Kevin
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Post by Kevin on Jul 4, 2007 11:02:49 GMT
Here now it´s starting a second firefly season, with the appearance of bigger species. And there in UK or any other country, did someone noticed any glow worm? I looked for them quite a lot last year, and a few times so far this year, and have yet to find any unfortunatly, I think they must be very rare, or absent in my area.
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Post by lippy on Jul 4, 2007 13:02:53 GMT
Amazing!
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apple
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Post by apple on Jul 4, 2007 13:07:41 GMT
Here now it´s starting a second firefly season, with the appearance of bigger species. And there in UK or any other country, did someone noticed any glow worm? I looked for them quite a lot last year, and a few times so far this year, and have yet to find any unfortunatly, I think they must be very rare, or absent in my area. They maybe are very rare there. However there are some reports from Wales. With some updates here is: www.galaxypix.com/glowworms/
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Jul 4, 2007 13:20:59 GMT
According to the list, theres very few confirmed glow worm sites in South Wales, and none in Mid Glamorgan, I wonder if they can still be found in Merthyr Mawr though, it should be possible for me to go and look for them there.
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apple
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Post by apple on Jul 13, 2007 11:21:38 GMT
Cool! Then let us know if you see something!
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apple
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Post by apple on Jul 24, 2007 4:23:04 GMT
I´m back from a firefly trip ( well a trip for many things lool). I´ll post here a report later.
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apple
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Post by apple on Aug 3, 2007 0:39:37 GMT
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apple
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Post by apple on Oct 24, 2007 21:04:27 GMT
So did someone spoted glow worms or fireflies this year?
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apple
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Post by apple on Feb 7, 2008 3:52:12 GMT
Here the first fireflies are starting to bright our nights. I saw the first one last tuesday on the woods. He made a sort of yellow blinking while he flew between the tree leaves.
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apple
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Post by apple on Jun 21, 2008 1:49:09 GMT
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apple
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Post by apple on Nov 15, 2008 15:51:32 GMT
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coyote
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Post by coyote on Nov 15, 2008 19:17:18 GMT
Ooh, that's very pretty, Apple! Thanks for posting it!
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Rachel
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They see me snailin'
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Post by Rachel on Nov 16, 2008 15:11:06 GMT
i love fireflies, never see any round here though. i'd love to get some in my garden, but don't have a clue if its ever going to happen. they are soo pretty
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apple
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Post by apple on Nov 19, 2008 19:01:44 GMT
i love fireflies, never see any round here though. i'd love to get some in my garden, but don't have a clue if its ever going to happen. they are soo pretty I can help you on that. Can you describe your garden in the following aspects: - Artificial lighting. - Area - Vegetation/habitat ( if have any trees, shrubs,small plants, logs, stones,etc...). Then I can tell you if you can have glow worms. ;D
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apple
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Post by apple on Nov 19, 2008 20:35:42 GMT
2006, Firefly trip. Second camping place: Mamede mountain. It´s quite near Spain and it´s an «oasis» on the middle of a dry land with some water resources even on summer. Flora: Pinewood and mediterranean scrubland ( already changed by man, not primitive). Altitude of the camping place: around 850 meter above sea level. I would like to say that this place showed the biggest star display at night that I ever saw in my life until now, maybe due to the very low light emissions from the nearest villages. We went here mostly to search for a very special and rare specie of firefly, but without sucess this time, but we found some different species instead and nice landscapes. NEW UPDATE of 2008: I found the specie 1 year later on july,2007 and also on July 2008, right on this place ( shown on the picture)!! It was small and medium sized larvae of : Phosphaenopterus metzneri. This specie is strange: They are related to the luminous, apterous and non flying Phosphaenus hemipterus, but the male flies, aparently both ( males and females) communicate by pheromones and not light signals and nothing is known about their bioluminescence. However I did the first report about it stating that larvae indeed are luminous, glowing green from 2 light organs on the tail.. It only exists a brief and pretty ancient description of the male, nothing about the female.... I found this specie also on the other side of the mountain in a remote and dark place. It was very hot during the night at 3 am ( around 28ºc celsius or more, sometimes over 30ºc, according to the visiting place ) and the insects were pretty active, ( 800-850 meters above sea level). I found on this trip, more on the south ( Guadiana Valley) Nyctophila reichii males that were atracted by a light trap ( a simple led light connected to a battery of 4.5v). They were active, after a warm day of 45ºc celsius, but only at the early night. Some mantis were observed active at 40ºc celsius on the end of the afternoon as well as loads of grasshopers. In Monchique mountain ( Algarve) at 700 mts above sea level the crickets and cicada sounds at night were surprising and the Lampyris came in big numbers to the light traps. The specie is not determined yet. A second specie seems to be present. I heard an iberian lynx male call at night! Here there is an impressive variety of fly ants and some are really big for a normal standard. The proximity to Africa and natural conditions may determine that. Local people make their live usually collecting honey, medicinal plants and also from gastonomy and tourism. Brown bears are coming back to Montesinho, after a long time of absence. I didn´t found glow worms this year there, because I went too late ( September). In Rio Maior ( central Portugal) on a calcareous mountain region( known for it´s caverns), I did found larvae of Lampyris raymondi. They are a pretty rare and located specie. Some days ago I found a firefly larva ( Luciola sp) glowing on my garden. I think that it was transported in some plant pots. Near Viseu ( May) , I did found some glowing females of Lamprohiza paulinoi and it was very funny, because they were glowing along a road and with that they did looked like small road lights. At midnight I only saw glowing larvae in wet places. I also got males ( with led lights). Some Lampyris females were seen by locals later in year, in abundance. Lots of toads and frogs made funny musics. Such as these ones: Alytes obstetricans, Hyla meridionalis, Rana perezi and others. Night jars ( Caprimulgidae), barn owls and others were observed as well. I saw 2 hedge hogs so busy on mating that didn´t even scaped from me lol. Ericeira, Monsanto Park as well as lots of places, showed a smaller firefly display this year though than in 2007. The cause is yet not known and could be natural or not. Coleoptera population dynamics sometimes differ significantly even when the conditions are perfect. I think it´s natural since no significant changes were done on habitat.
