SP5595ish - 500+

A half decent night with the garden moth traps last night, which did indeed take me over 500 although I've also taken one off whilst I mull over a carabid a bit more (see last post). Otherwise a flowering plant on the way home from work added, but I've left the traps off tonight as I need to get up and out early for work without any hinderence. May has been pretty good for me with 177 species added so far during the month - and there's still ten days left including some time off of work after the bank holiday .....

	Taxon	Vernacular	Date Added
502	Silene dioica	Red Campion	21/05/2013
501	Menophra abruptaria	Waved Umber	20/05/2013
500	Mimas tiliae	Lime Hawk-moth	20/05/2013
499	Eupithecia pulchellata	Foxglove Pug	20/05/2013
498	Eupithecia exiguata	Mottled Pug	20/05/2013
497	Syndemis musculana	(micromoth)	20/05/2013
496	Colostygia pectinataria	Green Carpet	20/05/2013

Lime Hawk-moth

Waved Umber

Guernsey

I thought I was making rapid progress until I saw the other guys' lists and realised I've been somewhat pedestrian.

425 - Garden Carpet
426 - Cockchafer
427 - Flame Shoulder
428 - Cabbage Moth
429 - Heliophanus flavipes (spider)
430 - Dryadaula pactiola (moth)

This is easily the rarest thing I've found so far on the challenge. There appears to be only a handful of British records of this adventive species. More details on my blog (here).

Dryadaula pactiola

431 - Perennial Rye-grass
432 - Ox-eye Daisy
433 - White Campion
434 - Salad Burnet
435 - Hairy Shieldbug
436 - Wall Barley
437 - Cocksfoot Moth
438 - Fern-grass
439 - Cacopsylla fulguralis (psyllid bug, abundant on Elaeagnus)
440 - Stenodema laevigata (grass-bug)
441 - Tingis cardui (Spear Thistle Lacebug)

Tingis cardui

442 - Hedge Mustard
443 - Badister bullatus (beetle)
444 - Redshank (the plant)
445 - Platyedra subcinerea (moth)
446 - Mompha subbistrigella (moth)
447 - Kalcapion semivittatum (weevil)
448 - Willow Beauty
449 - Brown Silver-line
450 - Poplar Hawk-moth
451 - Caloptilia syringella (moth)
452 - 14-spot Ladybird
453 - Eupoecilia angustana (moth)
454 - Pale Flax
455 - Toad Rush
456 - Coleophora alticolella (moth)

And a couple of things people may be able to help with the ID of :

Have struggled to pin down the ID of this weevil using the books. Was trying to ID as a Phyllobius but then noticed on the net another species, Pachyrhinus lethierryi, which occurs on conifers, under which I found this. Suggestions welcome.

These black-coloured flies seem very common at the moment.

Eaton Bray, Bedfordshire

May rushes past once again and there's so little time to look for the things you've spent the last few months planning to go and see! I seem to have taken my eye off the square recently and most of my recent notebook pages are filled with lists from survey work elsewhere, or with sketches of rare birds in Kentish cemeteries. My total moves from 369 on 8th to 393: 24 additions in 13 days.

8th May
370 - Cuckooflower Cardamine pratensis
371 - Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris
372 - Barren Brome Anisantha sterilis
373 - Field Maple
374 - Phragmidium tuberculatum, rust on garden rose leaves. Tick.
375 - Whitethroat

Phragmidium tuberculatum, rust on garden rose leaves

10th May
376 - Beris chalybata, soldierfly in garden
377 - Yellow Wagtail
378 - Opium Poppy growing on pavement

11th May
379 - Sedge Warbler, singing by the moats
380 - Field Madder Sherardia arvensis. A nice surprise on a roadside bank.
381 - Field Bindweed

12th May
382 - Hedera helix in the new, narrower sense. Tick I suppose though I've obviously seen it before. Looked at the hairs under the microscope.

