A few firsts.

I'd been hoping for a thaw to kick-start my progress but that pesky thing called work keeps getting in the way. Hopefully I'll be able to get out on the square later in the week but for now I've got a few firsts to report:

Finally made my first visit to St John's Wood & filled a couple of embarrassing bird-shaped gaps:

102 Wren

103 Chaffinch

104 Spurge Laurel – probably a garden escape but deep in St John’s Wood

A determined effort to get on top of the more common lichens has given me a few additions and since my last post I've chalked up my first adult moth and my first mollusc:

105 Buellia punctata

106 Lecanora carpinea

107 Holly speckle

108 Greater Spotted Woodpecker

109 Small Quaker

110 Physcia tenella

111 Xanthoria polycarpa

112 Wall screw-moss

113 Xanthorhoe parietana

114 Aspicilia contorta

115 White-lipped Banded Snail

I've also notched up my first Carabid of the challenge:

116 Demetrias atricapillus

My first aphid came in the form of some eggs nestled in the buds of a Bird Cherry:

117 Bird Cherry-Oat Aphid

And I also took my first look into a suction trap sample this year and pulled out a chironomid along with some tricky Sciarids that I haven't yet had the time to key out properly:

118 Smittia aterrima