Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Inverkeithing, Fife

Pottering along. Another handful added this lunchtime. Maybe I'll try for 100 by end January but odds might be long on that one.



Taxon Group Number of Taxa
bird 23
centipede 1
chromist 3
crustacean 2
flowering plant 38
fungus 2
insect - beetle  2
lichen 2
mollusc 3
moss 6
spider 1
Total 83

Monday, January 28, 2019

Cullaloe LNR, Fife - 400 up

So Cullaloe did indeed deliver 400 species before January's end. Remarkable. 61 new species added to the reserve list, which needs to be reviewed because I think there are actually more species recorded than are in the total list. That's going to be tedious and time-consuming though.

My first nocturnal visit on Friday night was precipitated by 10 degree weather, and I was rewarded with a couple of moffs on top of the spiders and slugs I actually went to find. I have I think 3 things in hand to potentially add but probably this will be more-or-less the January total.

Gratifying to add two worm species, which is two more than I ever intended.

February may be a bit quiet since I've recorded pretty much everything I know already!

Aegopinella nitidula

Tree Slug

Satchellius mammalis



Latest
390 R mollusc Lehmannia marginata Tree Slug
391 R lep-moth Phigalia pilosaria Pale Brindled Beauty
392 lep-moth Conistra vaccinii The Chestnut 
393 spider Drapetisca socialis A Linyphid spider
394 R M annelid Satchellius mammalis An earthworm
395 Fungus Lachnum virgineum A discomycete
396 coleoptera Pterostichus niger A Ground Beetle
397 mollusc Discus rotundatus Rotund Disc snail
398 millipede Cylindroiulus punctatus Blunt-tailed snake millipede
399 millipede Craspedosoma rawlinsi a Flat-backed Millipede
400 R mollusc Aegopinella nitidula A glass snail
401 R coleoptera Tachyporus hypnorum A Rove Beetle


Totals
Jan
Algae 1
Lichens 33
Fungi 67
Vascular 100
Bryophytes 53
Mollusc 11
Arachnida 23
Collembola 6
Hemiptera 5
Hymenoptera 3
Coleoptera 29
Diptera 4
Lepidoptera 4
Invert - Other 12
Vert - Birds 48
Vert - Other 2
Total 401

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Bridport & Thorne Week 4

A fairly quiet week was enlivened by the first butterfly of the year. A Peacock but it was much too keen on flying rapidly past to get a photo.

This weeks photo is of a Winter Moth which hid for several days on the same bit of wall at Thorne.

 
 
The numbers are as shown below. Also note I will not be posting for the next couple of weeks as I will be away.
 
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
1
0
Lichens
16
5
Coleoptera
3
0
Fungi
14
2
Diptera
1
0
Bryophytes
18
7
Hymenoptera
2
2
Plants
67
44
Butterflies
1
0
Molluscs
5
2
Moths
4
0
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
0
0
Arachnids
2
0
Fish
1
0
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
0
0
Crustacea
8
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
36
36
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
4
2
Orthoptera
1
0
Total
187
106

 

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Cullaloe, Fife - fungus Asaphomyces tubanticus new for Scotland

So the first (well, why not be optimistic?) "new for Scotland" species emerged last night under the lens. While wrestling with a Catops species (I reckon fuliginosus but not certain) I noticed its nether regions were somewhat decorated with one of my favourite groups of things in the natural world - the Laboulbeniomycetes

Turns out to be Asaphomyces tubanticus, which is pretty host specific, to genus at least. Ain't it pretty?



Monday, January 21, 2019

Cullaloe LNR, Fife - performance review: "exceeds expectations"

Cullaloe LNR from the hill above, over lots of Salix to slightly beyond those pines:



As it was when it all began in the 90s - I wish I'd seen it then!


The rip-roaring start to 2019 continues with quite a few additions over and above the "things that I knew were there and I'm just visiting them and writing them down" class of species. Amazingly the reserve had no annelids so I steeled myself and keyed one out, I think correctly. Until a grown-up redets it at least. Reserve list stands just shy of 1700, which would be a nice barrier to break. Hopefully the 1800 barrier will go this year too!

