Yeovil end of May, update

Been slowly bumbling along and very happy to have reached over 400 by the end of May. At the start of the year I thought that, for me, 500 would be quite a good year end total. Now perhaps I can get past that.
I know I don't post much but have been enjoying (and often learning) from all your posts. Got to feel empathy for Seth, talk about Manic (First for Britain) and Depression (slightly major error) all in the space of a couple of weeks! (And I hope that comment does not appear too strong - we have all been there)

Anyway it appears that I finish May on 408 species made up as follows

Plants 187, Bryophytes 3, Fungi 7, Lichens 13, Annelids 3, Crustacea 1, Spiders 8, Molluscs 9, Myriopods 2, Odonata 4, Orthoptera 2, Hemiptera 9, Butterflies 12, Moths 29, Coleoptera 14, Hymenoptera 18, Diptera 18, Insect - other groups 3, Fish 1, Amphibians 3, Birds 55 and Mammals 7

Pete

Dalgety Bay, Fife - end of May roundup

As usual it's actually one day early but what the hell. A 7-spot ladybird larva at lunchtime became the 49th beetle. Would be nice to round it off tonight but I am socially engaged and chances are I won't add anything this evening (unless my visitor can be persuaded to go moth hunting - a possibility).

All-in I this year have added 945 records to iRecord of 739 species. Obviously not all are from the square or my total would be transformed! However, here are the numbers as they stand right now. Possibly to be slightly updated tomorrow.

Going into June I am looking at some reduced time - I'll be grinding through pitfall trap contents for St.Andrews bioblitz (we do process them after the 24 hour period for an overall total) and then I'll be going on holiday. Still, June ought to be productive enough that I can more or less make good. I kind of expect to reach 1000 during August-September so it will include the start of the vismig calendar and include exotica like Tree Pipit and Long-tailed Skua (bird gods willing). On the other hand those months could be so profligate in their affections that 1k comes and goes before the skuas appear (but not the Tripits which pass in July). The big decision - declare or bat on? Only time will tell.

(edit. I'd like my 1000th to be a Hobby. That'd be nice)(2nd Edit. Tree Pipits August. Dunno what I was thinking)

The numbers by "gross" taxonomic grouping

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
Algae	8	13	16	17	17
Lichens	37	41	43	44	46
Fungi	28	31	44	49	53
Vert - Birds	38	50	56	62	64
Vert - Other	2	4	8	9	9
Lepidoptera	1	2	9	14	29
Diptera	4	7	12	41	68
Arachnida	4	13	20	25	32
Coleoptera	6	17	17	21	49
Mollusc	9	24	27	33	33
Collembola	8	10	12	12	12
Invert - Other	22	33	51	62	78
Plants - Vascular	47	63	74	92	107
Plants - Bryo	22	29	30	30	30
	236	337	419	511	627

The numbers by, erm, numbers

	31-Jan	28-Feb	31-Mar	30-Apr	31-May
days remaining	334	306	275	245	214
species so far	236	337	419	511	627
species/day period	7.61	3.61	2.65	3.07	3.74
spec/day so far	7.61	5.71	4.66	4.26	4.15
species remaining	764	663	581	489	373
spec/day rqd	2.29	2.17	2.11	2.00	1.74
spec/week rqd	16.01	15.17	14.79	13.97	12.20

Count compared with previous reserve year counts

Skye - New plant for VC104

Yesterday I spied a wee plant growing in an abandoned patch of grassland which keyed through to Bronze Pirri-pirri-burr Acaena anserinifolia. Happily the BSBI Recorder agrees and tells me it's new for the vice county! Read my blogpage for the full story, here's a pic of the brute to whet your appetite.

Bronze Pirri-pirri-burr Acaena anserinifolia

 Also, the mystery leaves from a few weeks ago have metamorphosed into things of stunning beauty

Hybrid Monkeyflower Mimulus x robertsii

Microfungi continue to provide me with a ready supply of additions for the square, recent days have included Meadowsweet Rust Triphragmium ulmariae, Raspberry Rust Phragmidium rubi-idaei and Campion Anther Smut Microbotryum violaceum

Meadowsweet Rust Triphragmium ulmariae

Gotta love a bit of smut...

