At the Altar

I left work late this afternoon but still with enough daylight to do something. It was dry, but overcast and likely to get duller, mild but very gusty. I ended up at Altar Stones - more by default than design. The route from work to my intended site, Warren Hills, took me past Markfield and I decided to change venue for expediency. Turned out to be a fair twist of fate, as with only around half an hour of actual activity this site was perfect - straight out of the car and into habitat rather than walking for five or ten minutes.

I ended up sieving grassy clumps, which has so far seemed to be far more productive for a range of stuff than sieving leaf litter (unless you are specifically looking for collembola!). I've potted up a few beetles (including a Sitona type weevil with massive bulging eyes) and ground bugs to check, plus a moth caterpillar to rear and check. I took a couple of quick snaps, and noticed something on this one that completely bypassed me whilst looking through the tray in life.

Heads Gone?

I'll work through the dets tomorrow. In the meantime, another beetle from yesterday .....

Keyed to Calathus rotundicollis - look at the claw-teeth on that. A new one for me.

I also printed some labels for the (dodgily) carded specimens. Think I'll have to re-think that one, even the stiffest paper we have at work is not sturdy enough. I'll maybe laminate them.

Think the data label content should be okay though. Top label has collection detail (date, who, site name and grid ref), and bottom label has determination detail (date, who, order|family, species). I used a background colour cos I can; probably completely against some sort of proper science protocol but hey.

The garden moth trap got an outing last night, only the second or third this year: 13 Common Quakers, 1 Clouded Drab, 1 March Moth, 3 Emmelina monodactyla. Thrilling.