Common as Muck

I managed to nip out for a refreshing walk into the square this afternoon; nothing too strenuous, just a stroll with my net, a few pots and camera. The sun was out, mostly, after a dull start. Skylarks singing, Yellowhammers calling, but no early warblers. In fact there are still plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing around here - nothing to suggest anything moving.

When it comes to early-season flowers, I am sure that many behold the first flowering Lesser Celandines as the indicator that spring is here (along with garden and escaped snowdrops and daffs of course). However, I think on balance seeing one of these in bloom is a better indicator ....

Colt's-foot

Whereas the celandines give plenty of warning with their emergent leaves, flower buds and then the blooms, Colt's-foot just seems to emerge from nowhere with the flowers preceding the vegetation. I like that - surely they wouldn't bother if it wasn't really spring. Meanwhile the celandines keep going; they were flowering when I was last out which is getting on for three weeks ago.

 

Lesser Celandine

Of course the main thing is that the early yellow flowers, including dandelions and buttercups, are potential magnets for flies and bees. Not that I saw any on the flowers today. I did manage to net what I thought was a large fly that turned out to be a pair in cop - now pinned for later scrutiny. I've also got another fly and a couple of beetles to look at from today. Whilst out I spent some time specifically looking at and around a long-dead ash tree which had cramp balls on it. No sign of the anticipated Scarce Fungus Weevil. Later, I casually rolled a bit of random log to look underneath - nothing exciting, but when I repositioned the log I noted a bumpy variegated blob on top that I'd missed before the rolling ....

 

I sometimes find these when looking for them, but more often find them when I'm not. I just can't be that lucky, they must be genuinely common around VC55.

 

A Bit of Bully

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

Screwed up this image of a cramp ball .....

Faecal

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.

Under Staphed

My beetle list doesn't include many members of the Staphylinidae, especially the very tiny and generally unfathomable ones. I can't go on ignoring them, but to be honest it's not often that I find one that at least has some sort of colouration or feature that might make it worth trying.

One of the few that I do recognise on sight is this one, and only because it's a big ugly brute which is as likely to attack you and rip your throat out. I found two in/under logs at Ketton Quarry yesterday ...

Ocypus olens - Devil's Coach Horse

However I also found a couple of smaller species that appeared to be worth taking to have a look, both turned out to be reasonably okay to key through - but the caveat is that with nothing to compare to you always have a doubt so these were sense checked on the Leics. Coleoptera facebook group.

The larger of the two was found under a log, and turned out to be another Ocypus sp., with the pronotal puncturing being the difference between it and another similar species.

Ocypus brunnipes

'Pronotum with a mix of larger and smaller punctures with the larger punctures outnumbering the smaller ones – the gaps between the punctures are comparatively wider, being much more than the diameter of the punctures.' Tasgius morsitans has course, close punctures with less gaps between them. Which is fine if you have a comparison!

The other one was actually in rotting wood, and quite a bit smaller but distinctly coloured. This one was actually easy to key through.

Atrecus affinis

I also potted another from sieved leaf litter, but having keyed it to genus I can't get any further at the minute with on-line keys.

Philonthus sp.

Other beetles included more Silpha atrata and Notiophilus biguttatus, a couple of Pterostichus madidus, and - I'm pleased to report - my ongoing luck/skill with finding this species at this site ....

(Really not very) Scarce Fungus Weevil

The only other thing I snapped was this bug, also sieved from leaf litter ..

Drymus brunneus - full house now for this group in the last few weeks!

Today has been dry and sunny, but cold and windy. Usually around this time of year I give the bird feeders one last clean and then put them away, but with the ongoing uncertainly about life in general I though I'd clean and re-stock them - staring at these may the only sanity I get on some days.

However as I nestled into a garden chair for half an hour with camera in hand, I had company and the game was up ...

Git

A Five-tick Day

This morning I headed back over to Burrow Wood, the great bluebell wood near to Charnwood Lodge. I had only one intention, and that was to sweep through the bluebells in a very single-minded fashion trying to record a nice moth. I scored!

