Italy in June
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My visit to Italy around mid-June revealed a surprising
number of interesting species. Previous visits have been in
the Spring or Autumn rather than the early Summer. I did not
specifically study any of the wildlife, just noted what was
to be seen in the passing and most of the insect life didn't
hang about to allow a close look or a photograph of course.
I thought the results may interest some of you. Many of the
things seen can also be found somewhere in the United Kingdom
but perhaps not in this particular part of it. Due to weight
restrictions, I was only equipped with a simple pocket sized
digital camera - hardly adequate for photographing small creatures
- but I tried my best!
Location
The house is close to Oriolo Romano, a small town
to the northwest of Lake Bracciano which is, in turn, to the
northwest of Rome. The house grounds consist of an area of maintained
grass plus a substantial area that is left completely wild and
cherry, apple and plum trees are dotted around. The property
is surrounded on two sides by trees, mainly oak, and on two
sides by rolling hills and open farmland, mostly grass. The
whole area is mostly grazing land but there are many plantations
of hazel (a major crop for the area). Virtually all field are
enclosed within a tree line or hedgerow. Trees are mostly oak
but there are other species such as pine, cedar and willow there
too. The hedgerows are mainly of bramble and wild plum (a nasty,
very invasive creature with long thorns but it does produce
a delicious small plum fruit).
Unlike Britain, Italy has had a long cold and
wet spring this year. Warm, sunny weather didn't arrive until
early June - and it still went cool and wet again in the middle
of the month. This has obviously caused some disruption to nature.
Grass and plants were doing well but wildlife seemed to be playing
'catch up' so what I saw may not altogether be typical for the
time of year.
The Insects
Insect life abounds - it would be an entomologists paradise!
On the ground there is a wide variety of ants and
spiders, the latter ranging from tiny to the quite large. Two
spiders seem to be particularly noticeable. The first is a type
of ground spider but can also be referred to as a funnel spider
(right) as it builds funnel shaped web nests. These are quite
prolific. The spider itself, though, is only rarely seen.
The second type is a variety of wasp spider, so called for its
markings. They are also 
known,
albeit incorrectly, as 'St.Andrews Cross' spiders as they park
on their webs with legs arranged in four pairs in the form of
a Saltire.This one, shown left, shows the markings but didn't
have its legs quite parked in the usual way when the picture
was taken. Only one was seen on this visit but they will become
more common as autumn approaches.
On the wing there are numerous types of flies (unfortunately
including the Tiger Mosquito, a real nasty), many types of solitary
bee, various wasps including parasitic types and numerous grasshoppers
and crickets that tend to fly rather than jump when disturbed,
often showing brilliant blue or red wing colouring. Bumblebees
are very scarce, the
nearest thing being Carpenter Bees which resemble an all-black
Bumblebee.
There are numerous types of beetle - firebugs, shieldbugs, leafhoppers,
etc. I photographed a Longhorn Beetle (Cerambycidae ??) - body
about 25mm (1") long and antennae about 60mm (2.5")
long. The grubs of these bore into 
wood
and can do incredible amountsof damage.
Also known to be around are European Black Scorpions although
very rarely seen - among the many visits, I have seen only one
(left) and that was an unwelcome bedroom visitor that took quite
a bit of catching!!
Mammals, Lizards & Toads
For mammals & other legged creatures, they are seen but
rarely. There is wild boar, foxes, European porcupine and Black
Squirrel (apparently a melamine form of the Red, not Grey, Squirrel
and may possibly be a sub-species). I have never sighted any
of these other than a single fox on the road to Oriolo Romano.
There are mice, probably fieldmice, as they seem to invade houses
in winter, chewing away at things they shouldn't, and leave
again in the spring. Lizards, though, are quite 
common
and can often be seen in sunny spots. Fairly common, again rarely
seen unless you are delving
under rocks, is slowworm which, of course, is not a worm at
all but a reptile that has evolved to live largely underground
and has virtually no remnant of legs. Toads are regularly seen
and are huge compared to the ones we are used to. Some. like
the one pictured, have bodies well over 4 inches across!
Moths & Butterflies
The stars of the show! Butterfies galore plus a few day-flying
moths. Oddly, very few night moths were seen - on previous visits
there has normally been quite a lot attracted to the outside
lights. Only a very few small moths, including a plume moth,
were sighted. However, daytime was a different matter with considerable
numbers of mainly small and nondescript moths fluttering about,
usually impossible to approach for a closer look. However, there
were two colourful crackers that were easily identified. 
