TQ6410: Endless summer ....

Another enjoyable month of warm - or even hot - sunny weather has flown by since my last post yet I’m still a little way off joining those exclusive ‘1KSQ-ists’ in front of me (as opposed to us remaining ‘1KSQ-ers’ lagging behind). But progress has been steady throughout August and I’m reasonably confident I’ll be pretty close by the end of this month. Moths, hoverflies, nondescript flies and unexciting flora are still keeping the total ticking over and I’ve finally found a few more smallish invertebrates without really trying too hard. 'Tricky' ground beetles seem to keep deliberately avoiding me (thankfully!), as opposed to house spiders which are getting bigger every day here in the workshop (a.k.a. my seasonal abode) in TQ6410. Sooner or later I’m going to end up swallowing one of these eight-legged monstrosities when I’ve dozed off. Meanwhile, I’ve recently had another minor blitz around the square including the Herstmonceux Castle grounds – for missing plants mostly – but these are becoming ever harder to find now the summer’s almost over (although blue skies and hot weather are still the order of the day here in early Sep). A lot of grass-cutting’s also in progress away from the plot - and the neighbouring farmland’s just been totally zapped, if the brown, rolling, former grazing fields just to the north of my plot are anything to go by. My local farmer has also drained and re-graded the damp part of the field by the little ditch nearby – so no more Snipe or Green Sandpiper this winter - in common with the grubbed-out Nightingale scrub to the south of the Castle which disappeared earlier in the year. He’s even filled in a section of watery ditch (and piped the little stream) where it does a 90degree westward turn …. all to make life easier for his intensive, non-organic dairy herd. I reckon my five acre plot now has about x100 the number of species to be found in the several hundred acres of wildlife-devoid farmland next door. Farmers are supposedly our guardians/custodians of vast tracts of countryside but wildlife conservation and species preservation come a pretty poor ‘last’ in the litres per metre mentality elsewhere in TQ6410.

Farmland, bridleway and little ditch just to the north of the plot - species-devoid for a while yet ....

9th Aug – around the plot and in the moth-trap:
855 - Wood Brome Bromus ramosus … another woodland grass along the shady bridleway through the plot
856 - Cochylis atricapitana (micro-moth) … in the trap from the other night and ID’d via photo in egg-box
857 - Lime-speck Pug Eupithecia centaureata

11th Aug - moth-trap:
858 - Scarce Footman Eilema complana (above)
859 - Copper Underwing Amphipyra pyramidea checked the underwing/hindwing for confirmation …. though with great difficulty. Might have to opt for local anaesthetic next time ….
860 - Rosy Rustic Hydraecia micacea
861 - Dingy Footman Eilema griseola
862 - Agriphila tristella (micro-moth)
863 - Agriphila straminella (micro-moth)
864 - Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella (micro-moth)

12th Aug - around the plot:
865 - Weasel Mustela nivalis twice ran across the grassy area between wild flower bank and plant benching (and disappeared into rubble under benching). Still no hedgehog though ….
866 - Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperla carnea

13th Aug - Around the plot and moth-trap:
867 - Vestal Cuckoo Bee Bombus vestalis

868 - Sulphur polypore Laetiporus sulphurous …. an alien-like face at one end of the old oak log seat ..... and looking into the workshop! Another massive sulphur polypore (above) has taken over the other end of the old oak log in the past week or so. If it carries on at this rate it’ll soon be taking over the workshop too ....
869 - Club-horned Sawfly Abia sericea  photo’d back in early June but overlooked until I also found a larva (now just pupated) on Devil’s Bit Scabious
870 - Hypsopygia glaucinalis (micro-moth)
871 - Oak Hook-tip Watsonalla binaria
872 - Bryotropha senectella (micro-moth)
873 - Diamond-back Marble Eudemis profundana (micro-moth)
874 - Lychnis Hadena bicruris 

17th Aug - Around the plot:
875 - Harvestman Leiobunum rotundum
876 - Hoverfly Chrysotoxum bicinctum (above)
877 - Hoverfly Eupeodes latifasciatus



878 - Coppery Longhorn Nemophora cupriacella (above)  quite a rarity here in East Sussex or just under-recorded? Confirmed via my photo by the County moth recorder, Colin Pratt.

