Omission

The garden traps have not been too lively of late, and aside from a paucity of moths there has been no bycatch of note. This morning there was a small red/yellow Cantharid. I have to be completely honest, I am a bit apathetic when it comes to Cantharids; after the first few of the season I start to ignore them. This is not a very successful approach for adding Cantharids to my list. Anyway, as there was nothing else to look at I decided to pot it and check it out later. That was already a step further than my heart was prepared to take, so making any effort to photograph it properly was not an option ......

Here it is on a white plastic card with flash. Red legs with black 'knees', red pronotum and head, yellow elytra, c8mm and - crucially - with no dark tips to the palps. Cantharis cryptica it is.

I then thought to check, seeing as I'd put together a garden beetle list. And then realised my Cantharid apathy has probably lead to a few omissions. C. cryptica is new for the garden (but I'm sure it's not) and earlier this year I had a moth-trap puzzler which I resolved in the end to Cantharis rufa - which also needs adding and almost certainly isn't the first. I guess I'm going to have to make a lot more effort with Cantharids in the moth trap!

Otherwise, last week I had what I am sure is a new moth for me and the garden. In fact I'm certain, but it's just the lack of an overwhelming affirmation when I've posted it online that is making me hold on to it for a formal det. I'm confident enough to add it to my lists in the meantime, and I do not expect to get the rubber out.

Brown bands on the hindlegs, no clear dark 'triangle' on forewing.

I'm sure this is Gillmeria ochrodactyla.

Not much else happening at the moment. We've had a load of new fence panels down one side and at the back, so we're in the process of painting those and re-painting existing panels over a few days. That might help to mask the mish-mash of panels we've ended up with: there are five other gardens around our fenceline. We usually paint them a dark brown but fancied a change. I wanted black to strongly contrast with foliage and flowers, Nichola wanted grey. We're painting them grey. Although to be fair it's quite a dark grey so I think they will still contrast nicely with foliage and flowers. I'm not sure how well moths will show up on the fence though.

We're starting to plan out how we're going to restructure the garden. We need improved drainage, a new patio, a new lawn and the shed is knackered. So apart from a birch tree everything else will be stripped out and start again. The garden will be split up a little: about 70% will be patio / lawn area with the usual contemporary planting and BBQ area etc, 10% will be taken up by a new bigger shed / workshop and the bottom end of the garden will be used to try and create something more wildlife friendly.

Meanwhile, anyone deploring the pulling down of a statue needs to give their head a wobble and ask why the fuck it was still there to be pulled down.

Dip It

Yesterday evening, after posting, the skies had brightened up and the sun came out for a bit. Having reminded myself about the pond-dipping net I decided to nip out for a dry (but actually wet) run. I went to the pond at Huncote Embankment for an hour or so. Absolutely zero beetles, but the activity was very therapeutic and peaceful .... and rewarding. The net I bought is only a small one from NHBS, about 24mm square and 30mm deep with a telescopic aluminium handle. I took a small white tray, but aside from a few pots and camera nothing else. The tray was fine, but next time I need to take some sort of small hand-towel and some more suitable jars for anything that needs taking for checking out. As you can see (just about), aside from a couple of Great Pond Snails I managed to net a variety of bits. I ignored the fish, though I need to have a better look at these and see if I can rustle up Ten-spined Stickleback. The same photo more closely cropped shows a few bits numbered so you get some sense of scale:

1. Damselfly larvae

Or at least I think it is a damselfly based on the external 'gills' at the back end, but no idea which species. There should be three of those gills, but all the ones I netted had two which may be relevant.

2. Backswimmers

3. Mayfly larvae

There are four UK backswimmer species [Notonectidae], but all the ones I netted were nymphs so no ID for these. Pretty sure that the mayfly larva is a Pond Olive [Cloeon dipterum] as the tail filaments are about equal length with a dark median band and more than five rings between it and the base.

4. Water-louse

This one is a Two-spotted Water Hog-louse [Asellus aquaticus].

5. Valve Snail [Valvata piscinalis]

6. Common Bithynia [Bithynia tentaculata]

From here on the stuff was a bit more obscure!

7. Flatworm

This obscure blob was c15mm and round-headed when out-stretched, about half the size when blobbed up. Very slow moving and nothing like a leech. I've got this to Dugesia polychroa.

8. Leech

Not the big snail, but both of those had one of these riding their shells. A good look at the eyes, along with the general shape and colouration, makes it Glossiphonia heteroclita. There are actually three pairs of eyes but this is only apparent when it stretches to move around in typical leech fashion. Here's a couple of closer shots, though the one showing the eye arrangement when stretched is a bit off-focus as it was moving.

9. 'Shrimp'

A bit strange the way these moved as they were upright as they scuttled about. Anyway I got one under the microscope to check some features, and I've convinced myself that this is Crangonyx pseudogracilis.

Serrated hind-edge to pereopods

Free of dorsal spines or setae

(Just about visible) cleft telson

Not a bad effort really, and I'm looking forward to having a good poke around in more suitable location. It's just as well that I nipped out yesterday though as today has been proper miserable with some heavy thundery showers and a bit of hai with brief bright interludes.

