Well, what a week it's been. Finally spring is really here, and I've added 51 species since my last post, bringing the total to 326 (with plenty more "in the pot" so to speak). As usual, I only managed pretty short walks mid-week, usually after work. However, the overnight moth-trap is at last starting to pay dividends (although the species catches still feel more like mid-March than mid-April). And this weekend I managed to put in a good number of hours, covering most parts of the square at least once. Here's the tally for the week then:
276 - Loricera pilicornis - distinctive carabid beetle found under strawberry pots - see Skev's post for pic!
277 - Pisaura mirabilis - spider on a sunny bank
278 - Bembidion guttula - another carabid, this one rather small and swept from Juncus. In fact, I swept it again from Juncus a few days later.
279 - Cheilosia bergenstammi - a new hoverfly for me, apparently common but seemed quite early so I've sent photo and description to county recorder who's kindly confirmed it.
280 - Planorbis planorbis - a ramshorn snail netted from the pub pond.
281 - Velia caprai - water crickets, which I've never seen before but I now see are really rather common along the stream
282 - Oak Beauty - trap
283 - Spotted Medick - leaves only of naturalised plants on verges
284 - Meadow Foxtail - just starting to flower
285 - Clouded Drab - trap
286 - The Chestnut - trap
287 - Dytiscus marginalis - the Great Diving Beetle, in moth trap!
288 - Small Quaker - trap
289 - Early Grey - trap
290 - Larinoides cornutus - spider swept from Juncus on the common
291- Bombus terrestris - queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee
292 - Grey Shoulder-knot
293 - Red Chestnut
294 - Garlic Mustard - leaves only
295 - Nicrophorus humator - Sexton Beetle in moth trap
296 - Twin-spotted Quaker
297 - Lead-coloured Drab - always scarce but I was determined not to overlook one this year, and up it pops
298 - Platyarthrus hoffmannseggi - small white woodlouse in ants nest on the drive, this is a really cute little beastie and instantly became my favourite creature in the world!
299 - Common Mallow - leaves only
300 - RED KITE - was wandering around early yesterday morning, wondering what my 300th species would be (and assuming Chiffchaff), when the pigeons scattered and this beauty soared right over my head - boom! Still a fairly rare bird here, I think my third in the village now. I may have whooped, a little...
301 - Curled Dock
302 - Reed Bunting - at last, a singing bird back on site.
303 - Emmelina monodactyla - the commonest plume moth, not in the trap but, somewhat oddly, on my car windscreen.
304 - Small Tortoiseshell - at last
305 - Swallow - amazing, Swallow beats Chiffchaff back as first migrant!
306 - Blackcap - a couple singing, including one in the garden today whilst we ate our lunch
307 - Limax maximus - Leopard Slug
308 - Bombus lapidarius - Red-tailed Bumblebee
309 - Bombylius major - Dark-edged Bee-fly, again well overdue!
310 - Peacock - the butterfly that is
311 - Gyrinus substriatus - whirlygig beetles keyed to this species. These are amazing under a microscope (four eyes, crazy!) and are my new new favourite thing (sorry Mr Woodlouse)
312 - Gerris odontogaster - a pondskater on the stream, keyed to this. Not the commonest species, but quite common and seemed to key spot on.
313 - Poecilus versicolor - Rainbow Greenclock! An amazing carabid beetle - far better than those woodlice and whirlygigs....
314 - Cepaea nemoralis - Brown-lipped Snail (rather an overlooked one, I must have seen this already)
315 - Tritomegas bicolor - Pied Shield-bug found by Trudy whilst gardening
316 - Endomychus coccineus - False Ladybird, a great little beetle found on some fungusy logs I was moving
317 - Notiophilus biguttatus - the Common Spring-tail Stalker, another ace little carabid beetle
318 - Gooseberry - must have walked past this dozens of times before
319 - The Satellite - trap
320 - Slender Groundhopper - swept on the common
321 - Three-spined Stickleback - top stream netting by my son Duncan on his first attempt!
322 - Cream-spot Ladybird - found by my other son Tom at the same time!
323 - Chiffchaff - today - about bloody time. Two heard the previous day were just outside the boundary.
324 - Common Toad - rescued a big one from the road. Stupid and ugly.
325 - Grass Snake - the boys had seen one earlier so glad to degrip this! (They still have Stoat on me though...)
326 - Bristly Ox-tongue - leaves only, in the beer garden of the pub.
Exhausting at times, but really great to see the world coming back to life. And it's very mild tonight so I'm hoping for big things from the moth-trap. Bring it on!
Lead-coloured Drab, check those antennae
Red Kite, a fantastic number 300!
Poecilus versicolor, the Rainbow Greencloak. Why have I taken so long to get into carabids properly?
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