SP5595ish - quiet

Yesterday I managed a late afternoon walk down the country lane that is pretty much the central 'vein' in my square. It's really not much to speak of, but it has wide verges and is lined by hawthorn hedgerow and through the year I will pick up inverts and various weedy bits along there. Except that at the moment it looks very sorry indeed - a fatal RTA on the main roadway that runs parallel to it (also in my square) on New Years Eve forced all of the traffic along this completely unsuitable route trashing the verge. On top of that, the hedgerow has been mercilessly flailed.

The knackered verge will recover quickly and the hedgerow is not exactly ancient so probably won't make a difference in the long run. In any case, I was on a birding mission and completely ignored the plantlife and made no effort to look for inverts on this walk - I was heading down the lane and out of the square to look for Barn Owl for my Foot It list (scored). I am very hopeful now that Barn Owl will drift into my square at some point, and I'll enjoy watching in the meantime. Did add a few other birds to the square list though (Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Red-legged Partridge, Buzzard and Stock Dove) plus Rabbit. Incidentally, I find that when I am out, I am either birding or I am looking at everything else - I can't seem to do the two together. Once I've got a net or camera and hand and I'm searching the greenery I seem to go deaf and am oblivious to anything flying overhead.

Back at home in the dark, a garden foray was fruitless on this occasion - or may be. I got distracted by the unexpected finding of two noctuid larvae which I've failed to ID. I can't believe this - I've seen 1065 moth species in the UK and the first one I see this year I can't ID.

Note that the flash doesn't help, but I've collected one to try and rear and even in normal daylight I'm stumped - so much for Porter's guide.

I also found a spider that I can't resolve beyond Amaurobius sp. This also highlights the limitations of using a macro conversion lens in pitch black with flash - doesn't work well on fast moving things!

Nothing today as out for a local Ornithological society meeting this evening. However I keep telling myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint - and still have over 360 days to see something else .........

Shotesham TM2499, 4th Jan

More slow progress today, in between working. Siskin, Grey Heron and Pied Wagtail wandered onto the list, and new plants were Field Maple, Ground-ivy, Greater Plantain, Stinking Hellebore (in pub car park, looking pretty naturalised) and Sweet Violet, the last in flower. I finally got round to opening my big shiny moss book and identified the first moss I came across as Wall Screw-moss Tortula muralis which the book helpfully confirmed would be the first moss a beginner would find and identify! Neat.

Only fungus ID of the day was Tar Spot Rhytisma acerinum on fallen Sycamore leaves (hmm, have interestingly forgotten to note Sycamore!) but a small pile of other bits of fungi are sat on my desk, staring accusingly at me.

Moth trap tonight has so far produced an Early Moth (as yesterday - I meant this when I said Winter Moth) and a small Acleris which I'll have to look at and decide if I can confidently say notana or ferrugana. Quite possibly not. A Harlequin Ladybird was also kicking around the trap, in addition to a distressing number of smallish flies that I don't have the faintest idea what to do with.

A couple of late IDs from yesterday were Cellar Snail Oxychilus cellarius and the micro Agonopterix heracliana. Total score is now 77. Time to have a last look at the trap before bed...

Andy

P.S. Most surreal moment of the day was sinking into a bog up to my thighs (both thighs!), only about 10 metres from the end of my drive. Who knew?!

Day two in the square

Ventured into the square again yesterday - a different route this time, visiting the churchyard and the cemetery. Best find was a group of Collared Earthstars not a hundred yards from the house. I've never seen them here before - not in the 7 years we've lived here. I love earthstars!
A seven-spot ladybird was seen on some (domesticated but escaped) Stinking Hellebore. Finished the day on 94 species. 
But I still have several branches with lichens on sitting on my front doorstep. I'm pretending they're not there for the moment ;)

Time to catch up!

I am REALLY rubbish at remembering to post in a blog.....my own page is ample evidence of this ;)
New Year's Day in the square was quite productive - not least because I met a local landowner who has given me permission to go onto his land. He has some mature pines which have interesting fungi beneath them.......
Day 1 ended on 68 species. The highlight was a tiny fungus on a pine cone. I identified it as Earpick Fungus, although it's much hairier than all the examples I've seen photographed.

Inverts in TL0894

Another brief stroll around the garden with a headtorch and a camera.

