Saturday, January 27, 2018

New spider for the garden

Been poorly for the past 10 days, so not much recording recently. Pleased to get a new money spider for the garden this morning, Diplocephalus cristatus. A small linyphiid, not much hope of identifying it without a microscope. A couple of White-fronted Geese amongst the more regular Pink-footed Geese yesterday. Takes garden list to 1726.

7 comments:

  1. I think we need more info regards your garden, 1726!!!! That's just amazing. How long have you been PSLing it, how large, habitats, species breakdowns, etc etc???? I know John Langmaid has recorded over 1000 species of moth for his garden, but I don't think he looks at much else though.

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    1. Hi Seth, I moved here from Kent in October 2013, so was too late to take part in the 1000 for 1 k square that year. I did take part in 2014 and recorded 1251 species in the 1 km square. However as previously mentioned most of the square is out-of-bounds, so I began to concentrate more on my garden list, the best year so far was 1158 species in 2016. The garden is quite small, with nothing special in the way of habitat, but does overlook or is close to good coastal dunes and good fenland habitat. I do run light traps, which attracts bugs, beetles and flies as well as moths. A breakdown of the species since Oct 2013 is as follows:

      Fungi/Lichens 16
      Bryophytes 6
      Vascular Plants 94
      Molluscs 12
      Annelid Worms 2
      Arachnids 62
      Myriapods 4
      Crustaceans 5
      Springtails 10
      Odonata 13
      Orthopteroids 6
      Hemipteroids 93
      Hymenoptera 90
      Coleoptera 249
      Diptera 269
      Butterflies 19
      Moths 608
      Insects: RSO 31
      Reptiles 1
      Amphibia 2
      Birds 119
      Mammals 15

      Grand Total 1726

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  2. 13 odonata seems almost mythical to my mind nowadays. I've recorded one species (Common Hawker) in my square, so far. One! Impressive number of hymenoptera too, that's more than I've identified ever.

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    1. Do get Norfolk Hawker, Willow Emerald, Swallowtail and Dark Green Fritillary in the garden occasionally. One mega-rare moth you'll like is Ancylolomia tentaculella

      https://www.norfolkmoths.co.uk/micros.php?bf=13270

      only the fifth British record. Plus Amara majuscula, a beetle new to Britain.

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  3. Jennifer Owen's 'Wildlife of a Garden' is an amazing read - c.2700 spp. from her garden in Leicester

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  4. Yes, I've heard about that Ali, but not read it myself. I believe it was over a 30 year period, so a few years available to catch up!

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    1. Quite! I'm sure many of those species were encountered once in 30 years, too, including species new to Britain and new to science.

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