Deer prudence

There are 4 species of deer in the square, but all seem to be increasing rapidly, with 30+ Red Deer being very conspicuous at the moment. I nearly hit a red deer calf the other day, and the flock often graze close to the local roads at night so you have to be very careful driving through the area. A mate of mine had his car written off a couple of years ago by a red deer which went through his drivers side window. He was lucky to be only slightly injured.

Still lots happening, as per the list and photos.

Eyed Ladybird, new for square

Cheilosia albitarsus, new for square

Lucilia illustris, lifer and new for sqaure

Microchrysa polita, common but nice to see first for year

Nicrophorus vespillo, lifer and new for square

784	Charadrius hiaticula	Birds	Ringed Plover	08/05/2018
785	Sphaerophoria scripta	Diptera	Syrphidae	08/05/2018
786	Tringa nebularia	Birds	Greenshank	08/05/2018
787	Cameraria ohridella	Lepidoptera:moths	Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner	08/05/2018
788	Epiphyas postvittana	Lepidoptera:moths	Light Brown Apple Moth	08/05/2018
789	Menophra abruptaria	Lepidoptera:moths	Waved Umber	08/05/2018
790	Glyphotaelius pellucidus	RSO	Caddis Fly	08/05/2018
791	Psammoecus bipunctatus	Coleoptera	Sylvanidae	08/05/2018
792	Metrioptera roeselii	Orthopteroids	Roesel's Bush-cricket	08/05/2018
793	Leiosoma deflexum	Coleoptera	Curculionidae	08/05/2018
794	Melolontha melolontha	Coleoptera	Cockchafer	08/05/2018
795	Eupithecia pulchellata	Lepidoptera:moths	Foxglove Pug	08/05/2018
796	Pseudoswammerdamia combinella	Lepidoptera:moths		08/05/2018
797	Shargacucullia verbasci	Lepidoptera:moths	The Mullein	08/05/2018
798	Lomographa bimaculata	Lepidoptera:moths	White-pinion Spotted	08/05/2018
799	Notodonta dromedarius	Lepidoptera:moths	Iron Prominent	08/05/2018
800	Tipula vernalis	Diptera	Tipulidae - Craneflies	08/05/2018
801	Rhinoncus pericarpius	Coleoptera	Weevil	08/05/2018
802	Phyllobius roboretanus	Coleoptera	Small Green Nettle Weevil	08/05/2018
803	Stenus aceris	Coleoptera	Staph.	08/05/2018
804	Coleophora serratella	Lepidoptera:moths	Occupied case	08/05/2018
805	Symphytum orientale	Vascular Plants	White Comfrey	08/05/2018
806 *	Kaestneria dorsalis	Arachnids	Linyphiidae	07/05/2018
807	Oedothorax fuscus	Arachnids	Linyphiidae	07/05/2018
808 *	Calamoncosis aprica	Diptera	Chloropidae	07/05/2018
809	Rhantus suturalis	Coleoptera	Dytiscidae	08/05/2018
810	Harpalus affinis	Coleoptera	Carabidae	08/05/2018
811	Harpalus rufipes	Coleoptera	Carabidae	08/05/2018
812	Limnephilus binotatus	RSO	Caddis Fly	08/05/2018
813	Grammotaulius nigropunctatus	RSO	Caddis Fly	08/05/2018
814	Ophion minutus	Hymenoptera	Ichneumonidae	08/05/2018
815	Rhamphomyia barbata	Diptera	Empididae	08/05/2018
816	Phyllobius pomaceus	Coleoptera	Curculonidae	11/05/2018
817	Leucozona lucorum	Diptera	Syrphidae	11/05/2018
818	Microchrysa polita	Diptera	Black-horned Gem	11/05/2018
819	Cheilosia albitarsis	Diptera	Syrphidae	11/05/2018
820	Anthophila fabriciana	Lepidoptera:moths	Nettle-tap	11/05/2018
821	Anatis ocellata	Coleoptera	Eyed Ladybird	11/05/2018
822 *	Nicrophorus vespillo	Coleoptera	Nicrophorus	11/05/2018
823	Lysimachia punctata	Vascular Plants	Dotted Loosestrife	11/05/2018
824	Polygonum aviculare	Vascular Plants	Knotgrass	11/05/2018
825	Veronica serpyllifolia	Vascular Plants	Thyme-leaved Speedwell	11/05/2018
826 *	Lucilia illustris	Diptera	Calliphoridae	11/05/2018

Dalgety Bay

A fine day yesterday with some cracking new stuff. My year minimum of one Pipunculidae species was reached with a new for county (county fauna 8 spp., my additions 6 spp.!) Jassidophaga fasciata. Hopefully there will be another. They're fantastic little flies, which target hemipteroids as hosts.
The tachinid (?) with it in the photo below hasn't been ID'd. The pinpunculid was my 100th lifer of the year too.

