Little Grebo

Back working today. At home, in 'the office'. To be fair, it has forced me to be a bit more tidy on the desk as it's rotating between workplace, microscope lab and pinning station as well as general PC use. By mid-afternoon I'd had enough, and wanted to get out into what was another blistering day.

I stayed local, and headed over to Huncote Embankment which surrounds Croft Quarry. I took my net, but I was more intent on getting to the pond to have a look around.

A few people around, mainly local kids, but space and distance very easy throughout. Turned out to be a cracking couple of hours, relatively peaceful and nice to see and hear all manner of stuff.

As soon as I got to the edge of the pond, I could see that there was a large shoal of Minnows in very shallow water at the pond edge. No idea why, but they seemed content - here's a tiny fraction of them.

There were also plenty of damselflies and the odd dragon. Another good chance to see what the P950 could do whilst substantially socially distanced from the subjects.

Red-eyed Damselfly & Azure Damselfly

Four-spotted Chaser

Banded Demoiselle - female

Banded Demoiselle - male

Whist pointing the camera at odonata, I became aware of a blob in the middle of the pond ......

Really nice to see a juv Little Grebe out in the open, rather than the usual glimpses of adults in their breeding finery (or distant blobs on open water in winter). I have seen breeding Little Grebe on this small pond before though so not a massive surprise. No sign of an adult whlst I was there.

This juv was constantly active and alert, but not acting like a typical adult would. Once it saw me it carried on like nothing had happened. I was also struck by how on the one hand it looked quite smart with the juv markings on the head, but quite manky and greasy looking on the rest of the plumage like it wasn't yet waterproof. More Little Grebo than Little Grebe. I'll come back to that.

I also wondered when Little Grebes learn to act like Little Grebes, compared to the probably similar aged juv Mallards that have clearly learnt how to be Mallards very quickly by gathering at the nearest point to the boardwalk where they can be offered bread ....

I managed to point the camera at a couple of other birds around the pond ....

Reed Bunting

Sedge Warbler - nice!

I swept and photographed other stuff whilst there, which can wait for another day.

Back to the Little Grebo musing: when I were a lad in Leicester, and I mean in the mid to late 70s, we used to call anyone who wore too much faded denim and had long greasy hair a 'grebo'. They usually listened to Rainbow and the like. I wonder if that was just a Leicester/midlands thing? A decade later there was a brief music scene/genre which included a few Leicester and Birmingham bands that became known as 'Grebo'. Here's the main Leicester contingent.

Daily Disco

I swear too much. Generally. The ongoing farce at No. 10 is just a minor catalyst. It may be Toryrettes.

After a few windy days, and then settling out to warmth and sunshine I should have been out somewhere, but for various reasons I've not had a chance. This afternoon I loitered in the garden with intent though.

I noticed a yesterday that occasional small bees, wasps and sawflies were sort of searching holes, albeit in competely the wrong place. We have concrete posts between the fence panels, and the concrete cast has left all sort of sized 'craters' which are not deep enough for anything to nest in, but the prospective nesters and parasites don't know until they check. Today I noticed a couple again, and once armed with camera I pointed it at one to see if there was any discernible details ....

Well, blow me it's one of the yellow-faced bees. Absolutely no idea which one from these shots, so I decided to try and pot the next one I saw. I did. It was a small wasp. Next one, a small bee with no yellow markings. Next one was bigger, and knowing what it probably was I got the camera on it before managing to secure it ....

Gasteruption jaculator sl

I'll keep my eye on this new-found source of interest this week.

Also in the garden today, briefly, were two gaudy beetles. The Wasp Beetle got away, this one sat on the fence for a few seconds ..

Swollen-thighed Beetle

I've also got a couple of sawflies and small hoverflies to look at, plus the garden was again a bit of a hot-spot for Merodon equestris, with at least four invovled (three males, one female - on mating noted).

Female left

Two similar males, note differences in wing-wear

The moth trap has been ticking along, though nothing stand-out.

Lychnis

Vine's Rustic

White-spotted Pug

Annoying the the right antennae was stuck under the forewing

Silver Y

Another annoying moth-photo result - wonky foreleg

Middle-barred Minor

May Highflyer

Peppered Moth

Finally, we've been getting one or two Hedgehogs in the garden, seen infrequently. This evening, well before it was even dusky, this one came trundling up the side of the shed and tried to hide behind a plant pot when it heard me coming ....

Whilst roasting our chicken this evening, I was listening to Sophie Ellis-Bextor on Radio 2 doing a kitchen disco for an hour. Nothing too cheesy, proper 70's club stuff in the main. I am not ashamed to say it was just what was needed - something bouncy and airy and free of the immense weight of bullshit I'd listened to in the preceding couple of hours.

The Magnificent Seven (Hundred)

Still windy, not so warm and a bit overcast, so I've had a bit of a clerical catch-up day. PSL list updated, Mapmate up to date with garden moth records, and I'm a good way to getting a load of other stuff from this year on there too (after having put most of them on iRecord via Naturespot already, just getting them on my Mapmate for personal reference).

So nothing new seen or attempted today. I had another result on one of the sawflies from last weekend last night though. After being pointed the right way, checking through the key and looking at the right bits I had Macrophya annulata confirmed (which is what I had it down as to start with anyway).

