 |
| Feather Mite from Sparrow |
According to CNN, a federal grand jury in Washington approved the first charges on Friday, of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Anyone charged could be taken into custody as early as Monday. The report has apparently been confirmed by several sources according to Fox News but remain a minor news item at the moment.
Brexit irony of the day: Belfast and Derry, Dundee, Milton Keynes, Leeds and Nottingham are submitting their final bids for European capital of culture 2023.
I have a perennial problem when trying to find the village hall at the small Suffolk village of Bradfield St George. As per usual, I got lost when reaching the village and had to ask for directions. However, a slightly late arrival did not detract from an enjoyable day at the Eastern Counties Microscopy Study Meeting, at which I also gave a short presentation on the Quekett Spotted Wing Drosophila Survey on iNaturalist.org.
Arthropods dominated my interest on the day. It started with marveling at the small live Asian scorpion walking unconcernedly over Robert's hands as he shone a blue light on it, making it fluoresce. Robert had also brought a collection of several different species of stick insects. the females are alwas much larger than the males, which climb onto the female's back to hitch a ride and stay with her, on the basis that "Once I've found my woman, I'll not let her go"!
John had developed an interest in mites, fleas and lice in birds and had prepared a spectacular slide of a feather mite from a sparrow. Feather mites are incredibly species specific and this tiny specimen sported an oversized pair of flattened third legs, which presumably aided the hold on the small bird's feathers.
The other talk of the day was on the different groups of beetles by Tim, who had brought his collection of examples of Coleoptera along to illustrate the talk. He recommended a window trap or 'Flight Intercept Trap' for catching insects, including beetles. The principle is very simple: you have two sheets of perspex interleaved with each other so that they can freely stand on their own in a washing up basin filled with ethylene glycol (antifreeze). the insect comes flying along, hits one of the perspex panes and falls stunned into the liquid trap. I've just found a simpler trap made using a perspex drinks bottle online, which works on the same principle. I might be tempted to have a go.
Brexit irony of the day: Belfast and Derry, Dundee, Milton Keynes, Leeds and Nottingham are submitting their final bids for European capital of culture 2023.
I have a perennial problem when trying to find the village hall at the small Suffolk village of Bradfield St George. As per usual, I got lost when reaching the village and had to ask for directions. However, a slightly late arrival did not detract from an enjoyable day at the Eastern Counties Microscopy Study Meeting, at which I also gave a short presentation on the Quekett Spotted Wing Drosophila Survey on iNaturalist.org.
Arthropods dominated my interest on the day. It started with marveling at the small live Asian scorpion walking unconcernedly over Robert's hands as he shone a blue light on it, making it fluoresce. Robert had also brought a collection of several different species of stick insects. the females are alwas much larger than the males, which climb onto the female's back to hitch a ride and stay with her, on the basis that "Once I've found my woman, I'll not let her go"!
John had developed an interest in mites, fleas and lice in birds and had prepared a spectacular slide of a feather mite from a sparrow. Feather mites are incredibly species specific and this tiny specimen sported an oversized pair of flattened third legs, which presumably aided the hold on the small bird's feathers.
The other talk of the day was on the different groups of beetles by Tim, who had brought his collection of examples of Coleoptera along to illustrate the talk. He recommended a window trap or 'Flight Intercept Trap' for catching insects, including beetles. The principle is very simple: you have two sheets of perspex interleaved with each other so that they can freely stand on their own in a washing up basin filled with ethylene glycol (antifreeze). the insect comes flying along, hits one of the perspex panes and falls stunned into the liquid trap. I've just found a simpler trap made using a perspex drinks bottle online, which works on the same principle. I might be tempted to have a go.
No comments:
Post a Comment