Horsey Corner - Happy New Year to you all

Still beavering away at some tubes, plus a few additions for things I've seen this year but hadn't added them to the list, so now over 2,100 species. I reckon I've got over a hundred new species still to identify, mainly but not exclusively parasitic hymenoptera and micro-moths that need dissecting, so the final total could be in excess of 2,200.

Favourite sightings of the year? Well, I know you've seen these photos before, but the sightings of Swallowtail butterflies in my garden (one in June and one in August) were stunning, what fabulous creatures.

Here are the latest additions for the year:

2083	Tenthredopsis litterata	Hymenoptera	Symphyta
2084	Empis stercorea	Diptera	Empididae
2085	Triarthria setipennis	Diptera	Tachinidae
2086	Operophtera brumata	Lepidoptera:moths	Winter Moth
2087	Falco columbarius	Birds	Merlin
2088	Syntormon bicolorellum	Diptera	Dolichopodidae
2089	Cetema neglectum	Diptera	Chloropidae
2090	Notiophilus palustris	Coleoptera	Carabidae
2091	Chlorops planifrons	Diptera	Chloropidae
2092	Ramonda spathulata	Diptera	Tachinidae
2093	Lasioglossum minutissimum	Hymenoptera	Least Furrow Bee
2094	Anobium punctatum	Coleoptera	Ptinidae
2095	Hydrotaea militaris	Diptera	Muscidae
2096	Javesella dubia	Hemipteroids	Delphacidae
2097	Argyra argentina	Diptera	Dolichopodidae
2098	Platycheirus peltatus	Diptera	Syrphidae
2099	Lumbricus terrestris	Annelid Worms	Common Earthworm
2100	Tetragnatha extensa	Arachnids	Spider
2101	Bryum capillare	Bryophytes	Capillary Thread-moss
2102	Phragmidium violaceum	Fungi	Rust fungus on Rubus
2103	Cyphon hilaris	Coleoptera	Scirtidae
2104	Opomyza florum	Diptera	Opomyzidae
2105	Agriphila selasella	Lepidoptera:moths	Pale-streak Grass-veneer
2106	Eucosma hohenwartiana	Lepidoptera:moths	Bright Bell

Last update for 2018

Finished the year at Thorne on 1009 species. I am certainly happy with that but hope to do even better next year.

Next year I plan to do the Thorne square again plus a square near Bridport, SY 46 93.

Hopefully a few more people will attempt the challenge and if you are keen on Pan Species Listing really looking hard, at everything, in just one square adds a surprising amount of new species. At Thorne this year 148 of the 1009 species were PSL lifers for example.

Finally good to meet up with all the other challengers earlier this year, and thanks to Andy for hosting the webpage.

Hope you all have a fantastic 2019.

Dalgety Bay - that Ot-ter do it

Seasons greetings to all!

As my working year draws swiftly to a close I'm going to sign off on 2018. Preparations are well under way for two squares in 2019.

I shall be visiting my old and most faithful patch Cullaloe (Cul-LA-loe) Reservoir SWT reserve - blog: Cataloguing Cullaloe. I hope to get to 1500 there partially since I know where a lot of the stuff is already. I'll be looking to add a couple of 100 species to the list though, especially since I didn't really do flies there before.

I'll also be throwing in my number one vismigging site at Inverkeithing - blog: Divit Watch. Inverkeithing is known locally as The Divit, no idea why! It's much closer to my work and accessible more easily at lunchtimes. I've seen some cracking things there before including the below otter, Leach's Petrel, Pilot Whales (the latter not in the square though).

So I'll declare at 1404, and not being really competition inclined I won't make any attempt to get past 1407 until I can do it properly - my Cullaloe target will be 1500. If I do come across a waxwing I'll add it, though it may be next year before I can (out of office).

It's been a lot of fun and particularly our meeting on Skye. Everyone made it over 1000 and as for Tim's total it gave me that Andy Murray feeling - I could only "win" if the proper good players were injured! Well played, everyone.

Here's an old favourite from Inverkeithing:

Until next time!

Numbers:

1400	*	fungus	Ascochyta pseudacorus	A pyrenomycete fungus
1401		fungus	Xylaria longipes	Dead Moll's Fingers
1402		lep-moth	Epiritta dilutata	November Moth
1403	*	fungus	Plagiostoma inclinata	A fungus
1404	*	flowering plant	Ilex x altaclerensis	Highclere Holly

Oh you pretty things...

A few nice little flies ID'd recently, plus more rummaging about in tubes.

