Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Cullaloe LNR - one day left

until the end of April. 300th lep for the reserve came up on the 28th and I'm about 8 species off 700 for the year as we stand. Here's hoping! Also hoping that the 300th moth for the reserve won't be very far away

The Streamer - a nice one for the 300th

Monday, April 29, 2019

Bridport & Thorne week 17

Added a good number of species which took the Thorne total well over 400 before the end of April.
This weeks photo is of a roosting Orange-tip butterfly.


And the numbers are as follows

Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
12
2
Lichens
22
6
Coleoptera
11
2
Fungi
19
2
Diptera
17
5
Bryophytes
22
7
Hymenoptera
21
8
Plants
161
145
Butterflies
9
5
Molluscs
6
2
Moths
30
13
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
2
1
Arachnids
6
2
Fish
1
1
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
3
1
Crustacea
10
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
50
44
Odonata
1
0
Mammals
6
4
Orthoptera
2
1
Total
414
257








Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Cullaloe LNR - 666, the number of some beasts

So after a week away watching the Fieldfares buzz about the treetops and breeding Barnacle Geese wandering around the place in Norwegian sunshine it's back to the grindstone at Cullaloe. There's plenty to catch and ID and it looks like I'll break last year's April 676 tally, though not by as much as hoped. I had expected to be a bit further on than this and it seems the fastest 1000 is safe. Even making 700 this month would be a stretch. Still happy with the amount of new stuff coming through though and my target of 200 new species for the reserve is almost done already.

There was a red letter day when I found two new flowering plants in an under-surveyed corner of the reserve at the weekend. It's an interesting bit which is hard to get to and was apparently omitted in the NVC survey since it's clearly not what the map claims it is! Anyway, Gooseberry and Greater Stitchwort were nice finds there among about ten new species.

Greater Stitchwort
Some more pics:


Hairy Shieldbug
County first Omonadus floralis

Also a new stenus for me and the reserve - S.flavipes. I'm loving the Stenus more since I learned to gen det them and I think this is species 5 this year




Latest numbers:
650 R flowering plant Ribes uva-crispa Gooseberry
651 R flowering plant Stellaria holostea Greater Stitchwort
652 R hemiptera Liocoris tripustulatus A mirid bug
653 hemiptera Stenodema calcarata A Mirid Bug
654 R hemiptera Monalocoris filicis  Bracken Bug
655 insect-other Nemoura cinerea  A Stonefly
656 R M insect-other Hemerobius humulinus A brown lacewing
657 R M diptera Hylemya variata A flower fly
658 flowering plant Luzula multiflora Heath Wood-rush
659 flowering plant Alopecurus pratensis Meadow Foxtail
660 flowering plant Prunus avium Cherry
661 flowering plant Potentilla anserina Silverweed
662 flowering plant Rosa spinosissima Burnet Rose
663 flowering plant Anthoxanthum odoratum Sweet Vernal-grass
664 R coleoptera Atholus duodecimstriatus A histerid beetle
665 R coleoptera Stenus flavipes A rove beetle
666 flowering plant Symphytum x uplandicum Russian Comfrey

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Bridport & Thorne week 16

A good week with many species added which has already taken me past my end-April number of last year.

This weeks photo is a moth; The Streamer.


And the numbers for the two sites are as follows


Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
11
1
Lichens
22
6
Coleoptera
11
2
Fungi
19
2
Diptera
15
2
Bryophytes
22
7
Hymenoptera
19
7
Plants
140
131
Butterflies
7
4
Molluscs
6
2
Moths
21
8
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
2
0
Arachnids
4
2
Fish
1
1
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
2
0
Crustacea
10
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
49
43
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
6
4
Orthoptera
2
1
Total
372
228





Monday, April 15, 2019

Bridport & Thorne week 15

My undoubted highlight of the week was finding a Heather Ladybird at Thorne. As well as being a 'lifer' this was at first a major surprise. The surprise being in that no heathland exists within at least 15 or 20 miles of Thorne. However as I read up about Heather Ladybird's it became apparent that recently they have started using Leylandii trees as a habitat. It was within a group of Leylandii that I found the ladybird.
So this weeks photo is of a Heather Ladybird. (I know I could do with a better macro facility on the camera!)

The numbers for the 2 sites are given below
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
9
1
Lichens
17
6
Coleoptera
9
2
Fungi
18
2
Diptera
8
2
Bryophytes
22
7
Hymenoptera
13
7
Plants
129
131
Butterflies
7
3
Molluscs
6
2
Moths
19
5
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
2
0
Arachnids
4
2
Fish
1
1
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
2
0
Crustacea
9
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
49
43
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
5
4
Orthoptera
2
1
Total
334
224