TV

Another belated missive; I should've posted this on Friday evening or yesterday but I've been distracted by televised snooker. How and why I've been distracted by televised snooker is a mystery to me as much as anyone else. I suppose a little bit of Leicester pride comes into it with willing Mark Selby into the final. Anyway this TV post is not really about television ....

On Friday afternoon I finally managed to drag myself back out. I had no plan other than to have a lengthy wander around the square looking at emergent vegetation and anything that has come into flower. Crucially, I had no nets or bins. Unlike many accomplished recorders and professional ecological consultants, I can't be doing with carrying around a range of nets, trays, sieves, beating sticks and possibly even vac blower. I can manage one net, or tray/sieve, or vac blower. I also find that once I'm armed with something, even bins, that becomes the primary focus of my attention and I quite probably miss stuff flying overhead or flowering down below. So wandering around 'naked' every now and then is actually quite productive in some ways, and certainly more relaxing. The only exception is that I do try and carry a camera of some sorts - always something to point it at whatever I'm doing.

As I walked around I did indeed find a number of plants that I'd either previously missed or could now identify, including Lilac, Elder, Winter-cress, Hedge Mustard, Silverweed, Meadowsweet and hybrid Bluebells. There are plenty of grasses not far off flowering, and I will certainly have to give them a go in May.

I could post photos of flowers or plants, but instead I'll post photos of a bonus tick leaf rust, Uromyces muscari (Bluebell Rust) - one I'd been alerted to earlier in the year by Graham Calow.

Of course there were a few inverts too, including another new one for me - the TV referenced in the post title. And for a fly it is one hell of a size, albeit a bit leggy and incorrectly structured for a proper fly ....

Tipula vittata - I found a number of these loafing on Red Currant leaves and a bridge wall immediately next to Whetstone Brook. I've quite probably seen this before and either ignored it or forgotten to list.

I managed to snap another weirdly structured fly in flight with the TG-6 - luck!

Baccha elongata

I also snapped a very compliant Orange-tip settled on a daffodil, a 10-Spot Ladybird nestled in oak buds and a Red-green Carpet roosting on a sycamore ....

I need to enter some records from the walk and update my square list for another post.

Yesterday was a bit cooler, and by later afternoon it was cloudy with the odd spot of rain. Not that we've had much - barely enough to make anything damp let alone the soaking we need. I found a very lethargic queen Common Wasp in the shed ....

When I said this post wasn't really about television, I lied as blatantly as a serving Prime Minister. My walks around the square inevitably reveal litter and fly tipped waste, because in a modern society being a selfish wanker is normal. I don't usually find tipped and trashed electrical goods though ....

I've probably posted this track before, but you know it fits and I like it so I'll be a selfish wanker. Sue me.

Another Surprise Finch

Been a busy couple of days, up and down ladders and stairs painting the hallway and landing. Today I did manage to spend some time in the garden though. Late this morning as I sat out on a quick coffee break I nearly spluttered it all over the place as a Greenfinch briefly landed on the fence and then flew off. Yes, a Greenfinch! No camera to hand, and seemed highly unlikely I'd see it again. C'est la vie. Back inside for another few hours of soul-drenching hard graft delightful DIY and I was done for the day. Cameras ready and I grabbed a net. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was beating down by that point. I was being given the complete run around by at least three individual Merodon equestris that refused to settle for a shot and all evaded the net. And then I heard not one, but it sounded like a family party of Greenfinches. I couldn't see them as I got ready with the camera, and then two shot out of the embankment scrub and disappeared. But I could still hear one wheezing and trilling a bit. You may need to turn the volume up and ignore the wind/motoway noise .....

Eventually I could see a fat motionless silhouetted blob in the twiggery, and managed to get a poor shot that I've had to lighten to reveal the glorious green and yellow blob.

Otherwise it seemed that there was more activity than in recent days, though not much was settling. Perhaps the biggest insect surprise came when I nipped back into the kitchen to make another coffee and noticed that a fly buzzing around the window was not your average housefly ...

Tachina fera - a first for the house/garden

Another first for the garden was this, although it is only a sp. for now ...

Altica sp. - almost certainly lythri, but ....

And a couple of firsts for the year ...

Episyrphus balteatus

Green-veined White

Also some good larval news, or at least I am pretty sure that this is what it is.

Early instar Orange-tip on Cuckooflower seed pod

Less good news for one larva. I idly pointed the camera at a Blackbird and when looking at the image noted something hanging off the edge of its beak ..

