It's been a great weekend weather-wise, with a good few insects finding their
way onto my square list.
I stuck out a pheromone lure in the garden yesterday afternoon (MOL lure for
Grapholita molesta). I was hoping that one of the Pammene sp. that are coming
to this lure would turn up, more in vain hope than expectation, but literally
within a minute of putting it out a small moth was flittering about the trap
before going in. I secured it in a pot and was pretty sure it was Pammene suspectana, with rapid confirmation from a FB posting. There are no previous VC55
records, although I've since picked up that Keith Tailby had a few to a lure
on Friday. I'll get it gen detted to support the record, but I have no doubts
personally. The weird thing about this though is that it turned up very
quickly, but I left the lure out and in the subsequent 24hrs it attracted one
aphid.
The garden trap has also livened up a bit, although overall numbers are still
low. There have been a few NFY species over the last three nights including
these:
Campion
Sandy Carpet
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Pale Tussock
Flame Shoulder
Today I grabbed a couple of hours in the square sweeping and swiping my nets.
I've ended up with a fair few pots to work through, and I grabbed some very
quick photos of a couple of beetles, with the first being a tick ....
Plateumaris sericea
Anthonomus pedicularius
Hylesinus varius
And always good to see a few of these whilst out and about ....
Wow. Almost two weeks to the day since I last did anything remotely like
enjoying natural history. Going back to work has been good for me, but tiring.
But that's not the main reason I've done nothing - it's just been such shite
weather that there has been no inspiration or desire to get out. The moth trap
has been dormant, and after a long spell of cold dry nights in April we've had
a long spell of damp windy nights in May.
Yesterday was the first glimmer of hope though. By the time I got home and
we'd eaten etc, it was looking like a really nice calm evening with low sun,
few clouds and no rain. I headed down the lane with nothing but my phone and
bins - I just wanted some fresh air and to take in the changes from my last
walk. Whilst the rains have been crap for doing anything, they've clearly been
good for vegetation. The strips that were mowed a couple of weeks ago are
already recovering, and the uncut strips are now absolutely bulging with
flowering cow parsley. Further into the square, alongside the main road, the
biggest accessible hawthorns are blooming. It all looks very promising for a
bit of effort over the bank holiday weekend when the forecast is much
improved. I fully intend to spend some hours beating, bashing, and sweeping
some inverts onto the square list. I will need to wash out the accumulated
pile of glass tubes and pots ready.
Although I wasn't equipped for it, a few additions were noted on the walk
including a couple of moths - Pammene rhediella and
Nematopogon swammerdammella, both caught by hand flying around hawthorn.
I also added a few more flowering plants, including
Changing Forget-me-not, Dove's-foot Crane's-bill and
Red Campion.
I ran the trap last night as it was forecast to stay dry (it almost did), but
the catch was still woeful for late May - singles of
Muslin Moth, Waved Umber, Green Carpet and
Garden Carpet. I can see up and down the country that catches are low;
the crazy spring weather patterns over the last few years are really starting
to show an effect.
This morning, after a pre-work GP appointment, as I nipped out to the bins in
the garden I noticed something on the fence. Wasn't expecting one of these to
turn up here so casually ....
Box Bug - a garden tick
I suppose it could have been attracted by the light trap, but it was a good
few hours after dawn and it was nowhere near the trap - more likely to have
flown in from the embankment. Incredible that the first VC55 record was in
2014, and it was local to one site for a couple of years before it started
popping up elsewhere. It is now pretty widespread and increasingly common in
the county.
A few weeks ago I collected a tenanted Taleporia tubulosa case from
Kinchley Lane alongside Swithland Res. I've never had much success with these
before, either no emergence or just a grubby female. At last I had a bit of
luck when this emerged on 12th May ....
I've run the garden trap a couple of times, but it's really not happening! Feels
like one of the worst spring periods I can remember, certainly for a few years.
I checked out a caddisfly from 9th May, and snapped a couple of NFY moths.
