TM2499 Shotesham - into the 1K400 Club at last!

Sunday night and I should go to bed but need to do an update of this week. Steady progress, with some good warm nights in the middle of the week but a depressingly cold weekend just gone making it hard work. Still, 44 more bring me to my hoped-for end of April target of 400. (I'd kind of thought about 100 per month would be nice, leaving the last two months for mopping up, but fell behind seriously in March). Still missing Willow Warbler though! Here's the new ones anyway:

Late entries:
357 Trochosa ruricola - a spider I'd struggled with but sorted at last thanks to advice from Iain Downie. Was thrown by the Collins key saying that Lycosidae had four small equal-sized eyes at the front - these didn't look all that small or equal-sized to me. Clearly the beast though.
358 Diurnea fagella - classic spring micro-moth, appeared at the trap shortly after writing last week's blog post.

Monday 22nd:
Nothing

Tuesday 23rd:
359 Creeping Buttercup - at last in flower, I've been ignoring the leaves
360 Eristalis pertinax - several of this hoverfly out this week
361 Platycheirus albimanus - one netted at forget-me-nots in garden, always a very common hoverfly here
362 Melinda gentilis - a small bluebottle netted from forget-me-nots in garden. Tricky one this, but reasonably confident. Have kept specimen and asked local expert whether he needs to see it.
363 Two-spot Ladybird - one walked past the kettle!
364 Common Carder Bee - lots this week
365 Engrailed - moth trap
366 Double-striped Pug - moth trap
367 Powdered Quaker - moth trap
368 Depressaria heraclei - moth trap

Wednesday 24th:
369 Cormorant - a fly-over, the most excitement I've ever had from a cormorant (not a lot still).
370 Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner - first one on the trunk of a large tree in the village that has them each year - several weeks late this year.
371 Thale Cress - in flower on verge
372 Waved Umber - moth trap
373 Frosted Green - moth trap
374 Early Tooth-striped - moth trap - garden tick and my 2nd ever, perhaps the first record for TM29.
375 Harpalus rufipes - carabid by moth trap which I keyed as this multiple times but caused me trouble as it seemed the wrong colour, until Mark Telfer kindly explained about teneral ones being paler.
376 Buttoned Snout - moth trap - a good one to see, although reasonably common round here
377 The Streamer - moth trap
378 Nut-tree Tussock - moth trap

Thursday 25th:
379 Dove's-foot Cranesbill - in flower on verge
380 Cowslip - in flower by pond, looked a bit plastic but seen subsequently elsewhere
381 Meadow Vetchling - leaves only so far
382 Field Horsetail - fertile (brown) stems popping up
383 Wood Forget-me-not - garden variety found naturalised on other side of the road from our house
384 Early Thorn - moth trap
385 Brindled Pug - moth trap

Friday 26th:
386 Common Mouse-ear - got bored seeing this around the place and waiting for it to flower
387 Germander Speedwell - first flowers

Saturday 27th:
388 Bluebell - confirmed one with white pollen so not a hybrid - there are decent patches across the square border too
389 Parsley-piert - stupid little plant with a daft name, but chuffed to notice this at last! In a fallow field. Teeny weeny green flower!
390 Field Forget-me-not - same field
391 Phyllonorycter spinicolella - netted from a cherry-plum hedge. Bit confused as it looks spot on cf the photo on ukmoths (greyish) but MBGBI2 says it should be an orangey one (as per photo on Norfolk Moths website). Don't know how variable colour might be. May get it looked at more closely, but this species easy later as miner anyway.
392 Melanostoma scalare - another common small hoverfly
393 Cyclosa conica - little spider netted from Dog's Mercury in a small wood - odd pointy back end
394 Andrena flavipes - finally plucked up courage to name an Andrena and photo confirmed by recorder so happy!
395 White Bryony - in garden
396 Sycamore - small saplings finally sprouting leaves

Sunday 28th:
397 Cuckoo-flower - but still no Cuckoo
398 Marsh Valerian - just coming out on damp areas of the common
399 Silverweed - leaves on the common
400 Broad-leaved Pondweed - in the lower section of the main ditch. Always been a bit scared of pondweed ID cos there's so many of them, but this was actually quite easy.

Plenty more in pots or on my desk as scraps of vegetation (including two sedges, gulp!)

Male Andrena flavipes - note the prominent pale bands on the abdomen

Early Tooth-striped - not the most exciting looking moth but pleasing all the same

Dark-edged Bee-fly - cool or what?

Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner - stunning micro-moth

Cyclosa conica (I think - any other thoughts welcome)

Flower of Parsley-Piert, how pointless is that?

And finally, crazy weevil. Maybe Curculio? Don't have the book and haven't kept it - don't suppose it can be named from the photo?