Himalayan Cotoneaster, also known as Khasia Berry, is an naturalised  introduced shrub here at Leaning Oaks.  For the most part, it goes largely unnoticed on a thin soiled, dry slope in part shade.  This year however, the cold snap has come at exactly the right time to catch the foliage at the point of turning and the leaves have turned scarlet, making it stand out like a beacon in the woods. ( Cotoneaster simonsii) is native to the Himalayan mountains of India, Bhutan and Nepal and high elevations of Myanmar.  It is sometimes used as hedging material and grown for its dense growth and scarlet berries.  I have never seen it become an aggressive weed here, but it is considered such in some other places, particularly in Australia. 

Or Chestnut Slug -or in several places , "no common name".  Derocerus invadens went totally unnoticed by us until malacologist Robert Forsyth was visiting, turned over a tile and pointed it out. He also happens to be the person who wrote the Land Snails of BC. He knows his stuff. 
This species has been tracked on its invasive path  from Italy in many parts of the world, seemingly only limited by cold winters. The first record in Canada was 1966 in a greenhouse in Quebec and then the first outside record was at UBC in 1974. Since then it has been found in various locations on southern Vancouver Island (Hutchison et al 2014).  That same paper cites a study where this species was unable to survive a temperature colder than -6.4 deg. C. It hit -5 a couple of nights ago and we do get below that a number of times in the winter, so whether the tramp becomes another pest at Leaning Oaks is yet to be determined! 

I was quite keen on the jaunty art nouveau pattern, found on the orb weaver Metellina segmentata. 

The web that this spider spins has no threads at its centre. This is common for the tetragnathid spiders. M. segmentata was introduced to the Vancouver area from Europe and is now one of the more common orb weavers in the Vancouver and Seattle areas. It generally builds it's web low and near the ground. 

Thanks to the person who provided the correct identification of this species -much appreciated!

We built a small pond in garden here a number of years ago, and, for the most part it has been an amazing attractant for all manner of critters.  We have had River Otters and Mink, Mallards and Kingfishers, at least 8 species of dragonfly, and many other water dependent invertebrates.  One of the first vertebrates to find the pond however was this species, Lithobates catesbeianus  a very large non-native frog that colonized our new pond the very first rainy night in August.  So far despite the size of some of the frogs in the pond we have not had any evidence of breeding.  No egg masses, no tadpoles.  This is because our pond builds up Bullfrogs in large numbers from immigration, and then becomes a mecca for predators.  The first mass control of Bullfrogs took place on two consecutive nights when a mother and four or five River Otter kits visited.  They took the frogs down to a small number and the remainder became food for another weasel family representative, a Mink. Then another late summer rain and the pond became colonized by bullfrogs again.  This year a young Great Blue Heron has been visiting the pond and targeting the bullfrogs.  Our pond is a sink, it doesn't add to the population of Bullfrogs.  Its not all rosy though, we suspect the high number of Bullfrogs is the reason why we have not recorded Red-legged Frog on the property. Tree Frogs apparently don't breed in our pond either and we have only ever seen a single salamander larvae.  When the numbers of frogs are high, we suspect the numbers of damselflies is  lower.  We have watched Bullfrogs try to take birds - up to the size of an American Robin!

It is fall. There is no doubt. How do I know? Because the guests leave the downstairs bathroom in one of four ways: 1) come running up for a huge jar and paper to save an amazing creature, 2) come out after there is a great deal of swooshing, flapping, slapping and flushing and then casually ask a while later...uhm, do you guys normally get such HUGE spiders?  3) come running up to use an upstairs facility because there is no freaking way they are going into the downstairs room, ever, 4) run screaming from the house, tossing their bags in front of them and all we see is the red tail lights tearing down the driveway.

It is fall and Eratigena atrica is looking to mate. They are not coming to get out of the cold, they are just on the move searching for another. That they are in your sink or shower just means that they ended up there while trying to get a drink and can't get out. Their webs are flat, a bit messy and have a funnel at one end.  They were introduced (accidentally I am sure) to North America from north western Europe in the early 1900's. 

