White Powder

Over the last couple of days whilst out looking for leaf mines, I've stumbled across a number of powdery mildews. A couple I recognised, others I've just ignored in the past and one I've never noticed at all. Most of the following are quick phone snaps, but you get the gist.

A couple of the more obvious ones were these:

Erysiphe alphitoides [Oak Mildew] on Oak

Sawadaea bicornis [Field Maple Mildew] on Field Maple

The next few have almost certainly been seen before but ignored:

Erysiphe heraclei [Umbelifer Mildew] on Hogweed

Golovinomyces sordidus [Plantain Mildew] on Greater Plantain

Neoerysiphe galeopsidis [Mint Mildew] on White Dead-nettle

But this one I'm sure I've not seen before to be able to ignore it. On a Salix sp., with both sides of the leaves affected and colourful cleistothecia on the underside of the sample leaf I collected. Seems to be Erysiphe adunca [var adunca]. As you can gather from the above, these mildews have very inventive common names and it will be no surprise to hear this one is known as Willow Mildew.

All of this would have been right up Seth's gata if he was still on blogger, just like this Swedish metal.

Croft Hill Bits

I nipped over to Croft Hill for a brief walk around yesterday afternoon. It was good to get out and have a look at a few bits for a change, seems like I've had another busy period where time flies by. Nothing too out of the ordinary, with larval life being the most notable things I pointed the lens at.

Pretty sure this is Diurnea fagella - has those odd enlarged third thoracic legs. Found this feeding in a spun tent on hazel.

This is a hoverfly larva, and probably a Syrphus/Eupoedes sp.

Harlequin Ladybird larva - found loads of these.

Myathropa florea

Mesembrina meridiana

And this spectacular thing is a powdery mildew on oak - Erysiphe alphitoides