The golden season in London starts a bit later than in other countries. Leaves normally start changing colours in mid-October, and by the end of the month, you can spot the whole city dressed up in yellow, orange, and red hues. This gorgeous period lasts for only about two weeks, ending approximately after the first week of November.

The arrival of a Mandarin duck was a surprise as they were rare visitors.

The kitchen garden team have been drying flowers while fresh blooms are still growing under the autumn sun.

This year (2023), the leaves on many trees did not yet started to change colour until November, I think we are heading for a very short autumn season in Chiswick House and Gardens.

The rat with half a tail living by the lake near the Park Road entrance knows that winter is just around the corner.

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Both sexes of vitripennis can be distinguished from ribesii by the presence of large microtrichia-free zones within the second basal cell of the wings. The hind femora of both sexes are 3/4 to 4/5 black (entirely yellow in female ribesii and rectus, and about 1/2 to 2/3 black in male ribesii).

Syrphus vitripennis averages a bit smaller than both ribesii and torvus and is more prone to having the yellow bands on tergites 3 & 4 broken in the middle. The very rare S. nitidifrons also has these bands divided, but even more so and more resembles Parasyrphus punctulatus or a Eupeodes species, and has the frons and mouth edge more extensively darkened than vitripennis. European specimens of ‘Syrphus rectus’ may be a form of S. vitripennis with the hind femora yellow except for a weak dark band around the middle.

Syrphus vitripennis is the least habitat-specific of our Syrphus species, probably because of its very mobile nature. The larvae attack aphids on a variety of bushes, shrubs and trees.

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The Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) was once restricted to Southern England, but has since been moving northwards and is now quite widespread. It can be found in all kinds of habitats from gardens to farms.

A recent beneficiary of climate change, the common green shieldbug was once restricted to Southern England. In recent years, however, it has been on the march, and is now common and widespread across much of England and Wales, and spreading further northwards. The common green shieldbug feeds on a wide variety of plants, helping to make this one species which could turn up anywhere from garden to farm. Adults overwinter and emerge in spring, laying their eggs on the undersides of leaves. The rounded nymphs appear in June and new adults are present in early autumn.

How to identify

There are two species of green shieldbug in the UK – one native (Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) ) and one that arrived very recently from Europe (the southern green shieldbug, Nezara viridula). The common green shieldbug is bright green with tiny black dots and dark wings, while the southern green shieldbug is uniformly green in colour and has pale wing membranes.

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When a new queen emerges, she embarks on a mating flight. On returning to her hive, with help from the workers, she kills the failing, old queen. Alternatively, before the new queen emerges, the old queen may leave with a swarm of workers to form a new colony.

Queens live for several years, but summer-born workers live only a few weeks. Those maturing later usually survive the winter by huddling together with the queen and eating stored food. Drones are turned out of the hive in autumn and left to die.

The Honey bee (Apis mellifera) is an important flower pollinator. They sting once and only attack when threatened. But, as with wasps, the ‘smell’ of a bee’s venom causes other bees to attack.

More about honey bees and Bumble bees.

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Males are extremely rare, raising the possibility that C. virgula might be parthenogenetic.

A distinctive marked species with very long antennae and a bright yellow cuneus, tipped with dark red. Nymphs are yellow, with red-banded antennae and a red stripe on the margins of the pronotum.

This one was seen in the gardens of Chiswick House in July 2023.

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A green metallic ‘greenbottle’ fly is the commonest of the very similar Lucilia species. It can be identified by the pale basicosta and a single anterodorsal bristle on the mid-tibia.

It also has a wide frons and much dusting on the thorax. It has 3 acrostichal bristles and 3 dorsocentral bristles after the suture on the thorax.

Chronic wounds

Chronic wounds caused by underlying physiological causes such as diabetic wounds, pressure ulcers, venous leg ulcers and infected wounds affect a significant portion of the population. In order to treat chronic wounds, a strong debridement, removal of necrotic tissue, elimination of infection and stimulation of granulation tissue are required. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT), which is an alternative treatment method based on history, has been used quite widely. MDT is an efficient, simple, cost-effective and reliable biosurgery method using mostly larvae of Lucilia sericata fly species. Larvae can both physically remove necrotic tissue from the wound site and stimulate wound healing by activating molecular processes in the wound area through the enzymes they secrete. The larvae can stimulate wound healing by activating molecular processes in the wound area through enzymes in their excretions/secretions (ES).

Seen in the grounds of Chiswick House and Gardens.

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There are four UK species. Muscina levida is 6-8.5mm, has black legs, black antennae and palps, and a posterior cell that narrows gradually so that the width at the wing tip is about 70% of the widest part of the cell.

Similar Species

Muscina stabilans has yellow legs.

Muscina prolapsa has black legs, yellow on part of the antennae and palps, and the posterior cell is more extremely narrowed at the wing tip to around 40% of the widest part.

See also Muscina levida on NatureSpot.

Other beasties on this site include Campyloneura virgula.

See in the gardens of Chiswick House in July 2023.

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The abdomen is round in males, elongated in the females, and the females bear at the end of the abdomen a dark brown, pointed ovipositor.

The large orange red compound eyes fading to green. The wings are decorated with distinctive dark apical and transversal drawings.

Also see Nature Spot.

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Deraeocoris flavilinea is a large and fairly distinctive bug, but sexually dimorphic and thus rather variable. Males are much darker than the more orange females, and the front and rear margins of the pronotum are narrowly pale. The cuneus is variable and the sides of the scutellum paler in both sexes.

Seen in the gardens of Chiswick House in July 2023.

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The earliest of the carders to emerge in spring and usually the latest-flying of the bumblebees from summer nests (Buff-tailed bumblebees, Bombus terrestris, increasingly show winter-nesting behaviour).

Males, workers and queens are similar in appearance, ginger-brown all over, with no clearly delineated tail. Females usually have creamy-white sides to the thorax, while males are often yellower, with more obvious facial hair tufts.

Seen in the gardens of Chiswick House.

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