Yesterday, early afternoon, and I drew a deck chair up by our bird feeders and sat there. Cup of coffee (yes, I've started drinking coffee again, but decaff') by my side, Em-5 Mk11 with the generally maligned, but I think it is a fabulous lens, Olympus 75-300 attached. The mission was to photograph Bank Vole Myodes glareolus, a very small mammal.
I'm an opportunist photographer usually. I rarely plan what I'm going to shoot, just have the gear with me most of the time and photograph what I come across. But getting pix of small mammals nearly always does require some planning. In this case the planning has been easy. The Bank Voles have been very active by the bird feeders for at least the last week and the bird feeders are in view from the kitchen table. Observations have taken place every lunch time. Initially the voles were running across from the other side of the gate to grab the sunflower seeds. More recently they have established a base on the feeder side of the gate and are stashing seeds away inside the wall. Through watching over several lunchtimes I'd discovered which were their favoured stashing places and their routes too and fro.
I hoped my presence much closer to the wall, with the inevitably accompanying hound, would not put the voles off, after all Louise mowing the lawn the other day had not seemed to bother them. I need not have worried.
It was relatively easy to get shots of the voles leaving the hole in the wall, much more tricky capturing them as they arrived.
Myodes glareolus Bank Vole.
Whilst sat there the birds were relatively undisturbed as well and I took a few shots of a few species.
I'm working away at my Big List, my Pan-species List. Birders famously have lists, for twitchers the target used to be 400, to join the 400 Club, I believe the stakes are higher these days. In my more birdy days my bird self-found list was the big deal, and the target was 300. My birding self-found list is 286, I must sort out the Bean Goose on the list, and Bubo listing is weird about Fea's Petrel which I've found twice (because it can't be split from two other species in the field, however, Bubo allows all sorts of crazy botanical hybrids and unidentifiable other stuff, but I'll get on to that later) - you can tell I'm kind of grumpy about the Fea's thing! The last addition to the list was Eye-browed Thrush which I found in our Orkney garden about a year ago now.
I do rather like a list. At our new home in Perthshire I have a patch and so a patch birding list, currently a quite respectable 76 since mid-May. I have a garden pan-species list, only things I categorise as wild are included, it stands at 376, but I've a few outstanding things to add, Pied Wagtail on the roof of the house the other day for instance (not bad for a tennis court sized garden). However, the big deal is my full UK (actually Scotland, Wales and England) pan-species list. I'm busy trying to get this list up-to-date,from past records on iRecord, as well as adding new stuff.
Dicranopalpus ramosus, on the wall of the house.
The above Opilione is nearly the latest find. You'll probably have seen these on the wall of your house, or garage. Pretty distinctive things, except they're not. In 2015 it was discovered that there are two quite similar looking Dicranopalpus species in the UK. There are no obvious ID criteria for this species online, (there is an otherwise excellent interactive Field Studies Council key to Opiliones here - https://harvestmen.fscbiodiversity.uk/ ) instead you have to search out the 2015 paper by Hay Wijnhoven & Carlos E. Prieto 2015 (DICRANOPALPUS CAUDATUS DRESCO, 1948: NOT A SYNONYM OF DICRANOPALPUS RAMOSUS SIMON, 1909 BUT A VALID SPECIES AFTER ALL and use the illustrations and information within to make the identification. This involves euthanising the specimen and dissecting it.
Dicranopalpus ramosus, close up of body, alive.
Apophysis of the pedipalp, in the female, which this is, Apophysis is just a tad shorter than the tibia.
Base of the femur of the pedipalp. This apophysis is longer and slightly curved in D. ramosus.
Pedipalp claw, the "teeth" are longer and more even in D. ramosus.
The text of the paper is a tad confusing, however, the illustrations are wonderfully clear. Personally, I suspect this is all a bit of a fuss, because in life D. caudatus is considerably smaller than D. ramosus I believe, and a bit of a different shape. Things are now slightly more confused as a third Dicranopalpus species has been found in the UK, however, apparently that does look distinctly different and it's not just down to size, it would be easily recognisable in the field. All three species are adventives, they've arrived in UK by some sort of human agency, spiders seem to be especially good at that trick.