Limnephilus sparsus
Brindled Beauty
Silver Y
I recently got around to sorting out a vascular plant list for the garden,
which is almost certainly not complete but includes everything I can
attribute to a date/photo. I've added the paltry list to my Garden Lists
tab, and almost as soon as I'd done that I've found a couple of new plants
for the garden. We've completely let the garden go so far this spring, still
thinking it would be dug up soon only to find that the landscaper who let us
down last year has done it again - looking for a new one but there seems to
be a real issue with materials etc which is hampering efforts. I know we
should do it ourselves but I really haven't got the skills, energy or time
to do it justice. In the meantime, the lawn especially is popping up
wildflowers that have probably been there for years but never getting the
chance to get their heads above the mower. The two new species are
a Teasel growing next to the fence - likely from seed in
bird-droppings, and a few spikes of Common Mouse-ear in the lawn
(away from the Sticky Mouse-ear I found a couple of weeks ago that is more
prolific).
Teasel
Common Mouse-ear
Sticky Mouse-ear
Despite my inability to get my head around the Vegetative Key that I bought
early last year, I've gone and bought a similar key to grasses.
I gave it a whirl with some garden stems and got to Perennial Rye-grass, which
is probably right but I was far from confident. I think I need to try and work
through a couple of grasses that I know (or at least think I know) and take it
from there. Crucially, this key requires non-flowering stems (tillers).
I need to go back and have another look at the hawthorn galls in the week I
found as I may have cocked that up; there is a very similar fungal gall and
the aphids I saw may have been incidental (on the leaf, not inside the gall).
Remember me saying good things happen for LCFC when Selby wins the World
Championships? What a fantastic day out yesterday, almost like getting back to
normality and a massive personal boost on coping with life post-surgery.
Sealing the win and seeing the cup lifted by the Chairman Top Aiyawatt
Srivaddhanaprabha was emotional. A properly run Club with the fans and
community at the heart. Hopefully we can seal a Champions League place and
enjoy another European Tour next season ....
I headed out down the late yesterday afternoon, with butterfly net in hand, a
bag full of pots and camera, and a happy disposition. Occasional sun, light
breeze, Skylarks a-singing etc. I'd barely got more than a few meters onto the
actual lane when I could hear something mechanical approaching - and my fears
turned into reality minutes later as a tractor came past and then a couple of
minutes afterwards had turned around and headed back down the lane ....
What is it with the owners/custodians of rural lanes and highways, why do they
have to cut and mow at all let alone just as flowering plants are starting to
provide for increasing insect life and in turn the nesting birds. And aside from
that, why mow it just as I was heading down with my net ....
In the end, to be fair, the destruction was not quite as bad as it could have
been. Whoever it was driving that tractor-mower (and I don't think it was the
farmer as he carried on around other lanes in the square, so likely arranged
by the County Council as some unnecessary road-safety bollocks) they did not
cut the full width of the verge and they stepped the mowing from one side to
the other.
Despite this activity, I managed a decent haul of c30 additions for the
square yearlist including a handful of plants, 22 insects and a couple of
mines/galls. I also said hello to some recently introduced tenants in one of
the fields - potentially bringing in a few more insects later in the year.
Immediately in front of the gates holding back this raging hoard of
shite-covered menaces was a couple of plants close together that I was pleased
to see ....
One significantly bigger and better established than the other ....
Greater Celandine
Green Alkanet
Nearby, I found galls on hawthorn ....
Taphrina cataegi
Further down the lane I was more intent on netting stuff from umbelifers and
suchlike and ended up with a decent range of species. Later in the evening I
set about pinning the some of the Diptera and a few other bits. I clearly need
to take more care and time over this as I made a bit of a hash of one or two
of them with pins coming out under the scutellum. I should have got the
microscope out to see properly what I was doing but I was rushing. Anyway, it
was sufficient to get them identified ....
This shows the diptera I (badly) pinned, clockwise from top right:
Empis opaca, Melangyna lasiopthalma, Melanostoma mellinum, Platycheirus
albimanus, Eumerus funestralis
and - best of all - Phania funesta, a new fly for me.
That small Tachinid was only netted by chance, when I saw it saw on a Garlic
Mustard leaf it was sat with wings held out a bit like a Sepsis sp. It was
only when I peered into the glass tube with my eyeglass that I could see the
distinctive back-end bristles sticking out like a porcupine.
