The garden moths traps were splendid last night, but I'll save the moths for another day. Especially so as an hour after emptying the traps the rain came down and temps plummeted, it's not going to be a great week weather-wise and, anyway, I'll be busy doing some more decorating. We were meant to be lapping up some sun and alcohol on Sal this week but obviously that was cancelled. We've still got the time off though so more sanding, prepping and rollering - can't wait. I like trying to precariously reach the highest part of the landing above the stairs best ....
There were a few other bits in the trap though, including a number of small ichneumonids that I can't honestly say I've bothered noticing before. I've already had Ophion minutus this week, and there were another couple last night plus what I think are two other species. Maybe they'll get named on the 'moth trap intruders' facebook group.
Ophion minutus again
Possibly this is Perilissus albitarsis. And possibly not.
Think this is another species - black thoracic markings, darker antennae, black 'feet'
Pill Beetle
Here's a couple of bits from yesterday's walk ..
I swept this hopper from grasses and low vegetation. After mulling over it for a bit, I worked out it is Agallia consobrina, posted it to a facebook group and got the ID confirmed.
Apparently a common species, but looks like there are only a handful of previous VC55 records. A new one for me either way.
More standard fare included these swept from hawthorn ....
Grammoptera ruficornis
Cantharis nigricans
And the most interesting bit of a swept cranefly ....
The bleeding cat woke me up at 04:10 this morning. Half asleep I poked my head out into the barely lit garden and checked the trap expecting it too at least look promising given the conditions when I went to bed. Absolutely crap, almost nothing on it and likely nothing in it. It wasn't light enough to empty it anyway so I left it till 06:30. I was right, it was crap. The only good thing about the trap emptying session was this completely unexpected delight ...
I've not seen a Bullfinch here for months. There are usually two or three knocking about along the embankment through the winter, but none appeared on my feeders or were seen/heard last winter. I certainly don't see them after the early spring. This one was calling from the embankment, and by the time I'd grabbed my camera it was perched on a neighbours tree frustratingly backlit and was just a silhouette. It flew off and I thought that would be it, but it came back about 10mins later and I got a this slightly better effort. No sight or sound of it later in the day though.
Moth-wise the trap was so poor I can't believe it. And annoyingly after a very warm and sultry cloud-covered day it looks like it's clearing up a bit now. But I've got both traps set-up ready to at least better my chances. I potted up one of the Nephrotoma spp. 'Tiger Craneflies' to look at, and the only other thing in the trap I pointed the camera at was this immature Clubonia sp. - completely unidentifiable but quite smart looking for a tiny spider.
This afternoon I went for another mooch along Bramble Walk, the disused railway line near to Cosby. I spent most of time time thrashing hawthorn for very little reward, just lots more of what I'd already seen along there and no nice big longhorns or anything like a Bruchus sp. to look at. I used my net handle as a beating stick, and then put the net on it and swiped at some grasses and low vegetation on the way back. The handle, beating tray and me were absolutely yellow with hawthorn pollen by the time I got back to the walk entrance. I pointed the camera at a few bits, the P600 that is - not confident enough with the new camera to take it out on this walk and waste time trying macro work and knew there would be nothing worthy of the other end of the focal length. I've got a few bits in pots, and will share a few more shots in another post, but here's some hemiptera.
Miris striatus nymph
Red-and-Black Froghopper
Bordered Shieldbug
Really pleased to find this last one, and I'd forgotten how tiny they are after the only other one I've seen last year.
Blackcap giving it some this morning on an open perch
The title reflects the lepidopteran content, and the social distancing context! Today I headed out for what is now a bi-weekly big shop, and the experience was no better than last time. I have no idea what level of herd immunity we're at, but I can testify that we are at rampantly high levels of herd idiocy. People should be avoiding each other like they've visibly got something that you'd absolutley not want to have. Like Leprosy. I was in no rush, and took my time waiting for people to move. Many were similarly pleasant and considerate, many others were complete wankers.
I had the synergetic/actinic trap out last night, and it was as pants as I thought it would be. There was still one NFY species though, but not a nice colourful one.
Rustic Shoulder-knot
Later this afternoon I headed out for another walk down the disued railway line. It was damper underfoot after the rainy week, but not wet as such. The sun was in and out, but it was warm and a pleasant enough distaction. Again it was just about devoid of other people - one old lady departing when I arrived. I took a sweep net this time, potted a few bits and pointed the camera at a few others. I'll come back to the camera.
The hawthorn blossom was again my target, but beetle activity was still low with no big showy longhorns. More larvae showered down though, including one I've not seen before ....
