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Sam Carr
Hertfordshire, England
Interests: Technology, nature, photography, sport
Recent Activity
Steph's Pale tussock moths emerge
Posted Apr 30, 2014 at UK Nature Blog
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Nature notes - March 2014
Posted Mar 19, 2014 at UK Nature Blog
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ToffeeApple - Really? I've never heard of harvestmen attacking spiders, though supposedly they are omnivores and will eat pretty much anything. I'd love to see a picture if you can get one.
Odds and sods
Time to come out of hibernation! Here is a random assortment of things: Did you know that Harvestmen (Opiliones) cluster together in a dense mass? Neither did I, but there are some great videos out there. People tend to name them incorrectly as spiders mind you. Note that Americans call them Da...
Snowdrops and aconites at Anglesey Abbey
Posted Feb 23, 2014 at UK Nature Blog
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Wildlife you can find in the walls of your garden and home
Posted Feb 19, 2014 at UK Nature Blog
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Melanic garden spider
Posted Feb 1, 2014 at UK Nature Blog
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Odds and sods
Time to come out of hibernation! Here is a random assortment of things: Did you know that Harvestmen (Opiliones) cluster together in a dense mass? Neither did I, but there are some great videos out there. People tend to name them incorrectly as spiders mind you. Note that Americans call them Daddy Long Legs, but we use that name for Crane Flies mostly. If you missed WinterWatch on the BCC over the last week, it's all available online, incluing "Live: Winterwatch at the Big Garden Birdwatch" throughout this weekend. I wish someone would invent a bird feeder that's impervious to... Continue reading
Posted Jan 25, 2014 at UK Nature Blog
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Winter berries
Posted Dec 12, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Not very often, to be honest. A couple a year probably, maximum.
A striking autumn Ichneumon wasp
This strikingly beautiful wasp appeared as I worked in the garden, perhaps disturbed by my activity. I'm confident it is Pimpla rufipes, common in the autumn and fairly widespread. It doesn't have the enormously long ovipositor (pointy bit at the end of a female, for laying eggs) that some ic...
A striking autumn Ichneumon wasp
Posted Nov 5, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Classic toadstool
Posted Nov 4, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Nice! Great info - thanks.
Snail / slug eggs
Thanks to Glyn, who sent in this picture of mystery eggs found in his garden, in a wet, cool spot under a concrete slab. They are in fact snail or slug eggs - I have no idea if it's possible to tell the difference easily. Presumably fairly big ones though.
I wondered the same, but I couldn't actually find an example that looked like this.
Unknown cave bug
Paul sends in this shot of a mystery beastie, photographed in a small cave in the north east of England. He describes it as follows. "At first glance it looks like a cricket but lacks the hind legs etc. Its antennae bend backwards and it has two long appendages from the rear." I can't figure ...
Sorry - I have no idea. I would look at the logger config file and see if you can specify a different log level for the relevant fully qualified class name, or something like that. I haven't used this stuff for a couple of years so I'm guessing.
Grails custom exception mapping
Updated 17/3/2011 with a solution to Spring Security redirecting. I had a bit of a fight against Grails to get security exceptions handled the way I wanted, but having figured it out I thought I'd write it up. It's really very simple - I had just had the wrong end of the stick. I want to be able...
Unknown cave bug
Posted Oct 27, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Snail / slug eggs
Posted Oct 18, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Pale tussock moth caterpillars as pets
Posted Oct 16, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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More National Trust Uncovered weekends upcoming
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a National Trust 'Uncovered' weekend at Sheringham Park in Norfolk. They have two more coming up at different locations, which sound like they're very worth attending if you're anywhere nearby. In their own words: At the Wimpole Estate near Cambridge - on 5-6 October - we'll be holding a weekend to help visitors discover how the farming of our land for food has over time shaped the landscape. Farming and nature are obviously very closely related, and walks/talks during the weekend will cover lots of wildlife-friendly traditional farming practices, like hedge-laying and... Continue reading
Posted Oct 3, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Almost certainly Steatoda family (more than one of which seem to be known as false widows) - just not sure which variety exactly.
Mystery spider
It's becoming a terrible habit, but I have another critter that I haven't been able to identify with twenty minutes of web searching. I've pored over pages full of pictures of UK spiders and Googled "UK spider massive palps" and similar things, but to no avail! Best current guess is a Lace w...
House spider survey, with phone app
Posted Sep 19, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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National Trust trees and 'Uncovered' weekend at Sheringham Park
Posted Sep 11, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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It's amazing the things that happen in nature, and what you see if you just stop and watch for a while. Just the other day I watched butterflies laying eggs on my brassicas, then a wasp checking all the leaves, presumably hunting for caterpillars.
Vapourer moth caterpillar
Look at this exotic, hairy brute devouring my rose bush! It didn't take long Googling "caterpillar with brushes on its back" to discover that this is a caterpillar of the Vapourer moth. The head is just out of sight at the leftmost end. Here's an alternative photo (not one of mine) that giv...
Slime mould that looks like a shiny brain
Posted Sep 5, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Pond dipping for beetles
Posted Aug 26, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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Nature notes - August 2013
Posted Aug 20, 2013 at UK Nature Blog
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