Wasp nest

Wasps nests have been described as 'human head' shape and size and it's not far from the truth. I photographed this old abandoned nest in November, under the eaves of an Edwardian house. I bet that the owners couldn't open the windows in the summer without getting a stream of wasps in! All the wasps from this nest, except the new queens, are now dead. The queens will hibernate and come out in March, where there are often seen sunbathing, to start new nests. Most of the wasps we see in the summer are worker wasps.

An unwelcome bug

I usually enjoy having the chance to write BugBlog posts. Not today. As a parent of school age children, I have had occasionally to deal with lice infestations. One of these was apparent on one of my children during the holidays. A combnitting session today yielded shocking results. Tens of nits (eggs) and a fat adult louse. I couldn't resist the photo opportunity. This is the first adult lice I have seen. In previously infestations I could only see nits. I hope this is the only adult louse and that we can clear it quickly.

The louse clinging to hair. Its dark stomach indicates a recent feed of blood

Anyway, despite my dread of live lice, they are fascinating creatures on their own right. Lice are apterous bloodsucking insects (order Phthiraptera) that are adapted to clinging to hair - hence, they are found only in mammals. They lay their eggs gluing them in a shaft to individual hairs, close to the scalp. The newborn lice are nymphs, they are smaller and simpler than adults and metamorphose slowly into adults in three stages. Individuals live for a month or so and females can lay several hundreds of eggs in their lifetime. The study of such species-specific ectoparasites can provide information on the evolution of their hosts. Humans are the host of two species of lice (wingless insects of the order Anoplura), the pubic louse and the hair/body lice complex. In the past hair and body lice were thought to belong to different species, one adapted to lay their eggs on hair, the other on clothing. It was thought that body lice had evolved with the invention of clothing into a separate species. Molecular analysis have revealed, though that the body louse has evolved several times and that they do not form a monophyletic unit separate from head lice. These studies have revealed more intriguingly that there are three old genetic lineages of lice (only one of them includes body lice) and the authors hypothesized that one of such lineages might have evolved in Homo erectus, and been transferred to modern humans when they met. A fascinating hypothesis that has proven to be difficult to test due to the lack of good calibrations for lice DNA.

The Winter Ball

The sun appeared shyly behind the clouds after a shower. It is milder than in the last few days today and I wandered out in the garden to try and get some shots of the Winter Gnats (Trichoceridae). These are dipterans which are active on the winter months. Males gather in swarms from a few to dozens of individuals in assembly points over prominent bushes or trees and fly bobbing up and down. If you can get close to the swarm they might take you as their 'assembly point' and dance over your head. Occasionally each individual alights on the bushes. That's how I got the still shot of one.

Females enter the swarm to chose a male and mate.
Other than the Winter Gnats there was little active buglife in the garden. Three 7 Spot Ladybirds are hibernating in between the leaves of the Monkey Puzzle.

Hibernating 7-Spot ladybirds

Giant garden spider

Some individual garden spiders, familiarly installed in strategic spots in the garden have disappeared in the last weeks, probably after laying their eggs and spinning a cocoon around them in a safe, dry corner. I came across this magnificent female, going on a walkabout. The largests I've seen (a 1 p coin for comparison).

Halloween peacock

It has been a very mild Autumn so far. Today, temperatures rose over 15 oC. A butterfly fluttered over my head. I thought it could be a Red Admiral. Fortunately, it settled to sunbathe on a white, south facing wall, and using my camera telephoto I was able to take a picture and identify it as a Peacock. It is the latest active Peacock I have seen since I started to record butterflies in 2003.

This is the usual phenology of Peacocks in my grid square (TA0830). A single brooded species, adults break hibernation in April, breed, and the next generation is on the wing in July. Butterflies usually start hibernation in early September.