Another new for county was the weevil Hadroplontus litura, which according to NBN is the northernmost British record.

As is typical for this time of year I'm now quickly becoming overrun with more specimens than I have time to ID but I can do just about enough to keep it mostly under control and keep the numbers moving.

Ferdinandea cuprea was a nice new hover fly for me in the morning sunshine today.

Dangerous small things!

ovipositor - ouch!

Hadroplontus litura

F.cuprea

Numbers:

702		lep-moth	Aphelia paleana	Timothy Tortrix
703		flowering plant	Cirsium vulgare	Spear Thistle
704		coleoptera	Otiorhynchus singularis	A Broad-nosed Weevil
705		lep-moth	Epinotia immundana	Common Birch Bell
706		diptera	Tipula varipennis	A crane fly
707	*	diptera	Jassidophaga fasciata	A big-headed fly
708	*	coleoptera	Hadroplontus litura	A weevil
709		diptera	Syrphus vitripennis	Syrphidae
710	*	diptera	Ferdinandea cuprea	A hover fly
711		diptera	Melanostoma scalare	Syrphidae

Dalgety Bay - Sevens

So I didn't managed to seriously jinx the final reach out to 700. Most of what I had was new too, so that was nice but time consuming.

Another seriously weird Linyphiid spider, Hypomma bituberculatum, with its weird head. Reminds me of a science fiction movie. You have to suspect it has some sort of psi powers with that head! I thought I'd seen it before but I don't have any record of it if so.

Numbers:

696		coleoptera	Pterostichus madidus	A ground beetle
697	*	diptera	Rhamphomyia longipes	An Empid fly
698		diptera	Dilophus febrilis	Bibinoidae
699	*	diptera	Syntormon denticulatum	A long-legged fly
700	*	spider	Hypomma bituberculatum	A Linyphiid spider
701	*	diptera	Scathophaga litorea	A Scathophagid fly

Psi power. Circle, square, triangle, wave...

What a few sunny days will do ...

Been fantastic weather here over the past few days, not a cloud in the sky. The insects have responded accordingly, especially coleoptera and diptera. I've been able to keep on top of things so far this year but I'm afraid that the freezer is now being used for tubes, so there will probably be some additions as and when I get round to doing them. Rather a long list since my last update, with an additional 82 species, so should reach 800 within the next few days. Moths are still slow but showing signs of improvement. Garden list is still going strong, up to 1847 species now. A few pictures, the one with the Red Deer was taken from the garden, giving you some idea of the habitat in the square, mainly arable and pasture, but with some dykes and fen influences. The sea is about half a mile away to the east and some fens about half a mile to the west. Very pleased with 6 Arctic Terns over the square a couple of mornings ago.

Anisodactylus binotatus (new for garden)

Arctosa perita (new for garden)

Dorytomus salicinus (new for square, Nb)

