sticks in hiding

[renabroad]

Some weeks ago I was weeding in the garden when I realised that I had disturbed a ? nest of stick insect ? nymphs - sorry not up on the terminology - they were green, perfectly formed, about 3cms long. I covered them with some of the weeds and left them alone.

I have been monitoring them over the weeks as they have collectively occupied a small potentilla bush.

Today -grovelling on my knees with my camera- I couldn't find one. Struggling to my feet I glanced at the dwarf conifer behind and found it festooned with sticks -I counted 9 from a distance of a meter.

Can anyone tell me a little about their life cycle, habitat needs and preditors etc. as Iwould like to keep a photo record of them but don't know what to look for?

I live in west France but I know that you have a colony of these insects -Colonopsis gallica- in Jersey, and you have other species in England

[ron1863]

Hi Rena, I found this information:

The name stick-insect aptly describes the long body, with long legs. The antennae are relatively short. The adults are wingless. Mouthparts are of the chewing type. The life cycle is egg, larva (looking like a small adult), and adult. They eat the leaves of particular foodplants, such as bramble. All the species living wild in Britain are made up of parthenogenetic females (capable of laying live eggs without fertilization by males). In Britain they are only found in frost-free, mild coastal areas of south-west Britain, such as the Scilly Isles.
Britain has no native species but four types that were introduced have become established in the wild.

[renabroad]

Thanks Ron,

I have been aware of them in my garden for 3 or 4 years now. At first a single adult on a climbing rose then an odd nymph in a flower border. Last year I found three adults near a rather wild bramble hedge. This is the first time I have been able to watch a hatching grow.

Have you any idea what the eggs look like? or where I can find out? the reference section here has nothing that I can find and I am rather new to this kind of research.

[ron1863]

Here you go Rena:

STICK INSECT EGGS - Google Image Search

[metalfish]

I've heard of stick insects living & breeding down in Cornwall, not the kind of thing you'd be looking for let alone spot by accident, them looking, well...stick like!
What bizarre creatures to find in your garden.

[Kayleigh]

Wow what a find and in your own garden are you in Cornwall..

Welcome to WAB..

[renabroad]

Hello metalfish and kayleigh,

They are incredible aren't they! and they don't appear to mind being handled. When we have children visit they love to hunt for them--but gently.

Sorry no, I am in west France but this species exists in Jersey.

Our house was an old barn and the land (now my garden)was the hamlet tip. When we first came here we lived in an old touring caravan and I became fascinated by the wildlife 'on my patch' and am trying to preserve and protect what lived here before me. Like in England houses are going up on open fields and you feel so sad and helpless. I am so lucky the bulldozers never came here, we dug our own drains and connections by hand so the soil was never much disturbed and the wild habitat still grows.

I found my first stick on a rosebush, once found they are not too difficult to see.

best wishes
ren

[squishy]

that explains it, then they are native in France