Tuesday 9 April 2019
Monday 8 April 2019
8-4-2019 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - NORTHERN YELLOW SAC SPIDER (Cheiracanthium mildei)
Cheiracanthium mildei is a species of spider from the family Cheiracanthiidae. C. mildei is commonly known as the northern yellow sac spider, a name it partially shares with many other spiders of its genus. Alternatively its also called the long-legged sac spider.
C. mildei is native to Europe and North Africa through the Caucasus to Central Asia. It is introduced to the United States and parts of South America. It widespread across the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, and can be found outside, or more commonly inside houses. It is thought to have been introduced into America from Europe by English colonists.[citation needed]
C. mildei is a dominant predator of S. littoralis (a moth species) in Africa and Mid Eastern regions. The mechanism of predation include causing direct death by consuming the larvae and causing indirect death by dispersing larvae from its host plants.
Sunday 7 April 2019
8-11-2017 HANNINGFIELD RESERVOIR, ESSEX - BRITISH DUNNOCK (Prunella modularis ssp. occidentalis),
When seen at a distance, dunnocks appear a drab brown. Get a closer view and you will notice a grey breast and head and dark streaks on the wings. They are roughly the same size as a robin.
Not to be confused with: the house sparrow. These birds can look similar from a distance, but the easiest way to tell them apart is the beak. A dunnock’s bill is thin and pointy, while a sparrow’s is much broader and powerful looking. Sparrows also live in flocks, while dunnocks are rarely seen in more than pairs.
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Saturday 6 April 2019
18-11-2017 HANNINGFIELD RESERVOIR, ESSEX - EUROPEAN ROBIN (Erithacus rubecula)
The European robin (Erithacus rubecula), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in Great Britain and Ireland, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. It is found across Europe, east to Western Siberia and south to North Africa; it is sedentary in most of its range except the far north.
It is about 12.5–14.0 cm (4.9–5.5 in) in length, the male and female are similar in colouration, with an orange breast and face lined with grey, brown upper-parts and a whitish belly.
The robin occurs in Eurasia east to Western Siberia, south to Algeria and on the Atlantic islands as far west as the Central Group of the Azores and Madeira. It is a vagrant in Iceland. In the southeast, it reaches Iran the Caucasus range. Irish and British robins are largely resident but a small minority, usually female, migrate to southern Europe during winter, a few as far as Spain. Scandinavian and Russian robins migrate to Britain and western Europe to escape the harsher winters. These migrants can be recognised by the greyer tone of the upper parts of their bodies and duller orange breast. The continental European robins that migrate during winter prefer spruce woods in northern Europe, contrasting with its preference for parks and gardens in Great Britain.
In southern Iberia, habitat segregation of resident and migrant robins occurs, with resident robins remaining in the same woodlands where they bred.
Friday 5 April 2019
18-11-2017 HANNINGFIELD RESERVOIR, ESSEX - GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER (Dendrocopos major)
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The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa. Across most of its range it is resident, but in the north some will migrate if the conifer cone crop fails. Some individuals have a tendency to wander, leading to the recolonisation of Ireland in the first decade of the 21st century and to vagrancy to North America. Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes, and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; like other woodpeckers, they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action. This species is similar to the Syrian woodpecker.
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This woodpecker occurs in all types of woodlands and eats a variety of foods, being capable of extracting seeds from pine cones, insect larvae from inside trees or eggs and chicks of other birds from their nests. It breeds in holes excavated in living or dead trees, unlined apart from wood chips. The typical clutch is four to six glossy white eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs, feed the chicks, and keep the nest clean. When the young fledge they are fed by the adults for about ten days, each parent taking responsibility for feeding part of the brood.
The species is closely related to some other members of its genus. It has a number of subspecies, some of which are distinctive enough to be potential new species. It has a huge range and large population, with no widespread threats, so it is classed as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
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Thursday 4 April 2019
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