I realised that I'd somehow accidentally skipped Red Clover and Creeping Buttercup from the tally. Genuine 'new' additions include Sea Plantain, Babington's Orache, Wood Speedwell, Kidney Vetch and the utterly gorgeous Sea Milkwort

Sea Plantain - still looking a bit floppy at the moment

Sea Milkwort - such a little stunner!

Also slowly moving stuff from the fridge to the storebox but not really sat down to work with them yet. New insects for me this week include Tipula maxima, Chrysolina staphylaea and Agonopterix ciliella. 

Tipula maxima - 2nd record from Skye apparently

Additions since last update - 

606 - Agonopterix ciliella (microlep) - Lifer

607 - Tipula maxima (cranefly) - Lifer

608 - Grey Pug (moth)

609 - Mitopus morio (harvestman)

610 - Chrysolina staphylaea (leaf beetle) - Lifer

611 - Meadowsweet Rust (microfungus) - Lifer

612 - Bronze Pirri-pirri-burr (plant) - Lifer

613 - Campion Anther Smut (microfungus)

614 - Red Clover (plant)

615 - Raspberry Rust (microfungus)

616 - Creeping Buttercup (plant)

617 - Wood Speedwell (plant)

618 - Kittiwake (bird)

619 - Babington's Orache (plant)

620 - Sea Milkwort (plant)

621 - Sea Plantain (plant)

622 - Kidney Vetch (plant)

623 - Hybrid Monkeyflower (plant) - Lifer

Dalgety Bay, Fife - keeping the ball rolling

Hard to pick a highlight over a weekend which was not huge on numbers but had a nice run of quality. Seemed like a lot of weevils went under the lens! Probably most pleased with my second sarcophagid in two days - Sarcophaga subvicina.

Weevil roll call: Ceutorhynchus obstrictus, Otiorhynchus arcticus, Pachyrhynus lethierryi, Otiorhynchus singularis and Phyllobius virideaeris. You might recognise the Ceutorhynchus from an earlier post. It has a "spiny" pronotum, which apparently is common (though not ubiquitous) in the genus. Also a couple of new Soldier Beetles were beaten from gorse: Canthares cryptica and nigricans.

Probably the biggest relief was finally getting to grips with the tachinid Ramonda spathulata, which somehow I kept slipping through the keys on before. Worst of it is I already recorded it here in September!

Ramonda spathulata

Ceutorhynchus obstrictus - crucifer lover

Otiorhynchus singularis

Numbers:

612	Sarcophaga subvicina	A Flesh Fly
613	Ceutorhynchus obstrictus	A weevil
614	Otiorhynchus arcticus	A Broad-nosed Weevil
615	Cantharis nigricans	A Soldier Beetle
616	Cantharis cryptica	A Soldier Beetle
617	Silene latifolia	White Campion
618	Eupterix urticae	A bug on nettles
619	Pachyrhynus lethierryi	A Broad-nosed Weevil
620	Phyllobius virideaeris	A Broad-nosed Weevil
621	Pollenia rudis	A Blowfly
622	Ornithogalum angustifolium	Star-of-Bethlehem
623	Otiorhynchus singularis	A Broad-nosed Weevil
624	Ramonda spathulata	A tachinid fly

Here come the moths

Back from Greece and an awful lot of listing to do. Way behind on my blog and a fridge full of wee things to id sometime.
With me bringing the warm weather back from holiday the moths have eventually woken up (it had been a very slow season until the last few days),  as have the Butteflies and the first Odonata. From way behind, three days of 20C+ sunny days have brought me back on track.

Here's where I'm at and I could well get to 600 before the end of the month if the weather holds,  courtesy of a round box with a 125 watt Mercury vapour lamp on top,

Keith Robson
Waldridge (VC66)

Skye - Joining the UK600 Club

Made it over 600 at last! First up were a bunch of hoverflies from woodland and a couple of gall-causing mites on the 23rd May

Eriophyes laevis - common on Alder leaves

Rhingia campestris with fully extended proboscis

Also a couple of microfungi that were both lifers for me

Puccinia heraclei on the underside of Hogweed leaflets and petioles

Colonies of Plasmopara nivea on the underside of Cow Parsley leaves

And again - looking utterly bizarre under the microscope!

I built myself a light trap yesterday evening, absolutely nothing in it this morning so will have to jig around with the set-up a bit. Did find these a few days back though

Micropterix calthella - a familiar sight at this time of year

Just need some moffs n stuff now...

