Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Dalgety Bay - April end

A nice sunny finish to the end of April - at least here! I finally got onto Platycheirus ambiguus, a hoverfly I found new to Fife last year at blackthorn and was looking for ever since I noticed the blackthorn in this year's square (after amazingly walking past it completely oblivious 100 times...). (edit: Wouldn't that be a great new for Skye fly too? Yeah, it would. Totally. If only there was blackthorn ... oh wait! Yeah males swarm above the blackthorn)

This is a species I first mistook last year for Platycheirus albimanus, but its front legs look like a female Platycheirus - not much additional ornamentation. However, it is holoptic, so back to the legs. It has a funky little coiled spring hair as you can see from this photo. I could have tidied this up a bit but it is what it is:



So far that's 89 lifers for the year out of 676, 19.5%. Amazingly there are over 600 species from last year I haven't seen, which means the combined total is something approaching 1300. Wonder where that will be at the end of the year.

Next target - 800 by end of May!

Class roundup
Jan Feb Mar Apr
Algae 6 15 26 28
Lichens 27 31 35 38
Fungi 60 83 86 92
Plants - Vascular 65 77 85 114
Plants - Bryo 46 52 55 61
Mollusc 12 17 27 28
Arachnida 7 12 17 20
Collembola 5 8 10 10
Hemiptera 4 5 7 9
Hymenoptera 3 4 4 14
Coleoptera 8 13 16 23
Diptera 15 24 38 61
Lepidoptera 4 8 14 32
Invert - Other 22 41 54 57
Vert - Birds 54 62 75 82
Vert - Other 3 5 5 7
Total 341 457 554 676
Additions 116 97 122


Numbers
672 diptera Eupeodes luniger A hoverfly
673 * hymenoptera Vespula germanica German Wasp
674 diptera Platycheirus ambiguus Syrphidae
675 * hemiptera Orthops basalis A bug
676 * fungus Coprinopsis macrocephala A mushroom

11 comments:

  1. Ha, very limited Blackthorn here (I suspect mostly/entirely planted by WT) but yeah, I shall keep my eyes and net open! That is if it ever stops raining again... 800 by end of May. Quite preposterous! :D

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    1. Tim will be on 850 by then and will be at 1000 before end of June I reckon. We must be in with a shot of getting close on Skye too. Unfortunately I've run out of holidays this year but an away trip to the south coast in the summer would have been awesome (or Norfolk!). Maybe next year!

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  2. Not much Blackthorn round here either (well, in the 1k square anyway). Sounds like you have to target P. ambiguus, not one I've ever seen. Interesting to look at the class breakdown, same number of species but totally different makeup:

    TG4523 Mar 2018 TG4523 Apr 2018

    Algae 0 0
    Fungi/Lichens 19 22
    Bryophytes 4 4
    Vascular Plants 102 120
    Cnidarians 0 0
    Molluscs 7 8
    Annelid Worms 0 0
    Arachnids 38 50
    Myriapods 6 6
    Crustaceans 3 3
    Springtails 6 6
    Insects: Odonata 0 0
    Insects: Orthopteroids 0 1
    Insects: Hemipteroids 21 38
    Insects: Hymenoptera 9 31
    Insects: Coleoptera 87 119
    Insects: Diptera 60 111
    Insects: Butterflies 0 6
    Insects: Moths 24 43
    Insects: RSO 3 4
    Fish 0 0
    Reptiles 0 0
    Amphibia 0 0
    Birds 74 92
    Mammals 10 12
    Other Animals 0 0
    Echinoderms 0 0

    473 676

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    Replies
    1. Your inverts are going to be a cause of jealousy and inspiration often no doubt! I wonder how many species we'll record in total between the four of us

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    2. What are your 57 Inverts (other)? Are they the same as my 4 Insects (Remaining Small Orders), if so I'm clearly missing something!

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    3. All inverts in classes other than those inverts which are itemised ;) (I could consider them for me "other small classes"!)

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    4. worms, crustacean, bryozoan, cnidarian,myriapod ... I thought i might have screwed it up but it's probably ok

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  3. At least I can better your algae, cnidarian and fish totals, other than those I'll just watch from (far, far) behind :D

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    Replies
    1. My prediction - 2-3 jellyfish, 1 sea anemone, 2 hydroids, 2 fish as a baseline

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    2. My prediction - zero jellyfish, definitely at least one anemone, coupla hydroids and 3 fish. Plus I have a decent aquatic net now - maybe up that fish total to 4? Of course, we could always jump a seafishing trip! :)

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    3. bit too early for jellyfish?

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