whats this one,Buzzy?

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whats this one,Buzzy?
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gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8952
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sat May 26, 18 9:50 am Post subject: whats this one,Buzzy?
We worked at a smallholding at the Water of Minnoch...they have fruit trees, willow,pine about there,plus heather and grass

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Sat May 26, 18 1:27 pm Post subject:
That's the Two-banded Longhorn Beetle (Rhagium bifasciatum) supposedly a common species, though I don't recall having seen it. Larvae feed on dead wood, I expect the adults feed on nectar. Good picture. Henry

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Sat May 26, 18 1:42 pm Post subject:
Sometimes it seems to be in the genus Hagrium Henry

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8952
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sat May 26, 18 4:03 pm Post subject:
There is plenty of dead wood around...they used pine poles for building garden steps/borders 15 yeas ago and most are getting soft. Also the forestry is sometimes badly cleared when felling,so in some blocks there is a lot of dead wood

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46246
Location: yes

Posted: Sat May 26, 18 10:42 pm Post subject:
as well as woodland recycling they do know about snazzy dressing.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Sun May 27, 18 7:29 am Post subject:

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Sun May 27, 18 1:37 pm Post subject:

gz wrote:

There is plenty of dead wood around...they used pine poles for building garden steps/borders 15 yeas ago and most are getting soft.
Also the forestry is sometimes badly cleared when felling,so in some blocks there is a lot of dead wood

Dead wood is good! It feeds lots of invertebrates, including handsome beetles like this one. Everybody who cuts down a tree should leave at least some pieces of wood to decay naturally.

Heaps of logs of various sizes make nooks and crannies for many creatures.

Henry

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Mon May 28, 18 5:49 am Post subject:
The current teaching on forestry is to leave standing and fallen deadwood, but this isn't always followed in conifer plantation as it can be a source of disease. We have seen hornets round the woods so they must be nesting in a tree somewhere, usually in a hole in deadwood.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Mon May 28, 18 10:04 am Post subject:
Hornets might be in a bird nest box, or a bat box, if you have those Henry

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46246
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 28, 18 6:26 pm Post subject:
mweep, once we get the boxes into the trees around the orchard vermin removal is somebody else's job . i have come across small colony bees in a bird box, they seemed quite happy and a reasonable substitute for avians, afaik they are still there.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Mon May 28, 18 9:32 pm Post subject:
Nothing wrong with Hornets, as long as you leave them alone. People say they are less prone to unprovoked attacks than your usual wasp. Henry

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46246
Location: yes

Posted: Tue May 29, 18 12:08 am Post subject:

they are ok if you leave em alone, sharing a territory or working in theirs can upset them a bit .

when i built a winter home ( in summer ) the " locals " were a bit tetchy at first, nearly 2 decades on i still have scars from the 5 stings to the leg .
we got on after their initial fury but whatever the literature says they have a poke nastier than bee or wasp .

learning to live with them includes learning when to run at least 25 meters ( away from their nest

)

once they get to know you they seem mostly ok unless surprised or confused .

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Tue May 29, 18 1:27 am Post subject:

Any Asian Longhorn Beetle scares in the British Isles yet?

Definitely worth watching out for! Sightings call for removal of all host trees for something like a mile radius

The hornets I'm most familiar with here are "bald faced" AKA "white face" that make the classic paper nest on a tree limb (or house soffit) with only one entrance at the bottom. They're quite aggressive. Similar to the type of hornet you're talking about?

On one of my preferred walks (lots of tasty wild mushrooms throughout the year) I pass by a white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) tree with feral honeybees living in it's hollow cavity. Always fun to see if they've survived the winter or not, and to ponder if the cedar helps to keep out wax moth.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue May 29, 18 6:35 am Post subject:

Slim wrote:

Any Asian Longhorn Beetle scares in the British Isles yet?

yes:

https://www.forestry.gov.uk/asianlonghornbeetle

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Tue May 29, 18 6:59 am Post subject:
With constant vigilance, to date all infestations have been contained, but it is certainly a worry, as are other potential pests and diseases. We are currently suffering from Chelara ash die back in out woods. We are hoping that a good proportion of the trees will survive, as they are self set and variable, but we are pretty sure we will lose some unfortunately.

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