Otherwise I didn't point the camera at much whilst out, though this Cardinal
Beetle was still enough to invite an effort.
Not had much chance to do anything during the week for one reason or another,
and today it's turned properly wet (which is not a bad thing really). I have
mooched about in the garden on occasion though and found a couple of tiny
speedwells growing in the unkempt lawn.
First up this which is new for the garden (at least in the sense of me
noticing it!).
Numerous flowering spikes of Thyme-leaved Speedwell barely poking above
the level of the grass and clover leaves.
The other is not new, and is growing in the same area that I've seen it before
but it is very easy to completely overlook and I've not noticed it for a long
while. Most of the flowers were a bit faded and past their best, but there are
others to come.
Wall Speedwell
Finding both of these reminded me that I'd photographed a larger
Field-speedwell in the garden in April that I'd forgotten to check out.
The flowers seemed a bit paler and less blue than I usually see, but checking
the plant again this week the seed pods seem to confirm that it is just
Common Field-speedwell (which is also new for the garden).
Seeing as I was pointing the camera at small plants in the garden, I thought
I'd see if one of the smallest on the front driveway was flowering. It was.
Procumbent Pearlwort with pathetic tiny flowers
Also new to the garden this week; I was on the phone and staring out of the
windows when a Little Egret flew over heading south. A quick check with
Neil Hagley confirmed what I expected - he has seen them several times heading
over here! I think his home office view is pretty much looking west so he has
a better view of anything moving north-south or vice-versa. My office window
faces north-east with a big flowering cherry in the middle of the view, so
unless I'm actually stood at the window and looking out it is very easy to
miss something heading above the line of the embankment. Still, another garden
tick that had I been at work would never have been seen (like last years Hobby
and the Lesser Redpoll in April this year; Red Kite and Raven would also be
included had I not seen them several times since including over weekends).
There have been a few more hoverflies and bees in the garden, but it feels
nothing like last year when I was hand-catching inconspicuous ladybirds etc.
The heavy rains today and slight warming up over the next few days might
make a difference. What won't help is that the verges around parts of the
square were mowed yesterday, just when a load of grasses were starting to
flower!
My IV chemo treatment has been stopped early to avoid permanent issues with
hand and feet neuropathy, so the PICC line is coming out on Monday. The oral chemo will carry on for another three cycles but that's fine, no real side-effects from that. I expect
that next week will be my last working from home so I will be trying to make
the most of it. I've also got my first big 'test' of being away from home
for a longer period next Saturday, as I've successfully acquired a ticket
for the FA Cup final at Wembley. Will be very strange going back to a live
football match - can't think of a better occasion for it. Hopefully the team
will have woken up again by then ....
Selby won - excellent. I shouldn't get excited, but historically good things
have happened to LCFC in the same month that Selby has won the World
Championships ....
We've had some rain at last. More than enough last night to dampen the ground
and a few more heavy showers today. Not great for getting out and doing
anything but we certainly needed it and I think it will kick-start some activity once we get a warmer spell.
Time for to check out the various 2021 lists I'm keeping.
I've done a quick end of April comparison of the 2021 SP5595ish list vs the 2013list. The basic comparison is 368sp. vs 320sp., but going a
little deeper: of the 368 species listed so far, 100 were not recorded at all
in 2013 and of those 23 are complete ticks for me. That's pretty good going
given that I'm doing it in a very ad-hoc way around how I'm feeling physically
and the weather, although on the flip-side I was working full time without
hinderence in 2013 and had perhaps less time in the field. It also means that in 2013 I'd listed 52 species that I've
not as yet seen in 2021, but spring has been faltering here lately.
The 100 not recorded in 2013 breakdown as: Vascular Plants x21, Coleoptera
x18, Hemiptera x10, Fungi x9, Lepidoptera x8, Lichens x7, Birds x6, Diptera
x6, Arachnids x4, Hymenoptera x3, Mammals x2, Collembola x2, Bryophytes x2,
Psocoptera x1 and Algae x1. Given that the actual target for this year was to better my 2013 totals for plants (Vascular + Bryophytes), Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera I take this as showing potential though the next three months will be key.
