PSL at Home

I've certainly not completely given up on the idea of PSL, but with various bouts of hospitalisation over the past few years, and now having CMR duties on top of work, it is far from something I will be prioritising in the next couple of years.

Still, even when not trying there is always the chance of new stuff popping up under your nose, it's more about whether there is the impetus or motivation to make the effort to sort it out. Like this gawdy cranefly from a couple of weeks ago that was almost impossible to ignore ....

Ctenophora pectinicornis - found this loafing on a nettle in Elmesthorpe Plantation whilst looking for moths and larvae. It's not exactly cryptic, and there are not too many such colourful craneflies. Apparently the first record in the south of Leicestershire.

And then just this last week, three new things have appeared in front of me whilst pottering about in the garden and home ....

I've knocked up a rudimentary 'bee hotel' this year using some 4x4 timber that the old garden shed used to stand on. I drilled lots of various sized holes from 4mm to 10mm, and it very quickly attracted Osmia bicornis and one or two other smaller spp. During the week I've seen several female kleptoparasitic wasps hanging around and entering holes, readily identified as Sapyga quinquepunctata. 

Yesterday evening I noticed a very small and hairy weevil on the timber sleepers around one of our raised beds, again quickly sorted - it's Exomias pellucidus, also known as Hairy Spider Weevil.

And today, whilst nice to add a new beetle to my PSL and garden lists, not so pleased to find this one indoors. It's Dermestes lardarius, otherwise known as Larder Beetle and potentially a household pest. Never seen one before, and hopefully it flew in through the open back door.

Meanwhile the garden moth trap remains very quiet considering we're nearly into June. Diversity picking up a little, but number still feel very low. There has been one potential tick though, with this drab looking most that I reckon is Bryotropha basaltinella (pending dissection to confirm).

Just over a week or so ago, Andy Rourke sadly passed. He was the bass player in The Smiths, and massively underrated I think. Seems a shame that him and Mike Joyce were screwed over by Morrisey and Johnny Marr over royalties though it seems Andy didn't let it affect him. This track exemplifies how he was pivotal to the sound of the band.