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apple
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Post by apple on Jul 4, 2009 0:16:17 GMT
Anyone has seen glow worms in their own country?
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coyote
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Post by coyote on Jul 5, 2009 0:00:05 GMT
Hi Apple I've seen fireflies where I grew up (northeastern U.S.), but I've never seen a glow worm. And I've never seen any fireflies here in California.
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apple
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Post by apple on Jul 12, 2009 23:09:04 GMT
Hi Apple I've seen fireflies where I grew up (northeastern U.S.), but I've never seen a glow worm. And I've never seen any fireflies here in California. Hi Many thanks for your descriptions!
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apple
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Post by apple on Nov 21, 2009 18:21:42 GMT
This year of 2009, firefly numbers decreased in most places and the reason is not known yet. Drought is a possible cause, but affects mostly the south and northeast. On the other hand, as reward, some possible new species were found in remote areas in unusual moments of the year, which may be related to the climatic differences among different locations. Also new forms of bioluminescence have been detected: glowing algae, plancton, crustaceans, mushrooms, centipedes, earthworms, etc... I received some strange reports about possible exotic ( introduced) species of fireflies. I also did found the reason why in Mamede mountain, temperatures were so high at night at such elevation. During the summer, when the wind changes direction ( blowing from NE or E) has to climb the mountain and then it goes down again, it warms and dries up the nocturnal air and temperature rise consequently ( Fohën wind). PS: I have been in contact with bioluminescence and firefly researchers of different parts of the world. From the Smoky mountains of USA I have good news. This year was a much better one than the previous, in therms of firefly numbers. From Southeast Asia, there´s a decline, especially in Malaysia. Those spectacular synchronizing fireflies are really in danger, due mainly to river pollution... Local economy can get affected because many tourists go there to see these natural and spectacular luminous display. www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/fireflies-in-decline-as-natural-habitats-are-destroyed-914472.htmlwww.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/world/asia/20iht-fireflies.1.17990392.html
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coyote
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Post by coyote on Nov 21, 2009 21:07:36 GMT
This year of 2009, firefly numbers decreased in most places and the reason is not known yet. Drought is a possible cause, but affects mostly the south and northeast. I wonder if loss of habitat could be a reason. I have heard of bioluminescent algae and mushrooms, but not crustaceans, centipedes or earthworms! I'm trying to imagine a glowing crab, and failing. (Although I suppose the phenomenon occurs in smaller species.)
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apple
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Post by apple on Nov 22, 2009 17:37:57 GMT
This year of 2009, firefly numbers decreased in most places and the reason is not known yet. Drought is a possible cause, but affects mostly the south and northeast. I wonder if loss of habitat could be a reason. I have heard of bioluminescent algae and mushrooms, but not crustaceans, centipedes or earthworms! I'm trying to imagine a glowing crab, and failing. (Although I suppose the phenomenon occurs in smaller species.) Yeah, I was talking about smaller crustaceans. The ones I saw had a blue light. Regarding glowing earthworms and centipedes, I have cases of bioluminescence on my garden and also out of it. The color of the light is green. Most luminous earthworms and centipedes emit some liquid with bioluminescent qualities ( easily noticed by human eye) to distract predators to the wrong direction. But some species have a different glow. Last year I caught an earthworm that had glow spots along some parts of his body. And the biggest glowing centipede that I saw, was a Scolopendra sp . alike, that did glew from many parts of his body! Almost his entire body did glew and I noticed about it when I was walking nearby. I was very surprised to see such glow, because the insect was walking quite fast for a glow worm and was much brighter. The habitats that I have been studied didn´t suffered any significant human intervention since the beginning of the research, so I think that climate may have a role on it, since these kind of insects usually are humid dependent. But this is not yet proven, is maybe only a piece of the puzzle.
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apple
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Post by apple on Mar 11, 2010 21:13:12 GMT
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coyote
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Post by coyote on Mar 12, 2010 19:41:31 GMT
Thanks for the update, and for the translation link, Apple!
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apple
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Post by apple on Apr 2, 2010 14:09:13 GMT
Glad to know that you liked it. The first adults are already out.
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apple
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Post by apple on Jun 29, 2010 10:53:20 GMT
Places on which you can have a glow worm trip in UK: Friday 2 July Goathurst Common, Ide Hill, Kent Saturday 3 July Sherwood Forest, Notts. Pre-booking essential: 01623 823202 Saturday 3 July Ketton Quarry, Leics Friday 9 July Elliot Nature Reserve, Stroud, Glos Friday 9 July Riddlesdown, Surrey Friday 9 July Old Burghclere, Hants Saturday 10 July Darland Banks, Gillingham, Kent Wednesday 14 July Harefield Place Nature Reserve, Uxbridge, Middx Wednesday 14 July Kissock Forest, Beeswing, Dumfries and Galloway Friday 16 July Holtspur Bank, Beaconsfield, Bucks Friday 16 July Staple Plain, West Quantoxhead, Somerset Wednesday 28 July Portsdown, Hants Friday 30 July Chosen Hill Nature Reserve, Churchdown, Glos Saturday 31 July Bough Beech, Ide Hill, Kent In www.glowworms.org.uk/
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