One of the things I've been pleased about is the number of hymenoptera recorded in the square this year, now up to 160 species. However, I do have at a guess another 50 species of parasitic hymenoptera awaiting identification. This will take a significant amount of time and effort as they are largely new to me, and I'm a bit trepidatious as to how many will ever be identified. Still, I thought that about diptera a couple of years ago and the clouds of unknowing have dissipated with many of them, so I live in hope.

Rivellia syngenesiae

Hybos culiciformis

Pipunculus tenuirostris

2064	Quedius fumatus	Coleoptera	Staphylinidae
2066	Enochrus quadripunctatus	Coleoptera	Hydrophilidae
2067 *	Phaonia serva	Diptera	Muscidae
2068 *	Platypalpus optivus	Diptera	Hybotidae
2069 *	Sphaerophoria taeniata	Diptera	Syrphidae
2070 *	Ornithomya avicularia	Diptera	Hippoboscidae
2071	Paracorixa concinna	Hemipteroids	Lesser Water Boatman sp.
2072 *	Pipunculus tenuirostris	Diptera	Pipunculidae
2073 *	Hybos culiciformis	Diptera	Hybotidae
2074 *	Paracoenia fumosa	Diptera	Ephydridae
2075 *	Chrysopa commata	RSO	Lacewing
2076	Hercostomus nigriplantis	Diptera	Dolichopodidae
2077	Rivellia syngenesiae	Diptera	Signal-fly
2078 *	Scolytus rugulosus	Coleoptera	Curculionidae: Scolytus
2079	Diodontus minutus	Hymenoptera	Pemphredoninae
2080 *	Mycophaga testacea	Diptera	Anthomyiidae
2081 *	Passaloecus corniger	Hymenoptera	Crabronidae
2082	Pemphredon lugubris	Hymenoptera	Crabronidae

Dalgety Bay - not quite done yet

After a long session of rain some fungi have started to emerge, allowing me to take my PSL list to 600. I was doubtful about the Leucoagaricus but fortunately finding it coincided with meeting a friend who was able to verify it. It's more of a greenhouse species so to find it growing outside in Scotland is a decent record.

So I should make 1400 tonight with a following wind

Leucoagaricus badhamii - Blushing Dapperling

Pluteus salicinus - microscope pic of cystidia

Numbers:

1393		fungus	Coprinopsis lagopus	Hare's Foot Inkcap
1394		mollusc	Deroceros reticulatum	Netted Field Slug
1395		fungus	Lepista nuda	Wood Blewit
1396		fungus	Mycena vitilis	Snapping Bonnet
1397	*	fungus	Pluteus salicinus	A mushroom
1398	*	fungus	Leucoagaricus badhamii	Blushing Dapperling
1399		fungus	Cantharellus cibarius	Chanterelle

Juniper Shieldbug

Formerly a rare shieldbug on Juniper in southern counties, these are now widespread in Norfolk, having undergone a big range expansion in the past few years, although this one was the first I've seen in the square.

And a few more:

2044	Cheilosia proxima	Diptera	Syrphidae
2045	Liopterus haemorrhoidalis	Coleoptera	Dytiscinae
2046	Bembidion fumigatum	Coleoptera	Carabidae
2047	Psectra diptera	RSO	Brown Lacewing
2048	Macrolophus rubi	Hemipteroids	Mirid Bug
2049	Sigara dorsalis	Hemipteroids	Lesser Water Boatman sp.
2050	Chrysoperla lucasina	RSO	Lacewing
2051	Eupteryx decemnotata	Hemipteroids	Cicadellidae
2052	Exorista rustica	Diptera	Tachinidae
2053	Tipula scripta	Diptera	Tipulidae
2054	Dicranomyia modesta	Diptera	Cranefly
2055	Hylemya vagans	Diptera	Anthomyiidae
2056	Notiphila cinerea	Diptera	Ephydridae
2057	Mesopsocus immunis	Hemipteroids	Barkfly
2058	Parasteatoda lunata	Arachnids	Theridiidae (Achaearanea lunata)
2059	Theridion varians	Arachnids	Theridiidae
2060	Peripsocus phaeopterus	Hemipteroids	Barkfly
2061	Sciapus platypterus	Diptera	Dolichopodidae
2062	Enoplognatha ovata	Arachnids	Theridiidae
2063	Cyphostethus tristriatus	Hemipteroids	Juniper Shieldbug

Dalgety Bay - turning over an old leaf

A moderately productive period given the time of year and amount of effort being put in. Tidying up my study has turned up my 11th tachinid of the year in Voria ruralis - equal to last year's tally. It's been recorded in the county but not by me so another one on the list with a tick beside it. This poor specimen has been languishing on a pin since September! (this isn't as long as the pipunculid I have waiting for me, which against all the odds still has its head)

It was nice also to find a mature male Polydesmus angustus millipede in some leaf litter bothering. It's noted as widespread and common in the county but I haven't knowingly seen it before. Luckily I was able to overcome my aversion to millipedes enough to pot a couple. Not that I'm afraid of millipedes. I just feel like I have a low success rate with IDs and I find them mysteriously frustrating.

