Late October Geos

Here's a couple from the garden traps this week, starting with a very welcome one ....

Mottled Umber

Only the second for the garden, first was back in Jan 2011

Feathered Thorn

Juniper Carpet

This last one usually signifies that the end is nigh for me - I'll keep trying but there will be a few blanks coming up now. Always a chance that I could still see Scarce Umber, Sprawler, December Moth, Chestnut and maybe something unexpected.

Island Hoppers

Whenever I'm away on a family holiday or working abroad, I try to catch a few incidental bits with the camera. Here's a few from Zante last week ..... and you can take the IDs with a pinch of salt as all are best guesses following a bit of internet trawling. Except the last couple!

Calliptamus barbarus

Blue-winged Grasshopper (Oedipoda caerulescens)

Mediterranean Slant-faced Grasshopper (Acrida ungarica)

Red-winged Grasshopper (Oedipoda germanica)

Egyptian Grasshopper (Anacridium aegyptium)

Balkan Wall Lizard (Podarcis tauricus)

Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica)

Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta)

Another Loggerhead Turtle ... honestly!

Praying

Ok, I'm in Zante on holiday but thought I'd make use of the excellent free Wi-fi over a late afternoon beer to share some straight-off-the-phone shots. Using my phone to post aswell so all a bit experimental for me.

Some sort of Praying Mantis on a window frame at breakfast this morning.

Marathonisi - also known as 'Turtle Island'.

Actually this is a pain in the arse for someone who is analy retentive about layout etc. I'll wait till I get home for more.

Dark Chestnut

Here's one that I missed earlier in the year when I wasn't bothering to run a moth trap. Although having said that, my garden records show that spring individuals are few and far between and the majority I've had are in the autumn - fresh individuals before hibernation.

Dark Chestnut

End of Season

The moth trap is still going out occasionally, and there are still a few species that could/should appear, but we are definitely heading fast towards the end of season. I always reckon that when I start seeing Juniper Carpet there is not much garden mothing left to do - and I reckon that will appear any time soon. I'll keep on going though, apart from next week when I'll be lapping up late season sun in Zante.

Here's a couple from the end of September ....

Common Marbled Carpet

Swallow-tailed Moth

This is the first second-brood individual for the garden since 2011.

And three from last night ...

Red-green Carpet

Green-brindled Crescent

November Moth agg.

All the garden individuals I've ever had detted have been November Moth, and there is nothing about this one to make me feel inclined to get it checked out. November Moth = fat lady warming up vocal chords.

A Man Eater

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)

Had another go today at looking for Fly Agaric. We've got our nephews up with us this weekend, so I only had a short slot in the early afternoon whilst the kids were all at the cinema. I headed over to Martinshaw Wood this time, but after strolling around the paths and going off-piste there was no sign of anything resembling red balls on white sticks. I did find a few bits, including these two:

Presumed Orange Peel Fungus (Aleuria aurantia)

No idea - on birch

I decided to leave Martinshaw Wood and head up towards the Charnwood area again, maybe having a quick look at Beacon Hill or somewhere similar. I took the obvious route from Groby along the road to Newtown Linford. Bugger me, as I turned the last corner before reaching the Newtown Linford junction - there bold as brass on a roadside mound were several bright red fungi. I managed to park up alongside the verge and fill me boots, and it was a lot easier than trudging around dark woodland! There were young and old specimens pretty much going through the full spectrum of maturity from spherical to flattened to upturned. I grabbed shots of a few, except the very old virtually unrecogniseable ones.

This one was on the same mound, and there were others that may have been the same but completely gone over.

Brown Birch Bolete (Leccinum scabrum)

And growing on one of the birches on the mound was this.

Hoof Fungus (Fomes fomentarius)

Overdue - Pearly Underwing

With a flurry of Scarce Bordered Straws and a good few Dark Sword-grass already this autumn, I really did think we were in for a decent migrant year here in Leics. Well, if it was it certainly didn't happen for me. I guess there is still a chance, but looks like I'm going to be waiting another year for my first garden Gem, Small Mottled Willow and Convolvulous Hawk, or my second garden records of Vestal, Bordered Straw and this one - Pearly Underwing.

Pearly Underwing - 10th September 2006

Of the all the migrants I'm hoping for, this one really should be turning up more than it does. Certainly not an uncommon migrant further south.