Bridport & Thorne end of August update

A good couple of weeks at Thorne, including decent numbers of fungi after the recent rain.
Not taken many photos of anything that unusual so this weeks photo is of a Red Admiral at Thorne today.

And the numbers are as follows

Group	Thorne	Bridport	Group	Thorne	Bridport
Slime moulds	1	1	Hemiptera	37	9
Lichens	22	6	Coleoptera	37	12
Fungi	44	2	Diptera	50	15
Bryophytes	22	7	Hymenoptera	41	14
Plants	307	222	Butterflies	20	15
Molluscs	12	5	Moths	196	92
Annelids	3	0	Insects RSO	6	3
Arachnids	17	2	Fish	1	1
Myriapods	0	0	Amphibia	3	1
Crustacea	10	5	Reptiles	0	0
Springtails	2	0	Birds	59	48
Odonata	9	5	Mammals	8	6
Orthoptera	7	3	Total	914	475

Cullaloe LNR end of August -1090

After ignoring the site for a while and doing other things I returned to sweep up some fungi after the recent wet weather. The season is clearly in full swing and four species were added to the reserve list in one hour. Clearly lots of common fungi are still to be added. According to the recently published Fungi of Temperate Europe you should expect 5 times the number of fungi (was it 5...) as there are plants, which means I only have about another 1300 or so to find here. This is the best fungal book I've acquired for a good while and is an absolute steal for the money. It isn't a field guide, though - it's two heavy A4 volumes of great info and photos..

If you're interested in bothering fungi then you can get the aforementioned two vol set at a good price here:
https://www.nhbs.com/fungi-of-temperate-europe-2-volume-set-book

Russula xerampelina

Milking Bonnet - surprisingly new for reserve

Porcelain fungus - also new

Diatrype disciformis and Hypoxylon fragiforme on beech

Cortinarius bolaris - new

Beech Knight - abundant, as you can see

Hare's Ear

Latest additions:

1079			R		diptera	Platycheirus rosarum	A hover fly
1080					odonata	Aeshna juncea	Common Hawker
1081					flowering plant	Succisa pratensis	Devil’s-bit Scabious
1082					hemiptera	Picromerus bidens	Spined Shieldbug
1083					Fungus	Tricholoma sciodes	Beech Knight
1084					Fungus	Russula nobilis	Beechwood Sickener
1085			R		Fungus	Russula xerampelina	Crab brittlegill
1086			R		Fungus	Oudemansiella mucida	Porcelain Fungus
1087					Fungus	Otidea onotica	Hare's Ear
1088			R		Fungus	Cortinarius bolaris	Dappled Webcap
1089					Fungus	Diatrype disciformis	Beech Barkspot
1090			R		Fungus	Mycena galopus	Milking Bonnet

Inverkeithing - no stone unturned

Sometimes a slow day at vismig (at a much neglected second 1k site) can turn out OK. Turning over a stone to find a lively ant nest resulted in spotting a few small white blobs active around the surface. Turned out to be the ant woodlouse Platyarthrus hoffmannseggii, which is pretty restricted in Scottish distribution

NBN Atlas

Bridport & Thorne mid-August update

The weather seems to getting readied for the great British Bank Holiday already. Despite this still adding a few more species especially moths.
In fact this weeks photo is another moth. A Jersey Tiger seen at Bridport during the week. This used to be a fairly rare moth confined to SW England but it now slowly spreading north - it might however be a while before it gets to Fife.

And the numbers are as follows

Group	Thorne	Bridport	Group	Thorne	Bridport
Slime moulds	1	1	Hemiptera	36	9
Lichens	22	6	Coleoptera	37	12
Fungi	31	2	Diptera	49	14
Bryophytes	22	7	Hymenoptera	40	14
Plants	306	222	Butterflies	20	15
Molluscs	8	2	Moths	188	85
Annelids	2	0	Insects RSO	6	2
Arachnids	15	2	Fish	1	1
Myriapods	0	0	Amphibia	3	1
Crustacea	10	5	Reptiles	0	0
Springtails	2	0	Birds	59	48
Odonata	8	4	Mammals	8	6
Orthoptera	7	3	Total	881	461

Bridport & Thorne end of July update

Still keeping (just)  ahead of last year's numbers at Thorne.
The photo this time is of the striking Rosy Footman moth which is quite common at Thorne for a couple of weeks each year.

And the numbers are as shown in the table below.

Group	Thorne	Bridport	Group	Thorne	Bridport
Slime moulds	1	1	Hemiptera	36	9
Lichens	22	6	Coleoptera	36	12
Fungi	30	2	Diptera	44	14
Bryophytes	22	7	Hymenoptera	38	14
Plants	282	222	Butterflies	19	15
Molluscs	8	2	Moths	174	80
Annelids	2	0	Insects RSO	6	2
Arachnids	11	2	Fish	1	1
Myriapods	0	0	Amphibia	3	1
Crustacea	10	5	Reptiles	0	0
Springtails	2	0	Birds	58	48
Odonata	8	4	Mammals	8	6
Orthoptera	5	3	Total	826	456