A Tug and a Rug

Not done much today other than enjoy another LCFC victory, over Villa.

Unlike a great many other people, my garden moth trap has so far yielded precisely zero moths. I was especially hopeful of something last night with such mild temps, but soon realised that was unlikely when stepping out during the evening into full-on late October-like blustery wind. My garden trap never does well in strong wind, particularly in the early and late season which perhaps highlights that many of the moths turning up here have at least flown further than the immediate vicinity.

It wasn't all fruitless though; when I stepped out I had a torch, but stupidly no phone/camera. So by the time I'd clocked the Wood Mouse feeding under the bird feeders, it had already clocked me and was not going to hang around whilst I grabbed a photographic implement. I also found a couple of spiders, and a fly that I managed to pot (as I did have one of those with me).

I knew the fly was either Hellinia or Phaonia, and worked out it was the latter after trawling through some of Mike Hackston's keys and on-line images. I pinned it, grabbed a few quick shots and left it for this morning to try and work through. I have to say it wasn't easy, and I'm not going to spend the next hour walking through the whole lot. But I will post some images with coloured bits on that I think are sufficient to confidently name it as a female Phaonia tuguriorum - again a more than expected common fly. They won't include detailed shots of leg bristles cause I haven't taken any.

Darkened cloud around cross-veins, slight bulge along costal edge of wing and slight red-yellow tinge to tip of scutellum.

Pre-alar bristle (cyan dot) clearly longer than second notopleural bristle (yellow dot). Not annotated, but profile of face shows mouth edge not clearly more prominent than frons. Also not annotated, but note all femora and tibia are reddish except for the darkened front femur.

Red arrows: no pre-sutural acrostichal bristles, one pair of post-sutural acrostichal bristles. Cyan dots: 2 pre-sutural and four post-sutural dorsocentral bristles.

Red arrows: eyes hairy and red-yellow tinge to antennal bases. Yellow arrows: subjectively, frons at vertex more than 2/5 of width of head, jowl at base of eye about same as half the height of the eye. Ish. What I can't see/show are the palps which should be red-yellow at basal third.

Yesterday I finished sieving the flood debris I brought home. As expected, the number and range of beetles increased as I got towards the bottom of the bag - albeit mainly the number and range of small Staphs. There were another couple of both Pterostichus vernalis and Bembidion biguttatum, a couple of Badister bullatus and among the small but at least discernible Staphs I noted one that looked to have an oddly shaped pronotum. I worked it through Mike Hackston's keys as far as Rugilus sp. and saw that looked right when checking images. But I couldn't find a key to those in Mike's file. But I did find one by Volker Assing 2012, albeit one that covered all Palearctic and Oriental regions and the first four species that are separated in couplets are non-British. But the beetle matched up to Rugilus orbiculatus which is by far the most likely species anyway.

Note the rear angles of the elytra are yellowish, and the femora are yellowish with darker apices. And the odd shaped pronotum! I will get some more debris in the week, but it's still mainly Carabids that I'm hoping for.

Records for these two will be submitted, hopefully there will be none of this ....

Debris / Garbage

A few days ago, I posted a couple of shots from Jubilee Park and Seth suggested I should be sieving what appeared to be prime flood debris. Yesterday I nipped back there with a couple of large 6 litre ziplock bags; I'm not quite up to spending time constantly crouching/bending as yet but I figured that with a bit of effort I could get something bagged up to sieve at height at home.

Here's the photo that Seth mentioned with some arrows on it ....

The red arrow is pointing at what may appear to be a good place to start looking for some debris to bag up, but actually this is virtually all mud with a few bits of laying reed. The blue arrows pointing to the edges of shrubs and bushes further 'inland' from the river are actually still short of the where the flood line was, but the bushes act as a dam and catch all sorts of natural debris and man-made garbage. I searched out a couple of different types and got some bagged up .....

The first lot looks like wood chippings, but it's a pile of reed fragments and twigs. I dug below the top layer and bagged a load of wet mulch.

The second area was longer/larger fragments of reed held together by a load of mud and not so easy to bag up, but I grabbed some anyway ....

Whilst grabbing these, there was a bit of drizzle and it felt a bit nippy. I had a quick look around with bins but nothing unexpected - Little Egrets still lording it up around the place, and that drake Tufted still alone on the pit.

