A great weekend away in Lincoln/Lincs. with Nichola gave an opportunity to nip
in to Donna Nook and have a look at the breeding Grey Seal colony there -
something I've wanted to do for years and never got around to. We are a bit
early in the season, with the first pup this year born in late Oct and this
weekend c240 pups, c10% of the numbers that may be there within the next
couple of weeks. I was surprised how busy the place was, with the viewing
pathway pretty much full along the main stretch, but I was equally surprised
how close to the path some of the pups and cows were - thought I'd need full
zoom on my P950 to get a record shot but instead got a few frame fillers. A
random selection here, in no particular order, of just under 250 photos I
took.
I've not swung a gold club in earnest for quite a long while, and it is even
longer since I managed an after-work Friday afternoon round at what was the
nearest municipal course to where I work - Western Park Golf Course. Even if I
wanted to, there is no chance of playing there these days; it was closed to
the public and abandoned as a course by Leicester City Council in (I believe)
2015. The Council could no longer afford or justify having two large municipal
courses and closed Western Park GC whilst leaving Humberstone Heights GC open
and better funded - the course where I first played in any way as it is just
up the road from where I grew up.
Anyway, what I had become completely oblivious to is that at some point the
site has essentially been opened up and is accessible. Not sure if that has
been deliberate and formal, or just a by product of such a large green space
being close to housing estates. I hadn't though about it at all until I
noticed that both the tetrad where I work and the adjacent tetrad where the
course is are lacking in leaf mine records. So I nipped to have a quick look
after work in the week - no intention of recording there and then but just to
sense check access and have a quick nosey.
The course is readily accessible from a strip of land known as the
Kirby Frith Local Nature Reserve
- itself a decent bit of habitat that I'd not bothered to look at before. There
is a saying that 'Golf is a good walk spoiled'; an abandoned golf course is the
very antithesis of this with a great mosaic of grassland and diverse woodland
planting and spinneys. The club house and buildings have long gone, but the car
parking area and the foundations are still there rewilding naturally. Have to
say it all looked very promising and I will go back very soon to do some
recording. Trees include plenty of oaks, poplars, White Poplar, Silver Birch,
Hornbeam and Rowan. Long term though I fully expect - sadly - that this area
will be turned over to expanding the large industrial estate and/or housing.
Watch/listen to 3:53 in for even more relevance ....
Where the hell did the time go? Feels like I've been cheated, short changed or robbed. I've barely posted bugger all this year, and
it appears nothing since early June. But, for a change, that's not because there was nothing
to post about. But between bouts of activity I've been pretty busy and work and, you know, stuff. I'll have a bit of catch up one way or
another, though not chronologically (or indeed following any logic). For a starter, here's a few new for garden moths and one or two
highlights that haven't been posted.
Black Arches - new for garden, 29/07/2023
Bordered Straw - 27/07/2023, third garden record
Bordered White - 12/06/2023, the first here since 2002
Box-tree Moth - 30/06/2023, surprisingly the first here since adding it
to the VC55 list in 2017
Crescent - 27/07/2023, fifth garden record
Dewick's Plusia - 28/07/2023, a return after adding to garden list last
year
Obscure Wainscot - 12/06/2023, another return after adding to garden
list last year
Small Elephant Hawk-moth - new for garden, 24/06/2023
Small Rufous - 27/07/2023, fourth garden record
Toadflax Brocade - 19/07/2023, recorded for fourth consecutive year
here
Apotomis lineana - new for both garden and me, 09/08/2023
Lesser Treble-bar - new for garden, 15/08/2023
White-point - an overdue new for garden, 20/08/2023
Last night I was invited to join Margaret McLoughlin and Graham & Anona
Finch out for some light trapping at a private site in Charnwood that the
Loughborough Naturalists' Club has been surveying. The forecast was looking
good anyway, and it certainly turned out to be an excellent night in many
ways. I ran a 125W MV over a sheet and 2x 125W MV traps. And my new car is
delayed so the pseudo-Uber got another run across terrain it wasn't built for.
The sheet was quite quickly alive with tiny diptera, caddisflies and an
assortment of tiny beetles. But a few early swifts aside, moths were a bit
slower to get going. I'll come back to the catch, but first a backstory ....
Whilst setting up, Graham (who you may recall is the VC55 Coleoptera Recorder)
had pointed out to me a free-standing dead birch trunk which he suggested I
should have a look at after dark. On this same tree last year, he'd found
literally dozens of the beetle Corticeus unicolor, the first VC55 record
of Colydium elongatum and other interesting beetles. Once the lights were
on and dusk had just about phased into night, I went to have a look. Sure
enough, exactly as explained, I found plenty of Corticeus unicolor
- a new beetle for me.
I also found Mycetophagus quadripustulatus (one I ticked at the end of May) and
what I am sure is Triplax russica (black scutellum).
All of these where on and around Hoof Fungus [Fomes fomentarius]. But on the
trunk close by was another interesting beetle, Megatoma undata.
