Pretty in pink

Pete agreed to attend today's meeting on Roman Snails in Surrey, so I had a relatively quiet day working on reports. In the afternoon Alex, Ben and I went for a walk round Holme Fen, with the specific aim of finding Lesser Stitchwort for an online course that Alex is doing on plant identification. Several years ago it was abundant, but this year we only managed to find a few plants. 

By contrast the number of grasshoppers was enormous - one glade was positively heaving with Meadow Grasshoppers, mostly juveniles like this one. The pink colouration is not uncommon among nymphs of this species, but they rarely make it to adulthood as they are easily picked off by predators as they are so conspicuous against the green foliage compared to the normal green and brownish morphs. This phenomenon is called erythrism an unusual and little-understood genetic mutation caused by a recessive gene similar to that which affects albino animals. This mutation results in one of two things happening or even a combination of the two; a reduction or even absence of the normal pigment and/or the excessive production of other pigments, in this case red which results in pink morphs.


We just had time for a quick drink at the Admiral Wells before heading home to pick Chris and Pete up from the station (at two different times!) We made the most of the glorious summer evening with Pimms in the garden (decorated with home-grown wild strawberries and borage flowers), followed by slow roast spiced Persian lamb, flat-breads, pomegranate salad, lemon and mint rice and Greek salad. Not to mention the gooseberry, almond and elderflower cake for dessert!