Sunday, May 19, 2013

Shotesham TM2499: moving up a gear

Well, I'm fed up waiting for spring to warm up. No more excuses, time to get to work properly. So I've put in a bit of effort this week and have been rewarded by another 57 on the clock, bringing my total to a very pleasing 550 - I had initially hoped for 500 by end of May but looks like 600 is well within reach. Still lots of very common things that I still haven't got. Surely Common Wasp must be about by now?! There's also about a ton of what I think is Water-cress in all the ditches of the common but I'm hanging on for flowers and fruits cos I'm such a feeble botanist. Anyway, here we go again....

Late additions
494 - Ptychoptera lacustris - a dark cranefly with a reddish abdomen tip, initially swept from Juncus on 14th April but only just plucked up courage to try some craneflies. Not as scary as expected either...
495 - Macrophyum punctumalbum - a stunning looking sawfly, caught on 6th May and identified now. Might be a good record, or maybe there's just not many sawflies on the NBN maps?
496 - Lasius fuliginosus - the Jet Ant, found by Tom for me on an oak trunk on 6th May, keys quite easily.
497 - Stylops melittae - prize for the weirdest creature of the week, this is a parasitic insect that lives up a bee's arse. I was trying to identify the bee (not got there yet) when I noticed this thing sticking out of the back end. A bit of research, plus advice on Facebook esp from Richard Comont, shows that this is the only option. Cool (but creepy). Bee was initially caught on 10th May.
498 - Nomada flava - female keyed, with help and advice from Tim Strudwick.

Monday 13th May
499 - Neoascia meticulosa - tiny hoverfly in garden
500 - Glyphipterix simpliciella - the Cocksfoot Moth, netted in garden
501 - Dryad's Saddle - a huge bracket fungus on a fallen ash tree, must have just popped out recently.

Tuesday 14th May
502 - Sedge Warbler - singing male one morning by the common - always a transient species here so pleasing to get.
503 - Beris clavipes - the Scarce Orange Legionnaire, a smart soldierfly of wet places (proved to be common here throughout the week)
504 - Swift - one shot across house at dusk and was my 500th at the time, although I subsequently identified some earlier things.

Wednesday 15th May
505 - Field Bindweed - in garden flowerbed
506 - Sargus iridatus - the Iridescent Centurion, great name for a smart soldierfly.
507 - Limonia nigropunctata - cranefly with reddish body, swept from beech hedge in garden.
508 - Garden Carpet - moth trap
509 - Angle Shades - moth trap
510 - Iron Prominent - moth trap

Thursday 16th May
511 - White Campion - in flower, not very common around here
512 - Glyphipterix fuscoviridella - a common micro-moth around Field Wood-rush albeit easy to overlook.
513 - Cockchafer - first appearance in moth-trap (numbers rising to 18 by end of the week!)
514 - Tipula oleracea - large grey cranefly in moth-trap
515 - Garden Pebble - moth trap
516 - Pebble Hook-tip - moth trap
517 - Cabbage Moth - moth trap
518 - The Nutmeg - moth trap

Friday 17th May
519 - Yellow Iris - finally ticked the leaves coming up all over, albeit not in flower yet
520 - Phyllonorycter harrisella - micromoth netted below oak
521 - Phyllonorycter quercifoliella - micromoth netted below oak
522 - Stenodema laevigata - long green mirid bug swept from grass
523 - Orthops campestris  - shorter oval green bug swept from grass
524 - Smooth Sow-thistle - leaves only
525 - White Willow - big old tree near house, finally got some leaves for me to check and confirm.

Saturday 18th May
526 - Anthophila fabriciana - the Nettle-tap Moth, just one so far but generally very common
527 - Micropterix calthella - typical spring emergence of these tiny moths feeding in buttercup heads
528 - Sphaerophoria scripta - common hoverfly
529 - Sphaerophoria taeniata - a new hoverfly for me, male netted and identified on gen det. Looks like it occurs in the Broads but pretty scarce in East Anglia, probably one of the best finds of the year so far in the square.
530 - Rhagio scolopaceus - the Downlooker Snipefly, on tree trunks and fence posts.
531 - Coreus marginatus  - the Dock Bug, several on low vegetation
532 - Cheilosia albitarsis - several of this black hoverfly on buttercup heads
533 - Bog Stitchwort - on the wetter parts of the common, now in flower
534 - Common Spotted Orchid - leaves only
535 - Charlock - couple of plants in a field margin, not something I'm all that familiar with so pleased to suss this out.
536 - Meadow Buttercup
537 - Heart and Dart - moth trap

Sunday 19th May
538 - Lesser Burdock - hollow stems; Norfolk flora says that minus and not nemorosum is the common one throughout the county, but I'll check the flower heads in due course when they open.
539 - 14-spot Ladybird
540 - Greater Celandine
541 - Gorse - amazingly, I'd managed to overlook this until now. Thought it was absent from the square but found a tiny patch of very dry ground which had about five small straggly bushes! Result.
542 - Red Campion - with the gorse!
543 - Star of Bethlehem - naturalised plants coming up on edge of the common.
544 - Blue-tailed Damselfly - freshly emerged one by stream
545 - Small Copper - nice to get another new butterfly, only one this week
546 - Dwarf Mallow - on my front verge
547 - Adela rufimitrella - one in my garden, unusually on forget-me-not but near some Garlic Mustard
548 - Celery-leaved Buttercup - wet area on common
549 - Wild Clary - on sunny bank near village church, comes up here every year.
550 - Hedgerow Cranesbill - on verge near the house, in flower.

Also LOTS more things in pots but time as ever is the limiting factor. Plenty to work on though and will hopefully report back next week. And that moth-trap's on again...

Scarce Orange Legionnaire Beris clavipes - seems pretty common here


Unidentified Andrena bee plus Stylops melittae sticking out of its rear end (penultimate abdominal segment anyway). Yuk.

That's a bit more like it...

Privet Sawfly Macrophya punctumalbum - I think so at least, other opinions welcome

Downlooker Snipefly - does what it says on the tin (apart from the snipe bit)

Wild Clary with a view of a bit of the square.


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