Richard Moyse

@kentgrasshoppers

Kent-based naturalist, with a particular affection for plants, Orthopterans, aculeates, birds. Retired after a career in conservation. I'm here for wildlife, but can't promise not to repost the occasional political piece.

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Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· 25d

I'm new to the pseudoscorpion game, but I think this is Lamprochernes savignyi - no obvious eyes and a trichobothrium centrally placed on the 4th tarsus (& just visible in second photo). From a compost heap in Faversham today. #KentNature

A pseudoscorpion, head towards the top of the picture, with red-brown head and pedipalps.

Close-up of the hind end of a pseudoscorpion, showing the abdomen and two legs on one side. The trichobothrium (a long hair) on the tarsus of the hind leg can just be seen.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· 25d

No reason for this, except I like the way the photo turned out. Woodland Grasshopper Omocestus rufipes from Denge Woods yesterday. If you catch a grasshopper in a tube, but let it climb out onto your hand, it will often sit calmly for a photo (at least for a while!). #KentNature #orthoptera

A grasshopper sitting on a human finger. Its head is to the right. Thegrasshopper is generally dark in tone on its side, with bright green on the back. Small, white palps can seen on the underside of its head.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· 26d

Lesser Marsh Grasshopper Chorthippus albomarginatus, high up on the Wye Downs, Kent, today. The English name looking a little inappropriate ... #KentNature #orthoptera

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· 28d

Things that fall out of the laurel hedge when you're trimming it back: Southern Oak Bush-cricket Meconema meridionale. Male, and I think probably final instar nymph, as lacking adult eye colour & markings on the pronotum. #KentNature #orthoptera

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· 29d

The fully-winged form of Meadow Grasshopper Pseudochorthippus parallelus, seen today. Not something I come across very often. #KentNature #orthoptera

A green grasshopper (head at the top and slightly to the left) against green vegetation.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jul 6

Gymnosoma rotundatum - a nice addition to the garden list today. Unless you're a shieldbug. #KentNature #flies #Diptera

A mid-sized fly with a rounded, orange abdomen with black spots, golden-brown dusting on the front of the thorax, and a golden face with brown eyes.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jul 5

A surprise new record for the garden the other day: this Ruddy Darter caught in a spider's web by pond. #KentNature #dragonflies #Odonata

A dragonfly with a bright red abdomen. The abdomen is a slender Club shape. It is resting on my fingers. One hind wing has become damaged after being caught in a spider's web.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 30

One of several male Colletes daviesanus getting stuck into the Curry Plant flowers in the garden this afternoon. New for the garden. #KentNature #hymenoptera #bees

A medium-sized bee with pale brown hairs on head and thorax, and pale hair bands on the gaster. It is feeding on yellow, composite flowerheads.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 29

A good day for Orthoptera recording yesterday with @kentfieldclub.bsky.social at Upper Mystole Patk Farm on the edge of Denge Woods. 5 grasshopper species, 2 groundhoppers & 2 bush-crickets. Stripe-winged Grasshopper & Cepero's Groundhopper were new hectad records. #KentNature #orthoptera

Woodland Grasshopper. A dark grasshopper on a bramble leaf. Unfortunately, the strong back-lighting means details are obscured.

Cepero's Groundhopper. A small groundhopper with an extended pronotum. It's patterned colouration makes it hard to see against the bare ground.

Lesser Marsh Grasshopper. A brown grasshopper with a pale line along the margin of its forewing. It stands on a fold in an insect net.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 26

In Faversham this morning, so had to go nosing for the tiny Small Cleavers Galium murale, in the alley outside the Royal Cinema. Still there. Still tiny. #KentNature #KentBotany #UrbanPlants

Small, creeping stems of Small Cleavers in a gap between stone paving blocks.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 23

New for the garden this afternoon - Scarce Tortoise Shieldbug Eurygaster maura. A charming little chunk of chitin. #KentNature #Shieldbugs #Hemiptera

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 21

Yesterday's @kentfieldclub.bsky.social meeting on meadows near Ulcombe was remarkable for the abundance of Orthoptera. I got new tetrad records for Meadow Grasshopper, Field Grasshopper & the 3 pictured: Roesel's Bush-cricket, Slender Groundhopper, Lesser Marsh Grasshopper. #KentNature #orthoptera

Roesel's Bush-cricket. A late instar female.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 20

The paper wasp Polistes dominulus, found today in flower-rich, Low Weald grassland, on a @kentfieldclub.bsky.social meeting today. A very recently established species in the UK. #KentNature #wasps #hymenoptera

A long-bodied, black-and-yellow wasp, held in a glass tube. The external diameter of the tube is about 17mm.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 19

A nice morning spent in the gardens at nearby Belmont (belmont-house.org). But what photos do I comeback with? Median Wasp gathering wood pulp; Rustyback fern on a wall; Waterlily Leaf Beetle on an ornamental pond. Honestly. #KentNature

A yellow-jacket wasp scraping wood from a fence-post to build its nest. The yellow tick mark on the thorax makes it Median Wasp Dolichovespula media.

A small fern with rounded pinnae on its leaves, growing between bricks on a sunny wall. The underside of the leaves are rust-red with the sporangia.

