I spent a couple of hours vigorously sweeping the (relatively) abundant
heathers and bilberry at Warren Hills yesterday in nice sunshine with with the
continual strong breeze that we've had for a week or so. My targets were
actually a couple of Coleophora spp.: I hoped to find the distinctive cases
of Coleophora pyrrhulipennella amongst the sweepings, and perhaps
something that looked in contention for the cases of Coleophora
juncicolella. No joy with either, which initially made it seem a bit of a
fruitless effort, but there were a few beetles and a couple of small vaguely
familiar tortrix moths. Turns out that this initial dismay quickly turned into
a major win once I checked out the IDs. I was also left wishing I'd brought
some clumps of heather and bilberry home for photographic props.
Firstly the tortrix: not the most spectacular thing, which reminded me of a
small Holly Tortrix. I retained one for a photo, and quickly ascertained it
was the closely related Rhopobota myrtillana. Brilliant; not only a new
moth for me but also effectively new to VC55 (VCH listed, so any records are
pre 1907 but there are no specimens so cannot be verified).
The only other Lepidopteran highlights were a Maiden's Blush disturbed from oak
and this early leafmine on the same tree ....
Acrocercops brongniardella
I've not seen an adult A. brongniardella for a number of years, so will try to
remember to look out for later developed mines to try and rear one through.
As for the beetles, aside from one obvious click beetle which I have seen
before (on Cairngorm!) three turned out to be new to me. First up, a weevil
from heather that has only x5 prior VC55 records, the most recent of those
being 1992. This is Strophosoma sus, subtly smart and boggly eyed ....
Also from heather were a couple of Lochmaea suturalis, and despite me
thinking I have seen it before it wasn't on my list.
The click beetle I'd seen before was Ctenicera cuprea, pretty smart
as clicks go.
Also from the heather and bilberry area was this
Eurygaster testudinaria - confirmed to species and as a female by
looking at the undercarriage.
Finally, from the same site but actually beaten from oak of all places was
this new to me click beetle ....
Prosternon tessellatum
The inadvertent beetle ticks didn't end there, as in the evening at home I
noted a bright green weevil sitting on the edge of a leaf on our small
ornamental red Acer sp. Once potted up and checked through Mark Gurney's
guides as a starter it soon came out to Polydrusus formosus, very
common but new to me and the garden. It started nibbling a birch leaf as I
tried to get snaps.
It started with a moth trap catch that on any other day would be a poor result, but when you step out the back door and immediately see a stonking Puss Moth on the patio then all is good. I took a quick phone snap and potted it for later. It's a male so no joy of rearing (for now).
After a bit of breakfast and sorting myself out, I headed out in the car for a day in the field. Which felt distinctly wierd, since the lockdwn the furthest I've driven was to the hospital and back a couple of times as our supermarkets are not too far away. I headed to Ketton Quarry where I expected to find more than enough open space to maintain social distancing whilst enjoying some entomology.
I managed to get around just about the whole reserve in three circuits with the car park providing a nice start-end point and coffee stop.
I'm not going to pretend that I was alone in sweet solitude though. I met Andy Neilson immediately on arrival, so nice to have a chat, and throughout my time there I saw a few couples and even three families. I've seen far more people there today than I think I have over all visits cumulatively in the last five years. Perhaps the lockdown has forced more locals, not just dogwalkers, to have a better look around their own areas? Still, there was more than enough space to create masses of free-space and I still saw less people than I have on every walk out of the estate in the last few weeks.
With strong sunshine in the morning and odd cloudy spells in the afternoon, it was one of those days where there was so much going on it was easy to actually miss more than see. I didn't know whether to sweep, swish or just point the camera, and more often than not whatever I chose was the wrong option for that insect. But I managed to see a lot of stuff, far more than I've potted or photographed (which gives me an idea for a future posting about recording).
I deliberately limited what came home at I've got more than enough to keep me busy, but I'll share a mixed bag starting with this ....
Recognise it? No, neither did I other than it was a butterfly. I saw two, both were wandering swiftly across pathways and neither would sit for a photo so I bunged them inside the sweep net to get a shot for later ID. Nearly spluttered my coffee when browsing the new book I quickly worked out that this is Dark Green Fritillary. No way! Wish I'd made more effort on the photo.
Another crap by necessity photo was this unexpected beast ...
Oiceoptoma thoracicum
I noticed it crawling up a grass stem and looking like it might fly as I got the camera ready. And it did fly, but luckily I was ready with the net. I grabbed this shot, let it out onto the path for another photo and it immediately starting a stuttering scuttle before flying off again, so this ended up being the best shot. I've only seen one before, and this is my first in VC55.
I saw a lot of stuff that either wouldn't sit or no point netting, like both Dingy and Grizzled Skippers, Green Tiger Beetle, Burnet Companion, Pancalia leuwenhoekella, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Leucozona leucorum, Centrosus corntus, Scarce Fungus Beetle Again, Common Lizard, Cuckoo ....
Other stuff that I did point the camera at, but nice to see again, included:
Cardinal Beetle - we'll be sick of them in a week or so, like the cantharids ...
Eurygaster testudinaria - the best shieldbug seen today, but not the best bug as I have a Denticulated Leatherbug to try and photograph.
Large Red Damselfly
Azure Damselfly
Swollen-thighed Beetle - love these
Best hoverfly was this, one of two seen ..
Chrysotoxum cautum
And the thing that put the biggest smile on my face was seeing hundreds of these glistening like little jewels on almost every yellow flower ..