I had put my moth gear in the loft because of a planned garage conversion but since it's now not happening until January I might have to retrieve it to have a go at picking up some of the few commonish winter moths

(On reviewing and combining species lists from Dalgety Bay and adding some historic ones I discovered that I had recorded Chestnut moth THREE times this year. I know it's not exactly memorable, but still. Also a double count of Swallow-tailed Moth leaves me actually at 1389)

Polydesmus angustus

Voria ruralis

Numbers:

1383	*	fungus	Uncinula bicornis	A mildew
1384		fungus	Melanotus horizontalis	A fungus
1385		diptera	Phytomyza chaerophylli	An agromyzid fly
1386		slime mould	Physarum globuliferum	A slime mould
1387	*	millipede	Polydesmus angustus	A flat-backed millipede
1388		fungus	Panaeolus fimicola	A mushroom
1389		fungus	Phoma samararum	A fungus
1390		coleoptera	Quedius fumatus	A rove beetle
1391	*	diptera	Chromatomyia lonicerae	An agromyzid fly
1392	*	diptera	Voria ruralis	A tachinid fly

Over the line

Its taken a couple of weeks to get the last few but now on 1002.
The totals by groups were as follows; Mammals 12, Birds 65, Amphibians 3, Fish 1, Odonata 13, Orthoptera 7, Hemiptera 34, Butterflies 22, Moths 218, Coleoptera 33, Hymenoptera 47, Diptera 54, Insects RSO 4, Molluscs 19, Spiders 19, Crustacea 6, Annelids 5, Plants 303, Bryophytes 24, Fungi 81, Slime moulds 1, and Lichen 31.

Very pleased to have finally got there and will keep adding a few until the end of the year. But mostly now planning to smash this total next year!

Grassland fungi still way down on last year - due to the drought? - so could still add a few there. And this weeks photo is of another sort of fungus.

                                                  Conifer Conecap

Dalgety Bay - forays in the fifth kingdom

A little bit of this and that to add to the tally. Thinking I really should make the effort to get to 1400. It's easy to see where additions are coming from but it might help to find a nice mature collection of grass cuttings somewhere in the square.

Steccherinum ochraceum

Numbers:

1373		fungus	Vuilleminia comedens	A corticioid fungus
1374		fungus	Merismodes anomala	A fungus
1375	*	fungus	Steccherinum ochraceum	Ochre Spreading Tooth
1376		fungus	Gloeothele lactescens	A corticioid fungus
1377		coleoptera	Cychrus caraboides	A ground beetle
1378	*	fungus	Mycena tenerrima	A mushroom
1379		flowering plant	Euphorbia helioscopia	Sun spurge
1380	*	fungus	Erysiphe ranunculi	A mildew
1381	*	fungus	Puccinia deschampsiae	A rust fungus
1382	*	fungus	Erysiphe biocellata	A mildew

The garden of earthly delights

Still adding new species pretty regularly, a combination of new species (mainly from the garden) and stuff from the freezer. My garden list for the year has now reached 1606, not bad for an area that is 0.02% of the 1 km square. The best sighting away from the garden has been a couple of Tundra Bean Geese, although I've been slightly disappointed not to get Rough-legged Buzzard in the square so far as there has been up to four in adjacent parts of the Horsey area.

Anyway, here's a list of the new ones:

2002	Limnephilus affinis	Caddis	Caddis Fly
2003	Cercyon quisquilius	Coleoptera	Water scavenger beetle
2004	Helina abdominalis	Diptera	Muscidae
2005	Enochrus bicolor	Coleoptera	Hydrophilidae
2006	Lygus maritimus	Hemipteroids	Mirid Bug
2007	Cercyon marinus	Coleoptera	Water scavenger beetle
2008	Oedothorax apicatus	Arachnids	Linyphiidae
2009	Xylaria hypoxylon	Fungi	Candle Snuff Fungus
2010	Stereum hirsutum	Fungi	Hairy Curtain Crust
2011	Chondrostereum purpureum	Fungi	Silverleaf Fungus
2012	Athalia lugens	Hymenoptera	Symphyta
2013	Scathophaga inquinata	Diptera	Scathophagidae
2014	Peripsocus subfasciatus	Hemipteroids	Barkfly
2015	Stenopsocus immaculatus	Hemipteroids	Barkfly
2016	Phytocoris tiliae	Hemipteroids	Miridae
2017	Deraeocoris lutescens	Hemipteroids	Mirid Bug
2018	Valenzuela flavidus	Hemipteroids	Barkfly
2019	Anthomyza collini	Diptera	Anthomyzidae
2020	Chlorops pumilionis	Diptera	Chloropidae
2021	Phaonia incana	Diptera	Muscidae
2022	Poecilocampa populi	Lepidoptera:moths	December Moth
2023	Ichneumon suspiciosus	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae
2024	Megophthalmus scabripennis	Hemipteroids	Cicadellidae
2025	Sarcophaga aratrix	Diptera	Sarcophagidae
2026	Pegomya vanduzeei	Diptera	Anthomyiidae
2027	Hemerobius lutescens	Lacewing	Brown Lacewing
2028	Nephrotoma cornicina	Diptera	Cranefly
2029	Dichochrysa flavifrons	Lacewing	Lacewing
2030	Mordellistena humeralis	Coleoptera	Mordellidae
2031	Lygocoris pabulinus	Hemipteroids	Common Green Capsid
2032	Plagiognathus chrysanthemi	Hemipteroids	Mirid Bug
2033	Phaonia trimaculata	Diptera	Muscidae
2034	Buathra laborator/tarsoleuca	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae: Cryptinae
2035	Phaonia valida	Diptera	Muscidae
2036	Setacera aurata/trina	Diptera	Ephydridae
2037	Lamproscatella sibilans	Diptera	Ephydridae
2038	Myospila meditabunda	Diptera	Muscidae
2039	Anser fabalis	Birds	Tundra Bean Goose
2040	Tromatobia lineatoria	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae
2041	Erannis defoliaria	Lepidoptera:moths	Mottled Umber
2042	Udea ferrugalis	Lepidoptera:moths	Rusty-dot Pearl
2043	Ophion obscuratus	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae

Skye - 1200 and all out

Managed to do the unthinkable last week and broke my laptop, so here I am with a brand new hard-drive and no copy of the spreadsheet I was using to keep tabs of my 1KSQ yearlist. Arse.

Anyway, I was on 1196 species before the crash. Stuff I know I haven't seen thus far in 2018 are

1197 - Clavariadelphus fistulosa - a fungus on Alder branches

1198 - Stigmella microtheriella - larva found within mine on Hazel leaf

1199 - Woodruff - small patch found in wet ravine area, first in the tetrad for 28yrs apparently

1200 - Waxwing - 1 noisily trilling as it flew over the hotel. 

So that's me hanging up my 1KSQ boots for the rest of the season. I don't think I'll try again next year, though that may change once The Listing Fever kicks in again on 1st Jan! 

It's been a blast, folks. Thank you all for the myriad hints and tips and random stuff that you've shared this past year, I've learned absolutely masses. And if anybody wants to come over to NG3963 and show me Hazel Gloves that'd be 'marvellous' coz I sure as hell can't find it, though the habbo is ideal in places.

Tim - 2K, what can I say - you're astonishing!

Ali - gonna be a hard push to hit 1500, reckon you'll make it?

Pete - welcome to the 1K Club buddy! OK, so you have 6 more to get, but you'll do that no worries!

In other news

Although most eyes of been fixed - and quite rightly so - on Hal and his amazing exploits in Norfolk progress has also been made at Thorne. 10 species added to the list this week (although in fact 6 of them were from correctly updating the sub-totals in to the main total which I had somehow overlooked)
So now on 994 for the year.
And a couple of photos

                                            Oak Bracket

                                            Mottle Umber

2001 - a 1 km square odyssey

Still needed a few more this afternoon to get to the 2000 mark, so got a tube out the freezer dated August 3rd, with various specimens from the moth trap in the garden - and a good tube it was, with a nationally scarce saltmarsh carabid and a second record of Amara majuscula, which I recorded as new to Britain in the garden in 2015, plus a few other things new for the year. Have also been looking at a few parasitic hymenoptera recently.