No white flecks on hind coxae, red band extends to a 'girdle' - therefore annulata, not blanda

I've also reached a major garden moth milestone. After the Luffia lapidella f. ferchaultella last month, I've been waiting for the 700th garden species to turn up. Of course I was hoping it would be something notable; maybe a scarce species in the county, hopefully a macro, even better something that I'd never seen before. And then this turned up on the Thursday night catch ....

It is something that I've never seen before so that's nice, but - really - the most shabby, worn and uninspiring example you could imagine. A bald, tuftless, barely clothed Spuleria flavicaput. So my garden moth list reaches 700, and may many more turn up for however long I'm/we're here. I've got no plans on going anywhere in the forseeable, certainly before the kids fledge .... which might be another couple of decades. Not sure if mine is now the biggest garden moth list in VC55 but can't be far off.

Other moths from Thursday included these:

Coleophora albicosta

Metzneria metzneriella

Syndemis musculana

Broken-barred Carpet

Miller

The wind has eased a fair bit this evening, though still a decent breeze and it's carm and cloudy with a touch of rain possible. Trap is out again.

Otherwise today (as you may already have seen) I have mainly been seething at the hypocrisy of, resolute contempt shown by and blind sycophancy that is the Tory leadership and press. I've sent a few pointed tweets and replies, not that it makes any difference. Fuck em all, I despise the bastards.

New 'Stay At Home' Guidelines

Why staying at home is very important

It is very important that individuals with symptoms that may be due to coronavirus (COVID-19) and their household members stay at home. Staying at home will help control the spread of the virus to friends, the wider community, and particularly the most vulnerable.

Those with symptoms and living alone should remain at home for at least 7 days after the onset of their symptoms. This will reduce the risk of you infecting others.

If you live with others and you or one of them have symptoms that may be caused by coronavirus (COVID-19), then household members must stay at home and not leave your house for 14 days (unless you are a Tory advisor who is above the law). Driving c260 miles is permitted if you are a Tory advisor, but otherwise you should not go out even to buy food or other essentials, and any exercise should be taken within your home. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in your house became ill.

If not possible, then you should do what you can to limit your social contact when you leave the house to get supplies. Especially on the long drive.

Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community. But you know, if you’re a Tory advisor then fuck em all.

Staying at home may be difficult and frustrating, but there are things that you can do to help make it easier. These include:

• Plan ahead and think about what you will need in order to be able to stay at home for the full 7 or 14 days. It is recognised that Tory advisors can only plan ahead for destructive policy, though looking after self-interest is normally a strong Tory trait.

• Talk to your employer and friends to ask for their help to access the things you will need to make your stay at home a success. If you’re a Tory advisor, expect them to tell you to get fucked, and prepare to drive to where you may be more welcome.

• Think about and plan how you can get access to food and other supplies such as medications that you will need during this period. Or not.

• Ask friends or family to drop off anything you need or order supplies online, but make sure these are left outside your home for you to collect. Or someone’s elses property c260 miles away.

• Make sure that you keep in touch with friends and family over the phone or through social media. Also ensure you instruct the mainstream media and Government to cover for your illegal actions.

• Think about things you can do during your time at home, such as ‘what new fuck the poor Policies could we implement?’

Dominics Cumming is quite literally the nastiest Tory bastard imagineable. And it's a tough contest at that. That he is being sanctified and support by the Cabinet is a fucking disgrace.

Windpower

I was awoken this morning by the bastard cat at c04:20. Having sorted the cat, I poked my nose out and confirmed what I thought from the noise - despite the flat-calm perfect conditions when I went to bed an almighty hooley was blowing through earlier than forecast. I went back to bed and left the traps until gone 7am as I knew they were in shade and expected very little with the wind. I was wrong. The traps were both very busy, with moths and other stuff. I spent a good hour fannying about counting and potting the odd moth and poking the camera at anything that looked interesting. If I really had the inclination and time I could have potted loads of tiny flies, ichneumons and craneflies but, you know, I haven't.

For eg: x4 Ophion, x3 craneflies, other tiny bits

A tiny fly and another Psallus sp. that I ignored.

Some bits I pointed the camera at:

Cantharis rufa

I think another Psallus sp. - not sure

Philodromus dispar - male

Microchrysa polita again

Graphopsocus cruciatus

No idea wasp - but wing irridesence cool!

The rest of the day was bizarre weather for gone mid-May. Really strong blustery winds all day, and stong sunny spells mixed instantaneously with cloudy spells. I spent and our or so in the garden in the afternoon, and quickly ascertained that the only things I might be able to successfully point the camera at was diptera. And then the only successful shots were mainly of flies that were sat very low on a hard surface. Or hedgehog shit. These are for aesthetic purposes only.

I tried a couple of shots of flies on leaves a bit higher up, including this one ...

It looked vaguely interesting, but not sharply in focus. So I decided net and pot it and also netted a couple of other flies. This evening I've managed to get an ID from Chris Raper after posting some shots of it pinned. It's a tachinid, Epicampocera succincta.

The line of fine parafacial hairs between the eye and facial ridge are apparently key to separating Empicampocera spp. from Pales spp., and the black club-shaped palps are good for E. succincta. Excellent. I've got a couple of Sarcophagids pinned for another day too.