No idea about this though - Fungal? Bacterial? Just fancied a change?

Strangely blanched Hogweed leaves, quite a few plants like this in Uig Woods

Additions since the last update -

591 again (after deleting Microvelia...) - Myathropa florea (hoverfly, new for Skye I think)
592 - Rhingia campestris (hoverfly)
593 - Aceria pseudoplatani (mite on Sycamore)
594 - Eriophyes laevis (mite on Alder)
595 - Puccinia heraclei (microfungus on Hogweed) - Lifer
596 - Eared Willow (plant)
597 - Micropterix calthella (microlep)
598 - Helophilus pendulus (hoverfly)
599 - Melanostoma scalare (hoverfly)
600 - Plasmopara nivea (microfungus on Cow Paesley) - Lifer
601 - Wild Angelica (plant)
602 - Common Ragwort (plant)
603 - Barynotus moerens (weevil) - Lifer
604 - Common Milkwort (plant)
605 - Welsh Poppy (naturalised plant)

Also a STACK of stuff on pins awaiting identification whenever I manage to get back to my books. Massively frustrating not being able to identify so many hoverflies any further than genus!

Sand Point VC6

Back on the patch yesterday with 5 to go for the 600. The weather was good but still not that many insects on the wing. Maybe the time of day or perhaps a sign of the times?  Despite this, a bit of sweep netting and pocket full of pots was soon acquired. I have some leaf mine rearing to do also and it would be nice to see the fly come out rather than a hymenoptera for a change.
Here's the list of the most recent additions:

595. Dun-bar
596. Depressaria daucella
597. Cockchafer
598. Celypha lacunana
599. Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
600. Rhagio tringarius
601. Common Poppy
602. Melanophora roralis
603. White Campion
604. Epiphyas postvittana
605. Hedgerow Cranesbill
606. Tephritis vespertina - lifer
607. Platycheirus angustatus - lifer
608. Gastrophysa polygoni - lifer
609. Hilara lundbecki - lifer
610. Aedes rustica - lifer
611. Empis caudatula - lifer
612. Stenodema laevigata

Tephritis vespertina as far as I can tell.

Dun-bar larva on Rose

Keys to Aedes rustica

Dalgety Bay, Fife - 600 up!

One week ahead of schedule and a cracking species to round out on - my first Stiletto fly and one of only two species recorded in the county, beaten from gorse this morning ...

At first I thought robberfly but going through the back of my mind was Therevidae (too much browsing of the Soldierfly book!). After some research during quiet periods this morning it appears to be Thereva nobilitata - and species number 600!

Numbers:

596	Pegomya solennis	A Flower Fly
597	Aphidecta obliterata	Larch Ladybird
598	Psilolechia lucida	A lichen
599	Palloptera quinquemaculata	A Pallopterid fly
600	Thereva nobilitata	A Stiletto Fly

Breakdown (3 new additions at lunchtime)

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	24-May
Algae	8	13	16	17	17
Lichens	37	41	43	44	45
Fungi	28	31	44	49	52
Vert - Birds	38	50	56	62	64
Vert - Other	2	4	8	9	9
Lepidoptera	1	2	9	14	27
Diptera	4	7	12	41	60
Arachnida	4	13	20	25	31
Coleoptera	6	17	17	21	42
Mollusc	9	24	27	33	33
Collembola	8	10	12	12	12
Invert - Other	22	33	51	62	77
Plants - Vascular	47	63	74	92	104
Plants - Bryo	22	29	30	30	30
	236	337	419	511	603

Dalgety Bay, Fife - crawling towards the big 6

Grinding my way through scraps of this and that, and making heavy work of the last mile of the 500s. I created myself a weevil workshop on Sunday morning when everything I swept had a new weevil in it! Banged my head off one last night briefly before realising I wasn't in a sufficiently weevil frame of mind. I have no doubt I'll get them - it's just a question of when!

I also have an ever growing collection of jars with leaves which I may turn into records at some point and another gall mite leaf from which I will try (again) to extract some living thing. I'm still recording them - just not counting them! Phyllocoptes goniothorax rolled hawthorn leaf edges are the latest.

I'll continue to scratch around and see if I can throw something else on the pile from the comfort of my chair. It's raining outside and lunchtime looks like an opportune moment to prioritise my expanding waistline over my expanding list!
 

