PGW & Garden Inverts

A bit of a catch up before I head off to Devon over the next few days. I was intending to post yesterday but I was too sun, beer and BBQ addled to bother.

On Friday I headed over to what is probably the best bit of woodland we have in VC55, Pickworth Great Wood. It was very warm and the sun was shining constantly, with only the slightest breeze. Perfect conditions.

My only plan was to waft around the Emperor Moth lure again. And yet again, I failed. I've now lost count of the number of sites and attempts I've made with the EMP lure now, and this year it's a new lure so I can't blame that. Maybe I'm not giving it long enough. My frustration was compounded by learning that Adrian Russell had success with his lure at Clipsham Park Wood yesterday, which is close enough to PGW that it really should be there too.

Here's three views from the shooting tower at SK9785814803.

Whilst stood here taking these snaps, I noticed a moth flittering about on the ground. A quick swish of the net and I had it contained and transferred it to a pot. It was one of the orange underwings, and given that it had been recorded and photographed here in late March I assumed it was Orange Underwing. However there is both birch and aspen at this woodland, and it is now mid-April after a cool spell earlier in the month. I decided to try and get shots of the hindwing to check later just in case, and I also got a shot of the moth on the ground before it escaped. I noticed it wasn't quite as well marked as I usually see them at Kinchley Lane, but put it down to wear. However checking the photos and comparing to various on-line resources and books I have just about convinced myself that this is actually a female Light Orange Underwing.

The key is that the dark outer marginal band on the hindwing is unbroken. On Orange Underwing this has an orange block breaking the band. As I walked along the main track I saw at least ten more, though most were fleeting views as they flew up from the ground and no others were netted.

Here are three views from the main intersection in the rides at SK9805814817.

Whilst walking around, there was plenty of birdsong though the main ornithological interest was Ravens cronking overhead, Buzzards mewing and Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming. There were a few inverts to keep me entertained too, including these:

Peritrechus lundii

Dermestes murinus - funky both ways up

Field Damsel Bug (Nabis ferus)

The garden has been providing a few bits as well. This one literally landed on my neck whilst out there in the sunshine. I felt the movement and plucked it off, saw it was a small beetle and potted it for checking. Turned out to be a new one for me.

Acupalpus meridianus

This one was nestled up on an eggtray in the moth trap, which is a garden tick.

Vincenzellus ruficollis

Otherwise there have been a few more NFY moths turning up.

Least Black Arches

Oak-tree Pug

Croft Hill 13/04/2014

I nipped over to Croft Hill for a couple of hours late yesterday afternoon to enjoy the last of the warm sunshine. Turned out to be pretty productive with a couple of PSL ticks and one pending ID. The visit was also notable for a couple of things present en masse.

Firstly there are lots of dry open patches, quite likely caused by rabbits, plus dry well-walked paths. It was immediately noticeable that these areas were very busy with these ...

Ashy Mining Bee - male

Ashy Mining Bee - female

These bees were absolutely everywhere on site, 100s of them. Lots of interraction between individuals, a lot of it appearing to be aggressive behaviour, and small nesting holes were all over the place.

Typical area used by nesting Ashy Mining Bees

There were odd individuals of other solitary bee spp. around, including Early Mining Bee, but most noticeable were several Nomada spp. I've kept one to check out (and so far can't resolve it with either of the keys I've acquired) but Nomada lathburiana has to be a strong contended as it is the cleptoparasite of Ashy Mining Bee.

Nomada sp. - male

The other notable massed presence was around the oaks, with loads of these flying about or settled on trunks and fallen logs ...

Eriocrania subpurpurella

Pair in-cop

It always interesting when you look at something you've looked at 100s times before and see something new. Whilst browsing around the gorse bushes looking for Gorse Shieldbug (which I didn't find) I noticed a tiny weevil, only c2mm long. Further searching revealed that there were quite a few of them around, generally perched on the flowers and probing in. It is Exapion ulicis - a common weevil associated with gorse. How have I not seen it before?

Also new for me was this groundbug, which was a completely lucky find as it happened to crawl into view whilst I was watching the bees coming and going. Turns out to be scarce in VC55, the county recorder has no previous records but there appear to be a couple of dots on the NBN Gateway maps for Rutland.

Peritrechus lundii

I also found a couple of other beetles, Bembidion quadrimaculatum and this Badister bullatus ...

... and finally, the whole site was awash with Spring Beauty again.