13th May
383 - Clubiona corticalis, a spider. Tick. Found indoors.

18th May: checking MV light trap at 6 in the morning
384 - Brimstone Moth
385 - Least Black Arches
... and then Jo came out to say Andy had phoned and did I know about the Dusky Thrush!

21st May: checking MV light trap from 0515.
386 - Chinese Character
387 - Grey Dagger (male, dissected)
388 - Rustic Shoulder-knot
389 - Spectacle
390 - Muslin Moth
391 - Argyrotaenia ljungiana, only the third micro I've had in the moth trap this year.
392 - Cercyon lateralis, a hydrophilid beetle, on the sheet under the trap.
393 - Common Tern, 2 over the garden while checking the trap. The sixth time I have had flyover Common Terns.

SP5595ish - verging on 500

Three more in the moth traps last night (Sunday night) plus a spider in the garden this evening takes me up to 495 - another good night in the garden traps might just bring the half-century up. Provided I've not screwed up these beetles .....

Demetrias atricapillus

 Agriotes acuminatus - c7mm nose to tail, specimen retained

Kibunea minuta - c6mm nose to tail, specimen retained

Pterostichus niger - big! c26mm nose to tail, red claws and leg spines, specimen retained

Post-script - see comments, I'm taking this one out for the moment.

	Taxon	Vernacular	Date Added
495	Philodromus dispar	(spider)	20/05/2013
494	Mompha subbistrigella	(micromoth)	19/05/2013
493	Epiphyas postvittana	Light Brown Apple Moth	19/05/2013
492	Eupithecia vulgata	Common Pug	19/05/2013
491	Celastrina argiolus	Holly Blue	19/05/2013
490	Sagina procumbens	Procumbent Pearlwort	19/05/2013
489	Eilema griseola	Dingy Footman [larval]	19/05/2013
488	Phyllocoptes sorbeus	(gall mite)	19/05/2013
487	Hyacinthoides non-scripta	Bluebell	19/05/2013
486	Lochmaea crataegi	Hawthorn Leaf Beetle	19/05/2013
485	Panorpa germanica	(scorpionfly)	19/05/2013
484	Kibunea minuta	(beetle)	19/05/2013
484	Pterostichus niger	(beetle)	19/05/2013
483	Agriotes acuminatus	(beetle)	19/05/2013
482	Amara aenea	(beetle)	19/05/2013
481	Orthops kalmii	(bug)	19/05/2013
480	Cerastium fontanum	Common Mouse-ear	19/05/2013
479	Epirrhoe alternata	Common Carpet	19/05/2013
478	Eysarcoris venustissimus	Woundwort Shieldbug	19/05/2013
477	Potentilla anserina	Silverweed	19/05/2013
476	Euthrix potatoria	Drinker [larval]	19/05/2013
475	Incurvaria masculella	(micromoth)	19/05/2013
474	Pammene rhediella	Fruitlet Mining Tortrix	19/05/2013
473	Parethelcus pollinarius	(beetle)	19/05/2013
472	Enoplognatha ovata	(spider)	19/05/2013
471	Demetrias atricapillus	(beetle)	19/05/2013
470	Scolopostethus thomsoni	(bug)	19/05/2013
469	Trachycera advenella	(micromoth) [larval]	19/05/2013
468	Adela reaumurella	(micromoth)	19/05/2013
467	Anthophila fabriciana	Nettle-tap	19/05/2013
466	Stellaria media	Common Chickweed	19/05/2013
465	Trifolium dubium	Lesser Trefoil	19/05/2013
464	Aradus depressus	(bug)	19/05/2013
463	Phylloscopus collybita	Common Chiffchaff	19/05/2013
462	Cilix glaucata	Chinese Character	18/05/2013
461	Scrobipalpa acuminatella	(micromoth)	18/05/2013
460	Notodonta dromedarius	Iron Prominent	18/05/2013
459	Xanthorhoe spadicearia	Red Twin-spot Carpet	18/05/2013
458	Agrotis puta	Shuttle-shaped Dart	18/05/2013
457	Odontopera bidentata	Scalloped Hazel	18/05/2013
456	Opisthograptis luteolata	Brimstone Moth	18/05/2013
455	Esperia sulphurella	(micromoth)	18/05/2013

Scolopostethus thomsoni

Orthops kalmii

TQ6410: Summertime Blues ....

