Trapped

This morning was a bit overcast and dull. Apparently. I missed most of it whilst catching some Zs after a dose of pain-induced insomnia the previous night. I've got miracle-meds now, Naproxen sorts anything out fast, even your stomach lining .....

From late morning until about an hour ago I've been busy doing nothing more than loitering in the garden. Again. Immediately when I stepped out the back door and before I was ready, a Red Kite came so low over the garden I could almost see its eye colour. Maybe I should bung some chicken and offal on the shed roof. Although the sun came out and it's been warm this afternoon, it's not been quite a busy as yesterday. Yet somehow I've accrued enough for more than one post, maybe three - should help if/when there is a lull in the conditions.

I've had a pathetically small and ineffective pit-fall trap situated in a shady border for a couple of weeks. So far it had caught an ant, a slug and a woodlouse - none of which got looked at with any scrutiny. However at last it caught a beetle, and apparently it's new for the garden (except I know it isn't, I've just not put any previous records on MapMate so it got missed).

Nebria brevicollis

I've also had another ineffective trap deployed occasionally, a bright yellow tray with a shallow level of water in as a basic pan trap.

I've not put any washing-up liquid in it as I'm monitoring it regularly and clearing anything out. Well most things, the odd aphid and tiny diptera aren't always so lucky. But generally as long as stuff is fished out reasonably quickly they just sit on the edge to dry a bit and then bugger off. Beetle-wise (the intended target) it has not done much other than attract lots of 'pollen beetles'. Today it pulled in Tachyporus hypnorum and another one of these ...

Ceutorhynchus pallidactylus

A quick look at the various cuckooflower spikes in the garden and really pleased to find this ...

Given that I've seen a few female Orange-tips on and around the plants I'm sure that's what this is. Other garden breeding noted today was this pair ...

Making Green Shieldbugs

A few other bits that I spotted or that landed in front of me whilst I had camera in hand were ..

A quite funky form of 10-Spot Ladybird

 

Pretty sure this is a Garden Bumblebee

Also a few Common Wasps today, which mainly kept heading into a bush I can't remember the name of. A quick look suggested they were actively looking for this ...

Common Froghopper 'cuckoospit'

Spending so much time in the garden, especially whilst it is so barren of flowering plants after the pre-winter cull I mentioned a while ago, had been a bit enlightening. Any garden really could rack up a massive species list if you had the time to collect specimens and the skills/equipment to identify everything. For every species I've posted here over the last three or four weeks there are planty of others that just get ignored. I wonder if in my lifetime we'll have some sort of desktop gadget that you just bung your specimen into and you get an ID report and soup out the other end before it goes into a clean-cycle ready for the next unfortunate specimen. The garden list could be massive.

Chironomus sp. Probably. One for the gadget some time in the future ......

Playing Cards

Got home from work late this afternoon and realised that there was probably at least an hour's worth of daylight left for a change. I'd already clocked some evidence of spring awakening on the front garden daffs, with this Hairy Shieldbug in dull overwinter colours loitering on a flower head ....

So I quickly got changed, got me boots on and strode off down the lane. I had nothing with me other than camera and a few pots, and all I was intending to do was roll a few stones etc looking for carabids. I eventually got over to a small wooded copse at the back of the fields that is completely wild and unloved. I did get permission to go in there from the farmer a few years ago, though I'm sure he'd have forgotten by now. When I used to go down there, there was a bit of a track and the wood was quite open but with a dense canopy - mainly young ash and birch. That was a few years so, today it seems like most of the trees have blown or fallen over, with broken branches and trunks all over the place and almost more deadwood than live. Access not easy either. Still, I had a quick poke around the rotting logs and soon potted up a few Pterostichus spp. and others to work through.

The first one I checked through was Pterostichus madidus - predictably. Up until now I've never retained specimens in any structured way, as I prefer a photographic record, but it's something that I know I need to do eventually if I'm ever going to focus on coleoptera properly. So, I had a go my first carding attempt. A bit of a cack handed effort, slightly wonky on the hastily cut bit of card, but I'll work on it. I need to sort out how to minimise the glue and work out how to better arrange the legs and bits. This one is carded, but has a gobful of PVA and in reality it's not possible to re-work it through the key.

Slightly weird striae on left elytron

The next one was Nebria brevicollis, a slightly better effort (less glue!) - but only just.

Fine setae on dorsal surface of hind tarsi

I'll print labels tomorrow and add to the pinned cards in the storebox.

I'll key the others out, and I also found another Drymus-type ground bug to check.

Whilst in the dark deadwood, I noted a couple of fungi too ...

Common Eyelash sl

Lemon Disco sl

I'll have to have another poke around there sometime when there is a bit more light and warmth.

Mixed Bag

These are more from Croft Hill on Sunday ....

Adela reaumurella - yes, a moth!

Lochmaea crataegi - found on Hawthorn

Neocoenorrhinus aequatus - again fround on Hawthorn

.... and these are from down the lane in Whetstone later the same day  ...

Leistus spinibarbis

Nebria brevicollis

Leg detail showing the fine hairs on the tarsi

Pied Shieldbug

Common Flower Bug

Nursery Web Spider

Turf Running Spider

And these are from late this afternoon, at Gilroes Cemetery where I was looking (unsuccessfully) for one fungi though I did see lots of St George's Mushrooms instead.

Dock Bug

Sloe Bug

Lords and Ladies