PSL at Home

I've certainly not completely given up on the idea of PSL, but with various bouts of hospitalisation over the past few years, and now having CMR duties on top of work, it is far from something I will be prioritising in the next couple of years.

Still, even when not trying there is always the chance of new stuff popping up under your nose, it's more about whether there is the impetus or motivation to make the effort to sort it out. Like this gawdy cranefly from a couple of weeks ago that was almost impossible to ignore ....

Ctenophora pectinicornis - found this loafing on a nettle in Elmesthorpe Plantation whilst looking for moths and larvae. It's not exactly cryptic, and there are not too many such colourful craneflies. Apparently the first record in the south of Leicestershire.

And then just this last week, three new things have appeared in front of me whilst pottering about in the garden and home ....

I've knocked up a rudimentary 'bee hotel' this year using some 4x4 timber that the old garden shed used to stand on. I drilled lots of various sized holes from 4mm to 10mm, and it very quickly attracted Osmia bicornis and one or two other smaller spp. During the week I've seen several female kleptoparasitic wasps hanging around and entering holes, readily identified as Sapyga quinquepunctata. 

Yesterday evening I noticed a very small and hairy weevil on the timber sleepers around one of our raised beds, again quickly sorted - it's Exomias pellucidus, also known as Hairy Spider Weevil.

And today, whilst nice to add a new beetle to my PSL and garden lists, not so pleased to find this one indoors. It's Dermestes lardarius, otherwise known as Larder Beetle and potentially a household pest. Never seen one before, and hopefully it flew in through the open back door.

Meanwhile the garden moth trap remains very quiet considering we're nearly into June. Diversity picking up a little, but number still feel very low. There has been one potential tick though, with this drab looking most that I reckon is Bryotropha basaltinella (pending dissection to confirm).

Just over a week or so ago, Andy Rourke sadly passed. He was the bass player in The Smiths, and massively underrated I think. Seems a shame that him and Mike Joyce were screwed over by Morrisey and Johnny Marr over royalties though it seems Andy didn't let it affect him. This track exemplifies how he was pivotal to the sound of the band.

Thorns Inside

I've managed to dissect butcher a few more from the box of bits I'd forgotten about. I've done the Grey/Dark Daggers (3x Grey, 2x Dark). Here's an unset pile of Grey Dagger valvae for reference ....

Knowing what the key features are, and only going as far as necessary to see/confirm them is all well and good but obviously leaving the genitalia like this would be completely useless if actually trying to work out what something was (say a really knackered Noctuid with no markings).

I probably should have mentioned that I'm referring to this excellent site for guidance.

I had this next one down as a probable Lesser Common Rustic (first of the year on 03/07/2021, generally dark with clearly contrasting stigma), albeit nowhere near a classic almost black one.

Well, it was. I only looked at x3 specimens and both of the others from a week or so later were paler browner/sandier Common Rustic. If you think the butchery on the Daggers was laughable, with this pair I've not even looked at the typical genitalia parts that you see excellent photos of; for these dissecting out the thorny cornuti from inside the aedeagus is necessary. Here they are from down the barrel of my old and frankly about knackered stereo microscope - the more rounded shape of Common Rustic left, and straighter Lesser Common Rustic right:

I have no idea what purpose these cornuti serve. Looking at web images of these pair, the general form is consistent but there is clear variation in the number and size of the serrations.

Half-right

Busy day, and been out for a walk this evening which will have to wait. But for now a bit of a catch up .....

The Empis sp. I swept on Saturday at Countesthorpe Meadows is Empis scutellata - only x3 VC55 records prior to this year, though I see at least one recorded a week or so before mine. A new one for me.

Axilliary excision of forewing 90deg to obtuse, not acute

First antennal segment not clearly longer than second

Back to the sawflies I posted yesterday. Today I re-joined the British and Irish Sawflies Fb group - it's one (like hoverflies, hemiptera ..) that I was a member of and left last year when I found my timeline being swamped at a time when I was not bothered/able to enjoy anything. Anyway I posted the photos with the proposed IDs except for one that I revised completely after finding a nicely illustrated and helpful guide to British Tenthredo spp.

My Tenthredo arcuata sl was revised to Tenthredo zona and confirmed as such - great stuff. New for me and possibly VC55 (unknown as yet). Tenthredo mesomela confirmed - again new for me. The Macrophya annulata is definitely Macrophya, needs checking further to confirm M. annulata or M. blanda but half way there. And then the others were way off ... The 'Rhadogaster viridis' is actually one of two Cytisogaster spp, probably Cytisogaster chambersi, and the 'Aglaostigma fulvipes' is probably a Tenthredopsis sp. So starting from scratch I got 1.5/5 right at the first go, and after revising one before asking I was at 2.5/5 right. I'll take that! I'll update the post accordingly.

Here's the small fly I mentioned from KQ on Sunday ...

I think this is one of the pair Limnia unguicornis/paludicola (not a Dichetophora sp.). I'll see if I can get a view on Uk Diptera but I expect the answer will be to check the genitalia.

