Friday, September 21, 2018

Dalgety Bay - Harvest Thanksgiving

Yesterday remarkably saw the square's 11th harvestman species of the year with the new-for-county Opilio canestrinii. I saw some hint last night that other Opilios may not welcome its appearance but I'll need to read up on that today.


Bugs keep on buggin' so my Hemiptera total is getting dangerously close to entering the bottom end of the PSL hemiptera charts. Parent Bug and Birch Shieldbug both fell into my net from birch yesterday with a bit of persuasion - both species apparently with only one county record before. That's surprising, but I bet I can add both from next year's square (NT1887 - the square where it all began).

It's a schoolboy truth that to maximise your results you should cover all the habitats with all the methods and I've been very lax on beating, relying heavily on active searching and maybe a bit of sweeping at low level. On the plus side that means a switch of tactic has lead to instant gains. .

So the new target is to creep into all-time 3rd place during the next 10 days.

(Edit! I forgot that yesterday I saw a rock that looked promising for Aepus and I found one. Sadly I caught the one example on the end of my finger and the wind took it. Fife has both species, so I'll have to go back and check the same area of rocks)

Numbers:
1282 * hemiptera Psallus betuleti A mirid bug
1283 * hemiptera Ribautiana ulmi A leaf hopper
1284 fungus Melanoleuca polioleuca A mushroom
1285 * coleoptera Salpingus planirostris A beetle
1286 * insect-other Nineta flava A lacewing
1287 fungus Lactarius tabidus Birch Milkcap
1288 fungus Clitopilus prunulus The Miller
1289 * hemiptera Elasmostethus intersinctus Birch Shieldbug
1290 * hemiptera Elasmucha grisea Parent Bug
1291 harvestman Oligolophus hansenii A harvestman
1292 * harvestman Opilio canestrinii A harvestman
1293 hemiptera Psylla ulmi A psyllid on alder

3 comments:

  1. Love Salpingus, just such cool looking beetles! Good luck on a podium position by end of month.

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    1. Two new for county (and for me) Salpginidae this year. There was only one before. Cracking little things.

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    2. Aye, I added planirostris and ruficollis to the Skye list last year. I (vaguely) know Jonty Denton, he's the national scheme recorder. He said something like, "Thanks Seth, but what the hell are you doing way up there?" :)

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