Monday, February 25, 2019

Cullaloe LNR, Fife - a fast 500

A fungus romp on Saturday morning with gathering of other things encountered on the way (obviously) followed by a sunny day and  a free pass to roam on Sunday meant the 500 was secured and then some. The species new to the reserve also sailed over 100. The list can be seen here - 2019 new spp.

I'll be having a look at the fastest 1000 with an aim to beating that, but I still think it's a long stretch from there to reaching Tim's outrageous 2018 total. The number of species per day required is just out of my reach I think. That'll have to wait for retirement. It's not that I can't catch/gather enough material - I'm sure I can. I think I just have no way of identifying them at that rate. I say this knowing full well that I might be spending December poring over pinned Ichneumonidae!

I know everybody loves a good pyrenomycete so here's the charming Bertia moriformis in all its glory.

Also worth mentioning was the occurrence of #patchgold Whooper Swans which flew over on Saturday morning




Category Jan Feb
alga 1 1
Protist other 0 0
slime mould 0 0
lichen 33 37
fungus 67 93
liverwort 9 9
moss 44 45
flowering plant 93 95
conifer 2 2
fern 4 4
cnidarian 0 0
mollusc 11 20
bryozoan 0 0
annelid 2 3
flatworm 0 1
harvestman 3 5
pseudoscorpion 1 1
spider 19 23
gall mite 0 0
tick 0 1
millipede 2 5
centipede 2 2
crustacean 4 5
collembola 6 6
bristletail 0 0
odonata 0 0
dermaptera 1 1
orthoptera 0 0
hemiptera 5 9
coleoptera 30 46
diptera 4 14
lep-moth 4 10
lep-butterfly 0 1
hymenoptera 4 7
insect-other 1 1
tunicate 0 0
echinoderm 0 0
invert-other 0 0
fish 0 0
reptile 0 0
amphibian 1 2
bird 48 55
mammal 1 1
402 505

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Bridport & Thorne Week 8

A few more added but the week's highlight - a Slender Groundhopper - got away before I could photograph it. So this weeks photo is another moth; Common Quaker.


The numbers for each site are as follows;


Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
1
0
Lichens
16
5
Coleoptera
3
0
Fungi
14
2
Diptera
2
0
Bryophytes
19
7
Hymenoptera
3
3
Plants
73
64
Butterflies
2
1
Molluscs
5
2
Moths
8
0
Annelids
2
0
Insects RSO
0
0
Arachnids
2
0
Fish
1
0
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
1
0
Crustacea
8
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
39
40
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
4
2
Orthoptera
2
0
Total
206
132


Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Cullaloe, Fife - this and that

A slow February, as predicted, with a lot of winter stuff recorded in January. Inverts are picking up and a couple of traps have been placed to good effect with some water beetles and a few moths starting to trickle in.

The bottle trap for flies is part of a study for Calliphoridae, though I haven't had any yet. So far I've had about 40 Sylvicola fenestralis cinctus and some (what I think are) Dryomyzidae. In any event acalypterate flies which I have no firm ID for (edit: they were Dryomyza flaveola)


Traps

Satellite

Galerucella lineola

Metzneria snuggled up in Knapweed (thanks, Ben Smart!)
One of the benefits of living near Edinburgh, with RBG and the National Museum of Scotland close at hand is being able to call on high quality assistance. This Ichneumon would almost certainly have been given either no name or the wrong name by me (although I did get the other one right - yay!). 500 is the target for Feb, although I have now passed last year's February total of 457. Not that far ahead, really.


Numbers:
Jan Feb
Algae 1 1
Lichens 33 37
Fungi 67 76
Vascular 99 101
Bryophytes 53 54
Mollusc 11 14
Arachnida 23 28
Collembola 6 6
Hemiptera 5 8
Hymenoptera 4 5
Coleoptera 30 40
Diptera 4 8
Lepidoptera 4 8
Invert - Other 12 16
Vert - Birds 48 54
Vert - Other 2 2
Total 402 458

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Back on track

Having missed the wintry spell while away I returned to work to find almost Spring like conditions. Good! A few more species added including my second butterfly - a Red Admiral - of the year.

A couple of moths also added including Hebrew Character (Photo below)


The numbers are as shown below,

Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
1
0
Lichens
16
5
Coleoptera
3
0
Fungi
14
2
Diptera
2
0
Bryophytes
19
7
Hymenoptera
3
2
Plants
73
44
Butterflies
2
0
Molluscs
5
2
Moths
7
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
38
36
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
4
2
Orthoptera
1
0
Total
202
106

Monday, February 11, 2019

Cullaloe LNR, Fife - Dragging the waters

So with an hour or so free I decided it was time to see what's underneath the water. Not expecting much at this time of year I did at least expect to add water slaters, which I duly did after a fair bit of scooping. These are new to the reserve but it can only be for want of looking.

