VC First

Turns out that the Cicones undatus I posted yesterday is a VC55 first. Seems to be a previously rare beetle that is now quickly spreading northwards (for a small beetle).

I ran both garden traps last night which boosted the numbers a little, but overall catch was pretty good at 60 of 10sp. Diurnea fagella, Dark Chestnut, Hebrew Character and (best of all) Pale Pinion all new for the year.

Pale Pinion

March Moth

Croft Hill

Today was gloriously sunny, but with family chores and kids football I wasn't able to capitalise fully. The garden trap provided the first decent catch on Saturday night, and I noted a few bits in the garden late morning (first Brimstone, Small Torts and Peacock). Later this afternoon though I was free and I headed over to Croft Hill to have a mooch about. Not a cloud in the sky, and by that time it was a superb late teens temperature.

Croft Hill is a big hill overlooking a big hole

Looking north towards Huncote Embankment

I spent some time searching tree trunks and fence posts, and I managed to find a fair few inverts tempted out by the warmth, including two new beetles and a new bug for me (though I haven't managed to photograph them all yet).

Cicones undatus - a new one for me

This is a gall wasp - one to try and key through on a rainy day

Forest Bug nymph

Common Footman - found two larvae grazing on algae

Loads of 7-Spot Ladybirds about

Couldn't get a clear shot of this Tree Bumblebee - it flew off after I tried to manipulate it

Lots of flies sunning themselves on trees and fences, like this Calliphora vicina

Can't beat a bit of flowering Gorse to brighten any huge man-made hole

Here's a couple from the moth trap last night:

Grey Shoulder-knot

Clouded Drab

It's that time again ...

.... the only time in the year when common spring noctuids are actually a bit exciting to find in the trap ....

Common Quaker

Blogger Screwed My Images

I've noted before that Blogger seems to be compressing images, depsite the fact that I've previously edited in Photoshop and used the web optimisation to ensure file sizes are moderate. Usually the compression is not massive and barely noticeable, but a couple of the images on my last post in particular have been completely screwed. Just done a bit of research and think I have a couple of workarounds, through ironically it will mean larger file sizes being uploaded.

All of the following are the same photo saved from Photoshop in different formats.

Web optimised .jpg image (my usual method), then made to look shite by blogger compression

Standard .jpg saved at max quality with no optimisation, and then compressed by blogger

Saved as web-optmised .gif file, which blogger can't compress too much

Saved as web-optimised .png file, which blogger can't compress at all

Looks like the last three versions are all pretty similar, but I'm going to start saving my files in different formats and checking which works best going forward. Fundamentally I don't want my images compressed so likely to go with .gif or .png versions.

Spring Begins

Just lately I've been ridiculously busy and pressured at work, so with the first signs of moderate weather I was more than pleased to get out and about for some fresh air over the weekend. A quick walk down the lane into my square on Saturday afternoon after working, and a couple of hours at Narborough Bog on Sunday morning. Even managed to find a few bits to point the camera at (and a couple of beetles that came home in pots to be keyed through under the microscope).

From Saturday ..

Acericerus vittifrons

Coral Spot

Large Yellow Underwing - found under a discarded welly

... and from Sunday morning ...

Scarlet Elfcup

Black Witches Butter

and this slime mould is probably Metatrichia floriformis

I keyed out a couple of small carabid beetles fro Narborough Bog to be Pterostichus minor and Agonum gracile, neither spectacular looking or paticularly photogenic but both fit in well with the habitat and VC55 records.

The Next Tort?

I like torts. My current garden list features 6032 records of 15380 individuals of 99 species of tortricidae (although Light Brown Apple Moth alone accounts for 1072 recs of 5868 inds). I had four new torts in 2013; Cydia ulicetana was the 96th species and a knackered Agapeta zoegana was the 99th, the other two were .....

Cherry Bark Moth (No. 97)

Gypsonoma oppressana (No. 98)

I am very hopeful that the 100th will grace my garden in 2014 - but which species will it be? I've had a bit of a look at the gaps and think that the following ten species are contenders, though some are more likely than others.

925	Phtheochroa rugosana
965	Cochylis hybridella
974	Argyrotaenia ljungiana
1024	Cnephasia incertana
1051	Acleris logiana
1061	Acleris literana
1144	Epinotia signatana
1177	Epiblema rosaecolana
1207a	Gravitarmata margarotana
1234	Pammene regiana

Acleris logiana and Epinotia signatana are very recent colonists that have popped up close by, the latter being one I added to the VC55 list in 2010. Gravitarmata margarotana is even more recent - both to Britain in 2011 and VC55 in 2013 (from not too far away, one I indentified) - but has all the marks of a fast coloniser and is a good outside possibility. Cnephasia incertana probably does occur, I just need to make the effort to pick a good pale one out for gen det, and Pammene regiana is perhaps the most likely on paper as there is plenty of Sycamore close by. Of the others, Argyrotaenia ljungiana is one that I expect will turn up in VC55 soon and it would be good if it was my garden first.

Predicting species that may turn up in your garden is almost impossible really, and I would not be at all surprised if the 100th tort was a complete unexpected outsider.