Claudia Copley, a local spider expert demonstrates aptly in this video how there is nothing to fear from these guys; "they are our allies".  There are similar spiders that are moving about this time of year, including the hobo spider. The Garry Oak Ecosystem Restoration team had this great information sheet done up to tell the difference. The scientific name has changed since this was produced and what is Tegenaria duellica in there is this species. From what I could tell, there have been a number of taxonomic revisions. 

The many names by which the flat, armoured crustaceans that feed on detritus and live under pots, moist logs and leaf litter go by -and are seemingly interchangeable make me want to swear off English names forever!  

This is Armadillidium vulgare, and the most descriptive English name is the pillbug (or roley poley!) and you can see that when it goes into defensive mode at the sound of a spider's footsteps, it could be mistaken for a pill. In the dark. After a bender.  The  woodlouse (#195) can not get into this tight ball (called conglobulation). Conglobulating is not only an excellent defensive mechanism, but also conserves moisture. This is very important when your respiratory organs or pleopods are on your ventral surface. One study (in Smigal and Gibbs 2008) found that pillbugs would  spontaneously conglobate at temperatures above 40 deg. C. or when in very dry soil (< 10% moisture). 

The females carry their eggs in a "marsupium" and even after they hatch, the young are carried until they are able to go into the world on their own. 

A. vulgare was introduced from Europe to North America.

Smigel JT, Gibbs AG. 2008. Conglobation in the pill bug, Armadillidium vulgare, as a water conservation mechanism. 9pp. Journal of Insect Science 8:44, available online: insectscience.org/8.44

This year's long dry summer seems to have been favourable for Common Earwigs, they have caused more damage to the plants on the deck than any year I can remember.  The Common Earwig (Forficula auricularia) is another introduced insect from Europe that can become a pest when their numbers are high.  They are remarkably adaptable and eat fruit, foliage, insects, decaying organic matter and flowers.  They can be major predators of aphids.  This photo shows a male, with curved pincers at the rear to the insect.  Females have straighter pincers. The origin of the name is not clear.  Some  say the name originated as an Old English phrase meaning "ear insect" or "ear creature," and there are old accounts of earwigs entering human ears to feed. This is dicredited by modern sources. Others conjecture it's a corruption of the phrase "ear wing," referring to the ear-like shape of the insect's hind set of wings. The pincers can be used to pinch though, although not hard enough to be a real menace.

This crustacean lives under piece of wood, plant pots, beneath the moss and fallen vegetation. Wood lice (and the pillbugs or roley polies) breath through gills and live in moist areas but not in the water like the rest of their crustacean relatives. 

The rough texture of the plates seperate this "woodbug"  from some of the others found on southern Vancouver Island. Porcellio scaber, like the other members of this group  has  blue blood as the result of a copper molecule in the oxygen transport molecule  instead of a iron molecule like our blood.

This is another common species found around houses and gardens that has been introduced from Europe. They feed on dead plant material and are generally not a pest unless they reach huge numbers. 

 The woodlice are not able to roll into as  tight a ball (or conglobulate, my new word of the day) as the "pillbugs" do (see #198).

Domestic honey bees, Apis mellifera were introduced to the east coast of North America from Europe in 1622.  Aided by settlers it took a couple of 100 years before they reached the west coast.  Today they are found across the continent with both domestic and feral populations. Because of their importance to the settlers their path has been well documented. We don't know if the ones visiting Leaning Oaks are from hives or a population that has naturalized.  I have seen estimates that up to 80% of all crops in North America are dependent on bee pollination -both native and non-native.  There are many other groups of pollinators in addition to the bees, but they do play an important role in agriculture. 

Usually, our annual war on Roof Rats (Rattus rattus) begins in November when the first heavy rains of winter tend to drive Roof Rats into the garage and the house. .  The past two years however, our battle with the wiley and prodigious rodent has started at the end of August as the Roof Rats have turned to our tomato patch and started to eat our tomatoes on the vine just before they ripen.  
 We think we finally have found the last remaining hole that they can gain entry into the house. This small opening along side the chimney required a gymnastic maneuver worthy of a Cirque du Soliel artist.  Steel wool has proven to be the most evective deterrent to the chewing rodents.  Roof Rats have proven to be an expensive species, most notably by eating the insulation off the wiring system of one of our vehicles.  They were also the reason we eventually moved to an all metal garbage can for storing bird seed and entirely metal compost barrel.