I've just found Pseudeuophrys lanigeraagainthis is a fairly recent arrival in the UK also, 1930s I think.
Pseudeuophrys lanigera, a spider that is identifiable in the field, unfortunately this one didn't survive capture.
The BBC 4 documentary, The Magic of Mushrooms is well worth a watch. There are a lot of fungi here in Perthshire. I've just added all my fungi so far to my P-S list. I've been trying to identify the fungi I've found and not having a book I've used AI and web resources. The book arrived this week so I will go through and check anything I think is dodgy. The AI is a useful learning tool, I use Obsidentify initially, then check images online and with the Danish picture AI tool. I'm just beginning to get the hang of some families and genera. Fungi are a bit of a nightmare as regards what is and what is not a species and I'm sure I will need to adjust my list from these early ID attempts as I learn more about the pitfalls. In addition, I've had some somewhat "over-enthusiastic verification" occur, with some revision by an expert human of AI identifications. On further checking with other humans the AI got these correctly in the first place and they were not species new or very, very rare in the UK (this did not occur on iRecord, I hasten to add).
Mucidula mucida, Porcelain Fungus, a very beautiful small thing when fresh.
Obsidentify thought these were Leotia lubrica Jellybaby, they were re-identified by a human as a species unknown in the UK, but further research suggests that these are probably better described as Leotia lubrica senso lato (a species complex, and therefore not tickable for PSL, although they are currently listed there as a single species.)
Anyway, I rather liked these Angel Wings.
Pleurocybella porrigens Angel Wings.
I've added all my fungi to my PSL list today, it's not a huge number, but I've probably doubled the total in the last month or so. The new book, I bought the Collins Fungi Guide will help sort a few things out, but a compound microscope is a tool I need if I'm going to do these properly.
It is a great site for us listers, and I'm only a bit grumpy - I'm not allowed Feral Cat as well as Fea's Petrel by the list. You can make up your own rules really - I include dead things if I find them myself, but I don't include unoccupied leafmines and galls, I have to actually see the beastie, not just its signs. I try to be consistent across orders, so I would not include hybrid plants, as I don't include hybrid Tufted Duck as something separate, for example. I mostly don't include species groups, and do try to get to species senso stricto, but as noted above this is not always clear; taxonomy is never fixed. My current list total is 1,806 species, I've probably got a few hundred things to add from iRecord, maybe not that many. I suspect my actual list total is about 2,000 species, so a bit of a low lister really!
Water is an issue in the community we've moved to. Much of the village, more than 180 homes and businesses, are susceptible to flooding from the combined force of three rivers, River Earn, Water of Ruchill and the River Lednock. Next month work will begin on a £27 million scheme to build barriers to protect the village. We are fortunate in that where we are we have a very small risk from standing water. In Scotland you can see the risk from the excellent SEPA flood maps. Whilst the scheme is not ideally what you would want, and perhaps a more natural environment for these rivers in their upland sources would mitigate the issues somewhat, the climate emergency appears to have brought a change in rainfall patterns, sudden very heavy inundations have become not infrequent at any time of year. When the Romans built their camp on the site, not far from where the majority of the houses in the village now stand, flooding would most likely have been a most unlikely event, now, for many houses in the village it is a 10% risk annually.
Much of the area to the south of the River Earn is at risk, that's most of the housing.
Anyway, online I found the EIA report and it makes quite interesting reading. Confirming my three bat identifications and indicating that there is certainly one other species present, as I've suspected, but most likely two.
I'm still exploring the patch, the small lochan behind the house, in the woods, is a bit tricky/sensitive to access apparently. It does rather feel as if you are in a neighbour's garden. However, recently, I found some more water. There's an abandoned fish farm and I've slowly realised there are a number of pools. Access is not especially easy, it's all rather over-grown. Anyway, I've added two species, Little Grebe and Mute Swan, and found Moorhen and Reed Bunting, species seen once and infrequently respectively elsewhere on the patch.