I let Graham know what I'd seen, although it became apparent that I'd actually
checked a different (but equally interesting) dead birch. The one I checked
was close to the footpath, though the trunk was a bit boxed in by bracken and
bramble. A bit later when I went to have another look, I found the tree that
Graham had originally meant which was just set back a bit from the path.
Pretty much the same story with masses of Corticeus unicolor, and amazing
to see the fungal spores drifting off into the night. But right in front of me
on the lip of the 'hoof' was a completely different beetle, and one that did
not ring any bells or look familiar. I grabbed a shot in situ and potted it
up. I was sure Graham would recognise it. I showed Graham the photo; he
immediately recognised it was interesting, was sure he'd not seen one and
wasn't sure what it was. He was all the more pleased to hear I had it potted,
and I was more than happy to pass it on so Graham could do his magic on
carding and imaging it. I decided to do a quick Google in the woods, and later
in the night let Graham know what I though it was - albeit that couldn't be
right. Anyway, here is my not so great shot of it in-situ on the fungus (in
pitch black using my TG-6).
Anyways, I reckoned it was a perfect match for
Bolitophagus reticulatus, but noted that the distribution for that
seemed to be limited to the Scottish highlands. Must be something similar and
commoner? When I got home much later, a quick check in Duff .... can't see
that there is anything similar. Graham let me know he was in agreement on the
ID. I posted it to the Beetles of Britain and Ireland FB site - no alternative
IDs offered. So there you go, new for me, new for VC55 and it appears new for
England! I'm sure a first for England is not really recognised or notable but, you know, I'll take it anyway.
The fungus is pretty common in Charnwood, and appears to be present
continuously throughout between Leicestershire and the highlands and pretty
much everywhere else too. The beetle also appears to have been recorded in
mainland France, Poland etc. It therefore seems very likely that it is indeed
present wherever the fungus is - though how it would have evaded detection
until my random lucky encounter I have no idea.
Right, back to the sheet. There were far more non-lepidopteran 'intruders'
than I've seen so far this year. I pointed the camera at one or two
caddisflies, one of which I've not seen before.
Phryganea bipunctata
As for the moths I ended up with 351 of 94sp. + 3sp. for dissection, not a
bad total at all though not really anything too exciting. I know Graham is
already at c110sp, from his x4 traps, and I know Margaret had a few bits I
did not get from her x2 traps so I am sure the overall total for the night
will be pretty strong. Margaret absolutely had the main moth highlight, one
I was delighted to see ....
I spent a couple of hours vigorously sweeping the (relatively) abundant
heathers and bilberry at Warren Hills yesterday in nice sunshine with with the
continual strong breeze that we've had for a week or so. My targets were
actually a couple of Coleophora spp.: I hoped to find the distinctive cases
of Coleophora pyrrhulipennella amongst the sweepings, and perhaps
something that looked in contention for the cases of Coleophora
juncicolella. No joy with either, which initially made it seem a bit of a
fruitless effort, but there were a few beetles and a couple of small vaguely
familiar tortrix moths. Turns out that this initial dismay quickly turned into
a major win once I checked out the IDs. I was also left wishing I'd brought
some clumps of heather and bilberry home for photographic props.
Firstly the tortrix: not the most spectacular thing, which reminded me of a
small Holly Tortrix. I retained one for a photo, and quickly ascertained it
was the closely related Rhopobota myrtillana. Brilliant; not only a new
moth for me but also effectively new to VC55 (VCH listed, so any records are
pre 1907 but there are no specimens so cannot be verified).
The only other Lepidopteran highlights were a Maiden's Blush disturbed from oak
and this early leafmine on the same tree ....
Acrocercops brongniardella
I've not seen an adult A. brongniardella for a number of years, so will try to
remember to look out for later developed mines to try and rear one through.
As for the beetles, aside from one obvious click beetle which I have seen
before (on Cairngorm!) three turned out to be new to me. First up, a weevil
from heather that has only x5 prior VC55 records, the most recent of those
being 1992. This is Strophosoma sus, subtly smart and boggly eyed ....
Also from heather were a couple of Lochmaea suturalis, and despite me
thinking I have seen it before it wasn't on my list.
The click beetle I'd seen before was Ctenicera cuprea, pretty smart
as clicks go.
Also from the heather and bilberry area was this
Eurygaster testudinaria - confirmed to species and as a female by
looking at the undercarriage.
Finally, from the same site but actually beaten from oak of all places was
this new to me click beetle ....
Prosternon tessellatum
The inadvertent beetle ticks didn't end there, as in the evening at home I
noted a bright green weevil sitting on the edge of a leaf on our small
ornamental red Acer sp. Once potted up and checked through Mark Gurney's
guides as a starter it soon came out to Polydrusus formosus, very
common but new to me and the garden. It started nibbling a birch leaf as I
tried to get snaps.
