Spidery delight

Just a quick sortie around part of the square today, my wife had the day off too (we rarely coincide our days off work) so I had to hustle out and back as best I could. But it was worth the effort -

Wandering the housing estate was profitable with Creeping-Jenny, Thale Cress, Greater Plantain (forgot to add this to the tally weeks ago!) and a Large White all new for the year. I had it in my mind that Zebra Spider and harvestmen should be active on walls/under sills so headed for the local church and gave it some effort. Just one extra species, but what a corker...Bearing in mind that I don't live in the square and the pub (which IS in the square) has annoyingly immaculate toilets, I was wondering who's door I should knock on and ask to use their loo in order to find the next species. Christ Church walls saved me that ordeal for there, in all it's glory, perched a mighty fine Pholcus phalangioides!!!! I don't think I've EVER seen one outdoors before, except maybe in a shed. But this was properly outdoors, bless the little bugger :) 

Back on Epsom Common I headed for the Highest Point and it's scrub. The unmistakable ramble of a Garden Warbler was tracked down to a pair, my first for the year, and 3 Buzzards overhead reinforced the fact that they are resident in the area. Scaly Male-fern was unfurling with Male-fern nearby for instant comparisons.

Heading back towards home I checked a suntrap area near the back of the Wells houses. Under a concrete slab I found Common Pill Woodlouse and a huge Scolopendromorph which I later keyed out to Cryptops anomalans. I'm finding the centipedes quite easy to key out, unlike the springtails which I ignored for today! There are a few residents who seem to see the land behind their gardens as a perfectly acceptable site to dump their garden refuse, hence I added Blackcurrant (small patch suckering outwards) and a large patch of Japanese Rose (suckering all over the damn place, I've seen it cover large areas before), both over 35ft from the gardens in question and hence (dubiously) countable for this challenge. I'm NOT counting the lone Tulip thats currently flowering in a weedy verge though, that's just taking the piss!

I netted a few small, slender hoverflies and keyed them all to Melanostoma scalare, a lifer.  Back at the very edge of the square is a small overflow stream which has several Water Dock growing in it, my last addition of the day. I finish on 482 species.

Today's additions are:
470 - Creeping-Jenny - in a ditch alongside Stamford Green Meadows
471 - Thale Cress - growing along footpaths/garden walls
472 - Large White - a female settled in grasses, Epsom Common 
473 - Greater Plantain - lots around Stamford Green streets, just realised it wasn't on the list
474 - Pholcus phalangioides (a spider)- one on the church walls - utterly outside!!!!
475 - Garden Warbler - a pair in scrub near the Highest Point, Epsom Common
476 - Cryptops anomalans (a centipede) - one under a concrete slab, Epsom Common (LIFER)
477 - Common Pill Woodlouse Armadillidium vulgare - 1 under a slab, Epsom Common
478 - Blackcurrant - patch behind gardens of Wells Estate, Epsom Common
479 - Japanese Rose - patch behind gardens of Wells Estate, Epsom Common
480 - Melanostoma scalare (a hoverfly) 3 netted, Epsom Common
481 - Scaly Male-fern - just unfurling, scale details noted alongside Male-ferns
482 - Water Dock - several growing in an outflow stream, Lane End area