Bibio marci was out in force

A "medium" sized weevil with a pointy pronotum

Anaspis maculata

Limonia phragmitidis

Phyllocoptes goniothorax

Numbers

581	Stenodema laevigata	A mirid bug
582	Limonia phragmitidis	A cranefly
583	Athous haemorrhoidalis	A click beetle
584	Tephritis hyoscyami	A tephritid fly
585	Anaspis maculata	A Tumbling Flower Beetle

An appeal for help:
I only noticed late in the day this plant which looks sort of onion-y and smells sort of garlicky when you break a leaf. Yet I have no name for it. It's scattered on the woodland floor especially on the edges and I never noticed it (or did I and now I can't id it?). It also has a rust. So I'm two species in the hole here. All assistance gratefully appreciated!

Skye - Mostly Moths and Plants

I'm still sub-600 but I'm inching ever closer. Might help if I tackled the backlog in the fridge/on pins.

576 - Common Carpet netted by day in the woods

577 - Small Phoenix on the wall by day

582 - Globeflower - lifer!

588 - Orchestes fagi tenanted mies - lifer!

589 - Feathered Thorn

Additions are as follows:

576 - Common Carpet (moth)
577 - Small Phoenix (moth)
578 - Groundsel (plant)
579 - Melancholy Thistle (plant)
580 - Common Valerian (plant)
581 - Broad Buckler-fern (plant)
582 - Globeflower (plant) - Lifer
583 - Norway Maple (plant)
584 - Nettle-tap (moth)
585 - Russian Comfrey (plant)
586 - Yarrow (plant)
587 - Bush Vetch (plant)
588 - Orchestes fagi (beetle) - Lifer
589 - Feathered Thorn (moth)
590 - Bugle (plant)
591 - Greater Plantain plant growing at my front gate (been there for weeks I reckon....)

Big push required, two more days to go and I get a day off. Will it be 600 up???

Dalgety Bay, Fife - Tach the high road - Winthemia quadripustulata

A decent day yesterday topped by re-keying and re-checking a nice tachinid fly which looks a likely candidate for a Scottish first (checking with NMS in case other records exist, as often turns out to be the case). It's the 6th tachinid I've added to the county's paltry list of 29 species (British list 267) and the third new county species from this 1km square since the 12th of April! There must be scope for a lot more. I feel a review coming on ...

Anyway W.quadripustulata is the most common of the British members of the genus, so would have to have been voted "most likely". NBN has no other Winthemiae north of Leeds.

With the other, almost inconsequential, additions ...

561	Adela reaumurella	Green Long-horn
562	Winthemia quadripustulata	A Tachinid fly
563	Clubiona lutescens	A clubionid spider
564	Paranchus albipes	A ground beetle
565	Dasysyrphus venustus	A hoverfly

Dalgety Bay, Fife - numbers geekiness

A (possibly disturbing) view into my fevered brain. A few species added on an evening wander at the end of a rainy day. Have a picture first to ease into it ...

Light Brown Apple Moth

Latest additions:

13/05/2017	554	Ulmus glabra	Wych Elm
13/05/2017	555	Hirundo rustica	Barn Swallow
14/05/2017	556	Anatis ocellata	Eyed Ladybird
14/05/2017	557	Lydina aenea	A tachinid fly
15/05/2017	558	Epirrhoe alternata	Common Carpet
15/05/2017	559	Epiphyas postvittana	Light Brown Apple Moth
15/05/2017	560	Endrosis sarcitrella	White-shouldered House-moth

Overall numbers:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	16-May
Algae	8	13	16	17	17
Lichens	37	41	43	44	44
Fungi	28	31	44	49	51
Vert - Birds	38	50	56	62	63
Vert - Other	2	4	8	9	9
Lepidoptera	1	2	9	14	21
Diptera	4	7	12	41	50
Arachnida	4	13	20	25	28
Coleoptera	6	17	17	21	30
Mollusc	9	24	27	33	33
Collembola	8	10	12	12	12
Invert - Other	22	33	51	62	73
Plants - Vascular	47	63	74	92	99
Plants - Bryo	22	29	30	30	30
	236	337	419	511	560