Pleurotus

Mr.Toad

Lumbricus rubellus (hopefully)

2019 New to reserve: 53 species

Numbers:
Jan
Algae 1
Lichens 33
Fungi 63
Vascular 98
Bryophytes 53
Mollusc 6
Arachnida 21
Collembola 6
Hemiptera 5
Hymenoptera 3
Coleoptera 27
Diptera 4
Lepidoptera 2
Invert - Other 8
Vert - Birds 48
Vert - Other 2
Total 380


Saturday, January 19, 2019

Bridport & Thorne week 3

Its that time of year when (although there is always, always, plenty to look at in any 1km square!) most of the records are from lichens, bryophytes and various non-insect inverts. I, like many people, find it a bit of a struggle to keep plugging away with these groups. But persevering, I thought I would use my newly purchased FSC guide to Woodlice to look more closely at this group. I am glad I did as not only did I add several species of wood lice to each square I also made an interesting discovery in the Bridport square. This was as follows. I was turning over stones in the back garden looking for woodlice when I suddenly noted a couple of amphipods ('Sandhopper' like things) jumping around. Strange, as I thought that the only non-marine amphipods in the UK were the true Sandhoppers you see on any beach and several species confined to freshwater habitats. When I looked into it on the net it would appear there is a fairly newly introduced amphipod which now occurs in South West UK. It is called a Lawnhopper (Arcitalitrus dorrieni) and can be found under stones in much drier habitats than the other amphipods.

Photos - 2 this week as the lawnhopper photo is not very good!
Common Striped Woodlouse
 
Lawnhopper
 
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
1
0
Lichens
14
5
Coleoptera
2
0
Fungi
14
2
Diptera
1
0
Bryophytes
15
7
Hymenoptera
2
2
Plants
61
44
Butterflies
0
0
Molluscs
5
2
Moths
3
0
Annelids
0
0
Insects RSO
0
0
Arachnids
2
0
Fish
1
0
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
0
0
Crustacea
8
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
33
36
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
4
2
Orthoptera
1
0
Total
168
106
 

Thursday, January 17, 2019

invekeithing, Fife

A couple of nice finds underneath stones in Inverkeithing at lunchtime. Breezeblocks beside the garages held a small collection of the beetle Silpha atrata, buried in a thin layer of moss, and a Lithobius melanops. A Sowerby's slug was under a larger rock beside the coastal path. Total species for the year is creeping along at 77 but without a huge effort invested.

Sowerby's slug Tandonia sowerbyi

L.melanops

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Cullaloe LNR, Fife - Europhile agony

The timing of last night's beetle star made me lol a bit.

Agonum (Europhilus) thoreyi is a beetle associated with marshes and this came in a bag of goodies from litter still lying around on the reserve from clearing out the spillway from the main pond. And bless SWT for leaving this lying around. It's chock full of exciting things, and two new spiders and two new beetles have emerged from a hypdrophilic fauna so far.

Two weeks in and I passed the 1/3 of a thousand on the 11th Jan, passed last year's January total on the 13th. All being well I'm aiming to reach 1/4 of target (1500) by end of January. Which is 375 if my basic arithmetic is any good. Don't get me wrong - 400 would be awesome, but anything over 375 is a bonus.

Current total: 350
New for reserve: 44 (6 spiders!)
New for me: 11

The newly cleared spillway
Agonum (Europhilus) thoreyi
Also a grass pile coughed up the first new moth of the year with a Ruby Tiger. That's intriguing because with a fair bit of trapping in the same area we've never recorded an adult here yet!


Breakdown

Algae 1
Lichens 30
Fungi 58
Plants - Vascular 95
Plants - Bryo 48
Mollusc 5
Arachnida 21
Collembola 5
Hemiptera 5
Hymenoptera 2
Coleoptera 22
Diptera 3
Lepidoptera 2
Invert - Other 6
Vert - Birds 46
Vert - Other 1
Total 350


Sunday, January 13, 2019

Thorne & Bridport week 2

Making steady progress at Thorne. Bridport a little slower but that is mostly down to the short days giving no time for looking for species after work. Also got a bit keen and tried running the moth trap last night with the fairly predictable 'nil moth' scenario this morning.
Latest situation shown in table below.

Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
1
0
Lichens
9
0
Coleoptera
2
0
Fungi
14
0
Diptera
0
0
Bryophytes
14
3
Hymenoptera
1
1
Plants
60
41
Butterflies
0
0
Molluscs
4
0
Moths
2
0
Annelids
0
0
Insects RSO
0
0
Arachnids
2
0
Fish
1
0
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
0
0
Crustacea
3
2
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
31
33
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
3
2
Orthoptera
1
0
Total
148
83

This week photo is from Thorne and shows my first Hemiptera of the year. The striking looking Corizus hyoscyami