Monday, June 24, 2019

Bridport & Thorne week 25

A good number of species added at Thorne which takes me past last year's end of June total with still a month of June left. Bridport not so many added but I will keep going just to see what sort of numbers I get without trying that hard.

This week's photo is a Lilac Beauty moth at Thorne


And the numbers are as follows

Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
26
6
Lichens
22
6
Coleoptera
25
8
Fungi
25
2
Diptera
34
7
Bryophytes
22
7
Hymenoptera
33
11
Plants
258
206
Butterflies
11
11
Molluscs
8
2
Moths
94
58
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
6
2
Arachnids
8
2
Fish
1
1
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
3
1
Crustacea
10
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
2
0
Birds
56
48
Odonata
4
4
Mammals
7
5
Orthoptera
2
1
Total
661
384


Friday, June 21, 2019

Cullaloe LNR - 1000 - What a difference a day makes

... about 24 little hours, really.

I did wonder whether I was going to make it to beat last year's date, especially before the dipterists forum meeting which starts this weekend. If I didn't do it now it was going to be end of next week. Anyway, in the end a very nice evening walk around the woodland edges produced enough to get over the line without evening doing microscopy when I got home. That would have been good in itself, but there were, in the last 5, 3 species I hadn't seen on the reserve and one which I added as new for the county in last year's square!

I'll have a bit of a break (as if! flies all week next week) and then re-think my targets. I want the reserve list to go over 2000 (about 50 to go) and I have some minor targets on taxon groups. Maybe I'll push through this time for the 1500.

Group Count
Algae 1
Lichens 40
Fungi 116
Vascular 182
Bryophytes 58
Mollusc 22
Arachnida 45
Collembola 8
Hemiptera 29
Hymenoptera 29
Coleoptera 91
Diptera 157
Lepidoptera 103
Invert - Other 38
Vert - Birds 75
Vert - Other 8
Total 1001

Of the 1001 species, there were
* 307 new to the reserve
* 125 new to me
* 12 new to county
* 2 new to Scotland (possibly 3)

Common Figwort

Monday, June 17, 2019

Bridport & Thorne Week 24

Reasonable progress despite the weather being more like October than June.
Photo opportunities have been a bit limited so this weeks photo is of a Poplar Hawk-moth at Thorne from a couple of weeks back.

And the numbers for the two sites are as follows;

Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
22
6
Lichens
22
6
Coleoptera
23
8
Fungi
21
2
Diptera
33
6
Bryophytes
22
7
Hymenoptera
31
11
Plants
244
205
Butterflies
11
11
Molluscs
6
2
Moths
77
49
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
6
2
Arachnids
8
2
Fish
1
1
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
3
1
Crustacea
10
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
2
0
Birds
55
48
Odonata
4
4
Mammals
7
5
Orthoptera
2
1
Total
613
383


Thursday, June 13, 2019

Cullaloe LNR - 50 species in 8 days

So the clock turned over to 950 this morning when I realised I had failed to thus far record the abundant Bird's-foot Trefoil, leaving 50 to find before 21st June if I'm to match last year's effort. I'd like to do that but only one weekend remains. And it's raining. And it's 7 degrees. Well, you never know. It's close enough to try if the weather shifts.

Fish-baited bottle and pitfall traps have been returning good numbers of silphids, including the below Thanatophilus rugosus (new to reserve, new to me). Credit for this belongs in part to Ashleigh Whiffin of NMS who did a very nice presentation on silphids at a nearby ecology centre recently.

The "remaining" list -species already known from the reserve which I haven't recorded this year is ticking down too - 1014 species left. I reckon I won't be far beyond the 1000 this year before the 2k reserve tally comes up. Numbers, numbers, numbers ... still the fascination is in the organisms themselves. Even wrinkly, stinky beetles. Maybe especially ...



Latest
935 R flowering plant Meconopsis cambrica Welsh Poppy
936 flowering plant Solanum dulcamara Bittersweet
937 lep-moth Lomaspilis marginata Clouded Border
938 lep-moth Pharmacis fusconebulosa Map-winged Swift
939 lep-moth Apamea unanimis Small Clouded Brindle
940 hymenoptera Vespula vulgaris Common Wasp
941 diptera Dasyneura ulmariae A gall midge
942 diptera Chloromyia formosa Broad Centurion
943 lep-moth Odezia atrata Chimney Sweeper
944 R M coleoptera Thanatophilus rugosus A Carrion Beetle
945 diptera Limonia nubeculosa A Cranefly
946 diptera Polietes lardarius A muscid fly
947 R lep-moth Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla Twin-spot Plume
948 R diptera Calliphora loewii A blow fly
949 diptera Chaetostomella cylindrica A Picture-winged Fly
950 flowering plant Lotus corniculatus Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil

Monday, June 10, 2019

Bridport & Thorne week 23

The highlight of the week was a Hummingbird Hawk-moth nectaring on the Catmint in the garden at Thorne. However it was much too flighty to even attempt a photo. This week's photo instead is of the other species of chaser dragonfly commonly seen at the pond at Thorne. A Four-spotted Chaser.

The numbers for the two sites were as follows;

Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
20
3
Lichens
22
6
Coleoptera
23
7
Fungi
20
2
Diptera
29
6
Bryophytes
22
7
Hymenoptera
29
11
Plants
237
200
Butterflies
11
9
Molluscs
6
2
Moths
67
37
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
6
1
Arachnids
8
2
Fish
1
1
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
3
1
Crustacea
10
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
2
0
Birds
55
48
Odonata
4
4
Mammals
7
5
Orthoptera
2
1
Total
587
359