Cakes. Cakes are a good way to start a blog. Everyone knows that if you advertise the existence of cakes at a meeting or event, more people will attend. And if you have King Alfred's cakes on a decaying ash tree near you, you may just be lucky enough to have a cramp-ball fungus weevil join the party too!

The larvae of these velvety-looking beetles, also called scarce fungus weevils Platyrhinus resinosus, develop inside the black ball-like fungi of King Alfred's cakes (so-called because of the resemblance to the cakes that King Alfred famously burnt). The fungi are also known as cramp balls because it was once believed that carrying them around with you would protect you from cramps. The fungi is relatively common but the beetles themselves are rather harder to find.

Unlike many weevils, these are quite robust in appearance; growing up to 15mm in length and covered in a beautifully mottled pattern of dark brown and grey hairs dotted with creamy beige. I usually think of weevils as looking like Gonzo from The Muppets, with a long rostrum (snout) that's used for probing and digging into materials (their mouthparts are at the end of the rostrum). Cramp-ball fungus weevils, though, have a much broader rostrum, lending them a 'face' that's covered in biscuit-coloured hairs. 

There is a related weevil that only has a scientific name (it's rarer so hasn't 'earned' a common name yet) - Platystomos albinus. These are a little smaller and the larvae are associated with alder, hazel and beech rather than ash. The mottled patterning isn't quite as complex as that of the cramp-ball fungus weevil but you'll almost always see two cream spots, one on each of the wing cases. Look, too, at the length of the antennae to see whether you've spotted a male or female; the antennae of the males are about the same length as their body whilst they're about half that length in females. 

At a glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that these two species of weevil look a little like bird poo. It's thought that this helps to protect them from predators that may be intent on eating them. Looking like bird poo to evade predators might not sound glamorous but it's a tactic that's also used by other species, including moths.

It takes two or more years for a cramp-ball fungus weevil larva to develop within its fungal home. With ash dieback taking hold of many ash trees, does this mean that King Alfred's cakes are going to become even more common and, if so, that we'll be delighted by many more of these beautiful beetles? Where we have to fell ash trees on our nature reserves, we try to leave some of the wood standing in situ or as log piles to create habitats for wildlife. This will, hopefully, create perfect conditions to host this fungi and its special weevil along with many other species for many years to come.