Here's another memorable episode of "life and death in the mander woods".
10°C and a drizzle last night. You know what that means. While they were still dry on December 7th, last night was the first round I did with water in the ditches. This is still a consequence of an unusually dry year, as normally these ditches would have water and larvae in the first half of November. Several females quickly took advantage of this to deposit larvae.
It is well-known that they may also release some sterile and/or not fully developed eggs. While it is very easy to see these pale marbles in another Flemish forest, it's the first time I see it at my spot.
Surprisingly, the larva was visible within the capsule.
Well into the route, we bumped into the remains of three predated animals. Marten, hedgehog, fox, rat, cat, ...?
Among the casualties, I lost a dear old friend: an old male (ID 000058) that I first found on March 30th 2008 and have since found 57 times. Ironically, his ID number is the same as the visit number prior to which he was assassinated by some no-good ball of fur. This is also the first time I found signs of predation during my fieldwork. The mander's toxicity is said to make it a fairly unattractive prey item. In contrast to the two other corpses, the old boy didn't seem to have been eaten. Old grey literature states adult manders to be more toxic thus less frequently predated than younger conspecifics.
After a little tear, on we went, to sooth our minds with the signs of new life. Here's a youngster from last year and a larva of probably no more than 24h old.
Towards the very end of the route, an always welcome orange gem.
With this visit, I passed the total of 3000 mander observations along my route, so 2017 has been productive. Up to 2018!