The 'plot' is continuing to open my eyes to the variety of invertebrates and many other forms of wildlife residing here. It's coming up twenty years next month since I first acquired it and in that time it's transformed (mostly through deliberate neglect on my part) from a five and a half acre species-poor, agricultural grazing plot with a barn, a little bluebell wood and a front paddock ..... to a re-generating oak woodland full of bramble and nettle patches (and tussocky, grassy clearings), still with a slightly more mature bluebell wood (silver birch copse) and now an overgrown front paddock (flowery with bramble and nettle patches and a weedy/scrubby rubble bank). The barn's long been my converted plant-growing base (no glass, just windbreak netting, a few corrugated plastic roof-sheets to increase light levels inside and completely open/roofless at the pond end). There are wild flower and nettle banks around the parking area and a tiny scrape of a wildlife pond at the southern end where there's a natural spring. And I built the workshop/cabin across the northern end (of the barn) in 2006. The plot's bordered by open, rolling farmland (grazing pasture) on one side and Herstmonceux Castle grounds (woodland and parkland) on the other. And the rest of the square is pretty amazing too, so no excuses from me on the 1KSQ Challenge .... but hopefully still entitled to moan about the weather! 

527 - Dark Bush Cricket (nymph ?) Pholidoptera griseoaptera on Red Campion in the rubble bank 14/5. Relying on internet searches to ID this one - my Orthoptera recognition skills are on a par with my Coleoptera and Arachnids .....

528 - Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta - flying over brambles late pm in the upper meadow. Same day as I saw my first V.atalanta of the year at nearby Abbots Wood on 16/5 .... presumably May migrants rather than local hibernators .....

529 - Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus over the same brambles in the upper meadow

530 - Cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae landing on nettles in the farmyard late afternoon 16/5. Another on the plot Saturday afternoon 18/5

531 - Cockchafer Melolontha melolontha (freshly dead) on the bridge across the Castle moat 16/5, one in the moth trap Saturday night 18/5 and two others on the groundsheet next to it 19/5. Three of us were very kindly allowed permission to whizz around the Castle grounds again the other evening with the bat detectors. Still not too much happening (just Noctule, Soprano and Common Pips) although the Wildlife Ranger mate of mine assures me that this place should come good very soon with its old buildings, moat, lake and avenue of ancient chestnut trees. We latched on to a couple of possible Daubenton's circa 39 Mhz but unable to see anything over the moat to confirm (had to be careful with the torch beam at 11.30pm as people are still living in the Castle apparently). The Brown Long-eared Bats still seem to be absent from my barn but they're probably just waiting for the moths to turn up too. The barn floor will soon be awash with moth wings .....

532 - Fly Phaonia subventa on the workshop window (inside)

Grass Snake Natrix natrix (left) - already ticked but nice to see them under the corrugated sheet at last.

533 - Slow Worm Anguis fragilis also under the corrugated sheet after first shedding its skin (and seperate tail skin) there. It slithered away leaving just one of the two Grass Snakes for the camera and, hardly surprisingly, no sign of the nesting Bank Vole ….

