Dalgey Bay - half way! (502)

Can't believe I'm half way there with no leaves on the trees yet and snowdrops still in full bloom!

Half way point last year was 26th of April so just over a month ahead of the previous pace. Across almost all groups I'm on the same or better tally, although lichens are a bit off the pace. This isn't unexpected because I had a lovely (and well surveyed) piece of coastal outcrop which provided most species. Bryophytes, algae and fungi have been star performers, with the first two exceeding last year's total early on and the latter already matching 2017's August tally. Coleoptera continue to underwhelm, but then I've had little from leaf litter and I haven't placed any pitfalls this year yet. A nice surprise was having three echinoderms on the list already (or at all).

59 species have been lifers - 13%. Last year's overall lifers ratio was about 25%  but some of that would have been routine coastal/marine species which I'm finding again this year as not new.

Before the numbers, here's a lovely Polytrichum juniperinum I found this morning while out for a stroll. Growing on an old rope at the sailing club!

Category	Jan	Feb	Mar
alga	6	15	23
Protist other	0	0	0
slime mould	0	0	0
lichen	27	31	34
fungus	60	83	83
liverwort	9	9	9
moss	37	43	44
flowering plant	60	72	73
conifer	2	2	2
fern	3	3	4
cnidarian	0	1	5
mollusc	12	17	24
bryozoan	1	2	2
annelid	0	8	10
flatworm	1	1	1
harvestman	1	2	2
pseudoscorpion	0	0	0
spider	6	10	12
gall mite	0	0	0
Tick	0	0	0
millipede	6	7	7
centipede	4	5	5
crustacean	10	12	13
collembola	5	8	8
bristletail	0	1	1
odonata	0	0	0
dermaptera	0	1	1
orthoptera	0	0	0
hemiptera	4	5	6
coleoptera	8	13	14
diptera	15	24	25
lep-moth	4	8	10
lep-butterfly	0	0	0
hymenoptera	3	4	4
insect-other	0	0	0
tunicate	0	0	0
echinoderm	0	2	3
invert-other	0	1	2
fish	0	1	1
reptile	0	0	0
amphibian	0	0	0
bird	54	62	70
mammal	3	4	4
	341	457	502

Dalgety Bay - Guillemots in the mist

A misty day and easterlies meant some Guillemots were feeding off the small harbour wall but still no gannets, no fulmar, no Little Auk, no LT Duck, no Phalaropes ... this wish list should be getting 2nd nature by now!

I have managed to get a few things and I surely have enough in the store cupboard to clearly leap the halfway point. a few things I thought were bankers turned out to be not what I thought, including my first slug dissection. Is it Deroceras reticulatum or D.agreste? Oh, it;s exciting ... oh, it looks like it's D.invadens. I think. That one to be referred but not clearly what I thought it was anyway.

At the third time of asking I found my favourite "ground" beetle, the arboreal Dromius quadromaculatus, with a session of head-torching. The usual things were on trunks but there are far less isopods and no isopod hunting spiders (so far). This square also seems to have no pill bugs, which makes me think the other square is more calcareous or something of that nature.

Anyway, I had hoped this lot would be enough to go over 500 but it's not! 499! It'll be today though unless something bizarre happens.

492		flowering plant	Mercurialis perennis	Dog's Mercury
493		coleoptera	Dromius quadromaculatus	A ground beetle
494	*	annelid	Eiseniella tetraedra	An earthworm
495		mollusc	Tandonia sowerbyi	Sowerby's Keeled Slug
496		spider	Nuctenea umbratica	Walnut Orb-weaver
497		spider	Zygiella x-notata	A spider
498		lep-moth	Agonopterix heracliana	A micro moth
499		lep-moth	Orthosia gothica	Hebrew Character

Moths trickling in...

Nice to see just a few moths trickling in over the last couple of nights. Best has been another Mottled Grey, but Oak Beauty, Satellite, March Moth, Chestnut, Early Moth and Dotted Border have all put in appearances, along with another couple of Great Diving Beetles.

Up to 409 now, including three lifers from the garden (asterisked).

401	Eupsilia transversa	Lepidoptera:moths	The Satellite	10/03/2018
402	Biston strataria	Lepidoptera:moths	Oak Beauty	10/03/2018
403 *	Paradelia intersecta	Diptera	Anthomyiidae	10/03/2018
404	Alsophila aescularia	Lepidoptera:moths	March Moth	10/03/2018
405 *	Triphleba lugubris	Diptera	Phoridae	10/03/2018
406 *	Cacopsylla melanoneura	Hemipteroids	Psylliade	10/03/2018
407	Emmelina monodactyla	Lepidoptera:moths	Common Plume	11/03/2018
408	Clubiona subtilis	Arachnids	Clubionidae	11/03/2018
409	Ganoderma australe	Fungi	Southern Bracket	11/03/2018

400 up in Norfolk now...