Early Moth - not as sharp as I would like
Feathered Thorn
Green-brindled Crescent - head capsule about to pop off
.... plus lots of the same species as last weekend, like this Dotted Border/Scarce Umber
A few butterflies were active, though only settled when the sun went behind cloud ....
Red Admiral
Orange-tip
Speckled Wood
I mentioned last year that my Nikon P600 camera was starting to play up a bit and that I'd probably replace it. Lots of stuff got in the way after that, and I wasn't using it quite as much as I would have liked anyway. Today though the camera has driven me around the bend. The mode select wheel at the top is fine on some of the setting, but on others the camera keeps flipping between modes. Sometimes when viewing the images it refuses to zoom in to view, and then crashes back to shoot mode. And other times it just freezes and I have to disconnect the battery to get it back. Today it completely went for a wank and after refusing to turn on, eventually came beck to life having completely reset itself to factory settings. Otherwise I couldn't be happier with the camera - the image quality is fine (any really duff images are down to me rather than the camera), and I have had it a fair while now (5.5 years). But enough is enough, and I've ordered a replacement. Not quite a direct replacement, but near enough - the Nikon Coolpix P950. It will essentially be the same, except bigger and heavier with an even longer 83x optical zoom. It should arrive early next week, and no doubt I'll then have to work out what step-down ring I need to attach the raynox lenses.
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.
Whether your main ento-interest is coleoptera, diptera, hymenoptera or lepidoptera (and probably other orders too) then around now is the time to be beating the living daylights of blossoming hawthorn. On the embankment I can see hawthorn bushes that are getting larger and fuller every year, and there is no way I can get to them regardless of social distancing / lockdown (unless I just nonchalantly flounce into or through one of the neighbours gardens with my beating gear and bravado).
I do have hawthorn in the garden .....
The twig on the left is a self-set hawthorn seedling that I lifted and potted. It is clearly some years away from being a blossoming insect attractant! The twig on the right is a sallow cutting that I borrowed from the neighbour's overhanging tree. Which this year he cut right back just as the catkins were coming out. Knob.
So whilst on my walk on Sunday (more on that another day) I was pleased to note that there was at least some hawthorn accessible along the ride to swipe at - although as I only had my light-weight butterfly net I was keen to not ruin it again so it was all a bit sedate. I found a few bits, despite it still being early in the hawthorn blossom season. Mainly I found a lot of lepidopteran larvae. I would normally have brought a few home to rear through but decided this would be a bit daft this year when I can't just nip out whenever I want/need to to collect more larval foodplant. So I snapped a few on my finger tip.
Two forms of Mottled Umber - quite a few of these noted
Dun-bar - just a couple
Winter Moth - 100s
Epirrita sp. - probably November Moth
Think this is Dotted Border / Scarce Umber - would have been good to rear
Spent some time in the garden early this morning, too early for any real activity - just enjoying the relative peace, birdsong, morning warmth and plenty of coffee. I wasn't enjoying the largely empty moth trap. One of the Blackcaps showed itself a little better, and I saw a female in the garden which was nice.
I could hear a Skylark singing, and a very distant snatch of Lesser Whitethroat - I think the days of this being annual on the embankment are now over as it is probably too densely shrubbed over now. It sounded not far away, just beyond the end of the embankment where it turns to hedgerow along the field edges.
Early this afternoon, with left foot big toe much more flexible and much less painful than of late, I headed of for my first walk in over two weeks. I headed back to the disused railway line and I've got a few bits from the outing to share over future posts. Today though, I'll focus on the main activity in the garden yesterday with a couple of bits from today thrown in as they fit the topic - Syrphinae.
Having got completely fed up with the Eristalis pertinax disturbing anything, but having also noted a few smaller hoverflies in the garden, I decided it was time to swish the net and try to get them sorted. I'm not used to fondling hoverflies and clearly need more practice as getting hold of them was certainly not a refined and honed process - however all were released unharmed. Getting one-handed shots whilst hand-rangling diptera is also an art that I need to perfect. Turned out they're all female, I guess the males were too busy to be fanny about flying in sunshine.
First up, one that really should be exciting but again (having had one last year) a sense-check on the UK Hoverflies facebook group says sp. only. These clearly just need lumping ....
Female Pipiza sp.
Legs not yellow enough for P. luteitarsis, so probably P. noctiluca sl, but might not be ...
Female Eupeodes sp.
Another bugger, as markings not quite right for either E. luniger or E. corollae
The rest were more straightforward ....
Female Melanostoma scalare
Female Platycheirus albimanus
Grey spots on abdomen, extensively yellow legs
Female Rhingia campestris
Black edging to tergites
The following are all from the walk today ... same method, same clumsy handling ...
Female Leucozona lucorum
Female Helophilus pendulus
Female Syrphus ribesii
Note the hind femur is largely yellow except the base