534 - Small Phoenix Ecliptopera silaceata - caught in the net fluttering just off the bridleway near some honeysuckle while I wandered around the plot at dusk with a torch. I'm afraid one or two of us 1KSQ'ers DO actually resort to that as evening entertainment. Good way to spend it though - beats falling asleep in front of the TV or lap-top (not that I’ve got a TV) or watching some inane soap ….. or Eurovision

535 - Green Carpet Colostygia pectinataria - ditto - three in quick succession over the bramble patches at dusk 18/5

536 - Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella - both male and female out and about around the plot on Saturday 18/5

Azure Damselfly (female)

537 - Noon Fly Mesembrina meridiana - on bramble

538 - Cranefly Phylidorea ferruginea - ditto (small and reddish)

539 - Click Beetle Athous haemorrhoidalis ..... hopefully!

Added a few new moths via the dilapidated Heath Robinson trap at last (great name for a moth trap). Probably helped by moving it to the upper meadow and using the full 100m of extension leads. There was a swarm of midges and gnats around it all evening and plenty of moths (and a couple of Maybugs) flying to and fro until I switched off at 2am. I was very optimistic for a mega moth-count but it wasn't to be, although I'm not complaining, having added another nine species to the 1KSQ total. Still suspect half of 'em fly straight out again .... must be a 50:50 trap!

540 - Lesser Swallow Prominent Pheosia gnoma (left) 

541 - Swallow Prominent Pheosia tremula 

542 - Brown Silver-line Petrophora chlorosata 

543 - Coxcomb Prominent Ptilodon capucina 

544 - Pebble Hook-tip Drepana falcataria 

545 - Brimstone moth Opisthograptis luteolata 

546 - Poplar Hawk Laothoe populi Always good to get a first hawkmoth of the year - one of four or five species on the plot - and possibly more in the square.

547 - Clouded Border Lomaspilis marginata

548 - Red-headed Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis 19/5 (left) ...... eureka - an easy beetle ID !

549 - St. Mark’s Fly Bibio marci …. and about time too ! 19/5

550 - Dark Sword-grass Agrotis ipsilon 20/5 .... found in the workshop this morning so either escaped from the trap on Sunday morning or came in through the window yesterday evening.


Ending on 550 species ..... but not chasing Andy's total  - he'll have probably identified a whole fridge load of exciting stuff by the time I've beaten Blogger again .....

p.s. thanks to my eldest for her sensible advice re. the latter - serves me right for cutting and pasting all my posts from a Word file for five months and NOT using the 'remove formatting' option!

Shotesham TM2499: moving up a gear

Well, I'm fed up waiting for spring to warm up. No more excuses, time to get to work properly. So I've put in a bit of effort this week and have been rewarded by another 57 on the clock, bringing my total to a very pleasing 550 - I had initially hoped for 500 by end of May but looks like 600 is well within reach. Still lots of very common things that I still haven't got. Surely Common Wasp must be about by now?! There's also about a ton of what I think is Water-cress in all the ditches of the common but I'm hanging on for flowers and fruits cos I'm such a feeble botanist. Anyway, here we go again....

Late additions
494 - Ptychoptera lacustris - a dark cranefly with a reddish abdomen tip, initially swept from Juncus on 14th April but only just plucked up courage to try some craneflies. Not as scary as expected either...
495 - Macrophyum punctumalbum - a stunning looking sawfly, caught on 6th May and identified now. Might be a good record, or maybe there's just not many sawflies on the NBN maps?
496 - Lasius fuliginosus - the Jet Ant, found by Tom for me on an oak trunk on 6th May, keys quite easily.
497 - Stylops melittae - prize for the weirdest creature of the week, this is a parasitic insect that lives up a bee's arse. I was trying to identify the bee (not got there yet) when I noticed this thing sticking out of the back end. A bit of research, plus advice on Facebook esp from Richard Comont, shows that this is the only option. Cool (but creepy). Bee was initially caught on 10th May.
498 - Nomada flava - female keyed, with help and advice from Tim Strudwick.

Monday 13th May
499 - Neoascia meticulosa - tiny hoverfly in garden
500 - Glyphipterix simpliciella - the Cocksfoot Moth, netted in garden
501 - Dryad's Saddle - a huge bracket fungus on a fallen ash tree, must have just popped out recently.