Progress status:

date	31-Jan	28-Feb	31-Mar	30-Apr	16-May
days remaining	334	306	275	245	229
spp so far	236	337	419	511	560
spp/day period	7.61	3.61	2.65	3.07	3.06
sppc/day so far	7.61	5.71	4.66	4.26	4.12
spp remaining	764	663	581	489	440
spp/day rqd	2.29	2.17	2.11	2.00	1.92
spp/week rqd	16.01	15.17	14.79	13.97	13.45

Sand Point VC6

Been making some progress with the grasses since my last post. I had the one I was stuck on identified via ispot and reverse keyed it. Turns out that a needle like leaf is a rolled one and to measure it you don't roll it out. It probably says in the book somewhere about this but I generally head straight for the keys when a book comes through the letter box. I still think Poland and Clement Vegetative Key to the British Flora is better than all the other books on grasses I have.

Soft-brome Grass

Beetles next and with no carcasses to stake out I've been reduced to checking dog poo which gave me a rather nice Ontholestes murinus. I watched for quite some time hiding on the side of the poo and twice very successfully catch two flies. At the same poo I found Demetrias atricapillus. This one gave me terrible problems to ID mainly down to the fact that it has lobed hind tarsi so it won't key to carabidae in D.M.Unwins Families of British Beetles. Another one to thank Ispot for.

Demetrias atricapillus

Ontholestes murinus

Moths are starting to kick off but yet to run the trap so no big jump for this group yet. By day I've found Phyllonorycter stettinensis, Pammene rhediella, Diamond-back, Silver Y and 3 long horns: Adela fibulella, reaumurella and rufimitrella.

And back to my favourite group diptera, plenty of lifers from this group with 11 this month alone.

Argyra argyria

Chyliza extenuata

Limonia nigropunctata

Neurigona quadrifasciata

Algae 7
Slime Mould 1
Lichen 49
Fungi 12
Bryophytes 64
Vascular Plants 133
Cnidarians 1
Molluscs 7
Arachnids 3

Myriapods 2

Crustaceans 3

Springtails 3

Orthopteroids 1

Hemipteroids 8

Hymenoptera 20
Coleoptera 37
Diptera 96

Butterflies 11

Moths 31
Remaining small orders 1

Birds 63

Mammals 5
Others 1
Total 559

Skye - 2013 revisited

As a diversion, here's an extract from this time 4 years ago (when I last attempted the 1000 in a 1KSQ Challenge) - "One other difference to the site is the annual presence of a herd of conservation cattle to Epsom Common. Whilst I was in Wales they have arrived. There are now three grazing areas, one of which is slap bang in the middle of my recording square. For anyone not too sure, I can thoroughly recommend high-stepping over the electric fence whilst being rained upon and getting an electric jolt through your left knacker. Getting zapped again before you can throw yourself off just heightens the fun. Always a thrill and I simply can't recommend it enough"...

So, four years later and I'm getting caught up in barbed wire rather than electric fencelines, but I'm way ahead of my old total for the time of year (575 versus 512)

Additions today are all courtesy of "Nick" who arrived unannounced at the front desk this afternoon asking for me. He reads my blog, apparently. My boss started to play lovesongs into the walkie talkie (one stays at reception and the other is always in my trouser pocket) midway through my introduction to Nick. Never a great move...not on a first date anyway,  lol. Despite this we headed into Uig Woods so that Nick could see the Mitella ovalis for himself (now being the fourth person in Britain to see it growing in 'ze wild') 

Palustriella commutata - common on wet rockfaces

Pellia endviifolia - again on a wet rockface

This chump arived on the scene yesterday. This morning he still hadn't moved so I had to carry him 20ft upslope into a 'safe' area (I was carting snedded trees back and forth along the pathway where he had taken up residency). Judging by the amount of bill clacking and talons being waved in the air, it was less than amused at proceedings!

Tawny owlet - and a feisty wee bugger too!

The all important numbers -

572 - Ctenidium molluscum (moss)
573 - Chiloscyphus polyanthos (liverwort) - Lifer
574 - Palustriella commutata (moss) - Lifer
575 - Pelia endiviifolia (liverwort)

I'm fully expecting to pass 600 before the month is out. This is way ahead of my 2013 tally for this time of year. Will I crash and burn-out or will I stay the course and smash through that 1000 barrier? Will Christian ever update his tally so that the rest of us know what we're up against?