This afternoon I had a quick go at sieving some of the looser mulch. I've only done about a quarter of what I collected. As expected, there were some tiny collembola and some tiny Staphs. I've ignored these, I just haven't got the time and patience for tiny stuff at the moment. There were also lots of common Tachyporus / Tachinus spp. - none of which looked remotely interesting. What I was hoping for were Carabids, and although a modest result so far I got two - both of which are common, typical of this habitat and species I've not seen before.

I (just about) carded the larger beetle, Pterostichus vernalis. No scutellar striae, pitted single pronotal fovae and a furrow along the top of the tarsi. c6.5mm long

The smaller beetle was Bembidion biguttatum, which came out of the ethyl acetate fumes with it's legs wrapped up beneath it. Seven elytral striae, rounded pronotum sinuate at the base, pale elytral sub-apical spots, pale basal antennal segment and red/brown legs. Some of which you can just about discern from this rubbish shot.

I'll keep going through the bags and see what else pops up.

This evening, despite some potential for rain the temps looked great and I thought I'd get the trap out. although it was already dark by that point. But, on opening the door the mild temps are being moderated by a strong wind so I've not bothered, I'm unlikely to be missing anything that won't turn up on a better night in the next week or so. I did have a look along the fence with a torch though and found a couple of Walnut Orb Weavers, the first I've seen this year. So I grabbed the TG-6 and though I'd see what a hand-held stack with no other illumination than the LED light guide attached. Not too shabby considering. It's not been brightened or anything like that in editing.

Here's some more good garbage ....

Dead Wood

So yeah, I've been out on my day off.

Is that wise? Well lets put it in context; I am not having to self-isolate as yet for any reason, and next week I will be back at work on the in-plant rotation. For today specifically:

Literally staying at home:
No. other persons in direct vicinity - three (one other out at work)
No. of potentially vulnerable persons - maybe one, me (though I'm sure the chemo is long worn off by now)

Social distancing in woodland:
No. other persons in direct vicinity - zero*
No. of potentially vulnerable persons - still maybe one, but I was isolated for the duration!

Okay, not quite a simple as that. I drove there in the car; there is the risk of breakdown (unlikely in a <1yr old car with <8k on the clock) or an RTA (but there are less drivers on the roads)**. But none of this happened and was no more likely to than when I am on my way to work or the shops***. I could have fallen and broken my leg requiring medical assistance (it's not happened as yet in over 20yrs of stumbling around woodland in the dark whilst moth trapping). I could have fallen and broken my leg at home

Was this a 'necessary journey' - well it was for my sanity and mental wellbeing!

Anyway, I went out and spent some time poking dead wood. There was lots of it.

Trouble is, the promised dry day with sunny spells stubbornly stayed a dull day with showery spells. The sun made a token effort once or twice, briefly. Whilst I enjoyed the fresh air, solitude and overall experience, I did come to realise that I am very much an impatient wood-poker. If I'm not finding much, my effort and enthusiasm wanes, which I fully appreciate then creates the catch-22 that if you're not looking hard enough you won't find anything. I was colder and wetter than I expected which did not help, as I am also very much a fair-weather wood-poker too. Nevertheless, I found some bits.

This small stump yielded the biggest surprise for me ..

I've never found a Smooth Newt like this. I managed to carefully replace the bark that I'd pulled back so hopefully it will hunker back down for a few more days.

I also found a harvestman that I've been hoping to see, and actually ended up finding three during the visit. The first two were found under logs, and it was only the movement of the first one that lead me to it - much smaller than I realised.

Nemastoma bimaculatum

The other one was found by sieving beech leaf litter, which overall was not as productive as I'd hoped.

I've got a few beetle pics that I'll save for another post, and a few larger Staphylinids to have a go at. On the way back to the car, I noticed this coppiced tree. Just how many trunks can one tree support!

* I fully expected to perhaps see one or two people walking around the site, though I timed my visit to give the best chance of avoiding local dog walkers. In the event, I saw literally nobody whilst there.

** My experience today is that 70+ drivers (I'm being presumptious, I didn't stop and ask them to confirm age) are not in any way staying at home! One drove at well under the speed limit all the way along the minor road into Ketton before stopping suddenly with no indicator to pull into a line of parked cars with no space .....

*** After getting home, having a nice cuppa and a warm shower, I had to go out to the shops for some veg. There were lots of people, many unavoidably in close proximity. One child coughed.