Please shout if any of the photos show a mis-id.

61 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber
62 Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus
63 Budapest Slug Tandonia budapestensis
64 Walnut Orb-Weaver Spider Nuctenea umbratica
65 Amaurobius similis
66 Missing Sector Spider Zygiella x-notata
67 Deroceras panormitanum (another slug)
68 Common Earthworm Lumbricus terrestris

 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus

Amaurobius similis

Walnut Orb-Weaver Spider Nuctenea umbratica

Deroceras panormitanum

Guernsey

Making the most of my holidays, and determined to get to 100 species before the end of the day, I spent a bit more time searching the garden and adjacent roadside for more species yesterday afternoon. I had flyover Little Egret and Grey Wagtail, plus I cleared up on all possible reptiles with a Slow Worm hibernating in its usual spot. I scoured the internet and identified a few lifers for me including the Ragwort Flea Beetle. I think I have identified my first ever moss (Wall Screw Moss) and, most exciting of all, the rather beautiful Alexanders Rust Fungus!

possibly a Ragwort Flea Beetle

There were a few of these flies amongst the grass of the lawn which I think are Geomyza tripunctata as they are similar to ones that iSpot identified last summer.

3rd Jan in TM2499

So, my first full day back in the square. I say full - I had an hour first thing, 30 mins at lunchtime and glanced out the window for the rest of the day whilst working. And now the moth-trap's on. Nothing too spectacular but the list has crept up to at least 64 now. Most of the additions have been the usual birds (including an ever-fine Barn Owl at dawn), but I've also noted:

Plants - Holly, Hazel, Cleavers, Alexanders, Creeping Thistle, Stinging Nettle, Foxglove, Yew, Bulrush, Common Reed, Silver Birch, Broad Buckler-fern, Hard Rush, Daisy, Shepherd's-purse, Herb-Robert, Wood Avens, Groundsel, Cow Parsley

Fungi - Candlesnuff Fungus

Insects - Honey Bee, Pale Brindled Beauty, Winter Moth.

Yesterday's spider was Nuctenea umbratica (pretty confident with this - I'm forever finding this one).

Also, as expected I'm already starting to find specimens piling up. My desk has five more fungi (I hate fungi -  I can never work out how to start!), two snails, a caddisfly, an Agonopterix micro-moth and some Aceria fraxinivora galls that need chopping up. Oh, and I think there's more on my camera. Trying to tell myself not to panic!

Andy

Guernsey

Spent most of yesterday outside the square but did add Goldcrest, Chiffchaff and Mallard to the list. Added a few more bits and bats round the garden this morning, practising using the flash on the camera. Having the usual problems with finding interesting stuff and not being able to put a name to them as I don't have suitable books. Searching on the internet gives you a good idea what they are but it's difficult to be certain. I have used the iSpot website in the past but that can be hit or miss. For example, below are a springtail, slug and fungus which I cannot ID properly:

Started at last!

Hooray, home again, and opened the batting with Homo sapiens at 2047 as I crossed into the hallowed land of TM2499. Since then, some quick glances around the garden produced White Dead-nettle, Ash, Ivy and a  self-seeded Horse-chestnut (well, the kids throw some conkers around each year...) Then went for a short leg-stretch and failed to hear any owls, but Alder and Hawthorn were duly ticked at their reliable stake-outs. This is just too easy - only 993 species left to find. I have also found a spider on a tree-trunk, so that's the next job, but the bad news is that the Harlequin Ladybird that was in the downstairs loo before New Year seems to have temporarily done a bunk!

Andy

SP5595ish, 02/01/2013

I was back to work today - leaving home and returning in the dark is not conducive to adding to the challenge tally. I was tempted to go for a torchlight walk, but with other things to do I decided to leave that for another day. Instead I spent a fruitful 20 minutes or so scaring the wits out of the garden molluscs with a bright torch and flash photography. I wasn't sure whether the macro conversion lens would work well enough in such conditions but it seems okay. Added six to the tally:

Common Shiny woodlouse (Oniscus asellus)
Arion distinctus (slug)
Netted Slug (Deroceras reticulatum)
Caruana's Slug (Deroceras panormitanum)
Lumbricus terrestris (earthworm)
Lithobius forficatus (centipede)

Arion distinctus

Deroceras panormitanum

Deroceras reticulatum