Bugs and Buds

I've finally managed to crack a couple of hemipteran puzzlers that I've been mulling over all week. Both were swept and potted at Ketton Quarry on Monday, and both popped their clogs in respective pots before I could even attempt a photo. Luckily there were both big enough that they were not going to shrivel away to nothing in a couple of days. It's not often now that I find a bug and can't resolve it having gone through the British Bugs galleries, but both of these stubbornly refused to be identified until I had a lucky moment last night and a eureka moment this evening.

First up, this dark Mirid with bright red cuneus, bright green underneath and (although they fell off) longish 'Phytocoris like' hind legs. I could not pick out anything similar in the British Bugs galleries, then last night whilst flicking through Facebook I noticed a photo of the exact same bug on the UK Hemiptera group. Here's a lazy photo of my dead hind-legless bug ....

It's a male Closterotomus trivialis, which currently isn't featured on the British Bugs gallery. It was added to the British list as recently as 2008, when adults were found on a small number of cultivated Hypericum plants in a north London garden. They still don't seem to have spread; the NBN atlas maps is pretty devoid of dots - except there is one for Leics., a 2018 record from a garden. It must be spreading, and whilst info seems a bit sparse I wonder if the abundance of native Hypericum spp. at Ketton Quarry is relevant. Needless to say, it's a new one for me.

The other bug that has been bugging me is this; a smallish, entirely all dark and quite hairy thing ....

Earlier this evening I had one more trawl through British Bugs and realised why I was missing it: this is a macropterous form of Orthocephalus coriaceus, a widespread but local bug of grasslands. No VC55 dots on the NBN maps, and no previous records as far as I can tell. And again, new for me.

Great stuff. I seem to be quite lucky lately in that although I'm limiting the number of specimens collected to check out quite a good percentage of them have been new for me and significant for VC55.

Here's a few flower buds from the same visit to fill the page a bit ...

Yellow Bird's-nest

Deadly Nightshade

Hedge Woundwort

Bladder Campion

Common Spotted Orchid

And because I can, another Stenurella melanura - Ketton Quarry seems to be a good site for this longhorn in VC55 .....

Quarrying Solitude

I'm going back a few days now - time flies and all that.

Back on Friday 2nd June I headed over to my favourite site in VC55, Ketton Quarry. I remain convinced that this is one of - it not the - best sites in Leicestershire and Rutland. The varied habitats, and the fact that it is close to interesting sites, make this a place where it is easy to spend hours and still find new and interesting stuff.

The site is managed by the LRWT. It's formed from the oldest ex-workings of a limestone quarry, and indeed a very large quarry remains active immediately on the north and west of the site. The quarry feeds the Ketton Cement Works that is east of the reserve, but also still supplies Ketton Stone for building works. The reserve lies just north of Ketton village, accessed from Pit Lane. The deepest part of Rutland Water and the dam are to the north-west, and North Luffenham airfield is to the west.

Both the reserve and the working quarry have produced some fantastic nights moth trapping (like this one). But the reserve itself is also excellent for inverts, flora, reptiles and mammals - in fact the only group that is perhaps a little underwhelming are the birds, although I have recorded Nightingale there in the past. And Budgerigar!

On Friday I spent almost five hours on site, and did not see a single soul in all that time. Bliss! I could hear activity from the quarry, but I cannot ever remember going there for such a lengthy walkabout without seeing at least one dog-walker or another naturalist/photographer. I've also bumped into geologists there before now.

I went there with the sole intention of poking around with the camera and a filling a few pots - but not in a gung-ho record everything and sweep/beat everything to death way. I was there to relax and get away from the world for a while and it worked a treat. I'm starting to get some mo-jo back after the best part of two years doing and seeing relatively little.

Here's a few shots from the day, though I recorded a lot more than I did with the camera.

Swollen-thighed Beetle - absolutely everywhere

Metellina mengei

Onthophagus joannae - on presumed fox scat.

Think this beetle has only been recorded from Ketton Quarry in VC55. I found one there before, but on this visit I found at least 20 on fox, dog and badger faeces (I found a number of badger latrines).

Dark-edged Bee Fly

Japanese Knotweed - sadly coming back time after time, on the ashes of it's last growth!

Hairy Shieldbug / Sloe Bug

Centrotus cornutus

I found a number of carabids under stones and logs in this one area, and I have some to key. They are all typical black carabids that can be categorised by size for the moment as normal, big and huge!

This is on the edge of an area of beech woodland, and those two mounds and strip between them are the only site in whole of VC55 for ......

... Yellow Bird's-nest. Only just emerging, but lots of spikes present.

I saw a number of Common Lizards and a couple of Grass Snakes but didn't find any Adders.

Evarcha falcata (female), and I also swept Euphrys frontalis and Heliophanus flavipes.

Busy ......... break ...........

It's been a busy week, it's been a crappy mothing year, and I need to do stuff around the house. Time for a bit of a blogging sabbatical ........ not sure how long (maybe a few days, a couple of weeks, or just hours if something exicting happens) but I will be back, though maybe less often ........

Before I go, here's a few shots from an excellent day spent around Ketton Quarry last Sunday. I turned up early to check for Hornet Moths (no sign at all), and shortly after John Hague turned up. After a bit of mooching about and chatting to another naturalist on site, we tracked down the Yellow Bird's-nest colony (a quite frankly underwhelming plant) and I showed John some parts of the reserve that he'd never been to including the 'Bat Cave', the glade in the middle of the wood and the quarry boundary road area. Lot's of good stuff seen, including a few new plants for me (Yellow Bird's-nest, Southern Marsh Orchid, Perforate St John's Wort, Hairy St John's Wort and Common Restharrow), a new cranefly (Epiphragma ocellare), some smart pink-phase Meadow Grasshoppers, Centrosus cornutus, and loads of Common Lizards. Also a few other bits still to check when I get some time.

Yellow Bird's-nest

Knapweed Broomrape

Perforate St John'sWort

Broad-bodied Chaser

Pink-phase Meadow Grasshopper nymphs

 

Common Lizards

Centrotus cornutus

Crown Vetch

Ephiphragma ocellare