Big, Blobby Slime Mould

 

 Walking back from the polling station on the day of the general election - 4th July - I came across this large, pale slime mould newly emerging from a mossy, recumbent beech trunk. From the size and colour I assumed it was Brefeldia maxima. 

 

Over the next couple of weeks, I returned to the site to watch the spore mass develop. Through the first 48 hours, it turned a deep black-currant red.

...and then dried out and turned chocolate brown.

Brefeldia maxima has a well-formed, continuous skin covering the spore mass (called the cortex) and this slime mould did not, and on examining the spores with a microscope more discrepancies appeared: 

The retuculate spores and net-like capillitium suggest this could be Symphtocarpus amaurochaetoides. My main reservation about that id is that the spore mass was so much larger than it should be - about 40x12cm where the description (in 'The Myxomycetes of Britain and Ireland" by Bruce Ing) suggested 5cm diameter was usual.

You can monitor or contribute to this observation on iNaturalist, here.

 

 

On my last visit to check on the slime mould, a large sphere of spore mass had fallen off the log and landed on the forest floor. A dor beetle had found it, and seemed happily engrossed in rolling it around the leaf litter.

I just caught the tail end of the performance on video: dor beetle exit stage down to the consternation of the mites.

Oil Beetles

 Found an oil beetle - Meloe violaceus - in the UK for the first time on Saturday. 

 

 

Revisited the site on sunday to find one laying eggs in an impressive hole it had excavated for the purpose.

 

 

Great Diving Beetle

Great Diving Beetle - Dytiscus marginalis

Elaphrus cupreus

Alas, Elaphrus cupreus is just a little too small to have its marvellous blue ocelli admired by humans on a regular basis. Look for it moving fast round the edges of ponds and streams.

Elaphrus cupreus

Elaphrus cupreus

Beach Glow Worms

Glow Worm - Lampyris noctiluca

Checked one of the local sites where glow worms have been recorded in previous years and found twenty of them down on the shoreline - most were in the short grass just above the beach, but several were out on the shingle - making them much easier to photograph than usual.

Glow Worm - Lampyris noctiluca

Rhagium bifasciatum

All of a sudden, these longhorn beetles are everywhere!

Rhagium bifasciatum

Rhagium bifasciatum

Rhagium bifasciatum

Tiger Beetles

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle

After taking some nice photos of Japanese tiger beetles in Kyoto last year, I've been keen to get some better images of the common British species - Cicindela campestris this summer:

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle

The photos above and below here show how the same two individuals change colour depending on lighting conditions: with the sun behind them, they appear blue-green (above), while they are much more yellowish-green when viewed from the sunny side.

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle

After copulation, a violent and protracted struggle ensued - the female trying to free itself from the male's grip, but I didn't witness the beginning or the end of this encounter.

Cicindela campestris - Tiger Beetle