The Drain

I've had a great day out, on me todd, complete peace and solitude for a good few hours. I had thought about heading out to the North Norfolk coast, but baulked at the idea when it came to actually getting in the car and driving there. So I made an on-the-spot snap decision at 7am this morning to instead head for Woodwalton Fen. I had no plan, no gen and no expectations - I just remembered the site being diverse, and wanted to get away to somewhere different for a change. Perhaps if I'd had more of a plan, I would have got there quicker - the in car twat-nav does not update itself and a key part of the A14 doesn't seem to exist on the map anymore, so having missed a turning I ended up arriving via Godmanchester and Huntingdon. For a small posh-sounding towns the circuitous route and multitude of roadworks made that part of the country instantly disagreeable!

I was still there in good time though, and had no constraints on time spent there. The limiting factor was likely to be my lack of fluids and pack-up. There were a few cars lined up alongside the drain, one each for the four fishermen sporting their rods and keep-nets. As soon as I stepped out I remembered the footbridge to get across to the reserve entrance.

Although I expected no-one on site, I knew that it would be massively frowned upon if I happily sauntered around thrashing everything with a sweep net or dipping every drain with my pond net. I knew that without these, and being alone, the experience was going to be very different to the last time I was here on a PSL meet-up. But the point of the visit was not to tear around finding new stuff, I just wanted to enjoy the site and point the camera at whatever came my way.

What did come my way, almost immediately, was a memory of some particular amphibious plants. I found them easily, although remembering what exactly they were was not so easy.

Frogbit

Greater Bladderwort

I also remembered that last time we'd come across some ridiculous plant with huge flowers that had spread around the reserve after being introduced near to Rothschild's Bungalow. I found them in different spots.

Yellow Oxeye [Telekia speciosa]

A couple of other plants, of many noted today:

Yellow Loosestrife

Marsh Sow-thistle

Whilst the reserve has plenty of habitat, one of the key areas of interest today was the bare wood on various bridges and walkways across the drains. Wooden fences are always good for loafing insects on overcast days. Today there were a few - not all loafing, some were very busy.

German Wasp

Ruddy Darter

Dark Bush-cricket

Red Underwing

I had a good long walk around before heading back to the car to finish a flask of coffee and grab a sandwich, and then headed out in the other direction. The varied habitats all provided something of interest.

Some of the bits I pointed the camera at, in no particular order.

Short-winged Conehead

Xylota segnis

Alder Moth - superb final instar

Lariniodes cornutus

Parent Bug - one of c20 on the same bit of alder

Curculio ribidus

Birch Shieldbug

Delphax pulchellus - macropterous male

Birch Catkin Bug

Cryptocephalus pusillus

New inverts

Spent most of this morning identifying and photographing various inverts from the yesterday and the mothing trip on Wednesday night. Here's a selection of the highlights:

Enochrus melanocephalus

This one came to MV light at Fosse Meadows on 06/08/2014. Not sure of the VC55 status at the moment.

Curculio rubidus

This one is from Newfield Colliery yesterday, and having seen one at Woodwalton Fen last weekend it was fresh in the mind. Again not sure of VC55 status.

Mogulones geographicus

This is the one swept from Vipers Bugloss at Ketton Quarry, the only VC55 site for it.

Stictopleurus punctatonervosus

Appears this one has been spreading. The shape of that black line on the pronotum is diagnostic.

A Lot of Fen

This weekend was another pan-species listing gathering, this time over at Woodwalton Fen arranged in fine style by Jonathan Newman. All the ingredients were there for a top weekend; a brilliant site with potential for some really interesting stuff, and a group of great naturalists with a range of expertise meaning that overall we saw a lot of stuff, and a lot of it was new for me. An excellent weekend all round I reckon, as aside from the sweeping, dipping, turning, beating and checking we had a good laugh too. A lot of leg-work though and not much sleep for me as I ran a few traps overnight and was up at the crack of dawn to go through them, so I was completely knackered when I got home yesterday and crashed out for a few hours. It'll take me a couple of days to get all the IDs sorted and stuff into MapMate, but I managed to photograph a few bits - here's selection of stonking beetles.

Diaperis boleti - this one feeds inside Birch Polypore

Musk Beetle (Aromia moschata) - this is a mega beetle, and bloody big too!

Tansy Beetle (Chrysolina graminis)

Superb rare beetle, should be on Tansy in Yorkshire so how on Water Mint at Woodwalton?

Curculio rubidus - Notable B weevil that found me rather than the other way around

Nanophyes marmoratus - really smart tiny weevil from Purple Loostrife