SP5595ish : Quality - it's all relative

I guess the one thing that I should have expected when starting this venture was the unexpected ... I've already found a load of stuff that I would never have imagined occurred so close to home. When some of these start to have local significance, then that's just brilliant. Like this one for example ....

Spotted Medick

I am sure this is dirt common for a lot of you out there, but here in VC55 it is a scarce plant to say the least with records from less than 10 sites. So finding it within a couple of 100 meters from home was completely unexpected.

Small Yellow Underwing

Not an uncommon moth, but here in VC55 it's one you'd expect to find in nice open flowery meadows - not on a scruffy verge alongside a busy A road. Well pleased with this one.

Corizus hyoscyami

I found this in the county last year, not too far away but at the time it was very rare and possibly just colonizing the county. So again, very pleased indeed to find this in my square.

And with a few more new for me ticks along the way, this challenge is turning out to be a brilliant for my PSL list. It's not all good though - the moth traps are dormant with cool overnight temps and the weather is turning again. I've recorded less than 100 moth species in the whole square so far, and even that includes larval records (including another one today). I should be well over 100 just from garden moth trapping by now.

Here's my latest additions, now up to 533:

	Taxon	Vernacular	Date Added
533	Aphelia paleana	Timothy Tortrix [larval]	27/05/2013
532	Oxalis corniculata	Procumbent Yellow-sorrel	26/05/2013
531	Sisymbrium officinale	Hedge Mustard	26/05/2013
530	Euproctis similis	Yellow-tail [larval]	26/05/2013
529	Allophyes oxyacanthae	Green-brindled Crescent [larval]	26/05/2013
528	Empis tessellata	(fly)	26/05/2013
527	Corizus hyoscyami	(bug)	26/05/2013
526	Athous haemorrhoidalis	(beetle)	26/05/2013
525	Cantharis decipiens	(beetle)	26/05/2013
524	Panemeria tenebrata	Small Yellow Underwing	26/05/2013
523	Puccinia punctiformis	Creeping Thistle Rust	26/05/2013
522	Pieris napi	Green-veined White	26/05/2013
521	Mesembrina meridiana	(fly)	26/05/2013
520	Geranium robertianum	Herb-Robert	26/05/2013
518	Tipula fascipennis	(fly)	26/05/2013
518	Leucozona lucorum	(hoverfly)	26/05/2013
517	Enallagma cyathigerum	Common Blue Damselfly	26/05/2013
516	Entomophthora muscae	(fungi)	26/05/2013
515	Trifolium pratense	Red Clover	26/05/2013
514	Phragmatobia fuliginosa	Ruby Tiger	26/05/2013
513	Erysimum cheiranthoides	Treacle-mustard	26/05/2013
512	Coreus marginatus	Dock Bug	26/05/2013
511	Grammoptera ruficornis	(beetle)	26/05/2013
510	Sphaeridium scarabaeoides	(beetle)	26/05/2013
509	Medicago arabica	Spotted Medick	26/05/2013
508	Veronica arvensis	Wall Speedwell	26/05/2013
507	Hedya nubiferana	Marbled Orchard Tortrix	26/05/2013
506	Glyphipterix simpliciella	Cocksfoot Moth	25/05/2013
505	Psila fimetaria	(fly)	25/05/2013
504	Cantharis livida	(beetle)	25/05/2013
503	Pararge aegeria	Speckled Wood	25/05/2013

And here's a breakdown of the overall list, and the insects:

By the way, when you are checking hawthorn blossom you might find something like this ...

Hawthorn hole mystery

In which case, look for something like this nearby or even underneath the flower ...

 

Hawthorn hole mystery solved