Notwithstanding all of the above, there are likely to be changes next month: my daughter Isabelle finished her nursing degree in early Feb, and today got the news that she is being awarded a 2:1 - absolutely fantastic and so proud of her. It's a shame that there will probably be no graduation ceremony though. They are also fast-racking the registration and employment of newly qualified nurses, so she'll be working a few weeks earlier than expected. The job she applied for and got - and you could not make this up - will be on the Infectious Diseases Ward.

Social Isolation

Yesterday afternoon I headed over to Charnwood Lodge again to escape the histeria. I am hoping that I will not at any point in the near future be expected (or forced!) to self-isolate. But if I am, does that really mean staying in the house (in one room) or can 'isolation from others' be extrapolated to getting out of the house (in a car on my own) and walking around huge open spaces where there are no other people, or at the very least there is ample opportunity to maintain a significant social distance. All I do know is that I will go absolutely barking mad if I am stuck at home as spring rolls through to the peak season for ento-action.

Anyway, Charnwood Lodge is a big open space, and aside from a few locals it is not on the radar of the mass populace. Here's a bit of it, you can see maybe a quarter of the overall site from this:

I fully expected to see no, or at least few, other people. I was almost right; I saw three other people in four hours rambling around the site. Except one of them was an old bloke with a huge dog who insited on approaching me to ask what I was doing (with genuine interest, but clearly no fear for his own respiratory safety).

It remained overcast and relatively dull through my visit, though there were no showers and it was fairly mild. I managed to have a really good walk around the site, lifting stones, poking logs and sieving tussocks, leaf litter and thrashed bracken on the way around. I need to get hold of a useful saw or similar to do proper tussocks properly. I've also ordered a proper large white tray from NHBS to lug about.

Whilst on site, I wandered around parts of the woodland I've not seen before, and made a point of looking at a couple of areas that I've not been to for years including Colony Reservoir.

It felt like I wasn't finding much for the effort, but I've ended up with a few carabids, a couple of clicks to key through and a small selection of small beetles to ponder over. I also saw a few other bits which I'll post about separately over the next couple of days.

The biggest beetle I found was under bark on a well-rotted log, and is one I've been looking forward to seeing though I am sure any snail coming in its way would not feel the same ..

Snail Hunter (Cychrus caraboides)

Other beetles found under bark were ..

Silpha atrata

A couple of large dark/plain click beetles to check

Quite a few beetle larvae, think these are probably Elateridae?

Maybe it's just as well I've got a few things to check and post about over the next few days - no chance of getting out today as the weather is fithly. And in any case, after the blissful afternoon I was headlong into the madness with a trip to Sainsbury's for the regular weekly shop. No bedlam or chaos, as no hoards of people in the evening, but equally nothing on the shelves so I need to get back out for cat food and rich tea biscuits. I've ordered a family set of bio-suits and breathing aparatus from Amazon, the garden filtered bunker is coming on well and I've poached a cow and a pig for sustenance .......

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.

Fosse Meadows 07/03/2020

Yesterday I headed over to Fosse Meadows for a quick poke around. The conditions were not exactly inspiring, but I felt I ought to try something as I knew today would be taken up with other duties. I headed into the wooded area with sieve and tray and found a few bits, mainly in areas with lots of oak litter like this ...

Didn't find a lot to be fair, though just about every sample had one of these ...

Notiophilus biguttatus (2nd elytral interval vs 3rd-5th, puncture on 4th interval)

Otherwise a few tiny Staphs &  various Tachyporus, a couple of Loricera pilicornis, and I also potted up this ....

Think this is Anthobium atrocephalum, as the head is dark, but probably need to check further.

Amongst the plethora of collembola was this hairy bugger ...

Orchesella villosa

A spot of log rolling was fruitful ...

Netted Slug, don't ask me about the darker one.

I spotted a ground bug covered in mud and potted it up, then found another which was cleaner ....

Matches femoral teeth and lack of tibial spines for Drymus, and with the all-black pronotum, overall dark colouration and blackened membrane I'm pretty sure it's Drymus ryei.

Remember the local floodplain with ongoing works?

Well through this week the waters receded and the contractors left site. Leaving not much more than a big hole. No idea what this is meant to be, though I am certain that it is not some attempt at a wader scrape though the timing could be a great coincidence. I stopped to grab a couple of shots today on the way home from the weekly shop (no panic buying, and not much evidence that there has been any other than a lack of Branston Beans which is good for the can-making business I work for!). Also a couple of shots for comparison with last week showing how much the Soar has dropped.