Tuesday 14th May
502 - Sedge Warbler - singing male one morning by the common - always a transient species here so pleasing to get.
503 - Beris clavipes - the Scarce Orange Legionnaire, a smart soldierfly of wet places (proved to be common here throughout the week)
504 - Swift - one shot across house at dusk and was my 500th at the time, although I subsequently identified some earlier things.

Wednesday 15th May
505 - Field Bindweed - in garden flowerbed
506 - Sargus iridatus - the Iridescent Centurion, great name for a smart soldierfly.
507 - Limonia nigropunctata - cranefly with reddish body, swept from beech hedge in garden.
508 - Garden Carpet - moth trap
509 - Angle Shades - moth trap
510 - Iron Prominent - moth trap

Thursday 16th May
511 - White Campion - in flower, not very common around here
512 - Glyphipterix fuscoviridella - a common micro-moth around Field Wood-rush albeit easy to overlook.
513 - Cockchafer - first appearance in moth-trap (numbers rising to 18 by end of the week!)
514 - Tipula oleracea - large grey cranefly in moth-trap
515 - Garden Pebble - moth trap
516 - Pebble Hook-tip - moth trap
517 - Cabbage Moth - moth trap
518 - The Nutmeg - moth trap

Friday 17th May
519 - Yellow Iris - finally ticked the leaves coming up all over, albeit not in flower yet
520 - Phyllonorycter harrisella - micromoth netted below oak
521 - Phyllonorycter quercifoliella - micromoth netted below oak
522 - Stenodema laevigata - long green mirid bug swept from grass
523 - Orthops campestris  - shorter oval green bug swept from grass
524 - Smooth Sow-thistle - leaves only
525 - White Willow - big old tree near house, finally got some leaves for me to check and confirm.

Saturday 18th May
526 - Anthophila fabriciana - the Nettle-tap Moth, just one so far but generally very common
527 - Micropterix calthella - typical spring emergence of these tiny moths feeding in buttercup heads
528 - Sphaerophoria scripta - common hoverfly
529 - Sphaerophoria taeniata - a new hoverfly for me, male netted and identified on gen det. Looks like it occurs in the Broads but pretty scarce in East Anglia, probably one of the best finds of the year so far in the square.
530 - Rhagio scolopaceus - the Downlooker Snipefly, on tree trunks and fence posts.
531 - Coreus marginatus  - the Dock Bug, several on low vegetation
532 - Cheilosia albitarsis - several of this black hoverfly on buttercup heads
533 - Bog Stitchwort - on the wetter parts of the common, now in flower
534 - Common Spotted Orchid - leaves only
535 - Charlock - couple of plants in a field margin, not something I'm all that familiar with so pleased to suss this out.
536 - Meadow Buttercup
537 - Heart and Dart - moth trap

Sunday 19th May
538 - Lesser Burdock - hollow stems; Norfolk flora says that minus and not nemorosum is the common one throughout the county, but I'll check the flower heads in due course when they open.
539 - 14-spot Ladybird
540 - Greater Celandine
541 - Gorse - amazingly, I'd managed to overlook this until now. Thought it was absent from the square but found a tiny patch of very dry ground which had about five small straggly bushes! Result.
542 - Red Campion - with the gorse!
543 - Star of Bethlehem - naturalised plants coming up on edge of the common.
544 - Blue-tailed Damselfly - freshly emerged one by stream
545 - Small Copper - nice to get another new butterfly, only one this week
546 - Dwarf Mallow - on my front verge
547 - Adela rufimitrella - one in my garden, unusually on forget-me-not but near some Garlic Mustard
548 - Celery-leaved Buttercup - wet area on common
549 - Wild Clary - on sunny bank near village church, comes up here every year.
550 - Hedgerow Cranesbill - on verge near the house, in flower.

Also LOTS more things in pots but time as ever is the limiting factor. Plenty to work on though and will hopefully report back next week. And that moth-trap's on again...