Mute Swan. The day I saw this I also added Pink-footed Goose to the patch list, over-flying migrants.
A bit of a poke around in the sunshine and I found four species of Odonata, there's potential for several more. Indeed, the occasional predatory beast has hurtled through the garden, but not stopped long enough for an ID.
Black Darter, above. Also present, Common Blue Damsel, Emerald Damsel, Common Darter.
I think the site will be most interesting in the spring, it has the potential for a decent inland find or two. Grasshopper Warbler, and Sedge and Reed Warblers will be on my watch list, but it is the most likely spot for something a tad more exciting. A Great Reed Warbler would be nice, a Marsh Warbler would be appreciated.
I went to a meeting about the flood protection scheme, a sort of roaming discussion. This occurred at the Community Woodland and we wandered about and talked water. We ended up just off the site at a Beaver dam. It was too dark to see by then but the this afternoon Louise and I went back. No Beaver seen but the dam is quite impressive.
The dam.
Leaves from a partly felled Aspen on the water.
The moth trapping went through a dead patch, warm days but clear nights with a large Moon. There were very few moths, both in numbers and species, however, I did continue to add at least one lifer a time. two of the new moths have been long sort and imagined; Frosted Orange and Merveille du Jour.
Frosted Orange.
Merveille du Jour
I've caught three Copper Underwing agg. The first one escaped before I could look at it properly and foolishly I took photos and let the next two go. I'd not really grasped the criteria for separating the two species and whilst I thought the photos would be good enough I suspect they will be inadequate. To be certain of the ID I need to dissect one I think. I've caught Copper Underwing before in Yorkshire, I dissected it. However, here in Perthshire I suspect these will be Svensson's Copper Underwing, however, I need to prove that. The next one is for the chop!
Copper Underwing agg, probably Svensson's, but not certainly.
And here's my attempt to differentiate... I can't see any orange in the underwing, let alone the extent of it.
Copper Underwing agg.
The colour of the palps is supposed to be an ok criteria on fresh specimens, unfortunately I didn't know that this morning.
I've been finding various other bits and bats of stuff. A fair number of larvae, particularly of sawflies, but the occasional caterpillar as well.
I thought this was Nematinus fuscipennis, but the thinking now is that it may be a Rhogogaster species. (thanks AG).
And here's a nice caterpillar, Scalloped Hazel.
Scalloped Hazel.
I've also been trying to identify fungi, but I'll save them for another post.
I casually asked about vismig during an online chat with an old friend (I mean a friend for a long time... oh, but actually we are "getting on"! Sorry NC.) This led to some coincidences, the national co-ordinator for Trekellen used to live here, viewed this house to buy (I'm glad they didn't), and it seems I'm now taking over their vismig patch, which apparently can be rather good. Being a bit of a patch watcher, I'm keen to incorporate the vismig into patch activity, but this might mean not using the best vismig place in the glen. A couple of attempts, one from a walk up the road produced a good few hirundines, and from Comrie Community Woodland (my other patch), in rubbish conditions, indicated its potential. I will go and inspect the "best" place though as well, although I'm more keen to watch from the CCW and add to that patch totals. It produced some House Martins, Meadow Pipits and Grey Wagtail, it also has useful seating. Whilst not birding that much anymore, I'm surprisingly keen to do the vismig, not very good at early starts nowadays! However, I'm quite excited, and waiting for decent conditions to give it a go. Interesting really, as I didn't even go to look for waders at Tentsmuir the other day.
During the investigative vismig visit to CCW I did a bit of hunting around as well, my focus was on willow, Salix this time (Betula, last time). I found a few things.
It was a bit early and cool for most insects on a misty still morning but I found two nice caterpillars and the beating tray added a few things.
Drinker.
Iron Prominent.
