Lucky Man ...

Last night I was invited to join Margaret McLoughlin and Graham & Anona Finch out for some light trapping at a private site in Charnwood that the Loughborough Naturalists' Club has been surveying. The forecast was looking good anyway, and it certainly turned out to be an excellent night in many ways. I ran a 125W MV over a sheet and 2x 125W MV traps. And my new car is delayed so the pseudo-Uber got another run across terrain it wasn't built for.

The sheet was quite quickly alive with tiny diptera, caddisflies and an assortment of tiny beetles. But a few early swifts aside, moths were a bit slower to get going. I'll come back to the catch, but first a backstory ....

Whilst setting up, Graham (who you may recall is the VC55 Coleoptera Recorder) had pointed out to me a free-standing dead birch trunk which he suggested I should have a look at after dark. On this same tree last year, he'd found literally dozens of the beetle Corticeus unicolor, the first VC55 record of Colydium elongatum and other interesting beetles. Once the lights were on and dusk had just about phased into night, I went to have a look. Sure enough, exactly as explained, I found plenty of Corticeus unicolor - a new beetle for me.

I also found Mycetophagus quadripustulatus (one I ticked at the end of May) and what I am sure is Triplax russica (black scutellum).

All of these where on and around Hoof Fungus [Fomes fomentarius]. But on the trunk close by was another interesting beetle, Megatoma undata.

I let Graham know what I'd seen, although it became apparent that I'd actually checked a different (but equally interesting) dead birch. The one I checked was close to the footpath, though the trunk was a bit boxed in by bracken and bramble. A bit later when I went to have another look, I found the tree that Graham had originally meant which was just set back a bit from the path. Pretty much the same story with masses of Corticeus unicolor, and amazing to see the fungal spores drifting off into the night. But right in front of me on the lip of the 'hoof' was a completely different beetle, and one that did not ring any bells or look familiar. I grabbed a shot in situ and potted it up. I was sure Graham would recognise it. I showed Graham the photo; he immediately recognised it was interesting, was sure he'd not seen one and wasn't sure what it was. He was all the more pleased to hear I had it potted, and I was more than happy to pass it on so Graham could do his magic on carding and imaging it. I decided to do a quick Google in the woods, and later in the night let Graham know what I though it was - albeit that couldn't be right. Anyway, here is my not so great shot of it in-situ on the fungus (in pitch black using my TG-6).

Anyways, I reckoned it was a perfect match for Bolitophagus reticulatus, but noted that the distribution for that seemed to be limited to the Scottish highlands. Must be something similar and commoner? When I got home much later, a quick check in Duff .... can't see that there is anything similar. Graham let me know he was in agreement on the ID. I posted it to the Beetles of Britain and Ireland FB site - no alternative IDs offered. So there you go, new for me, new for VC55 and it appears new for England! I'm sure a first for England is not really recognised or notable but, you know, I'll take it anyway.

The fungus is pretty common in Charnwood, and appears to be present continuously throughout between Leicestershire and the highlands and pretty much everywhere else too. The beetle also appears to have been recorded in mainland France, Poland etc. It therefore seems very likely that it is indeed present wherever the fungus is - though how it would have evaded detection until my random lucky encounter I have no idea.

Right, back to the sheet. There were far more non-lepidopteran 'intruders' than I've seen so far this year. I pointed the camera at one or two caddisflies, one of which I've not seen before.

Phryganea bipunctata

As for the moths I ended up with 351 of 94sp. + 3sp. for dissection, not a bad total at all though not really anything too exciting. I know Graham is already at c110sp, from his x4 traps, and I know Margaret had a few bits I did not get from her x2 traps so I am sure the overall total for the night will be pretty strong. Margaret absolutely had the main moth highlight, one I was delighted to see ....

Rosy Marbled

Temporary Silence

Today we said farewell to Adrian at a very calm and celebratory ceremony, with wall to wall sunshine outside and a strong attendance. It was good to see a few faces for the first time in a long while thanks to Covid etc, but clearly not in the circumstances we wanted to be meeting.

That should have been the toughest part of the week, but it isn't. I'm not going to lie, whilst I've been putting on a brave face and fronting things for a while now I'm pretty apprehensive about what's coming.

My life has been a rollercoaster since early 2019 when I was suddenly very ill indeed, got diagnosed with rectal cancer and since then I've had three separate operations, two different lots of radiotherapy and two lots of chemo. The last surgery in October 2020 was radical and life-changing - I've not spelled it out before but I'm sure some realise that I have a permanent colostomy with absolutely zero chance of reversal. You'd think by now I'd be over it, but it seems that all of the treatment and surgery so far is not quite enough. My cancer is starting to come back - right in the place where it would have been before having body-parts removed. Thankfully for now at least, there is no sign of any spread; whilst it is a pretty resilient cancer it doesn't seem to be malicious enough to try and finish me off. Not just yet at least. So I have another shot at getting rid of it for good, but this time I am facing even more major radical surgery and at the end of it I'll be pretty empty below my navel - no bladder or prostate, but helpfully I'll have another bag to balance me out ....

I've come through surgery and just about got back to as near a normal life as possible. I've not been as constrained as I may have been, and I've been able to enjoy stuff like festivals, gigs, West End shows, football matches home, away and abroad, beers and curry and - not least - getting out and about to enjoy nature when time and weather allow. I know I will do all that again, even though it will be tough again, but that doesn't clear the nagging doubt in the back of my mind about what if this doesn't work. 

I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon though, and certainly will not be going without kicking and screaming. But you can expect this blog to be quiet for a while. I go for surgery on Thursday and am likely to be in the hospital for a couple of weeks, and then I am back at the start of the long road to recovery again. Whilst I'll be trying to get back connected to the world asap, I doubt I'll have anything to post for a while. But of course as soon as I can, the garden light and pheromone traps will be out again so you never know.

For now I'll share this one, a beetle that has few VC55 records and was a complete surprise in my garden pheromone trap this afternoon (with FOR lure deployed hoping for Red-tipped Clearwing). This is Triplax russica - new for me, and perhaps just the fifth or sixth for VC55 (four reliable records, a possible fifth, last in 2005). Excuse the moth scales that it has picked up whilst having a jolly time in the pheromone trap.