Hysterophora maculosana

I was lucky to pick one up after only three or four sweeps, but I then spent well over an hour sweeping through the wood - albeit sticking to the path - before I got another. On the way out of the wood I then netted another two in flight around bluebells in an open sunny glade. With only two previous records for VC55, both of singles, it's good to add another dot to the map. And another moth on my list!

The time spent sweeping bluebells was, though, amazingly productive. On every sweep there were masses of click beetles, loads of Phyllobius type weevils and a load of 'acorn' weevils, along with quite a few micro larvae (Eana incanana?) and a few macro larvae (??) and plenty of other bugs and beetles. It's not like there was lots of tall vegetation around the bluebells - this was all stuff actually on the bluebells.

I've potted a few clicks to try and check out, but I avoided most of the Phyllobius-type weevils apart from a small golden-green one and a couple that were brown and variegated. Turned out to be a good move as both were new for me!

Polydrysus tereticollis - two different individuals

Phyllobius argentatus

Showing femoral tooth, pale tibia, rounded scales and white hairs

I also had a plant tick in the wood. Whilst sweeping about I noticed these small yellow flowers, which I've worked out are ...

Yellow Pimpernel

I potted up a couple of acorn weevils, and confirmed both species were as expected ..

Curculio venosus - just about showing elytral 'ridge'

Curculio glandium

Showing the antennal club of Curculio glandium - narrow and tapered

Also in the wood was this stiltbug, which I actually found sitting out on hazel.

Metatropis rufescens

The other tick today was a garden hoverfly - Baccha elongata - and to be honest I think I've seen it here before but not logged it. No photo though, hopefully another one will come along when I am avec camera.

I have a few other bits but they'll wait so I don't overload this post, but before I get back to the microscopes and literature here's one especially for Seth Gibson: I don't even have to look for Scarce Fungus Weevil any more, this one landed on me whilst walking down the lane to the farm shop this afternoon!

(Really Not Very) Scarce Fungus Weevil

Clicks, bugs and cantharids waiting ......

Scarce Fungal Infection

Whilst at KQ yesterday it seemed that I couldn't stop bumping into these ......

Scarce Fungus Weevil

I really like these, quite stupid looking but they have an unfathomable charm. I also like the way they manage to lood like bits of dried-up bird shit both ways up. Anyway I found five yesterday, three whilst looking at piles of dead wood and a couple whilst poking about in Cramp Ball fungi.

Brazenly sitting out waiting to be found

Hiding in a hole behind larval dinner

I'm assuming that the individuals I found on dead wood piles (where no Cramp Ball fungus was evident) have just used this as a winter refuge, but not entirley sure. On this particular tree, I found a couple of the weevils and also set about cutting a couple of Cramp Balls open.

You can have your King Alfred's Cake and eat it

Within one of the balls I found a couple of another fungal-eating beetle ...

Biphyllus lunatus - substantially smaller than the weevils it shares dinner with

Right next to one of the balls on the aforementioned tree, I also found a Psychid case that I'm not at all convinced about. It doesn't look right for Narycia duplicella which is the most likely species in VC55, and it doesn't match other species I've seen before. I've retained the case but no idea if it is tenanted with a pupa (possible at this time of year) or vacated.

I also noticed this on another trunk in the same area ...

Diurnea fagella - female

Another more surprising find in a part-broken Cramp Ball was this new-for-me spider ...

Snake-back Spider (Segestria senoculata)

Otherwise; I saw and heard Raven, Red Kite, Kestrel and Buzzard whilst mooching about, bumped into a couple of Muntjac that stopped and looked at me briefly before sloping off as I tried in vain to prep the camera, saw a good few butterflies including Orange-tip and also a couple of early Common Heath moths.

Here's a few other random bits.

Dark-edged Bee Fly - abundant!

Two-toothed Door Snail (Clausilia bidentata)

White-legged Snake Millipede - (Tachypodoiulus niger)

Uncooperative Heliophanus flavipes

Some sort of beetle larva with a woodlouse I can't be arsed to check