Melanapion minimum, if correct will be the most northerly record in the UK. Actually, Perapioncurtirostre (thanks MG and CW). No tooth on the claws, and some differences with the stria and it looks more hairy. As the beast is 2mm long, seeing a tooth on the claw was "challenging", but I really believe there is not one.
I've been to Tentsmuir NNR just once before, in a February 18 months or so ago (see the blog post). At the time I was struck by what an interesting place it is. There was an opportunity this week to head back there, I didn't take much persuading.
As this is a National Nature Reserve I couldn't take specimens so this is all down to hunting with the camera. I was thinking that the plantations would be pretty good for fungi, and my previous experience suggested that the dunes would be good for all sorts of things. In the end I barely visited the trees as the dune system took up all my time.
I'd borrowed an extra powerpack to keep the phone charged, as Obsidentify can gobble the juice, I'm not capable of identifying fungi without the AI giving me a lead, at least, as I don't understand fungal taxonomy, except in the most basic sense.
When visiting a site of this quality I'm always struck by just how quickly interesting and varied things can be found. So a small willow, Salix sp gained my attention and within a few minutes I'd found a sawfly larva, some interesting looking craneflies and some leafmines.
Of course a few hours in the field always results in many hours back at the ranch sorting and processing the photographs and trying to get identifications for everything I'd photographed. Obsidentify is a great help with fungi, at least it gets me heading in the correct direction, and there were plenty of fungi in the dunes. However, the AI isn't always much good with larvae, identifying the sawfly larva as Emerald Damselfly!
This sawfly was one of two larvae I found during the day. Additionally, I tried to turn a Lepidoptera larva into a Symphyta. It was strange why this occurred, but I think I just expected the beast to be a sawfly. Fortunately I was put right online (slightly embarrassing) but a reminder to take my time and check and recheck identifications, even at the earliest stage, assigning the beast to the correct Order (sub-order) will help the ID process magically!!
In the first couple of hours, before lunch, I managed five new fungi ticks, four vascular plants, a spider, two caddis and two sawflies. Additionally, there was an interesting hoverfly, three species of moth, via larvae, and an opportunity to look at and photograph a number of other things of interest.
Tentsmuir is a very civilised place to visit, there are toilets and a food takeaway of some quality. I do wish people would respect the place a wee bit better, there's a lot of dog shit, and quite a bit of small rubbish. However, the school party who were visiting, it looked like an ecology field trip, were exemplary. And thank you to the students who recovered Louise's fleece top and ran after her to return it.
There's a lot to do after a trip like that. The spider turned out to be a very interesting species - Arctosa perita, and one of the sawflies is potentially new to Scotland, (potentially, 2nd UK record), however, it would be a long journey to prove that and get the record fully verified I suspect.
What do I do after a full day like that? Put the light traps out of course! The lights went out the following evening, and today has been spent photographing and identifying all of those species. After a bit of a slow run with moths things picked up with the temperature rising and two new species for me were trapped, Brindled Green and a very nice Devon Carpet, which I think is new for VC88. There's also at least one new bug Scobpostethus decoratus, and another I need to look at, a sawfly adult, some caddis and some beetles.
This evening I added Cormorant to the patch and garden list as we were eating tea, it flew over the house. Then younger daughter and I were distracted by bats. I think that the high flying small bats are the Soprano Pipistrelles, which I have recorded here. This evening they were much too high for the detector, there must have been at least fifteen in view from the garden. Common Pips were also wizzing around. But at tree top height there was something larger and slower flying, unfortunately it was too far away for the detector. We then walked down to the bridge to see and hear the Daubenton's Bats, always entertaining. On the way back we heard Tawny Owls, and then had very good views of the Barn Owl that was also added to the patch list recently. A Roe buck crossed the road and jumped the wall in front of us.
A recent addition to the garden list has been another mammal. Brief inconclusive views led to deployment of the camera trap, and Bank Vole was proven.
Ignore the data strip on the video, the date, time and temperature are well off.
Graphomya maculata, initial ID by Obsidentify, confirmed by IA (thank you).
However, we can all recognise this plant as Hedge Bindweed, Calystegia sepium, but for Obsidentify it was White Campion Silene latifolia, at 100% confidence.
