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STILL OBSERVING CURIOSITIES
13/10/2022
Despite having had to stop work in France and close my office because of the Brexit disgrace foisted so cruelly and deceitfully on the UK population, I am still able to come and stay to observe and record natural history as long as my visits don’t exceed 90 days in any 180 day period. This is more than enough for me just now, even if my earlier plans for retirement have been destroyed by those who corrupted the 2016 EU referendum. More importantly, the Brexiters have wrecked science collaboration as well as stealing our EU citizenship and other rights and privileges that were so highly valued and so important for a united European policy platform. Yes, I am still bitter and enraged at the Brexiters, more than ever in fact, and I hope someday those who brought Brexit about with their shady money, eye-watering mendacity and tentacular political manipulations will get their just desserts.
Anyway, enough remainer rage – this peculiar little chap, resting on one of our door frames this week, is a species of mantis I had not seen before, although it is native to southern France. It is Empusa pennata (Thunberg, 1815), the conehead mantis, and not much like the praying mantis we usually see here (lower photo) Mantis religiosa. The conehead mantis can grow to 10cm or more in length but is rather spindly, as you can see, and males are smaller than females which are also broader than males. They are exceptionally well camouflaged when in their natural dry scrubby habitat, though they also live in grassy places where individuals tend to be greener. As with all mantids, they are efficient predators, capturing prey, which can be as large as they are, by pouncing on it and gripping it between their spiny front legs.
Another curious invertebrate I have seen here this week is this heteropteran bug. I have not managed to identify it yet but it looks like one of the Coreidae. If you know what it is, do please email me at nature@bettsecology.co.uk
The really worrying news of the week, though, is the WWF’s latest Living Planet report on species extinctions (https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-gb/) which reveals that “global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970”, going on to state that “The staggering rate of decline is a severe warning that the rich biodiversity that sustains all life on our planet is in crisis, putting every species at risk – including us.” I have certainly noticed a striking reduction in insects and birds both in the UK and here in France. It is a catastrophe that so many politicians seem largely to ignore – I would say at their peril, and ours. On the land we manage, we at Betts Ecology strive constantly to protect and enhance species richness and biodiversity, but things are so bad now that only a huge global effort and action by all of us (and that includes you Liz Truss!) can start to reverse this dire trend. Come on, everyone, wake up!
© Betts Ecology
