Sunday, May 26, 2013

Shotesham, smashing the 600!

Another busy week here in Norfolk. Still cool most nights so moth-trap still pretty patchy, but I've been working on learning some new things, such as the delights of craneflies. Really pleased with progress with 612 on the clock now, and hopefully enough guaranteed common things still to come that the 1,000 is well within sight. No time for complacency though...

Late additions

(17th May)
551 Cantharis decipiens - beetle swept from hawthorn
(18th May)
552 Nephrotoma appendiculata - cranefly from by the pond - keyed
553 Limonia phragmitidis - another cranefly keyed from near the pond
554 Tipula varipennis - yet another cranefly, from the common
555 Pachyprotasis rapae - sawfly, fully keyed, very common apparently
(19th May)
556 Syrphus torvus - been looking at Syrphus on and off for years, first times I've found the hairy-eyed one!
557 Cheilosia variabilis - bit of a tricky one to key but got there in the end
558 Epistrophe eligans
559 Cydia ulicetana - netted near the tiny gorse patch
560-66 Clouded Border, Pale Tussock, Common Wave, Syndemis musculana, Dichrorampha acuminatana, Poplar Hawk-moth, Shuttle-shaped Dart - moths in trap
567 Tipula vittata - also in moth-trap

Monday 20th May

568 Goatsbeard - flowers not quite out yet

Tuesday 21st May

569 Philodromus dispar - my son potted this up before I got home, quite an easy one as it turned out. Two more seen since.
570 Plutella xylostella - the Diamond-back Moth, in the trap

Wednesday 22nd May

571 Platycheirus angustatus - small thin hoverfly on the common
572 Goat Willow - finally felt confident to identify now leaves opened up
573 Water Figwort - identified on stems
574 Hobby - hooray, shot across the common on pre-work walk.
575 Water-cress - finally in flower. Assumed not one-rowed microphylla; will check in due course to confirm.
576 Pricky Sow-thistle - in flower in set-aside
577 Dusky Cranesbill - surprise garden escape, small patch of them along a roadside verge opposite to some houses.
578 The Spectacle - moth trap

Thursday 23rd May

Nothing

Friday 24th May

579 Barren Brome - finally got round to sorting out this very common grass!

Saturday 25th May

580 Black Medick - always find these little pea-spp tricky - tiny point to leaf tip useful
581 Osmia bicornis (was rufa) - the Red Mason Bee - keyed out. Tiny "horns" on the face
582 Green Shieldbug
583 Empis tessellata - a "dagger fly", cool things! Tentative ID via Chinery, then google images, then found keys on Richard Comont's spectacularly-useful website and got there relatively easily. This seems to be very common, seeing loads since I found it.
584 Elachista argentella - small white micro-moth in grassy areas
585 Ten-spot Ladybird
586 Cut-leaved Cranesbill
587 Pipizella viduata (was varipes) - tiny hoverfly in set-aside strip behind our house.
588 Tawny Mining Bee
589 Cantharis nigricans - netted in the garden and keyed easily enough
590 Red Clover - just coming into flower
591 Snow-in-summer - lots in gardens in village, but patch naturalised on edge of the common.
592 Water Mint - first species I've detected on smell, as I knelt on some on the common. Not in flower yet
593 Melanogaster hirtella - a confusing all dark hoverfly I assumed was a Cheilosia at first. Note the flat-topped profile to abdomen.
594 Platycheirus clypeatus - another small hoverfly
595 Tetragnatha montana - common spider, dark sternum
596 Azure Damselfly - female
597 Eristalis intricarius - hairy bumblebee mimic hoverfly, in garden
598 Common Valerian - leaves only, on the common
599 Wall Speedwell - tiny wee flower on a roadside verge
600 Small-flowered Cranesbill - count those anthers!
601-606 Coxcomb Prominent, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Common Pug, Rustic Shoulder-knot, The Shears, White Ermine - in moth trap

Sunday 26th May

607 Wasp Beetle - stunning as ever!
608 Woundwort Shieldbug - several found today
609 Adela reaumurella - had almost given up on finding this, thought it was getting too late, but several along a green lane.
610 Malachius bipustulatus - cracking little beetle swept along lane
611 Helophilus hybridus - hoverfly, male on strawberries (ID visually on abdomen pattern)
612 Pyrausta aurata - micro-moth over the common at dusk

Wasp Beetle - if only all insects were this straightforward

Woundwort Shieldbug threesome

Empis tessellata 

Cockchafer - just because you're big, doesn't mean a tiny spider can't catch you. (Struggled to eat it though)


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