Trust Me, I Know What I'm Doing ....

 .... or not! I've had a couple of moments of doubt in the last 24hrs.

Firstly, a Carabid that I found lurking under a pile of stones in a damp copse with loads of leaf litter. It immediately looked Calathus-ish, and I keyed it through to Calathus fuscipes which I'd not seen before. But when checking on-line images for this species, I wondered if I'd missed something or gone wrong. Whilst everything seemed to fit the main characters, there was one nagging doubt. Every key I checked referred to strongly punctured pronotal fovae, and I wasn't entirely convinced that mine was that obviously or strongly punctured. I gave up any hope of getting photos of it alive and set about carding it and getting some better efforts with it permanently still. A quick check with Graham Finch via e-mail, and an open question on Facebook, and consensus is that I was right all along.

The other moment came about with the Norellia spinipes that I'd pinned and keyed using a Scathophagidae key that I found online (Ball, 2014 v4.1). It keyed too easily, and I wondered if it was actually to early for this species. Maybe I'd jumped in at Scathophagidae incorrectly. Another Facebook question was quickly answered - ID correct, apparently they overwinter as adults and can appear at any time when daffs are in bloom.

I've been out and about today sorting a couple of bits for my Mum, so not in the square or looking at anything in particular. Which is a bit of shame as today has been gloriously sunny and warm .... and tonight is predictably clear and cold with a big bright moon.

Full Moon 1 - Moth Trap 0 ?

It's just a full moon - no wanky nickname required depending on the month etc.