Puss Moth

Purple Thorn

Red Deer from garden

702	Tipula oleracea	Diptera	Tipulidae - Craneflies	02/05/2018
703	Prunus spinosa	Vascular Plants	Blackthorn	02/05/2018
704	Propylea quattuordecimpunctata	Coleoptera	14-spot Ladybird	01/05/2018
705	Adela reaumurella	Lepidoptera:moths	Green Long-horn	02/05/2018
706	Salix caprea	Vascular Plants	Goat Willow	02/05/2018
707	Delichon urbicum	Birds	House Martin	03/05/2018
708	Emberiza citrinella	Birds	Yellowhammer	03/05/2018
709	Melecta albifrons	Hymenoptera	Apidae - Melecta	03/05/2018
710	Aspidapion radiolus	Coleoptera	Apionidae	03/05/2018
711	Drymus sylvaticus	Hemipteroids	Lygaeidae	03/05/2018
712	Nedyus quadrimaculatus	Coleoptera	Small Nettle Weevil	04/05/2018
713	Lamiastrum galeobdolon	Vascular Plants	Yellow Archangel	04/05/2018
714	Sterna paradisaea	Birds	Arctic Tern	04/05/2018
715	Celastrina argiolus	Lepidoptera:butterflies	Holly Blue	04/05/2018
716	Eristalinus sepulchralis	Diptera	Syrphidae	04/05/2018
717	Micrambe ulicis	Coleoptera	Cryptophagidae	04/05/2018
718	Exapion ulicis	Coleoptera	Gorse Weevil	04/05/2018
719	Andrion regensteinensis	Coleoptera	Weevil	04/05/2018
720	Sialis lutaria	RSO	Alder-fly	04/05/2018
721	Araneus diadematus	Arachnids	Areneidae	04/05/2018
722	Xysticus ulmi	Arachnids	Thomisidae	04/05/2018
723	Archarius pyrrhoceras	Coleoptera	Weevil	04/05/2018
724	Pardosa nigriceps	Arachnids	Lycosidae	04/05/2018
725	Elasmostethus interstinctus	Hemipteroids	Birch Shieldbug	04/05/2018
726	Dilophus febrilis	Diptera	Bibionidae - Fever Fly	04/05/2018
727	Geomyza tripunctata	Diptera	Opomyzidae	04/05/2018
728	Clostera curtula	Lepidoptera:moths	Chocolate-tip	04/05/2018
729	Pheosia gnoma	Lepidoptera:moths	Lesser Swallow Prominent	04/05/2018
730	Arion rufus	Molluscs	Slug	04/05/2018
731	Xylota segnis	Diptera	Syrphidae	05/05/2018
732 *	Nanna fasciata	Diptera	Scathophagid	04/05/2018
733	Osmia bicornis	Hymenoptera	Osmia	05/05/2018
734	Dolerus aeneus	Hymenoptera	Symphyta: Selandriinae: Dolerus	04/05/2018
735	Dolerus nigratus	Hymenoptera	Symphyta: Selandriinae: Dolerus	04/05/2018
736	Otiorhynchus singularis	Coleoptera	Weevil: Enteminae	05/04/2018
737	Gasterosteus aculeatus	Fish	Three-spined Stickleback	05/05/2018
738	Limnephilus auricula	RSO	Caddis Fly	05/05/2018
739	Morellia simplex	Diptera	Muscidae	05/05/2018
740	Tipula vittata	Diptera	Tipulidae - Craneflies	05/05/2018
741	Abraxas grossulariata	Lepidoptera:moths	The Magpie	05/05/2018
742 *	Metopia argyrocephala	Diptera	Sarcophagidae	05/05/2018
743	Xanthorhoe fluctuata	Lepidoptera:moths	Garden Carpet	04/05/2018
744	Elasmucha grisea	Hemipteroids	Parent Bug	05/05/2018
745	Neocoenorrhinus aequatus	Coleoptera	Apple Fruit Weevil	05/05/2018
746	Dalopius marginatus	Coleoptera	Elateridae	04/05/2018
747	Baryphyma trifrons	Arachnids	Linyphiidae	04/05/2018
748	Rhipidia maculata	Diptera	Cranefly	04/05/2018
749 *	Melanochaeta capreolus	Diptera	Chloropidae	04/05/2018
750	Anisodactylus binotatus	Coleoptera	Carabidae	06/05/2018
751	Myathropa florea	Diptera	Syrphidae	06/05/2018
752	Amara communis	Coleoptera	Carabidae	06/05/2018
753	Philonthus tenuicornis	Coleoptera	Staph.	06/05/2018
754	Philonthus decorus	Coleoptera	Staph.	06/05/2018
755	Notonecta glauca	Hemipteroids	Common Backswimmer	06/05/2018
756	Anasimyia contracta	Diptera	Syrphidae	06/05/2018
757	Ceromya bicolor	Diptera	Tachinidae	06/05/2018
758	Nephrotoma appendiculata	Diptera	Spotted Crane-fly	06/05/2018
759	Ophonus rufibarbis	Coleoptera	Carabid	06/05/2018
760	Deporaus betulae	Coleoptera	Attelabidae Weevil	06/05/2018
761	Drepana falcataria	Lepidoptera:moths	Pebble Hook-tip	06/05/2018
762	Empis nuntia	Diptera	Empididae	05/05/2018
763	Notodonta ziczac	Lepidoptera:moths	Pebble Prominent	06/05/2018
764	Autographa gamma	Lepidoptera:moths	Silver Y	06/05/2018
765	Laothoe populi	Lepidoptera:moths	Poplar Hawk-moth	06/05/2018
766	Cerura vinula	Lepidoptera:moths	Puss Moth	06/05/2018
767	Mompha epilobiella	Lepidoptera:moths	Common Mompha	07/05/2018
768	Brachytron pratense	Odonata	Hairy Dragonfly	07/05/2018
769	Helophilus hybridus	Diptera	Syrphidae	07/05/2018
770	Veronica persica	Vascular Plants	Common Field-speedwell	07/05/2018
771	Aceria cephalonea	Arachnids	Gall Mite on Sycamore	07/05/2018
772	Arctosa perita	Arachnids	Sand Bear-spider	07/05/2018
773	Selenia tetralunaria	Lepidoptera:moths	Purple Thorn	07/05/2018
774	Auplopus carbonarius	Hymenoptera	Pompilidae	07/05/2018
775	Crepidodera fulvicornis	Coleoptera	Chrysomelidae	07/05/2018
776	Archarius salicivorus	Coleoptera	Willow Gall Weevil	07/05/2018
777 *	Dorytomus salicinus	Coleoptera	Curculonidae	07/05/2018
778	Anaspis frontalis	Coleoptera	Scraptiidae	07/05/2018
779	Euproctis chrysorrhoea	Lepidoptera:moths	Brown-tail	07/05/2018
780	Rhamphomyia crassirostris	Diptera	Empididae	07/05/2018
781	Esperia sulphurella	Lepidoptera:moths	Sulphur Tubic	08/05/2018
782	Syritta pipiens	Diptera	Syrphidae	08/05/2018
783	Eupteryx melissae	Hemipteroids	Sage Leafhopper	08/05/2018