Scarce Orange Legionnaire Beris clavipes - seems pretty common here

Unidentified Andrena bee plus Stylops melittae sticking out of its rear end (penultimate abdominal segment anyway). Yuk.

That's a bit more like it...

Privet Sawfly Macrophya punctumalbum - I think so at least, other opinions welcome

Downlooker Snipefly - does what it says on the tin (apart from the snipe bit)

Wild Clary with a view of a bit of the square.

SP5595ish - Big day

Guess everyone else is too busy peering down a 'scope or trawling through keys?

I managed a good couple of hours in the square today, and along with a few more from the garden and a decent few additions from the garden moth traps I'm up to 492 (+38 since yesterday). I'll summarise another day but here's a few shots.

Woundwort Shieldbug - swept from White Dead-nettle. Tick

Dingy Footman - couple found under a flat board on a road-side verge

Drinker - found in long grasses

Pammene rhediella - swept from hawthorn

Trachycera advenella - swept from hawthorn

One to rear - swept from hawthorn

Hawthorn is my current favourite plant. Just about every swish with a net brings something new. I reckon another couple of good nights in the garden traps will see me top 500.

SP5595ish - A few more

A pretty brief amble in the square yesterday evening helped add some unexpected plant life to the list - mainly as the net was not quite as productive as an earlier visit would have been. Not much doing today though, just a few from the garden. The garden moth traps last night were completely blank - unbelievable! Not everything has been identifiable though, including these dagger flies indulging in the characteristic acrobatic mating whilst eating pose ....

A single Lords and Ladies plant was unexpected, really thought this would not make the list for my square. Changing Forget-me-not was one I hoped to find, and I actually found a few plants together in one area along with Three-nerved Sandwort. Lots of flowering grasses now - I'll have to plan a specific effort on these!

My favourite dead ash tree failed to produce any new beetles this time, but instead I found a number of Leopard Slugs tucked up under the decaying bark.

Harpocera thoracica

Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus

Clover Springtail

Forest Bug

Another dagger fly - you'd think those leg balloons would be useful. Maybe Hilara maura

The coleophora I found in the garden on silver birch on 6th May is now recogniseable as C. serratella. I also found another coleophora in the garden today, C. lusciniaepennella on sallow. Both are welcome garden ticks.

Realised today that the flowering apple on the embankment is self set (presumably having passed through a bird) and that the apples on it are large domestic cultivars of some sort, so trust this is acceptable as Malus domestica.

And finally, just before writing this I pointed my Magenta Bat5 at a pipistrelle and confirmed that the local 45kHz are becoming more active.

	Taxon	Vernacular	Date Added
454	Pipistrellus pipistrellus	Common Pipistrelle 45kHz	18/05/2013
453	Coleophora lusciniaepennella	(micromoth) [larval]	18/05/2013
452	Dilophus febrilis	(fly)	18/05/2013
451	Tegenaria domestica	(spider)	18/05/2013
450	Malus domestica	Domestic Apple	18/05/2013
449	Rumex acetosa	Common Sorrel	17/05/2013
448	Harpocera thoracica	(bug) [nymph]	17/05/2013
447	Dipsacus fullonum	Wild Teasel	17/05/2013
446	Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus	(bug) [nymph]	17/05/2013
445	Pentatoma rufipes	Forest Bug [nymph]	17/05/2013
444	Sminthurus viridis	Clover Springtail	17/05/2013
443	Minettia inusta	(fly)	17/05/2013
442	Tachyporus obtusus	(beetle)	17/05/2013
441	Limax maximus	Leopard Slug	17/05/2013
440	Arum maculatum	Lords-and-Ladies	17/05/2013
439	Epirrita dilutata	November Moth	17/05/2013
438	Moehringia trinervia	Three-nerved Sandwort	17/05/2013
437	Senecio jacobaea	Common Ragwort	17/05/2013
436	Myosotis discolor	Changing Forget-me-not	17/05/2013
435	Ranunculus acris	Meadow Buttercup	17/05/2013
434	Solanum dulcamara	Bittersweet	17/05/2013
433	Plantago major	Greater Plantain	17/05/2013
432	Arion ater	(slug)	17/05/2013
431	Chamerion angustifolium	Rosebay Willowherb	17/05/2013
430	Coprinus plicatilis	Pleated Inkcap	17/05/2013
429	Prays fraxinella	Ash Bud Moth	17/05/2013
428	Bibio marci	St. Mark's Fly	17/05/2013
427	Sylvicola fenestralis	(fly)	17/05/2013
426	Coleophora serratella	(micromoth) [larval]	17/05/2013

