Bugs and Buds

I've finally managed to crack a couple of hemipteran puzzlers that I've been mulling over all week. Both were swept and potted at Ketton Quarry on Monday, and both popped their clogs in respective pots before I could even attempt a photo. Luckily there were both big enough that they were not going to shrivel away to nothing in a couple of days. It's not often now that I find a bug and can't resolve it having gone through the British Bugs galleries, but both of these stubbornly refused to be identified until I had a lucky moment last night and a eureka moment this evening.

First up, this dark Mirid with bright red cuneus, bright green underneath and (although they fell off) longish 'Phytocoris like' hind legs. I could not pick out anything similar in the British Bugs galleries, then last night whilst flicking through Facebook I noticed a photo of the exact same bug on the UK Hemiptera group. Here's a lazy photo of my dead hind-legless bug ....

It's a male Closterotomus trivialis, which currently isn't featured on the British Bugs gallery. It was added to the British list as recently as 2008, when adults were found on a small number of cultivated Hypericum plants in a north London garden. They still don't seem to have spread; the NBN atlas maps is pretty devoid of dots - except there is one for Leics., a 2018 record from a garden. It must be spreading, and whilst info seems a bit sparse I wonder if the abundance of native Hypericum spp. at Ketton Quarry is relevant. Needless to say, it's a new one for me.

The other bug that has been bugging me is this; a smallish, entirely all dark and quite hairy thing ....

Earlier this evening I had one more trawl through British Bugs and realised why I was missing it: this is a macropterous form of Orthocephalus coriaceus, a widespread but local bug of grasslands. No VC55 dots on the NBN maps, and no previous records as far as I can tell. And again, new for me.

Great stuff. I seem to be quite lucky lately in that although I'm limiting the number of specimens collected to check out quite a good percentage of them have been new for me and significant for VC55.

Here's a few flower buds from the same visit to fill the page a bit ...

Yellow Bird's-nest

Deadly Nightshade

Hedge Woundwort

Bladder Campion

Common Spotted Orchid

And because I can, another Stenurella melanura - Ketton Quarry seems to be a good site for this longhorn in VC55 .....

Botanical Jaunt

Freshly back from Scotland, and with the day looking pretty good weatherwise, I was keen to get out for a bit more R&R on Sunday before going back to work today. I'd read a blog post on Saturday about a small reserve not too far from Ketton Quarry, over the border into Cambs. - Barnack Hills and Holes. An orchid tick was on the cards, and the reserve sounded pretty good generally so I headed out there. Have to say it is a brilliant reserve - I was a bit focussed on the flora and didn't take any general shots of the site but I will definitely be going back another day. A good aspect of the reserve is that there are areas roped off and marked out to ensure that the key flowering species are reasonably protected by keeping people on the main tracks.

Main priority was this ...

Man Orchid

A cracking orchid, quite a few spikes found both inside and out of the roped off areas though not as numerous as the Fragrant Orchids on show ...

Fragrant Orchid

The other good flower at this site was pretty much over - lots of seedheads visible and the place must look brilliant at the peak flowering time ...

Pasque Flower seedhead

There were a handful of flowers just about hanging on, but having spent a fair while looking for them I then completely screwed up the photo as I had left the camera on wrong settings. So here's an out of focus effort - I'll be going back there next year for a proper look!

On the way back into VC55 I stopped off at another reserve, one that I've been meaning to visit for some time, Bedford Purlieus. What I wasn't expecting was to bump into another good orchid, though not a new one for me.

Fly Orchid

I found nine spikes in all, though there could well be a few more hidden away. I subsequently found out that this is known from the reserve though it sounds like they are quite often missed. Also there was an altogether more common orchid ..

Common Spotted Orchid

Another great reserve that I'll be going back to. Aside from the orchids and Pasque Flower, I swept and potted a few inverts from both sites and also grabbed a few more floral photos so a few bits to go at after I've sorted out the highlands stuff.