Stories from the hay milk summer
It's the beginning of autumn. Even if some of you will miss the warm summer days and the dip in the pleasantly refreshing streams or lakes to enjoy an ice cream on the picnic blanket right afterwards. Who hasn't loved the rustling of leaves under their feet since childhood? Or when the sun, which is already lower in the sky, illuminates the leaves in wonderfully bright colors? When the warm colors from yellow to brown, from orange to red make the walks in our region a special experience with a real riot of colors to enjoy. The many benches on the hiking trails invite you to relax and watch the hay milk cows graze on the autumn meadows.
Before it is time to discover the beautiful sides of autumn, our Woerle dairy farmers Christine and Johann from Oberhofen will share their most beautiful pictures and memories of the diverse hay milk summer with you again, so that we can look forward to the next one together.
Sleeping in a bed of hay flowers
Rest periods and healthy sleep are just as important for the survival of these hard-working insects as they are for us humans. The sleeping habits of wild bees vary greatly depending on the species, but many of them tend to sleep at night or in bad weather, some sleeping or resting for up to 10 hours. But they can't lie down in bed and just switch off. Life in the wild requires them to have sophisticated sleeping habits. Some of them rest in the nest, guarding their stores of pollen and nectar while they sleep. Others cling to parts of plants with their legs or bite into parts of plants with their mouthparts and sleep "hanging up". And then there are the flower dormitors that sleep in the calyx. Often you will not only find single bees there, but several, snuggling up close to each other with their fellow bees.
We couldn't believe it. We were very lucky this summer to really find out about 3 male sawhorn bees (Melitta haermorrhoidalis) to rejoice who slept curled up in the bluebell. "It's so cute and we're so proud of what's special about our farm and now I even have such a unique photo and can finally show my family and friends these beauties," said the farmer's wife happily.
The landscape has changed significantly in recent decades. Valuable structures such as unfertilized roadsides, piles of wood left lying around at the edge of forests and meadows, hedges, ridges, rampant old grass or stinging nettles have disappeared in many regions of Austria. However, these are important nesting sites and habitats or retreats for fauna and flora in the agricultural cultural landscape.
Konrad Steiner (farmer & biologist), Gerrit Woerle, Rillinger family vulgo Huber (Woerle hay milk farmers)
Butterfly or Ant?
The thyme ant blue (Maculinea arion) is one of the largest blues in the Flachgau and at the same time an endangered species that is strictly protected throughout the EU. The upper sides of its wings are uniformly matt blue. The large black spots on the upper side of its forewings and its black wing edges are particularly striking. It lays its eggs exclusively on thyme or wild marjoram leaves and the caterpillars that hatch eat their way through the inflorescences until the wondrous course of nature begins: the caterpillars allow themselves to be “adopted” by knot ants and overwinter in their anthills, living rapaciously on their brood . Why aren't they recognized as an enemy? The knot ants normally "breed" and "milk" aphids, which produce something called honeydew for them to eat. The caterpillar secretes this sweet liquid, irresistible to the ants, "disguising" itself as a never-ending source of honeydew. They are also able to imitate the smell of the ants' nests. Before pupating, the caterpillar eats up to 600 ant larvae. The caterpillar usually hatches at the beginning of July and then it is important to leave the anthill as quickly as possible, because the butterfly that hatched no longer secretes any sweet juice and is therefore no longer camouflaged. Once he has managed to do this, we can watch the beautiful blue again the following summer while flying and collecting nectar at the edges of the hay milk meadows.
In Oberhofen in June, we discovered the increasingly rare, wild thyme on a meadow in front of the house. From now on, it will always remain there until the caterpillars of the blue ant hatch, so that the endangered butterfly can reproduce undisturbed and survive again. The “controlled” reproduction of the ant’s caterpillars also protects the plants in the garden from increased aphid infestation in a natural way . And: The teenager in the house needs to mow less lawn and now has more free time?
“For us, these are really wonderful shared experiences and a lot of important knowledge about our nature. We are convinced that with our project - species protection in the hands of farmers - we will be able to experience and document even more such wonders of diversity with our dairy farmers in the future and motivate outsiders to preserve and promote the diversity of plant and animal species with us", wishes Diana Reuter, an employee at Woerle.
Rich insect buffet
A garden without insects? Almost unimaginable. There are numerous plants that bees and insects fly to because they are a valuable source of food and provide pollen and nectar. The wild thyme is also a real insect magnet. In contrast to common thyme, wild thyme has intense green, smooth leaves without any hairs. Like real thyme, it can be used as a spice in the kitchen, but when it is in full bloom it also becomes a favorite friend of bees and other insects.
When we observed what was going on in the wild thyme more closely, we could even see the small copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) see flying, which is still common in Europe, but is becoming less and less common in the Flachgau region. Its wing tops are colored orange-red dark brown. Several dark cube spots are visible on the forewings near the edge. It inhabits a wide variety of habitats, but above all sparsely overgrown and more open landscapes, such as sand pits, other sandy areas or roadsides. The caterpillar of the diurnal butterfly is an important beneficial species, because the most important food plants for the caterpillars of the small copper moth are various dock species. "We are pleased that animals, people and nature benefit equally from our natural hay management," reveals Christine.