Symph-onic

I've taking more notice of Symphyta than I perhaps would of in the past, to the point of actively looking for them. Here's a few more from Rough Hill earlier in the week.

This one really is Rhogogaster viridis. Nice unicolorous green pterostigma, dark dorsal markings along abdomen, and much larger than the Cytisogaster chambersi I had a few weeks ago.

Tenthredo temula

Black scutellum and thorax, yellow band on tergite 4, sides of tergite 5 and extreme apex of tergite 6. 

And I've got this one to Tenthredo brevicornis

Yellow stripe on the first tergite constricted laterally, yellow bands on the hind edges of tergites 4-6 which broaden laterally, and black basal antennal segments.

Also from the same trip, a new bug for me that I saw sitting right on the edge of an oak leaf at head-height and netted ....

Phylus melanocephalus - which funnily enough has a black head, and lives on oak

Good to see another Rutpela maculata - not that it would play ball for a photo

And several Brown China-marks around the pond - not one I recall seeing dayflying before

This week has been a lot cooler, and a bit damper though we've not in any way had a deluge. The moth trap has not been out since Monday night either, but after a busy few days I'd like to get out and do something. Before the lockdown I bought a pond-dipping net so maybe time to think about using that - I guess a cool overcast day won't make much of a difference.

Meanwhile, nothing makes rave better than a bit of bassoon ....

Daylight Robbery

Some stuff from Rough Hill yesterday, not all of it - I have other bits for another post too.

Yesterday I noted a good range of hoverflies, including some of the bigger species: Volucella bombylans, Volucella pelucans, Myathropia florea, Helophilus pendulus and lots of Eristalis including arbustorum, nemorum and intricaria. Lots of the smaller spp. too. I didn't see anything interesting enough to net and pot though, or so I thought.

One of the dipterids I brought home did not look at all familiar; all dark, massive red eyes, dark-lookings wings but not sporting any obvious bristles. I netted one thinking it may be some sort of soldierfly. On checking it, it turned out to be a hoverfly ....

Chrysogaster solstitialis

Blueish sheen to thorax, no yellow basal patches on wings which are dark without flash

Excellent, a new for me hoverfly by accident.

Also seen were loads of Empids (mainly tessellata), Tachina fera and in the meadows loads of robberflies. Not the big stunning monsters, the smaller less hairy ones. I potted three up to check, thinking I had three species. After checking them though I've realised I have two - robbed! First up one that is new for me, quite a smart little thing ....

Dioctria linearis (Small Yellow-legged Robberfly)

Yellow front and mid legs, hing legs black/yellow.

The others were slightly bigger, but same genus and one of each sex ....

Dioctria rufipes (Common Red-legged Robberfly) - female
Orangey-red front and mid legs, hind legs black

Dioctria rufipes - male

Some of the soldierflies have great vernacular names, but for such smart beasts these robberflies have vernacular names that are a bit bland and formulaic which generally include leg colour + Robberfly. There is an Orange-legged Robberfly and a Violet Black-legged Robberfly. The names are descriptive, but I think they've all been robbed of something more enigmatic: Lemon-trousered Looter and Scarlet-thighed Gangster for these two perhaps ....

Rough Hill

Late this afternoon, when it was way too hot and late to be doing it, I headed over to a great site in Charnwood that I've only visited once - in June 2018. I've looked back and predictably my last visit was at a time when blogging enthusiasm had waned. Anyway, last time I went was to specifically look for certain dayflying moths - Foresters. I found a few, and loads of Grass Rivulets amongst other dayflying species. So today I want back ostensibly to look out for Foresters but I also took a net, you know, just in case. It was a good plan. I ended filling more pots than I expected (in fact I ran out of larger tubes) and have a selection of sawflies, robber flies, other diptera and hoverflies (and one bug) that I've been working though with some great rewards. But I didn't see Forester, though I wasn't paying enough attention.

The site is very close to Bradgate Park, which in Leics. is like a mecca for everyone wanting to get out for some fresh air. I like Bradgate Park, but right now is not the time. I could see that the car parks were chocca, there were huge unsocially distanced queues for ice cream vans and it was clearly very busy. The roadway where there is some pull-in parking for Rough Hill was also packed. But as soon as I was inside the gate away from the road I saw exactly zero people in what is a fantastic open site. Probably not enough flat areas for footballs, cricket and picnics I guess.

So whilst I carry on with pinning some specimens tonight, I'll just post some photos of the site: large flower-rich meadows, wooded areas with nice rides and a big pond that I didn't see last time.

And here's a Forester from last time ...

Here's a suitably ambient soundscape to look at these pictures to.

RastaMoth

I've been busy, so in this here quiet interlude I'm gonna share these phone snaps that I found this evening whilst looking for something else .....

Don't recognise it?

You probably won't unless you've been to the Carribean. I found a load of these on Barbados, and they were huge. They were 30% bigger again than Death's-head Hawk larvae - and they're big!

These are Pseudosphinx tetrio, sometimes know as the Frangipani Hornworm amongst other vernaculars that on Martinique includes the rasta caterpillar ...

These larvae look a whole lot more exciting than the adult moth though, a grey-brown hawk with nothing special about it.