Two brown beetles, apparently paired, on a waterlily leaf.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 15

From Saturday's @kentfieldclub.bsky.social trip to The Downs, Herne Bay. Nymph Lesser Marsh Grasshopper Chorthippus albomarginatus, the scarce bug Deraeocoris scutellaris, European Chinch Bug Ischnodemus sabuleti, & some of the group enjoying ice-creams (well, we were at the seaside). #KentNature

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 14

Surprise new shieldbug for the garden this afternoon - Vernal Shieldbug Peribalus strictus. Not that long ago it was an exceptional rarity. #KentNature #Hemiptera #Shieldbugs

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 12

Oh, now that is SHINY! Chrysolina banksii from the garden today. #KentNature #beetles #coleoptera

A broad-bodied beetle with head, thorax and elytra a very shiny, metallic bronze, with hints of green. Its legs and antennae are reddish-brown.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 9

Surprised to find the chunky little jewel wasp Holopyga generosa in the garden today. It was well-behaved enough to allow me to photograph key features before I let it go again. #KentNature #hymenoptera #wasps

Holopyga generosa, a Chrysid wasp with metallic green thorax and head, and metallic red gaster.

Tarsus of Holopyga generosa, showing the multiple teeth behind the apex.

Holopyga generosa, showing the right-angled bend in the medial vein of the wing.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 6

While the sun shone last week, @nationaltrust.org.uk's High Down near The Needles was great for insects - Glanville Fritillary in numbers, as well as Dingy & Grizzled Skippers. And Rose Chafers loving the Thrift above Alum Bay. #IsleOfWight

Rose Chafer (lower right corner of image) on Thrift flowers.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 5

I'm back at my old stamping ground of Ranscombe Farm Reserve next Wednesday afternoon, leading a guided walk as part of the reserve's 20th anniversary celebrations. It's free, and there's still a few places left if you fancy joining us. Details/booking here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stories-fr...

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 1

Carisbrooke Castle is fascinating - interesting history, great museum, donkeys - plus @englishheritage.bsky.social seems to have embraced #NoMowMay - hence Bee Orchids. Also Jersey Cudweed on the walls was a nice bonus. #IsleOfWight

A Bee Orchid growing amongst unmown grass. In thebackground and out of focus, the castle wall.

A view from a tower-top. A level stone surface in the foreground, with tall stone buildings behind. Amongst sparse vegetation at the front are the slender stems and yellowish flowerheads of Jersey Cudweed.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 1

Also gob-smacking and just a short distance from the Field Cow-wheat site was #Ventnor Botanic Gardens. Way too many plants that you just want to take home.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· Jun 1

Field Cow-wheat Melampyrum arvense looking like a flame, on a HIWWT reserve on the #IsleOfWight yesterday. A plant I was hoping, but not really expecting, to see. Botanically gob-smacked by it.

Yellow-and-purple flowers projecting from a mass of deep pink bracts in a flowerhead of Field Cow-wheat, against a background of open countryside.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· May 31

Pyramidal Orchid on the undercliff at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight today #wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge

The bright pink, conical flowerhead of Pyramidal Orchid against green vegetation and with bright blue sea and sky behind.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· May 26

Presumably (perhaps?) this extremely hot weather is driving a lot of insect movement - which may explain various species turning up for the first time in the garden, such as this very handsome Agapanthia villosoviridescens longhorn beetle which I netted yesterday. #coleoptera #KentNature

A slender, dark beetle, perched on a finger-tip. It's body has a light covering of golden hairs, and it's very long antennae are banded black-and-white.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· May 23

Some insects new to the garden today - always amazed how they keep on coming! The smart micromoth Ethmia quadrillella, the beetle Tillus elongatus (both from the moth trap last night), and the Denticulate Leatherbug Coriomeris denticulatus. #KentNature

Ethmia quadrillella, a micrometer with distinctive black-and-white markings.

Tillus elongated, a small beetle with serrated antennae. It is black except for the red pronotum.

Denticulate Leatherbug Coriomeris denticulatus, a red-brown hug, standing on one of the outer florets of an Ox-eye Daisy flowerhead.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· May 22

Out yesterday to recce some sites for @kentfieldclub.bsky.social visits. Nice to find a couple of fairly uncommon insects - the bug Aphanus rolandri on a Low Weald farm & the beetle Platystomos albinus at @kentwildlife.bsky.social's Ironhurst Valley. #KentNature

A hedgerow in the foreground, with a grassy field, and a row of tall trees at the back.

A broad grassy field with a few cattle in the middle distance, and trees in the background.

An oval-shaped, black bug against the tip of a finger. The bug has a single red spot towards the back end of its body.

A dark beetle with white patches, on the back of a hand. The beetle faces left.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· May 17

A new #Microladybird for me - Spotted Marsh Ladybird Coccidula scutellata, taken from Yellow Flag Iris on today's @kentfieldclub.bsky.social meeting at Allington Castle. #KentNature

A 3mm long beetle. Predominantly a red-brown colour, but with dark patches on the elytra.

Underside of the same beetle, showing the the abdomen is dark underneath, except for the last few sections.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· May 15

The memorial to Hans Meyer at Wychling Church in North Kent. Hans was a refugee from Nazi Germany who taught with Anna Essinger at Bunce Court - the 'school that escaped the Nazis'. If you don't know this story, I've put links in the next post.

A stone with four nameplates fixed to it. Clockwise from bottom left, they read Hans Josrph Meyer 4.1.1913 - 8.5.2009; Tyler Laurence Meyer 4.10.1942 - 23.9.1964; Susanne Meyer 8.6.1936 - 29.10.2015; Hannah Elisabeth Meyer 14-7-1909 21-11-1977.

A close-up of the nameplate for Hans Meyer.

Richard Moyse@kentgrasshoppers· May 10

Cow-parsley and Spotted Medick growing next to each other at the base of a hedge on local allotments. #carrotsandpeas in a single photo. #wildflowerhour