Leper

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.

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 ......

New Life

Another sunny but windy day spend tucked away in the now familiar office. I did pop my head out a couple of times during the day, and spotted a brief fly through Speckled Wood new for the year. I usually get odd ones through the year so hopefully will get a chance with the camera at some point.

Later in the afternoon, I spent a good hour loitering around my current favourite place - the lilac bush which seems to be the epicentre of dipteran sunbathing with the odd brief hymenopteran. Although it's getting a bit samey with several Eristalis pertinax and Epistrophe eligans still holding court and buzzing most other stuff. I managed to point the camera at a few bits but with the wind and sun the ratio of useable shots was low. Added to that, the ratio of fully identifiable stuff was low .....

Calliphora sp. (I think)

Edit: Seth has indicated this is Calliphora vicina based on the pale basicosta, although the front spiracle is not obviously bright. I think that refers to the bits labelled here ....

Thought to be an old male Andrena scotica (per Steven Falk)

Meanwhile, the garden Scarlet Lily Beetles were absolutely taking the piss. Blatantly indulging in threesomes and laying eggs all over me fritillaries ....

Much more pleasing and welcome was this female Orange-tip that had a quick sun-bathe before flitting about and landing on a cuckooflower. Trouble is that was in full sun also so I had to fanny about with the camera exposure to get anything half useable. Haven't looked properly but will check the garden plants for eggs in a couple of days and then ensure Nichola leaves them in situ. Some new life is more welcome than others ....

Otherwise I was desperate enough for images to even look at some moss and lichen .....

Wall-screw Moss

Think this bleached out fragment is Xanthoria parietina

'Moth-type Thing'

When I got home earlier this evening, Nichola eventually remembered that whilst out in the garden earlier in the afternoon she'd seen a 'moth-type thing' loitering on a dead daffodil head that maybe I'd be interested in. I fully expected to find either nothing, or most likely an Angle Shades. I was wrong, and grabbed a quick snap with my phone.

Orange-tip - it was a male though you'd be hard pushed to know from this view

When I pointed out to Nichola that it was actually a butterfly, and showed her this snap, she affirmed that it didn't look like that earlier as the wings were all crumpled up. So coupled with the static nature of this individual, it seems very likely that it has actually emerged from an unseen chrysalis and climbed up the nearest stem to dry out / harden up. We do have a few spikes of Cuckooflower down that end of the garden in most years, so I'll have to try and remember to search them this year for larvae.

Yet more random stuff

The garden traps are still inactive, so yet again I was out dipping into everything else. Yesterday evening I had a very relaxing 2 hour walk along a disused railway line near to Cosby, which runs parallel to the M1. Despite the traffic noise in the background, it was actually quite peaceful with plenty of birdsong and, amazingly, not a single other person during the time I was there. I had fully expected a flurry of post-dinner dog-walkers. Something was singing from every stretch of shrubbery, including four Blackcaps, a Whitethroat, a Chiffchaff and a skulking Garden Warbler. Quite a few Adela reaumurella and Parornix angelicella flying, but with the conditions being a bit overcast there was not a lot of activity. Plenty of stuff picked out though as I ambled along, with Craneflies being most prominent for some reason .....

Tipula vernalis

Tipula varipennis

Tipula fascipennis - female

Tipula fascipennis - male

Tipula fascipennis - pair in cop

There were also a lot of Limonia phragmitidis about but I failed to get a decent shot. Very few beetles and bugs noted, but I did find a distinctive small one - Anaspis maculata - which escaped somewhere in the house before I could get a photo. Otherwise I found these ..

Cantharis nigricans

Agriotes sputator - many thanks to Mark Telfer

You'll have to trust me on this one, but the following shot is 100% genuine - no coaxing of the subjects to sit where I wanted them. I just went over to check a clump of White Campion and found these two sat side by side on the same flower.

Orange-tip (female) and Green-veined White

I've taken to looking at and under fallen rotting logs whilst out on these forays just lately, and this walk proved unexpectedly productive. I found this underneath one - a very common species to light but the first time I have seen the larva ..

Dark Arches

Meanwhile I found this growing on the end of another log ..

Pale Stagshorn??

Here's some random stuff to close the post.

Psila fimetaria

Hairy Snail

Aceria macrorhynchus - gall mite on Sycamore

Hawthorn Shieldbug

?? Which Spider ??