Windpower

I was awoken this morning by the bastard cat at c04:20. Having sorted the cat, I poked my nose out and confirmed what I thought from the noise - despite the flat-calm perfect conditions when I went to bed an almighty hooley was blowing through earlier than forecast. I went back to bed and left the traps until gone 7am as I knew they were in shade and expected very little with the wind. I was wrong. The traps were both very busy, with moths and other stuff. I spent a good hour fannying about counting and potting the odd moth and poking the camera at anything that looked interesting. If I really had the inclination and time I could have potted loads of tiny flies, ichneumons and craneflies but, you know, I haven't.

For eg: x4 Ophion, x3 craneflies, other tiny bits

A tiny fly and another Psallus sp. that I ignored.

Some bits I pointed the camera at:

Cantharis rufa

I think another Psallus sp. - not sure

Philodromus dispar - male

Microchrysa polita again

Graphopsocus cruciatus

No idea wasp - but wing irridesence cool!

The rest of the day was bizarre weather for gone mid-May. Really strong blustery winds all day, and stong sunny spells mixed instantaneously with cloudy spells. I spent and our or so in the garden in the afternoon, and quickly ascertained that the only things I might be able to successfully point the camera at was diptera. And then the only successful shots were mainly of flies that were sat very low on a hard surface. Or hedgehog shit. These are for aesthetic purposes only.

I tried a couple of shots of flies on leaves a bit higher up, including this one ...

It looked vaguely interesting, but not sharply in focus. So I decided net and pot it and also netted a couple of other flies. This evening I've managed to get an ID from Chris Raper after posting some shots of it pinned. It's a tachinid, Epicampocera succincta.

The line of fine parafacial hairs between the eye and facial ridge are apparently key to separating Empicampocera spp. from Pales spp., and the black club-shaped palps are good for E. succincta. Excellent. I've got a couple of Sarcophagids pinned for another day too.

Get Up Get Off

Another day, another (lucky) tick. Been busy doing prep work for redecorating the hallway and landing today, but I enjoyed a spot of lunch in the garden and whilst mooching around looking at a generally quiet and barren space, I noticed one small fly that I recognised. I grabbed camera to have a play, fired off some shots and this evening when reviewing them I've realised that it's not what I thought it was ...

Microchrysa flavicornis turns up in the garden trap quite often, but the above hasn't got any yellow in the antenna and is a little darker in the thorax as it is Microchrysa polita (Black-horned Gem). A new soldierfly for me that might have gone unnoticed if wasn't such a quiet day otherwise.

Apparently from tomorrow I will be able to legitimately bugger off to Ketton Quarry etc, on me todd, to enjoy time out in decent habitat beating the living daylights out of hawthorn, sweeping vegetation and generally enjoying the natural world whilst socially isolating. Which is pretty much a blissful scenario for me anyway, and I can easily manage a minimum 200 meter people-radius at most of the sites I enjoy. People are of course fully entitled and able to ignore any easing of measures and stay at home by choice, but either way I fully expect that hoards of beach-goers and groups of friends meeting up in large public parks for picnics will soon have us back in a more restrictive lockdown. Hopefully I will get a chance to get up and get off out for a day in the field before then. Quite whether furtive moth trapping in woodland is allowed I'm not sure .....