Spring ....

... has sprung at last. Just about. Really nice and sunny today, again, but without the biting wind and temps rose. Nipped into part of my patch this morning whilst out and picked up LRP in display-flight. Also picked up my first butterfly of the year with a smart male Brimstone flitting to and fro along the garden today, and a few more flies around as well but no bees as yet. One odd thing though is that I've only seen one Frog in the garden this year - a very large and fat individual which I presumed was a female. It was hiding in a hollow underneath my mothing slab back on 18th March, covered in leaf-litter (though it certainly wasn't there earlier in the winter). I was surprised to find it still there today - presume the local ponds are also free of frogs and spawn.

Found a Blackbird nesting in the garden today as well, and the Long-tailed Tits have finally paired off and broken up - I was still getting a feeding flock coming to the garden in the week which seemed very odd for late March / early April.

Last notable sighting was a Muntjac along the road-side in a nearby village tonight when I picked up Isabelle from work - first time I've seen one anywhere near to here and out of woodland.

Not Much

Haven't posted here for a while - mainly as I've had barely anything to post about. Cold, windy, busy etc. Moth trap hasn't been out since 5th March. Over the Easter weekend we went down to Devon where I fared a little better with new things, mainly lichens, but it was still very quiet as far as flying inverts go. I'll post a load of lichen stuff another day, but here's a few random shots.

Bracken Map - a common fungus on dead Bracken stems

Forked Veilwort - a liverwort

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage

A nice shot of the arse-end of a Coal Tit - it just wouldn't face the camera

Montagu's Stellate Barnacle

Black-footed Limpet

And a common maritime lichen, Collemopsidium sublitorale on Montagu's Stellate Barnacle

And while I think about it, found a few of these lizards around the hotel grounds during a business trip to Turkey earlier in March - I think it's Lebanon Lizard (Phoenicolacerta laevis)

Old Lady

I'm rearing a couple of Old Lady larvae on Ivy at the moment - seem to be doing okay with the biggest now about an inch and a half at full stretch.

Garden Moths 03/03/2013

Ran the actinic/CFL combo trap last night and managed more than one species for a change ... grabbed some quick snaps before work

0688  Agonopterix heracliana  1
1663  March Moth (Alsophila aescularia)  1 (NFY)
1934  Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)  2
2256  Satellite (Eupsilia transversa)  1 (NFY)

A few more bits

Before I post some photos from today, this news about the Orkney Walrus is exciting. Of course, Walrus has featured on this blog before. I'm sure there will be a lot of listers heading up to tick this bloated goofy blubber sack (the Walrus, not Dickson-Wright), which is preferable to the action of the finder who threw a stone at it to see if it was alive!

Had a bit of time in the garden after U12s football this morning, and a couple of hours in the square this afternoon. All very relaxing. Found some more new lichens, a couple of fungi and added some more inverts to the 1000 in 1kmsq list.

Eristalis tenax

Liocoris tripustulatus

Empoasca vitis

Agonopterix arenella

Scotohaeus blackwalli

Narycia duplicella

Phaonia tuguriorum - a slightly better photo than yesterday

Garden Bits

Ran the 80W/11W Actinic/CFL combo trap last night. It was looking distinctly empty around midnight but there was one moth in it this morning - a slightly tired looking Dotted Border.

Later this morning there was some nice bright sunshine which brought a bit of activity in the garden, with a few flies hanging around and a couple of other bits ....

7-Spot Ladybird

Nursery Web Spider

I potted up a springtail on Thursday late afternoon whilst out walking in my square, which looked a pale yellow and wasn't very hairy. I couldn't match it to anything in a Collembola key and left it in a pot with some moist soil for another day. When I looked again today I was surprised to find that it was no longer pale yellow and bald, but was now a dark grey, very hairy and clearly Pogonognathellus longicornis. I just hadn't thought about springtails moulting through instars which I presume is what happened. I'll try and get a photo tomorrow but I'm not having much success with springtail photos - here's a couple from the garden today (photographed on the underside of a lifted slab at a jaunty angle):

Orchesella villosa

Orchesella cincta