Dalgety Bay - Sunny Day Sweepin' the Clouds Away

So since the sun came out and the temperature shot above 20 I of course went on holiday for three days to the west coast. Very nice it was too. Good for family times but didn't do much for my totals.

Hopefully I'll score a Speckled Wood at lunchtime (a recent county addition and in my square, too). A couple of new flies for me which means my total lifers this year approaches 100. Can't be bad, plus two of those are noted as "wetland" species so raising hopes of other interesting stuff later. This is the weird and wonderful Baryphyma trifrons

I'll post final details of reaching the 700 tomorrow (that'll be that jinxed then!)

Numbers

677		diptera	Phaonia serva	Muscidae
678		diptera	Fannia lustrator	Fanniidae
679		hemiptera	Drepanosiphum platanoidis	Sycamore aphid
680		bird	Actitis hypoleucos	Common Sandpiper
681		diptera	Lucilia sericata	A blowfly
682		diptera	Phaonia errans	A muscid fly
683		diptera	Hydrophoria linogrisea	A flower fly
684	*	fungus	Puccinia tumida	A rust on pignut
685		lep-moth	Abrostola tripartita	The Spectacle
686		lep-moth	Panolis flammea	Pine Beauty
687		flowering plant	Ulmus glabra	Wych Elm
688	*	diptera	Chironomus aprilinus	A non-biting midge
689	*	spider	Baryphyma trifrons	A Linyphiid spider
690		diptera	Dicranomyia chorea	Tipuloidea
691	*	diptera	Tipula vittata	A crane fly
692	*	diptera	Ptychoptera albimana	A crane fly
693		diptera	Tipula rufina	A crane fly
694		diptera	Epistrophe elegans	A hoverfly
695		diptera	Cheilosia illustrata	A hoverfly

Now its an Hemiptera thing

Well done to you all on your scores for Aprils end. Very impressive.

I am clearly just 'competing' with myself - that is, comparing my numbers for this year with last year. And with this I have to be very satisfied, last year at the end of April I had recorded 285 species while this year I have recorded 362 species.

Hemiptera wise; a photo of Dock Bug taken at Thorne earlier today.

The sun put it's hat on...