Pogonus littoralis in the garden - a nationally scarce saltmarsh carabid

Syrphoctonus tarsatorius - Ichneumonidae

Probolus culpatorius - Ichneumoninae

Here are the new ones:

1976	Laccaria laccata	Fungi	The Deceiver
1977	Euphorbia lathyris	Vascular Plants	Caper Spurge
1978 *	Ptenidium pusillum	Coleoptera	Ptiliidae
1979	Javesella pellucida	Hemipteroids	Delphacidae (Planthopper)
1980 *	Monophadnoides geniculatus	Hymenoptera	Symphyta: Tenthredinidae
1981 *	Eccoptomera longiseta	Diptera	Heleomyzidae
1982 *	Fannia polychaeta	Diptera	Fanniidae
1983	Ophion parvulus	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae
1984	Tasgius globulifer	Coleoptera	Staphylinidae
1985	Quedius humeralis	Coleoptera	Staphylinidae
1986 *	Syrphoctonus tarsatorius	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae
1987	Hypholoma fasciculare	Fungi	Sulphur Tuft
1988	Branta leucopsis	Birds	Barnacle Goose
1989	Morellia aenescens	Diptera	Muscidae
1990 *	Cladius pallipes	Hymenoptera	Symphyta: Tenthredinidae
1991 *	Passaloecus singularis	Hymenoptera	Crabronidae
1992 *	Metellina merianae	Arachnids	Tetragnathidae
1993 *	Verrallia aucta	Diptera	Pipunculidae
1994	Neuroctena anilis	Diptera	Dryomizidae
1995 *	Athalia cordata	Hymenoptera	Symphyta
1996 *	Probolus culpatorius	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae
1997	Hesperocorixa sahlbergi	Hemipteroids	Water Boatman sp.
1998 *	Pogonus littoralis	Coleoptera	Carabidae
1999	Amara majuscula	Coleoptera	Carabidae
2000	Bradycellus harpalinus	Coleoptera	Carabidae
2001	Bradycellus verbasci	Coleoptera	Carabidae

Dalgety bay - a touch of frost

Clocks gone back and the car window coated in ice this morning so I guess winter is here. I set a fairly modest target for October which I've now met with a small number of interesting additions. The most odd of these was Neuraphes elongatulus, a Staph that I still can't believe is a Staph! It came crawling across my leaf-litter tray, tiny but hinting that it may be identifiable by its prominent "snout". It was probably only because of a stroke of genius in the family key of Duff Vol. 1 that I got it, since the key features a full line drawing of the beast and I could recognise it straight away. Other than that I've fruitlessly frozen my tail off hoping for passing Whooper Swans (Lapland Buntings, GN Divers ... anything!) on a couple of cold mornings.

On Sunday morning with the man-child delivered to a party near my favourite vismig spot I spent a couple of hours seeing if I could record 100 species there. Turned out I could and I'm now contemplating dual-squaring next year. I may not record the high numbers originally intended on my first patch but it might help with variety and it's closer to my work. Also it gives me a better excuse to do some proper vismigging. I think it's probably how that's going to go down. The patches are sufficiently different that it'll be interesting to see what the overall total would be.

Numbers:

1365		coleoptera	Anthobium unicolor	A rove beetle
1366		coleoptera	Bembidion guttula	A ground beetle
1367		millipede	Nanogona polydesmoides	Eyed Flat-backed Millipede
1368	*	fungus	Pseudopeziza trifolii	A fungus
1369	S	coleoptera	Neuraphes elongatulus	A rove beetle
1370	*	diptera	Opetia nigra	A fly

Numbers to end October:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct
Algae	6	15	26	28	28	28	28	28	28	28
Lichens	27	31	35	38	38	38	38	38	38	38
Fungi	60	83	86	92	96	100	104	127	152	156
Plants - Vascular	65	77	85	114	151	194	212	220	221	222
Plants - Bryo	46	52	55	61	61	61	61	61	62	62
Mollusc	12	17	27	28	29	29	30	30	30	30
Arachnida	7	12	17	20	32	36	38	40	53	55
Collembola	5	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	12
Hemiptera	4	5	7	9	17	25	27	30	49	50
Hymenoptera	3	4	4	14	18	22	23	26	30	30
Coleoptera	8	13	16	23	34	44	47	52	68	83
Diptera	15	24	38	61	141	177	187	201	219	227
Lepidoptera	4	8	14	32	71	112	159	179	198	201
Invert - Other	22	41	54	57	58	61	61	62	69	71
Vert - Birds	54	62	75	82	85	85	88	93	94	95
Vert - Other	3	5	5	7	8	8	10	10	10	10
	341	457	554	676	877	1030	1123	1207	1332	1370
		116	97	122	201	153	93	84	125	38