SP5595ish

As I drove home this evening (another long day at work) the outlook was a little ominous and I noted a few Swifts zooming around low in the sky. Almost immediately that I reached the boundary to my square just a hundred meters or so from home, one zoomed into view and onto my square list. Nice! Not quite the landmark others achieved with this species but welcome all the same. Still no bloody Chiffchaff though!

Although it was late, I headed out into the square for some hopeful sweeping in the last glimmer of daylight, and along with some flowers and a couple of grasses I managed to add a few bits before lightning and thunder claps heralded a hailstorm and torrential rain. I got soaked on the way home, and sadly what had looked to be a promising night with the moth traps was completely washed out.

Aceria ulmicola observed under microscope - have to say the external gall looks more exciting. Parornix finimitella swept from blackthorn. I've also got a couple of Pterostichus beetles from my dry pitfall trap in the garden which I'm scratching my head over.

Coleophora sp. from the garden has made a new case and is feeding away - should be able to confidently name this one in a day or so. I've also still got the beetle larva (pres Dermestidae) which seems to be happily muching bits of dead insects.

Up to 425 - I need some decent garden moth trapping and some fine weekend weather to have another boost.

	Taxon	Vernacular	Date Added
425	Vicia sativa	Common Vetch	16/05/2013
424	Hypena proboscidalis	Snout (larval)	16/05/2013
423	Phyllobius roboretanus	Small Green Nettle Weevil	16/05/2013
422	Parornix finitimella	(micromoth)	16/05/2013
421	Aceria ulmicola	(gall mite)	16/05/2013
420	Bromus hordeaceus	Common Soft-brome	16/05/2013
419	Veronica chamaedrys	Germander Speedwell	16/05/2013
418	Anaspis maculata	(beetle)	16/05/2013
417	Miris striatus	(bug)	16/05/2013
416	Anisantha sterilis	Barren Brome	16/05/2013
415	Elachista rufocinerea	(micromoth)	16/05/2013
414	Apus apus	Common Swift	16/05/2013
413	Lauria cylindracea	Common Chrysalis Snail	15/05/2013
412	Dasysyrphus venustus	(hoverfly)	11/05/2013

The North in May

Just back from my holidays in Majorca and expected to see spring at last on my return. Instead, yesterday was driving rain in a strong and cold easterly wind and an overnight temperature of 4C. And I missed a Collared Flycatcher while I was away.

So I'm a long way behind where I thought I would be now and the moth trap in particular has been, not surprisingly, very unproductive.  The worst ever by this time, I suspect (though I haven't checked yet). Hopefully the next 2 weeks will improve and I can start to catch up.  It can only get better.

So the list is on 334  with the breakdown as follows.

                                     Actual  Expected

Birds  69                  70

Vascular Plants  139 400

Mosses & Liverworts 40 50

Lichens  12 12

Fungi & Slime Moulds  9 20

Terrestrial Mammals  6 8

Butterflies  3 20

Moths  15 350

Dragonflies  0 9

Hoverflies  3 25

Other inverts  37              50

Amphibians & Reptiles  1 5

 

TOTAL 334 1020

Aggregates & hybrids (not included) - 12

NZ2549 Waldridge, Co. Durham