Well, after the deluge the sun made an appearance today, and there were things to be seen! Three Whinchats (and 7 Wheatears) constituted a fall here, a Painted Lady, the first damsel of the year, a Lizard, a Fox, another Fannia, several other diptera, a couple of bugs. Lovely! 25 year ticks in one day. There is an almost complete dearth of moths, however, only 5 came to my trap last night which is pretty appalling for May 1st. If they were to pick up in numbers and variety I would go for 1000 species by the end of May, but I fear that's probably too optimistic, perhaps 900 is more realistic. Anyway, here's what Cymus melanocephalus looks like:

677	Saxicola rubetra	Birds	Whinchat	01/05/2018
678	Vulpes vulpes	Mammals	Red Fox	01/05/2018
679	Columba livia	Birds	Feral Pigeon	01/05/2018
680	Coreus marginatus	Hemipteroids	Dock Bug	01/05/2018
681	Pyrrhosoma nymphula	Odonata	Large Red Damselfly	01/05/2018
682	Helophilus pendulus	Diptera	Syrphidae	01/05/2018
683	Rhingia campestris	Diptera	Syrphidae	01/05/2018
684	Pararge aegeria	Lepidoptera:butterflies	Speckled Wood	01/05/2018
685	Cymus melanocephalus	Hemipteroids	Lygaeidae	01/05/2018
686	Bibio anglicus	Diptera	Bibionidae	01/05/2018
687	Eristalis arbustorum	Diptera	Syrphidae	01/05/2018
688	Zootoca vivipara	Reptiles	Common Lizard	01/05/2018
689	Bibio marci	Diptera	Bibionidae	01/05/2018
690	Anthomyia pluvialis	Diptera	Anthomyiidae	01/05/2018
691	Calystegia sepium	Vascular Plants	Hedge Bindweed	01/05/2018
692	Fannia serena	Diptera	Fanniidae	01/05/2018
693	Anthocharis cardamines	Lepidoptera:butterflies	Orange-tip	01/05/2018
694	Vanessa cardui	Lepidoptera:butterflies	Painted Lady	01/05/2018
695	Neoascia podagrica	Diptera	Syrphidae	01/05/2018
696	Phryxe nemea	Diptera	Tachinidae	01/05/2018
697 *	Hydrophoria ruralis	Diptera	Anthomyiidae	01/05/2018
698 *	Eristalis horticola	Diptera	Syrphidae	01/05/2018
699	Limonia nubeculosa	Diptera	Cranefly	01/05/2018
700	Nebria salina	Coleoptera	Carabidae	01/05/2018
701	Neomyia viridescens	Diptera	Muscidae	01/05/2018

Dalgety Bay - April end

A nice sunny finish to the end of April - at least here! I finally got onto Platycheirus ambiguus, a hoverfly I found new to Fife last year at blackthorn and was looking for ever since I noticed the blackthorn in this year's square (after amazingly walking past it completely oblivious 100 times...). (edit: Wouldn't that be a great new for Skye fly too? Yeah, it would. Totally. If only there was blackthorn ... oh wait! Yeah males swarm above the blackthorn)

This is a species I first mistook last year for Platycheirus albimanus, but its front legs look like a female Platycheirus - not much additional ornamentation. However, it is holoptic, so back to the legs. It has a funky little coiled spring hair as you can see from this photo. I could have tidied this up a bit but it is what it is:

So far that's 89 lifers for the year out of 676, 19.5%. Amazingly there are over 600 species from last year I haven't seen, which means the combined total is something approaching 1300. Wonder where that will be at the end of the year.

Next target - 800 by end of May!

Class roundup

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
Algae	6	15	26	28
Lichens	27	31	35	38
Fungi	60	83	86	92
Plants - Vascular	65	77	85	114
Plants - Bryo	46	52	55	61
Mollusc	12	17	27	28
Arachnida	7	12	17	20
Collembola	5	8	10	10
Hemiptera	4	5	7	9
Hymenoptera	3	4	4	14
Coleoptera	8	13	16	23
Diptera	15	24	38	61
Lepidoptera	4	8	14	32
Invert - Other	22	41	54	57
Vert - Birds	54	62	75	82
Vert - Other	3	5	5	7
Total	341	457	554	676
Additions		116	97	122

Numbers

672		diptera	Eupeodes luniger	A hoverfly
673	*	hymenoptera	Vespula germanica	German Wasp
674		diptera	Platycheirus ambiguus	Syrphidae
675	*	hemiptera	Orthops basalis	A bug
676	*	fungus	Coprinopsis macrocephala	A mushroom