Geo-caching challenge

At this time of year, the grey squirrel is incredibly busy, running up and down trees, running madly around woodland, risking life and limb crossing busy roads, all in a frenzy to collect as many nuts as possible as they rain from the skies.  Autumn is indeed bounteous on the nut front, and squirrels behave as if they are on Supermarket Sweep.
What to do with so much food?  Evidence of them eating as many as possible is everywhere, with half eaten nuts strewing the paths.

But they can also be seeing hiding them in caches.  Squirrels do not hibernate but they may sleep for long periods in the winter.  When they wake up, they will be hungry, and their well-developed spatial memory, as well as their excellent sense of smell, will lead them straight to breakfast.

Sexual Selection: how the female mind works

I spent a lovely afternoon at Gwydir Castle in North Wales last weekend.  Gracing the beautiful gardens were a number of peacocks and peahens.
Peacocks (the males) are well known for displaying their magnificent long tail feathers in a fan.  The brown feathers have shimmering tips of blue and green and a pattern that resembles an eye.  It is not difficult to see why a peahen would be impressed by that tail.

In evolutionary biology terms, the dimorphism of the peacock/peahen is because of a form of sexual selection.  Sexual selection is when the female gets to select her mate and the father of her offspring.  Obviously she will choose the one that is the most fit; big, strong, healthy, so that he can pass these genes on to her offspring and make them successful.

How does the elaborate peacock tail indicate his fitness as a father?  The theory is rather bizarre.  Peacocks are native to the rainforest, and to be honest a very long brightly coloured tail could be considered a hindrance; it makes you very conspicuous to predators, and it really hampers your movement through dense vegetation. 

And that is just it! Any individual who survives in spite of this handicap must have good genes, and therefore will make a good father!

It's raining Slugs....

Arion rufus

Not many people like Slugs! Ugly, and slimy, and resembling doggy doo! But like all organisms, they have their role in the ecosystem, and somebody has to do the dirty work; the decomposition.  Slugs are omnivores, consuming a large variety of organisms.  Their exceptional suite of digestive enzymes is testament to this: not just amylase and invert awe, to digest starch and sugar respectively, but also proteases (protein), chitinases (the material of insect exoskeletons), and xylemases and ligninases to digest the woody stems of plants.

The other interesting thing about slugs that everybody knows is that they are hermaphrodite.  But did you know how intricate and beautiful the reproductive organs of a slug or snail are?  Best thing I ever dissected at university, and so I think we must introduce this to Dissection Club. Watch this space...

Slow worm

My friend Rob sent me this picture from his garden in Kent. A Slow worm. Not a worm, or a snake, but a lizard! I used to see them all the time when I lived in Kent but not since, so I would be interested to learn more of their distribution. Please let me know if you have them in your garden, and where that is!
Rob has given you a load of facts about them:
Here goes:
1. They are lizards not snakes because they can blink.
2. They are protected in the UK.
3. They live everywhere in Europe except Ireland, but some may have been introduced there illegally.
4. They like to burrow.
5. They can live for up to 30 yrs in the wild. The record was 54 yrs in captivity.
6. They eat insects and slugs so are good for gardeners.
7. They can shed their tail to escape predators. But have little defence against cats.
8. They can grow up to 50 cm long. We've seen 3 now. One big, one medium sized and this little one about 10 cm... All in the same garden!
Thank you Rob!

Cardinal spider

Beautiful orange and brown markings on this house spider. So named because Cardinal Wolsey was terrified of them at Hampton Court, apparently
Tegeneria parietina

Forest destruction in Europe

Will no one stop Poland destroying Europe’s most precious forest? http://gu.com/p/4t3k7?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Ladybirds hoovering up the aphids

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Ladybirds are out in the garden today in abundance! The warm and sunny weather has made them very active as they forage for their food, primarily aphids (greenfly). Their role in reducing this pest has led to them being given the moniker 'Gardener's friend'.  They are in fact beetles ( and in common with others, have six legs, biting mouthparts and a hard elytra (forewing).

These are common 7 spot ladybirds.  There are 48 British species, with a varying number of spots. 

Ladybirds usually mate in May, producing larvae which then pupate.  

Harlequin ladybirds have been introduced from abroad since the 2004. They are an invasive species which threaten to outcompete the Native species.  Monitoring of species is numbers and distribution is carried out by the investigative techniques of beating or sweep net. 

Another interesting fact about the Harlequin ladybird is that it carries a bacterium that kills males, so there is an unusual sex ratio in these ladybirds.