Hedge Bindweed, it is; it really is not White Campion.
I use Obsidentify quite a lot. I'm not a good botanist and I usually (!) find it quite accurate for flowering plants. It is very good at macro-moths, surprisingly good at Diptera, very helpful with fungi and it can be surprisingly accurate with sawflies and bugs. But, and here's the thing, I always check the answer it gives, either with a book, a key, or with the appropriate expert online. With fungi, I often check Obsidentify with the Danish online AI tool (Obsidentify tends to give rather "simplistic" answers with fungi, try it, you'll see what I mean).
I am quite surprised that more folk don't use AI to at least get a general idea of what they are looking at. There are many requests for ID help in Facebook groups, particularly for macro-moths, where the AI tool would have got the answer. The Android tool Lens is good at garden plants, and pretty good at wild plants, but I don't especially like the way it provides output. Obsidentify provides very clear output, even if it is at times incorrect. I think these tools will only improve over time, however, I don't see them replacing books, keys and experts in the near future because they are only as good as the photo they are presented with for analysis. Obsidentify quite often has difficulty with scale, so it can struggle with trees and with mosses (it had a period of identifying most mosses as "Daffodil").
Eutomostethus luteiventris, identified initially at 100% by Obsidentify.
Sawflies Symphyta can be tricky to identify. The keys are not especially easy and whilst there is available literature these are not the most accessible of beasts. I've identified a couple recently by employing Obsidentify and then going to the key. The above beast was put under the microscope, partially dissected, and keyed out. The answer was as I had been told by the AI initially. But, this species does have consistent abdominal markings that are distinctive, I just didn't know that, so the AI saved me many hours of ploughing through the key from the very beginning.
Female, Eutomostethus luteiventris, males are unknown in UK.
I should have run this hoverfly through AI.
Syrphus sp, a female, but I identified this as Eupeodes corollae :-( thank you RM for putting me right).
In my (feeble) defense, I am out of practice with hovers. But given this photo Obsidentify called it Syrphus vitripennis with 84% certainty. Actually, this is either S. vitripennis or S. torvus as it is a female and the hind femur is mostly dark, excluding S. ribesii. Microscopic examination of the eyes and wings are required to split female S. vitripennis and S. torvus.
Here's a female S. ribesii (which I got correctly) on the same clump of Knapweed Centaurea nigra.
Syrphus ribesii, female.
I photographed the hovers at Comrie Community Woodland, where I was supposed to be engaged in tree care, but got distracted. (I did find some small Oaks that required a bit of vegetation suppression, but spent most of my time photographing bumblebees and hovers.)
Here's my favourite hover from the session, Chrysotoxum bininctum.
I'm gradually working on my Pan-species Lists, entering on the new(ish) website. I spent a happy hour or so yesterday entering all the Diptera that I've ever recorded on iRecord. That exercise pushed me to 1,560 species. Beetles will be my next job, although lots of them are already on the list. During this activity, using the handy "Target Species" tool I found I'd missed Buff-bellied Pipit from my bird list, I will add that shortly. I've still quite a number of species to add, I would guess my total is likely to be around 1,800 species, but it could well be more. The list for the new garden now stands at 336 species, and whilst out at the Community Woodland I dipped Red Squirrel which scampered through the gate and across the back grass, darn! (I have seen one from the house, but not actually in the garden).
Here are some new moths, some not fully checked yet so please let me know if I've got any wrong.
August September Thorn, I think, correction, if necessary, much appreciated. Corrected, thanks KH. I subsequently ran this through Obsidentify - 100% September Thorn!
Crescent I thought, and Obsidentify agreed.
I'm quite surprised I've not seen Crescent before, and I could have overlooked it in the past as it does occur in Orkney.
Barred Chestnut
Beech-green Carpet
Bulrush Wainscot
The Barred Chestnut is thanks to Obsidentify, I was passing it off as Ingrailed Clay, but fortunately I checked it with the AI.
