Blog
Meet the critters
Leaf-miner flies
Have you ever noticed these white lines on leaves? What insect could be making these? It’s a tiny fly: the leaf-miner fly, or in Dutch: de mineervlieg. The adult female fly makes a tiny hole in the leaf tissue with her ovipositor, used for drinking the plant’s sap, but also for laying its eggs inside […]
Black and red butterfly
Working from home has its advantages, especially when you face your garden while typing away on your laptop. I got distracted when I noticed a very red butterfly flapping away. I didn’t remember ever having seen a red butterfly. I got up, grabbed my camera and hoped that it would stay still somewhere. It did! […]
A story about a pidgeon
I was working from home (quarantaine you know) a couple of days ago when I noticed a young pidgeon walking calmy around my garden. An hour later I had lunch break and the pidgeon was still there. Curious, I tried to approach it. To my surprise, it didn’t back away. Instead, when I seated myself […]
European green woodpecker
This guy sat in my garden a few days ago. It’s the first time I saw this European green woodpecker here. In Dutch it’s called ‘groene specht’. They’re beautiful with the red feathers on their heads. Especially the size of their tongue is remarkable, it’s about 10 cm long and used for eating ants. This […]
The meadow spittlebug
Have you ever walked underneath willow trees and had drops of ‘water’ fall onto you? Yeah, that’s not a rainy microclimate, but the spit of the meadow spittlebug, or in Dutch ‘schuimbeestje’ or ‘spuugbeestje’. So what is this spit exactly? It’s the nest of a juvenile spittlebug. While they suck the juice out of a […]
Meadow plant bug
Let’s get to know the meadow plant bug, or ‘grote bonte graswants’ as it’s called in Dutch. I found this little fellow in The Ardennes, but I’ve found others in my garden as well. They prefer grassy places. That’s because they feed themselves on the growing seeds of grass plants. They have a specific type […]
Witches’ butter
Yes, you read that correctly. The following fungus is called witches’ butter. Tasty! It also goes by a lot of other names apparently: yellow brain, golden jelly fungus and yellow trembler. In Dutch it’s simply called gele trilzwam. Latin name: Tremella mesenterica.
The Napoleon spider
Meet the Napoleon spider, named so because the black spots on this spider’s back resemble the famous French emperor Napoleon. In dutch this spider is called ‘blinkende krabspin’.
Gele kever met zwarte stippen
Het was mijn oudste zoontje die ermee afkwam op een warme, late winterdag. “Mama, mama, ik heb een lieveheersbeestje!” Dat het geen lieveheersbeestje was, had ik snel door. Maar wat was het dan wel? Zowel Google als een app om insecten te herkennen, sloegen er niet in mij te helpen. Tot ik 1 juiste afbeelding […]
De Europese Hoornaar
Er zijn zo van die insecten waar je al van gehoord hebt, maar die je nog nooit gezien hebt. Totdat je er eentje ziet, en plots ergens anders nog eentje… Dat fenomeen heeft een naam: het Baader-Meinhof fenomeen. Ik heb het de laatste tijd met hoornaars.