TQ6410: May flies on ....

Events back at the family home have overshadowed everything this past week and put the Challenge on the back-burner for now. Mind you, at times like this it can be quite theraputic to carry on foraging around the plot and square just to take your mind off things ...... or not. Anyway, a few more species are going on the list come what may .....

 505 - Spotted Medick  Medicago Arabica  10/5  distinctive leaves only in the front meadow 

506 - Persicaria or Red Shank  Polygonum persicaria 10/5 sprouting out of bare ground in the meadow where we brush-cut the nettles and brambles back in March

507 - White-shouldered House Moth  Endrosis sarcitrella 10/5  two in the trap last Friday night

508 - Flame Shoulder  Ochropleura plecta  one of only two new moths in the trap on Friday night. There really ought to be a few more species by now but I think night-time  temperatures are still too low …. And it’s been pretty breezy here lately. Might try it closer to the woodland edge next time - circa 100m away from the workshop via extension leads ...... last time I used the old Wolf generator up there, it melted the choke unit  ..... 

509 - Hoverfly  Rhingia campestris   two on windbreak netting inside the barn 11/5  .... plus this  one on one of the many nettle patches here

510 - Hoverfly  Cheilosia albitarsis  on nettles in the upper meadow 11/5

511 - Fly Hydrophoria  lancifer  on nettles in the upper meadow 11/5

512 - Small White Pieris rapae being blown across the parking area here at the plot 12/5

513 - Green Longhorn micro moth Adela reaumurella (left) on bramble in the upper meadow 12/5

 

514 - Red-and-black Froghopper  Cercopis vulnerata (left) on nettles in the upper meadow 12/5 .....  tell a lie - this one's on blackthorn. The first two I found were on nettles .....

515 - Variegated Yellow Archangel  Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. Argentatum  12/5 naturalised/dumped in a woodland verge just down the road .  Really interesting woodland verge though ....

516 - False Oat Grass Arrhenatherum elatius  12/5 also in the verge just down the road

517 - Fly  Graphomya maculate 12/5 (left) basking on nettle in the upper meadow  

518 - Fly Azelia nebulosa   ditto 

519 - Fly  Sarcophaga carnaria  on the windbreak netting inside the barn while the rain poured down

520 - Hoverfly  Leucozona lucorum (left) on Red Campion in the shelter of the main rubble bank by the parking area here 13/5. Only discovered it because the Challenge has now got me regularly examining the nettle and wild flower banks near the workshop early a.m. 

 

521 - Comfrey Symphytum officinale  naturalised at the far end of the rookery wood  14/5 when I also found the following plants ....

522 - Upright Hedge-parsley Torilis japonica  doesn’t flower until July but fern green  umbellifer leaves appearing everywhere in the wild flower banks and overgrown lower meadow. Always common around the plot but this year it’s already looking invasive!

523 - Wood Melick Melica uniflora  widespread along the shady bridleway that splits the little bluebell wood from the upper meadow. Grasses are starting to flower all over the place – challenging times coming up ….

524 - Bindweed  Convolvulus arvensis  sprouting out of the recently re-excavated ditch south of the Castle

525 - Scentless Mayweed  Matricaria maritime  now well-established around the farmyard by the Church

526 - Fat Hen  Chenopodium album  Only very small plants still (50-75mm) around the farmyard but have weeded enough of it out of the asparagus bed in the garden up the road (in the next square) to be fed up with the sight of it already!

526 species ….. but just wish the weather would warm up a bit - back up to May rather than March levels (i.e. normal March levels). Hope too that my 'ex' makes a full and speedy recovery very soon ..... we're all thinking of you!