Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Sunday 17 March 2013

Old Lady

I'm rearing a couple of Old Lady larvae on Ivy at the moment - seem to be doing okay with the biggest now about an inch and a half at full stretch.



Monday 4 March 2013

Garden Moths 03/03/2013

Ran the actinic/CFL combo trap last night and managed more than one species for a change ... grabbed some quick snaps before work

0688  Agonopterix heracliana  1
1663  March Moth (Alsophila aescularia)  1 (NFY)
1934  Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)  2
2256  Satellite (Eupsilia transversa)  1 (NFY)



Sunday 3 March 2013

A few more bits

Before I post some photos from today, this news about the Orkney Walrus is exciting. Of course, Walrus has featured on this blog before. I'm sure there will be a lot of listers heading up to tick this bloated goofy blubber sack (the Walrus, not Dickson-Wright), which is preferable to the action of the finder who threw a stone at it to see if it was alive!

Had a bit of time in the garden after U12s football this morning, and a couple of hours in the square this afternoon. All very relaxing. Found some more new lichens, a couple of fungi and added some more inverts to the 1000 in 1kmsq list.

Eristalis tenax

Liocoris tripustulatus

Empoasca vitis

Agonopterix arenella

Scotohaeus blackwalli

Narycia duplicella

Phaonia tuguriorum - a slightly better photo than yesterday

Saturday 2 March 2013

Garden Bits

Ran the 80W/11W Actinic/CFL combo trap last night. It was looking distinctly empty around midnight but there was one moth in it this morning - a slightly tired looking Dotted Border.


Later this morning there was some nice bright sunshine which brought a bit of activity in the garden, with a few flies hanging around and a couple of other bits ....

7-Spot Ladybird

Nursery Web Spider

I potted up a springtail on Thursday late afternoon whilst out walking in my square, which looked a pale yellow and wasn't very hairy. I couldn't match it to anything in a Collembola key and left it in a pot with some moist soil for another day. When I looked again today I was surprised to find that it was no longer pale yellow and bald, but was now a dark grey, very hairy and clearly Pogonognathellus longicornis. I just hadn't thought about springtails moulting through instars which I presume is what happened. I'll try and get a photo tomorrow but I'm not having much success with springtail photos - here's a couple from the garden today (photographed on the underside of a lifted slab at a jaunty angle):

Orchesella villosa

Orchesella cincta