18th Aug - around the plot:
879 - Harvestman Mitopus morio
880 - Hoverfly Eristalis arbustorum

881 - Thick-headed fly Physocephala rufipes (above) basking on Devil’s Bit Scabious late afternoon
882 - Hoverfly Eristalinus sepulchralis

19th Aug - around the square and plot (quite a bit along the shaded bridleway around the Castle grounds):
883 - Marsh Cudweed Gnaphalium uliginosum
884 - Prickly Lettuce Lactuca serriola
885 - Wood Meadow Grass Poa nemoralis
886 - Wood False-brome Brachypodium sylvaticum
887 - Great Burdoch Arctium lappa
888 - Bur-reed Sparganium erectum
889 - Smooth Hawk’s-beard Crepis capillaris
890 - Violet Bramble Rust Phragmidium violaceum
891 - Autumn Hawkbit Scorzoneroides autumnalis
892 - Wood Groundsel Senecio sylvaticus 

893 - Speckled Bush Cricket Leptophyes punctatissima (above) on Redshank along the wet woodland edge
894 - Fly Phaonia angelicae basking on Fleabane
895 - Spotted Cranefly Nephrotoma appendiculata

21st Aug - moth-trap:
896 - Canary-shouldered Thorn Ennomos alniaria
897 - Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes (and a couple more on 1st Sep)
898 - Anania crocealis (micro-moth)

23rd Aug - Around the square and plot:
899 - Black Horehound Ballota nigra a small, smelly clump in the corner of the field by the church

900 - Brassica Shield-bug Eurydema oleracea (above) on the same Spear Thistle as the beetle below

901 - Four-banded Longhorn beetle Leptura quadrifasciata (above) ditto with the Shield Bug
902 - Spotted Longhorn beetle Rutpela maculate on Angelica flowers along with a good selection of hoverflies …
903 - Thick-legged Hoverfly Syritta pipiens on Fleabane after double-checking some recent photos
904 - Patchwork Leaf-Cutter Bee Megachile centuncularis
905 - Rhyacionia pinicolana (micro-moth)
906 - Acleris laterana (micro-moth)
907 - Sand Wasp Ectemnius continuus on Hogweed at the plot
908 - Digger Wasp Ectemnius cephalotes on Angelica by the wet woodland edge
909 - Corn Chamomile Anthemis arvensis along the arable field edge
910 - Lesser Reedmace Typha angustifolia in the ditch just S. of the Castle

25th- 26thAug - Around the plot:
911 - Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana  (micro-moth)
912 - Hoverfly Eristalis nemorum
913 - Celypha lacunana (micro-moth)

914 - Bug Corizus hyoscyami (above)
915 - Svensson’s Copper Underwing Amphipyra berbera scurried out of some empty plant pots in the barn. Checked underwing copper shading and forewing uneven zig-zag band.

28th Aug - Herstmonceux Castle grounds:
916 - Perennial Sow-thistle Sonchus arvensis
917 - Common Earthball Scleroderma citrinum Autumn fungi time? Photo’d several others to ID ….
918 - London Plane Platanus acerifolia

30th/31st Aug - moth trap: best night for some considerable time for new species ….
919 - Dusky Thorn Ennomos fuscantaria
920 - Elbow-striped Grass-veneer Agriphila geniculea (micro-moth)
921 - Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis corylana (micro-moth)
922 - Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa
923 - Tabby Knot-horn Euzophera pinguis (micro-moth)

924 - Purple Bar Cosmorhoe ocellata
925 - Least Yellow Underwing Noctua interjecta
926 - White Plume Moth Pterophorus pentadactyla
927 - Strawberry Tortrix Acleris comariana
928 - Sharp-angled Peacock Macaria alternata

929 - Feathered Gothic Tholera decimalis (above)  Different sizes but assume male and female?
930 - Maiden’s Blush Cyclophora punctaria
931 - White Point Mythimna albipuncta
932 - Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata

933 - Webb’s Wainscot Archanara sparganii (above) a bit pinker in the photo than it actually was. Caught it over a week ago but pondered over the ID for a while .... confirmation?

1st - 2nd Sep - around the plot: 
934 - Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi (above) biggest one yet … low down in the little wild flower bank. Lock up your cats, dogs and small kids ....
935 - Giant House Spider Tegenaria duellica (ID assumed by SE location) prowling around my workshop office. Eviction notices have been served ....
936 - Tachinid fly Dexiosoma caninum on stinging nettle at the plot
937 - Field Bindweed Convolvulus arvensis further along the arable field edge (and amazingly not on my list)
938 - Harvestman Phalangium opilio doing a runner across the grassy, flowery, lower meadow

 So on a minor roll to 938 species .... just 62 to go!