Faecal

Today has been another wet dull day, though to be fair up until this week the lockdown weather has been pretty good. No garden trapping last night, and I forgot to mention that Monday night's effort was poor compared to Sunday.

Anyway, back to Sunday when we last had a properly nice day. I headed out to walk along the disused railway line (Bramble Walk), accessed from the road to Cosby and that runs immediately parallel to the M1. I walked down to a small copse at the end just before the track closes down a bit, swiping the odd hoverfly and hawthorn as I went. When I got to the copse, I had a walk through it and somehow ended up on a path that I had no idea existed.

The blue dot is the end of the lane out of the estate, and the cyan dot is the access point to Bramble Walk. The red dot is a point in the copse where I briefly stopped and took the following snap ....

The black dots are flies, and I've realised after the event that the line of shrubs and trees is the backside of the walk heading back down to where I started. What actually happened is that I found a small muddy pool, got distracted and then marched off down what I though was the same walk heading further down past the copse. I'd actually managed to find another track running roughly SW from the copse which comes out behind the golf course and carries on towards Broughton Astley. I knew after a few meters that I'd gone the wrong way, but carried on anyway as it looked good. A more shaded and damp-feeling track.

I carried on until I got to another dilapidated railway bridge which I think must be at the yellow dot on the above map.

I didn't go any further, but actually this looked like a good place to head for some out of the way searching regardless of lockdown. Along that track, I noticed a broken lying log with some cramp balls on it, and had a quick look ....

Did you notice them ....

Piss-common Fungus Weevil

During the walk the only people I saw were a bloke and two kids on mini-quad bikes coming along the track (maybe a local farmer), and one other couple on some sort of power walk who seemed to want to catch up with me at great pace, though before they reached me was when I took the side-track into the copse. I picked up a few bits whilst out, though aside from the hoverflies and larvae I've already posted I only took a few snaps - most bits were potted up for checking later. But here's a couple of beetles ....

 Acupalpus meridianus - just loafing on a leaf slightly and keeping slightly out of focus

Anaspis maculata - 100s swept from hawthorn

I also saw Grammptera ruficornis, loads of Byturus sp. and I've got a couple of weevils, a carabid and an Aphodia sp. to check.


Here's a couple of flies ..

Yellow Dung Fly

Phaonia sp.

As for the title for the post, well you may have noticed the brown substrate for the last two photos looks, well, a bit shit.