The
first was a Crimson Tiger (left), similar to our Garden Tiger
but with white spots rather than streaks on the wings and a
much more intense body colour. The second one (right) seems
to have no common name other than 'Nine Spotted Moth' but is
Syntomis Phegea (or Amata Phegea) in Latin. Very colourful creatures.
The commonest butterfly, and there were hundreds, seemed to
be the Meadow Brown, pictured on the left. These are probably
the most widespread 
butterfly
within Europe. There were a few smaller but similar ones that
may have been Gatekeepers - they are very similar but the Gatekeeper
flies a little later in the year than the Meadow Brown. There
were quite a few coppery coloured fritillaries. Almost impossible
to view their underwings as they normally with rested with wings
or, more often, flew off as I approached. The underwing markings
are
normally crucial to identification. There seemed to be three
varieties. One was Silver Washed Fritillary, the other two not
positively identified although one was believed to be a Pearl
Bordered Fritillary. To complete the coppery coloured butterflies,
there were some Small Coppers around. One or two Common Blues
appeared, early in the season for them, and they will become
quite prolific by autumn. An extremely small blue butterfly
was briefly sighted but no identification was 
possible.
A new one for me was a White Admiral (left).
White butterflies were quite common but they were always on
the wing so no close look was possible and there could have
been more than just one variety. I have moaned that, on previous
visits, a bright yellow butterfly would flutter past every now
and then but I could never get close to it for identification.
That has changed! In the space of no more than 30 minutes two
of them flew past only feet away and allowed a good view. Alas
no photographs possible. One was a Clouded Yellow (yellow wing
with black tips/edges) and the other a Brimstone (wing all yellow
with a small spot centred on each). Made my day! Two other small
butterflies were seen. The first had near black body, upper
wings black with a distinct red border and underwing very speckled.
It could perhaps have been a Brown Argus or a Sooty Copper.
The other one had a copper/light brown upper wing with a distinct
black border and a very thin white edge, no other obvious markings.
I can find nothing to match it in my book so this one remains
completely unidentified.
Birds
Italy is renowned for its 'hunting' and, despite opposition,
the participants fiercely defend their right to continue their
pursuit so it continues unabated. All birds, including what
we regard as small garden birds, are regarded as trophies or
food. I have remarked in the past that despite a superb habitat
and abundant insect life, small birds are exceedingly scarce.
On this visit, the numbers continued to be very small although
the number of species was higher than before. The commonest
was the Magpie, closely followed by Jays. On previous visits
Green Woodpeckers were seen almost as often as these two
but, this time, they were much less in evidence. One pair of
Great Tit and another of Blue Tit showed occasionally. I had
one sighting of a Bee-eater (right, not my picture). I'm told
these very colourful birds leave the area in the summer and
I have ceratinly seen good numbers there in the Autumn. Others
sighted were Hoopoe, a Sparrowhawk, a beautifuly marked male
Kestrel, a Blackbird and a Robin. A few Hooded Crows were always
around as was a flock of about 20 Starlings. Occasionally a
few Chaffinches put in an appearance.as did some Collared Doves.
There was at least two pairs of Turtle Doves in the vicinity,
only occasionally seen but their purring sound could be heard
almost constantly. This is the first time I have seen them there.
A warbler was heard frequently and there were occasional brief
sightings, whether of the same one or not, but appearance suggested
Willow Warbler while the song was a little different but still
resembling our local ones. Overhead there were always Swifts
and some Swallows & Martins but, dark against the sky, we
couldn't tell which type of Martin. A bird that is quite common
there but rarely seen though often heard, during daytime as
well as evening or night, as it chimes with a 'pionng' sound
is Scops Owl.
Plants
Unfortunately, identifying wildflowers is not my strong point!
Although able to recognise many of our native plants, putting
a name to them is another matter! Out there I saw many that
were completely unknown to me so no hope in identifying them.
Roadside verges and waste land was ablaze with colour. The main
plant looked like scabious but pink rather than blue. This was
interspersed with a purple vetch and an orangey-red poppy. Under
and through that was convolvulus (bindweed) while some thistle
and teasel poked their way up out of the mass. Many other plants
were in there too. Altogether it made for a very colourful scene.
Perhaps I should try photographing some of these plants on a
later visit to see if anyone can put a name to them.
Thank you for viewing
John
