A green-fruited Elder at Llantrisant

I actually spotted this last year, but thought it was worth a quick post now for its curiosity value!

All fruits of Elder (Sambucus nigra) of course start off green, but the ones on this bush at Llantrisant stay that way as they ripen, before shrivelling and/or going mouldy.

 

Fruits of the green-fruited Elder...

 

...and for comparison unripe fruits of the ordinary black-fruited Elder.

 

It seems to be uncommon (it's the first time I've come across it in 15 years of botanising), but must be easy to overlook – Stace (edition 3) says the fruits of Elder are “sometimes" greenish-yellow.

This taxon was previously referred to as a variety (going under various epithets including viridis, chlorocarpa, virescens and leucocarpa), but is now demoted to a mere form (viridis). As well as the colour of the ripe fruits, I think their translucent look helps to distinguish them from unripe fruits of normal elderberries. In the photo you can also see that the fruit-stalks aren't as strongly red-coloured.

 
And the taste test? They’re not bad, actually!

Cardiff coastal path

Two of the 28 spikes of Autumn Lady's Tresses found today along the Cardiff coastal path near the Water Treatment Works. This is the first time I've found them on the eastern side of the heliport. This is the only area where this species is known from in the Cardiff UA [per database].

Photo from iPhone. 

A Tiny Gem

Wandering around the forest above my house, this afternoon, I came across two of these little beauties, scurrying across the ride in one of the more open, heathy areas. The first one quickly disappeared into the vegetation, but this one was far more obliging, allowing me to get some decent photos.

Sermylassa halensis

A beautiful and distinctive, if diminutive, being only around 5-6mm long, Sermylassa halensis, has as its larval food plant, various members of the Bedstraw family, so in the case of the two I saw, they would be using Heath Bedstraw, which is quite common up there.There don't seem to be many records of it in Glamorgan, at least on MapMate.

I also photographed this wasp. I haven't been able to identify it, but it makes a nice photo nonetheless.

Marsh Frits and Cranberry

There seems to be something of a welcome revival with Marsh Frits on the NE side of Tonyrefail, with no less than 38 larval webs counted by Ben Williams and I yesterday. So it sounds like the dozen or so adults seen in June must have either been very busy or we somehow missed the peak activity. Also Cranberry is much in evidence along the sphagnum filled ditches and berries should be fully ripened next month. We're trying to find some way of getting cattle to graze some of the ranker parts to hopefully avoid worst of winter grass fires.

Scorpion Fly in the house - take 2

hi Dave

Couldn't see an option to add an image in a 'reply' so ....

Looked at my other images for a clearer view of the genital capsule. This was the best I had and it does look as though the hypovalves match those of Panorpa cognata. Thanks for the pointer.

Howard

Scorpion Fly in the house

Having seen my first ever Scorpion Fly last week, one flew into the kitchen on Saturday ... male this time! Easy to see how they got their name.

Howard

Spotted crane fly at Forest Farm

Lunchtime stroll around Forest Farm today and stumbled across these - almost stepped on the crane fly!
Having never seen one of these before, I have been scanning images on the internet and now assume it to be a Spotted Crane fly.

Further down the path I spotted this, which following the same process as above I assume to be a Scorpion Fly. It flew away before I had a chance to grab any other shots.

I would be grateful for confirmation of these IDs. Amazing what you can find when you're not looking for them!

Howard