The 23 ticks within that breakdown as: Coleoptera x6, Vascular Plants x4,
Hemiptera x4, Fungi x3, Diptera x2, Lichens x2, Collembola x1 and Arachnids
x1.
Here's the overall breakdown:
I expect numbers to rocket in May and June - assuming I can get out and make the
effort and the moth trap picks up. Flowering grasses will need some effort, as
will bashing hawthorn blossom and sweeping flowering umbelifers.
As for the various bird lists, a little more progress in April but not so much
in the square/garden. Of the ten species added to the overall 5MR list, only
two were in the garden (Blackcap and Lesser Redpoll), and two more in the
square but not the garden (Whitethroat, Swallow). Ring Ouzel, Wheatear,
Cetti's and Sedge Warblers and Linnet were added to the 5MR, but the patch
list has not increased much. It shouldn't take too much to add a handful in
May, as migrants have been a bit slow coming in. Only 28 species seen in all
areas within the overall 5MR seems very low; the garden is always going to be
the lowest list but there are only four more species seen in all areas except
the garden (Grey Heron, Cormorant, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Stock Dove)
which almost certainly says more about me not putting in much birding effort
than anything else.
A reminder that the 49 species in the square list includes all species seen
within the square and garden, rather than square or garden as below.
Another belated missive; I should've posted this on Friday evening or yesterday
but I've been distracted by televised snooker. How and why I've been distracted
by televised snooker is a mystery to me as much as anyone else. I suppose a
little bit of Leicester pride comes into it with willing Mark Selby into the
final. Anyway this TV post is not really about television ....
On Friday afternoon I finally managed to drag myself back out. I had no plan
other than to have a lengthy wander around the square looking at emergent
vegetation and anything that has come into flower. Crucially, I had no nets or
bins. Unlike many accomplished recorders and professional ecological
consultants, I can't be doing with carrying around a range of nets, trays,
sieves, beating sticks and possibly even vac blower. I can manage one net, or
tray/sieve, or vac blower. I also find that once I'm armed with something,
even bins, that becomes the primary focus of my attention and I quite probably
miss stuff flying overhead or flowering down below. So wandering around
'naked' every now and then is actually quite productive in some ways, and
certainly more relaxing. The only exception is that I do try and carry a
camera of some sorts - always something to point it at whatever I'm doing.
As I walked around I did indeed find a number of plants that I'd either
previously missed or could now identify, including Lilac, Elder, Winter-cress,
Hedge Mustard, Silverweed, Meadowsweet and hybrid Bluebells. There are plenty
of grasses not far off flowering, and I will certainly have to give them a go
in May.
I could post photos of flowers or plants, but instead I'll post photos of a
bonus tick leaf rust, Uromyces muscari (Bluebell Rust) - one I'd
been alerted to earlier in the year by Graham Calow.
Of course there were a few inverts too, including another new one for me - the
TV referenced in the post title. And for a fly it is one hell of a size,
albeit a bit leggy and incorrectly structured for a proper fly ....
Tipula vittata - I found a number of these loafing on Red Currant
leaves and a bridge wall immediately next to Whetstone Brook. I've quite
probably seen this before and either ignored it or forgotten to list.
I managed to snap another weirdly structured fly in flight with the TG-6 -
luck!
Baccha elongata
I also snapped a very compliant Orange-tip settled on a daffodil, a
10-Spot Ladybird nestled in oak buds and a
Red-green Carpet roosting on a sycamore ....
I need to enter some records from the walk and update my square list for
another post.
Yesterday was a bit cooler, and by later afternoon it was cloudy with
the odd spot of rain. Not that we've had much - barely enough to make anything
damp let alone the soaking we need. I found a very lethargic queen
Common Wasp in the shed ....
When I said this post wasn't really about television, I lied as blatantly as a
serving Prime Minister. My walks around the square inevitably reveal litter
and fly tipped waste, because in a modern society being a selfish wanker is
normal. I don't usually find tipped and trashed electrical goods though ....
I've probably posted this track before, but you know it fits and I like it so
I'll be a selfish wanker. Sue me.