Some more inevitables (Skylark, Thrush, Trichocera regelationis etc.) added and the third worm of the year plus a nice bonus of a new flea beetle from sweeping stream-side grasses.

A bit slower progress with some domestic duties hogging my calendar, but hopefully I'll still be on track come end of Feb.

Cold day. Sky was blue, but too bright to show here!

Mating pair of water slaters

Great Pond Snail

Stenus pubescens in last year's Typha leaves

Confirmation a bonus!
Numbers:
411 R M coleoptera Phratora vitellinae A leaf beetle
412 Lichen Cladonia arbuscula A lichen
413 Fungus Alatospora acuminata aquatic hyphomycete
414 Fungus Dactylella aquatica aquatic hyphomycete
415 moss Racomitrium aciculare Yellow Fringe-moss
416 Lichen Lecidella scabra A lichen
417 Lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum A lichen
418 bird Alauda arvensis Skylark
419 bird Turdus philomelos Song Thrush
420 flowering plant Cardamine hirsuta Hairy Bitter-cress
421 mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis Great Pond Snail
422 R crustacean Asellus aquaticus Water Slater
423 R M annelid Aporrectodea longa Long Worm
424 diptera Trichocera regelationis A Winter Gnat
425 R
coleoptera Stenus pubescens A Rove Beetle
426 R M coleoptera Chaetocnema concinna A flea beetle
427 bird Larus ridibundus Black-headed Gull
428 bird Larus canus Common Gull

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Old Nisthouse, Harray, Orkney - new entrant

Here is my 1000m square in Harray, Orkney, as far away from the sea as it is possible to get in the county, all of 10Km.


I needed to get the garden in, it falls on the grid line if I don't twist the square around. The road is a natural marker and is the divide I use anyway within my 3km sq (but irregularly shaped) home birding patch. It seemed a natural thing to do. A bit disappointed I couldn't squeeze the track to the north in near the "quarry (disused)" on the map, as it is one of my best invert places and botanically interesting but so it goes. There is a lot of farmland in this square, intensive beef and sheep farming, however the third above the road, heading NE is wet, permanent pasture and pretty rich. There is a tiny little line of trees just to the east of The Shunan where I have found a fair bit in the past and as we own it of special interest. In our neighbour's garden there are some tall Sycamores which host a rookery. Our own garden has some Swedish Whitebeam in the back, main bird feeding area, and an area I try to manage for Orkney Vole at the front.

I've not seen many species so far this year but the quality has been there with a Bembidion bruxellense, which if confirmed will be new for the county. Today I found some tiny snails which I think are Columella edentulla, these will also be a county first if I've got them right.

My main interests are birds, Lepidoptera and Caribid beetles (which I'm getting back into after a break of some 30 or so years). I'm also interested in Opiliones which I also used to work on a long time ago. My botany is pretty rusty and I have new interests in land molluscs and aquatic beetles, but give me a key and I'll have a go at most things - not very keen on Hymenoptera, rather too hard...

Bembidion bruxellense I hope.

View from the garden this morning looking over the A986 to Loch of Bosquoy, Loch of Harray and the Hoy Hills. The fields in the foreground are in the patch.

The Shunan this morning, frozen so lacking the usual quackers.

Today's highlights, I've not attempted the 7 or 8 Staphilinidae from the extractor yet. Can anyone recommend a Collembola key? Are they doable? 

I think this is Tremella mescuterica? On gorse.

I think this is Columella edentula (the top arm of the L shape above it is 2mm long)?

I'll try and count up my January total shortly, I haven't really looked at any plants so I'm thinking 60 or so species for the month.





Friday, February 1, 2019

Fife - end of January for Cullaloe and Inverkeithing

Cullaloe: 402 spp.
61 new to reserve, 19 new for me. Stars of the show one new fungus for Scotland, a bunch of new mollusc records and a couple of worms. Remarkably, also two new moth species.

Aegopinella nitidula
Inverkeithing: 91 spp.
Because I'm just bunging all Inverkeithing records on iRecord I have no readily-accessible data on new for me or the square, though some undoubtedly are!

My patch - only one example of the fine art on display

Candidula intersecta

Cullaloe breakdown
Algae 1
Lichens 33
Fungi 67
Vascular 99
Bryophytes 53
Mollusc 11
Arachnida 23
Collembola 6
Hemiptera 5
Hymenoptera 4
Coleoptera 30
Diptera 4
Lepidoptera 4
Invert - Other 12
Vert - Birds 48
Vert - Other 2
Total 402

Inverkeithing breakdown (iRecord categories)
Taxon Group Number of Taxa
annelid 1
bird 26
centipede 1
chromist 3
crustacean 3
flowering plant 40
fungus 2
beetle 2
lichen 2
mollusc 4
moss 6
spider 1
total 91