Skye - Why the long face?

Ooof, been a while since I updated - three weeks in fact. I've only been out a few times and managed to scrape up another 50 odd species including ten that were lifers for me. First lifer was Bombus hortorum, yeah the REALLY REALLY common Garden Bumblebee. I'm not really very into bees (ha, can you tell?) but I keyed this one through and instantly came up with a joke. Would you like to hear it? You would? Cool. A Bombus hortorum walks into a bar and asks for a beer. Barman says, "so...why the long face?" Hahahaa, I crack me up! I'll get me coat.... 

Bombus hortorum alongside its mimic Volucella bombylans

Best find was, of course, The Beast of Boggy Creek. You can read about that on my PSL Blog here.

Finally managed to bag an odonata with several Common Hawkers Aeshna juncea whizzing about the hotel grounds and a handful of Scotch Argus Erebia aethiops have been seen this month too. Moths are around, but I've hardly paid them any attention. Stuff like Udea lutealis, Argyresthia goedartella, Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla and Brown China-mark disturbed by day and the larva of The Spectacle, Phyllonorycter oxycanthae, P.sorbi, Lyonetia clerkella and Grey Dagger noted on vegetation/in their mines.

Grey Dagger larva advising me not to eat it...

Best insect by a country mile though was this bad boy. Spotted whilst ambling along the path at the top of the beach. And yeah, it stopped me dead in my tracks! 

Cynomya mortuorum - the one with the amazing yellow head!

I didn't even know blowflies came in a yellow-headed version, all I could think of was that it looked like a tiny Tachina grossa. Luckily there's only one yellow-headed blowfly, so I didn't even need to pot it up to ID it. Less stunning was this maggot in a mine

Agromyza nana larva in its mine on White Clover

Sticking with inverts, I was happy to find a Dicranopalpus ramosus in the bathroom a week or so back. Last December I discovered there were several on a wall at the other end of the hotel complex which were the first ones for NW Scotland and the Hebs. So it is nice to see that they survived the winter and are still on site. Most NW site in Britain (maybe the world? I'd have to check!)

Dicranopalpus ramosus, sadly not caudatus but still brilliant for up here

Added quite a few vascular plants to the tally and finally topped 250 species in the square. Still loads more that I'm overlooking (grasses, sedges and rushes being the obvious ones) and I'd be surprised if the true tally for the square wasn't nearer 350 species. Common Yellow-sedge was keyed using the BSBI book and was a lifer for me. Hybrid Woundwort was found 35 paces from the nearest  Marsh Woundwort clump and growing right alongside it's other parent, Hedge Woundwort. I'm counting this towards my target of 1000 species as it is a stable hybrid which often exists in the absence of one or other parents. Plus it has its own number in Stace, which as we all know means it's good to tick :) 

Hedge (left), Hybrid (middle) and Marsh (right) Woundworts

Interestingly, the Hybrid Woundwort smells just as disgusting as the Hedge (Marsh is odourless) yet is still in flower (Hedge has just about all gone over now). I couldn't find any Hybrid amongst the Marsh, just with the Hedge. That's probably significant, but I'm not that clued up on plant genetics so shall leave it at that.  Out of the woods and up on a hilltop I stumbled into this stunner

Field Gentian - still the only species of Gentian I've ever seen

Finally, on to the fungi. Autumn is fast approaching and fungi are starting to become more prominent. Unfortunately for me, I'm shite at them. Proper shite. Many Devil's-bit Scabious leaves are infested with Ramularia succisae, which was new for the tally. Other than that I spent a lot of time staring in mild horror at the multitude of waxcap-type things and dung fungi that are beyond my capabilities. I did recognise this one though

Claviceps purpurea - Ergot in some 'grassy stuff'

Time for the list! 

802 - moth - The Spectacle (larva)

803 - bee - Bombus hortorum - PSL Lifer (yeah yeah, get over it...)

804 - dragonfly - Common Hawker

805 - butterfly - Scotch Argus

806 - amphibian - Beast of Boggy Creek (yeehaw!!)

807 - plant - Bulbous Rush

808 - plant - Heath Rush

809 - plant - Common Yellow-sedge PSL Lifer

810 - plant - Flea Sedge

811 - plant - Crested Dog's-tail

812 - fungus - Ramularia succisae (on Devil's-bit Scabious)

813 - moth - Udea lutealis

814 - moth - Phyllonorycter oxycanthae (larva in mine)

815 - sawfly - Fenusa dohrnii - PSL Lifer

816 - plant - Hybrid Woundwort

817 - fungus - Claviceps purpurea (Ergot)

818 - plant - Montbretia (previous plants were all Potts' Montbretia, so had to hunt this out)

819 - harvestman - Dicranopalpus ramosus

820 - plant - Annual Sea-blite

821 - mammal - Weasel (subliminal views only)

822 - mite - Aceria thomasi (masses inside Thyme galls)

823 - plant - Greater Butterfly Orchid (missed off!)

824 - moth - Lyonetia clerkella (larva in mine)

825 - moth - Phyllonorycter sorbi (larva in mine)

826 - hoverfly - Eristalis arbustorum

827 - hoverfly - Cheilosia illustrata

828 - hoverfly - Syrphus ribesii

829 - hoverfly - Eristalis horticola - PSL Lifer

830 - hoverfly - Syritta pipiens

831 - plant - False Brome

832 - moth - Brown China-mark

833 - fly - Agromyza nana (larva in mine)

834 - plant - Marsh Arrowgrass

835 - plant - Marsh Ragwort

836 - moss (!) - Racomitrium lanuginosum

837 - plant - Field Gentian

838 - plant - Purple Moor-grass (missed off!)

839 - plant - Wavy Hairgrass

840 - gall midge - Jaapiella veronicae (lots of galled Germander Speedwell)

841 - moth - Grey Dagger (larva)

842 - moth - Argyresthia goedartella

843 - mite - Aceria nalepai (a few seen inside midrib galls on Alder leaf)

844 - fly - Cynomya mortuorum (Yellow-faced Blowfly) - PSL Lifer

845 - mite - Eriophyes sorbi (lots inside galls on Rowan leaf) - PSL Lifer

846 - mite - Phyllocoptes goniothorax (difficult to find in Hawthorn leaf rolls)

847 - plant - Himalayan Balsam (one plant, which I immediately uprooted. No thanks!)

848 - bug - Water Cricket Velia caprai (ie my supposed Microvelia of earlier this year......)

849 - moth - Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla

850 - hoverfly - Cheilosia bergenstammi - PSL Lifer

851 - hoverfly - Syrphus vitripennis

852 - hoverfly - Cheilosia albitarsus - PSL Lifer

853 - hoverfly - Sphegina clunipes - PSL Lifer

854 - hoverfly - Melanogaster hirtella - PSL Lifer

855 - hoverfly - Platycheirus albimanus

Nice to be reunited with my copy of Hoverflies (Stubbs & Falk) and finally start putting names to pinned bits. Lots more still to go through!