Down The Lane

As promised/threatened, here's a selection of stuff I brought home from down the lane on Friday late afternoon ...

 Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)

 Small Green Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius roboretanus)

Liophloeus tessulatus

Calathus melanocephalus

Notiophilus biguttatus

I also found but failed to photograph Demetrias atricapillus.

Garden Ticks

The garden lawn was, up until early afternoon on Saturday, more of a burgeoning meadow. Lots of flowering grasses and a few flowers thriving following the very wet period and then a couple of dry and warming up days. I spotted some tiny speedwell type plants right at the edge of the lawn where it meets the patio, and worked out that they were Wall Speedwell - a new one for me. Just as well I noticed them and managed to get a few shots as Nichola promptly got the mower out and mowed the dry half of the lawn (still damp at the bottom, though the standing water has at last drained/dried). There are still a few there though as the plants are very short and the mower was set high.

Wall Speedwell

I also noticed a small 'carpet' of green stuff on the soil surface of a large plant pot that has got my tiny Oak sapling in. I realised shortly afterwards that I was looking at my first liverwort species, and soon after incorrectly identified it as Crescent-cup Liverwort. I have since been advised that it is actually Marchantia polymorpha (many thanks to David Gould).

 

Marchantia polymorpha

Mothing Update +

I think it is clear that the mothing conditions for most of April were shite, and I've resisted doing a comparison to previous years up to now. The impetus for having a look was that the dreadful April conditions have continued into May and it's still dire. During May 2011, including all out of garden mothing and casual records, I had already recorded 118 species by 12/05/2011. So far this May I have recorded just 15 species. This is of course entirely due to the lack of decent trapping opportunities both in and out of the garden.

Particularly in the spring I avoid running the garden traps on what I consider poor or marginal nights (save power, save MV bulb, save me getting up and emptying empty traps on cold/wet mornings and prevent demoralisation!). Comparison from one year to the next is therefore always a little unscientific as there will be variance in the number of trap nights. There are also other factors such as being away at Easter or, perversely, not running garden traps as conditions very good and I'm out trapping elsewhere overnight. Nevertheless, a basic comparison is possible. So, excluding any blank nights (as up until about 10 minutes ago I'd never even thought about how to record these in MapMate) here is a comparison of 2012 garden moths in April verses the previous 10 years. The species total includes any to lit windows or seen in the daytime as well.

And here is my total current May 2012 mothing record:

Garden 125W MV trap:

04/05/2012
2190  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  1

08/05/2012
0464  Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella)  1 (NFY)
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  1
1497  Amblyptilia acanthadactyla  1
1524  Emmelina monodactyla  1
1906  Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)  1 (NFY)
2243  Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)  2

10/05/2012
2243  Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)  1

11/05/2012
FA!

12/05/2012
FA again!!

Other records:

08/05/2012 : 0608  Elachista rufocinerea  1 (NFY) daytime
08/05/2012 : 0697  Agonopterix arenella  2 to lit windows
11/05/2012 : 0649  Esperia sulphurella  1 (NFY) daytime

Out of garden:

Croft Hill 06/05/2012
0150  Adela reaumurella  1 (NFY)
0366a  Cameraria ohridella  Many

Springwell Lane 06/05/2012
0303  Parornix anglicella  Many (NFY)

Misterton Marsh 12/05/2012
0150  Adela reaumurella  Many
0986  Syndemis musculana  1 (NFY)

Blaby Village 12/05/2012
0648  White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella)  1 (NFY)

Is it any wonder that I've been happily looking at other inverts and stuff for the last few weeks!

Yesterday morning I dropped off Isabelle in Lutterworth and went to Misterton Marsh on the way back for a couple of hours saunter around. Last time I walked around there is was a small marshy area with a big conifer plantation in the middle. Now it's a small marshy area with a big clearing in the middle which looks very promising and I wondered what the long-term plan was. A quick tinternet search and I found this.

Buzzards, Green Woodpecker, Reed Bunting, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and a couple of Whitethroats were all noted whilst walking around, but in truth I had my head down and focussed on low vegetation, flowers and shrubbery looking for anything interesting to point the camera at or coax into a pot. I found lots, including at one point a small hawthorn that was absolutely awash with various flies and also a loads of Adela reaumurella. Amongst the various bits I saw were these:

Empis tessellata

 Bibio johannis

 Dusona sp.

Celery Fly with Common Flower Bug on White Dead Nettle flower

St Mark's Fly

Mesembrina meridiana

I've also got some photos to post from a walk down the lane on Friday late afternoon, and a couple of unexpected ticks from the garden.

Croft Hovers

These three hoverflies are all from that excellent walk around Croft Hill on Sunday morning ....

I coaxed this one on to my finger for a closer look and took a few one-handed shots for nothing. This one turned out to be extremely useful as it shows the modified front legs and facial profile that help to confirm the ID as Platycheirus manicatus (or at least I am pretty sure it is). New for me.

This one is (again I am pretty sure) Dasysyrphus albostriatus, with those thoracic markings helping to ID. Another one that I haven't recorded before.

I think this is Syrphus vitripennis.

The next shot is one of a series I took of a preening bee at Gilroes Cemetery on Tuesday - a Nomada sp. but as yet no idea which one.

Scarlet

Found these Scarlet Lily Beetles yesterday evening mating on, laying on and generally defiling my Snake's-head Fritillaries. Again.

 

This pair didn't seem to know which end was which, maybe they changing to Reverse Cowgirl ........

Mixed Bag

These are more from Croft Hill on Sunday ....

Adela reaumurella - yes, a moth!

Lochmaea crataegi - found on Hawthorn

Neocoenorrhinus aequatus - again fround on Hawthorn

.... and these are from down the lane in Whetstone later the same day  ...

Leistus spinibarbis

Nebria brevicollis

Leg detail showing the fine hairs on the tarsi

Pied Shieldbug

Common Flower Bug

Nursery Web Spider

Turf Running Spider

And these are from late this afternoon, at Gilroes Cemetery where I was looking (unsuccessfully) for one fungi though I did see lots of St George's Mushrooms instead.

Dock Bug

Sloe Bug

Lords and Ladies