for naturalists. First, notice the difference in colors and patterns of the two ladybeetles. This is Harmonia axyridis, an Asian species introduced to control aphids that is now the most common ladybug in our area. The are notable for their variability, ranging from yellow through orange to red and black with spots numbering from zero to twenty. Also I think you can see the male's junk in this photo.
A ladybeetle larva (from a different species, I suspect) crawled nearby.
Pretty sure this is the speckled sharpshooter Paraulacicizes irrirata, one of New England's largest leafhopper species.
A grape leaf bore the marks of where a gall-making midge laid her eggs, and the leaf flesh began to build tiny fortresses to guard them.
A snapping turtle dug herself a nest, but some predator found it and ate a few eggs. The nature walk leader left it as it was so we could all see, then reburied the eggs at the end.
Most of the plants we saw on the walk were either invasive or poison ivy. This one is Digitalis purpurea, common foxglove which is a Eurasian native but attractive and probably not troublesome to the ecosystem.
Pollinator runways.
This was a first for me: the fruit of garlic mustard, a terrible invasive plant, but festooned with some insect's eggs! Will they hatch into larvae or nymphs that feed on the invader?
