Well, it's been a while, through some pretty raw spring weather with some brief warm interludes. Shame the interludes never seem to come at weekends. So the month of June has nevertheless been very productive, with around 144 new species so far, and some real crackers, especially plucked out of the moth trap. Five species of hawkmoth, and some real showy species like varied coronet, scorched wing and bordered sallow. A couple of nights in the sweaty nights of last week pulled in 2-300 individual moths, giving me a real challenge in the morning. I've also been attempting to identify micros seriously for the first time this year, with the help of Parsons and Sterling, and find them to be every bit as variable as macro moths, the little blighters. All good fun though.
The green lane in the middle of the square has been very productive for flying inverts, but the ponds I have access to have so far proved a bit disappointing. However, I expect them to be a good source of invertebrate species in July and August. The species breakdown looks like this:
Amphibian 3
Aphid 4
Bird 77
Bristletail 1
Bryophyte 16
Bug 9
Centipede 1
Diptera 17
Fish 3
Fungi 4
Hymenoptera 17
Lacewing 1
Lepidoptera 160
Lichen 8
Mammal 10
Millipede 2
Earwig 1
Mite 1
Mollusc 16
Odonata 2
Orthoptera 1
Leech 1
Spider 15
Trichoptera 1
Vascular plant 261
Woodlouse 3
Worm 1
Likes - molluscs, spiders, beetles. Dislikes - aphids, millipedes, caddisflies. Bit concerned by the lack of flying insects, think I need to perfect my netting technique to get a few more of these, and also require some sunshine! But the good news is - I have been commissioned to do a protected species survey in the square, so will probably pick up quite a few new spp doing that.
Happy panning!
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