Added a few more over the last couple of days, so have also reached the dizzy heights of 400 species. Still rather quiet here, and may well be so for the next few weeks. Here's a summary of my last few species:

388	Alcedo atthis	Birds	Kingfisher	08/03/2018
389	Hylemya nigrimana	Diptera	Anthomyid sp.	09/03/2018
390	Lyonetia clerkella	Lepidoptera:moths	Striped Bent-wing	09/03/2018
391	Copromyza stercoraria	Diptera	Sphaeroceridae	09/03/2018
392	Agriopis marginaria	Lepidoptera:moths	Dotted Border	09/03/2018
393	Andricus kollari	Hymenoptera	Oak Marble Gall	10/03/2018
394	Potamopyrgus antipodarum	Molluscs	Jenkin's Spire Shell	10/03/2018
395	Brachythecium rutabulum	Bryophytes	Rough-stalked Feather-moss	10/03/2018
396	Meligethes aeneus	Coleoptera	Pollen Beetle	10/03/2018
397	Coccinella septempunctata	Coleoptera	7-spot Ladybird	10/03/2018
398	Ixodes ricinus	Arachnids	Deer/Sheep Tick	10/03/2018
399	Pollenia pediculata	Diptera	Calliphoridae	10/03/2018
400	Epuraea biguttata	Coleoptera	Nitidulidae	10/03/2018

I'm told by Phil Brighton that Hylemya nigrimana is the first for VC27 and almost the earliest ever date for this species, although I wouldn't be surprised if there are other Norfolk records which haven't yet reached the Anthomyid database.

Of the 400 species, no fewer than 322 have been from my garden.

Dalgety Bay - creeping towards half way

Well things have certainly slowed down a bit. After the excitement of last weekend I've been adding  species onto the list with a dropper, but at least they've been pretty interesting.

After browsing "Marine Fauna" I was flabbergasted at how many ubiquitous/frequent/common species I am supposedly missing and so I determined I was going to get at least one or two of them! So it was that I scored a new mollusc yesterday with the massive Onoba semicostata. This entailed picking up every rock and peering over my specs until I found it something.

Your browser settings may determine how many times life size this appears. They are 2x1 mm typically, and indeed mine were. There are a number of other such snails, and tiny crabs (and tiny everything). With so many of our fauna being very small I'm slowly adjusting to the fact that making my scan image much smaller is an important field skill. As is grilling every square mm of substrate.

I had a Jaera before but "Fish & Fish" wasn't particularly helpful. When I realised the Fauna had much more info I braved it and found that taking into account characters, habitat and distribution I could be fairly confident that these are Jaera albifrons.

Tricky situation today. From yesterday's tide I know that it will be very low at lunchtime today. It's also sunny. I need clones to catch flies and flip rocks. With a bit of luck I'll find flies on rocks, though I'll need several nets. I look more and more like Inspector Gadget.

Numbers:

479	*	alga	Cladophora rupestris	A marine alga
480	*	cnidarian	Clytia hemisphaerica	A hydroid
481		alga	Polysiphonia fucoides	A seaweed
482		lichen	Collemopsidium foveolatum	A lichen
483		mollusc	Littorina obtusata	Flat Periwinkle
484	*	cnidarian	Phialella quadrata	A hydroid
485	*	mollusc	Onoba semicostata	A marine snail
486	*	crustacean	Jaera albifrons	A marine isopod

Skye - 400th species, finally!

I say "finally", but actually 400 is a bloody fine tally for early March. If it wasn't for Ali's (frankly quite ridiculous) surge into the record breaker's book, I'd be very pleased with attaining 400 in March. 

Anyway, lovely weather today (no wind, no rain, no sleet, no snow, no midges - that's pretty much as good as it ever gets up here) so I took the day off work and hit the square big time. I added over 50 species today, Floating Sweet-grass Glyceria fluitans being a 1KSQ addition even for the BSBI. 

Doesn't come much sexier than this, huh? (umm...)

I found this wee sweetie sunning itself on a tree trunk. Coz yeah, we even had sunshine today!

Megabunus diadema (aka the Mascara Harvestman)

I managed a few bryophytes and lichens whilst checking the trees for 'proper' species (oh no I di'int!) 

Sticta canariensis with Mycobilimbia pilularis in the background

Sticta fuliginosa with a big, fat fingernail in the foreground

My fave shot of the day was of a rarely recorded bird for my square. I heard them calling, looked up, nailed them in the bins and only then reached for the camera. If nothing else, this shows that even Skye enjoys the blue stuff from time to time. Next lot due in May...