And I also mentioned this bug from KQ ..

Denticulate Leatherbug

One I would like confirming is this aphid from the garden ...

I found loads of these along the mid-ribs on the underside of leaves on my oak sapling. I am sure it is Thelaxes dryophila.

Here's a couple of other bits from the garden.

My Snake's-head Fritillaries are taking a grubby battering from Scarlet Lily Beetles

and I finally caught a Merodon equestris on the camera sensor today ..

The garden moth trap has been picking up, so I have a few bits to share separately and I'm hoping it will properly ramp up later in the week.

"Oh, people said that you were easily led

And they were half-right"

Some girls are bigger than others ....

An apt Smiths reference when it comes to the Lasiocampidae. I had Lacky and Drinker in the moth traps last night, but these were eclipsed in all respects by another female Oak Eggar for my garden list ....

This is the eighth female I've recorded in the garden, all singles in each year expect for the first record when I had two in the same trap on 16/07/2000. I also managed to assemble a male here in 2003, but have had no success on that front since. With my records from Enderby Quarry in 2006 and Huncote Embankment in 2010, I seem to have a bit of a monopoly on records for this species in VC55 (43% of the records for adults since 2000 are mine).

It is by no means common here, with a very clear southerly bias and most records coming from garden traps. There are no post-1999 records in any 10km squares north of mine in Leicestershire, and notably at least four of the most active moth-recorders in VC55 over the last decade or so are yet to record it.

The quirky fade in-out-in on this clip is as per the original album ......

Listening to - The Smiths

30 years now since The Smiths formed, still sounding brilliant if you ask me.

How to survive that bloody wedding ...

Today was bad enough in terms of pre-wedding televisual nonsense, but tomorrow is going to be a complete media washout. Here then is your guide to avoiding the whole thing.

1. Do not, at all costs, switch on any radio, television or satellite channels between the hours of 06:00 on Friday 29th until next year. You may well be intent on watching or listening to something interesting, but during the ads or between programmes there will be 60 second news clips about the dress, the hair, the crowds, the guests .. any tiny aspect that has not be wringed of every last drop of hype and bollocks will be rolled out for weeks to come.

2. Do not buy any newspaper. Of course, if you normally buy the Daily Mail you will not be reading this and you will be happily hanging out the bunting, making jugs of Pimms and preparing triangular cucumber sandwiches at this point.

3. Ensure that your i-Pod is fully loaded with at least 30Gb of your favourite aural pleasure. I have pasted a few recommendations further on, or perhaps you will go for some serious French revolutionary stuff. Just ensure that it's fully charged and you have some means of re-charging that does not involve turning on the PC and internet, which will also be afflicted by the nasty 'wedding special' virus.

4. Ensure that your cupboards are fully stocked and car fully loaded with fuel. You cannot risk going to the shops as there will undoubtedly be newspapers on display with wedding bollocks on the front, or TVs for sale showing any channel in the world which will have something on debating whether Kate really was virginal or had secretly played away with Harry whilst Bill was playing with his copter joystick. Or something.

5. You now have two choices: either stay in bed all day with the curtains closed, nothing but the i-Pod on and all windows and doors locked, or go out very early to remoter areas, like ancient woodland or vast moors and heaths, where you are unlikely to encounter random street parties and cooing women wittering on about the dress, the hair, the crowds ......

6. In the unfortunate event that despite your best laid plans you run into crowds or individuals plagued by royal wedding fever, just shut your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears and very loudly shout 'la la la la la la la la la FUCK OFF' until you think they have dispersed in tears. Or fear of their lives.

"I've been dreaming of a time when, the English are sick to death of Labour, and Tory, and spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell, and denounce this Royal line that still salutes him ......."

"So I checked all the registered historical facts, and I was shocked into shame to discover, how I'm the 18th pale decendent, of some old queen or other ......"

"How can you stay, with a fat girl who says would you like to marry me, and if you like you can buy the ring ....."

This week, I have mostly been listening to ..

The Smiths I've been listening to all of their works, but the eponymous debut is still my favourite. I think a dose of Morrisey, Marr, Rourke and Joyce every now and then is essential to a balanced life. Reel Around the Fountain Hand in Glove You've Got Everything Now

This week, I have mostly been listening to ..

.. The Smiths, The Divine Comedy and Pulp - three great bands headed up by three of the greatest lyricists of recent times. The Smiths were fucking awesome in their hey-day, and Morrissey has continued to put out the odd great song over the years. "Park the car by the side of the road, you should know, time's tide will smother you, and I will too." The Divine Comedy are/is brilliant. Only Neil Hannon could write a lyric with a twist like this: "Well the course of true love never ran smooth, They broke my heart and I broke theirs too, And breaking hearts is so very hard to do, But I knew I'd find the one, And sure enough she came along, And not long after than along came you." Pulp - anyone who bears their arse to Michael Jackson is either ironic or genius. Jarvis Cocker is both.