Rooks - not at all common over Uig, though you get them regularly in Portree (less than 20 miles away)

I won't add a full list, though I could maybe link to my 1KSQ 2018 Spreadsheet? Nah, you aren't really that interested! Total after today's efforts is 401 species with several more in pots on my desk. 

And I'm taking tomorrow off work too.....

Skye PSL blitz

Hi,

Following on from the comments to an earlier post I think it would be great if we could all manage to get to Skye. Checking the calendar for June gives the last week-end as 30th June (Saturday) but July 1st for the Sunday. Is that still possible for you Ali?
If not the last whole week-end in June is 23rd/24th.
At this stage I could make either.

PS I don't think organising this over blogger is a major issue? Perhaps we will have to share email address's?

Dalgety Bay - Fish or Not Fish

One of my favourite things in any field guide. While browsing last night I realised just how many "frequent" or "common" species I haven't seen in the intertidal - bryozoans, hydrozoans, molluscs, crustaceans ... soooo many!

I am starting to fall in love with hydrozoans a bit. Cracking little things

Now, I also just "need" a couple of volumes on marine diatoms ...

Here are a couple of uncountable weather casualties I pulled out the seaweed banks:

Sand Goby I reckon

the same, but whole thing

Whiting? I refrained from taking it home!

The numbers ... of the Beast

Dalgety Bay - The Beast from the East

Well, that was quite a thing. Off work but unable, mostly, to get out. Nevertheless when I did get out it was a kiss from the princess. Not for all those weather casualties, of course, but it did bring some "patch gold" as farmland birds were forced into the tiny patch of exposed grass in my square. My first Dalgety Bay Golden Plovers showed up after not seeing one in the previous 20 years. Yellowhammers, Skylarks, Reed Bunting, Snipe. A bonanza. Churlish to complain about the lack of Little Auk, LT Duck, Scoters, Fulmar, Gannet ... and where are those Fulmars? They should be here anyway!

Here's some pack ice in the bay - very bizarre

There's really too much to cover in individual shots so here's a small collection from the kelp bed sweep

Watery wonderland

Water-loving things

One of my favourite things from yesterday was the hydroid Obelia geniculata, which even had a developing medusa like a little homunculus sitting in one of the "cups". From a Laminaria blade.

Obelia geniculata

Musical accompaniment -edit: E.S.T. Seven Days of Falling (snow). A bit of mellow genius

Numbers:

451	*	fungus	Laboulbenia vulgaris	A fungus
452		coleoptera	Pterostichus strenuus	A ground beetle
453		bird	Gallinago gallinago	Common Snipe
454		flowering plant	Chamerion angustifolium	Rosebay Willowherb
455		fungus	Trametes ochracea	A fungus
456		lichen	Hypogymnia tubulosa	A lichen
457		bird	Alauda arvensis	Skylark
458	*	diptera	Nanocladius dichromus	A chironomid fly
459		bird	Anthus petrosus	Rock Pipit
460		bird	Rissa tridactyla	Kittiwake
461		bird	Uria aalge	Guillemot
462		bird	Alca torda	Razorbill
463		bird	Pluvialis apricaria	Golden Plover
464		bird	Emberiza citrinella	Yellowhammer
465		bird	Emberiza schoeniclus	Reed Bunting
466		bird	Anthus pratensis	Meadow Pipit
467		chordate	Ascidiella scabra	A sea squirt
468		alga	Membranoptera alata	An alga
469		alga	Corallina officinalis	Coral Weed
470		mollusc	Cerastoderma edule	Common Cockle
471		mollusc	Doris pseudoargus	Sea Lemon
472		cnidarian	Dynamena pumila	A hydrozoan
473	*	annelid	Eulalia viridis	Greenleaf worm
474		echinoderm	Ophiothrix fragilis	Common Brittlestar
475	*	alga	Halidrys siliquosa	Sea Oak
476	*	alga	Palmaria palmata	Dulse
477	*	cnidarian	Obelia geniculata	A hydroid
478	*	alga	Rhodomela lycopodioides	A marine alga

End of February update

This post is just to show I am still participating rather than a measure of any real progress during February. Due to being away for nearly 2 weeks and the poor weather have hardly added any new species. For the record Thorne now on 166 and Eype 140.
Hopefully a numerically much increased update in a couple of weeks time!

PS Seth re your comments on your blog; I think the whole of the 1000 for 1ksq crew would like to visit Skye. Not certain about the others but I might well manage it later this year - we shall see.