Not-mig

The first attempt included some basic errors: volume too low, pointed microphone south. So, a lot of Greylag, Curlew and Coot noises from The Shunan.

Second attempt: pointed the microphone north out the back of the house, increased the recording volume. So a lot of Curlew and Oystercatcher, quite a few Rooks and a fair bit of the cattle banging about in their shed.

However, I can get decent recordings. I think there may be a fair use in monitoring The Shunan and Bosquoy for interesting aquatic breeding birds, and Corncrake. Not much point in trying to get overhead migrants until the Oystercatchers and Curlew stop displaying.

We had a walk out to Breck Ness from the cemetery at Warbeth. 

Breck Ness House.

 On the way back we investigated a couple of trans-Atlantic pines. One of these was full of shipworm holes. The other was covered in Common Goose Barnacle

Trans-Atlantic tree.

The goose barnacles are the common one Lepas anatifera. But what I omitted to do was to search carefully for small crabs. The next big storm I'll be looking out for more trees. 

Lepas anatifera.

The holes are made by shipworm sp Teredinidae, these are bivalve molluscs and use their shells to bore the holes, impressive.

Also on the way back I noticed quite a few largish Staphylinid beetles on the beech. More careful observation revealed that there were hundreds, if not thousands of these. I grabbed a specimen. Back at the ranch, the usual issues with the Staph keys, which I haven't used for a while. Anyway with a bit of help I finally got there, thanks CW.

Cafius xantholoma.

 

The yellowish edge to the elytra is hard to see but the other features seem to add up to this species and the two confusion species are not so likely in Orkney.

A few other beetles this week as well. A major effort to sort out the Melinopterus (Aphodius) sphacelatus/prodromus issue, they are not easy. Anyway I collected a few and went back through a few older photos. I ought to dig out the specimens I've been sent (thanks LL) and photograph them with the new kit. I'm generally using the Olympus 5 with the new macro lens and quite often with extension tubes, the quality of image is much improved on the TG4 but there are still issues with keeping the kit rock-steady still.

These are all Melinopterus sphacelatus, honest.

 I managed to get some decent photos in the field today, having rescued one from a water trap, they are hard though (even LL thinks so).

I did find a very nice Aphodius pedellus when I was digging about in the poo to find the sphacs. This was new for the county when I found it a couple of years ago.

Aphodius pedellus, with friend (parasitic mite I think).

Also a bit of a tricky ID, you have to see the wee bumps at the tip of the elytra, not especially easy. In amongst the poo there was an interesting slug, Milax gagates. There were two juvvy ones.

Milax gagates, not an especially easy beast to find, I found one previously in the garden.

Being at Birsay I mooched about a bit more, turned a stone over and this was under it. I thought it was a leech at first but I was put right at Pan-listing, a flat worm. 

Microplana terrestris, thanks SG for the initial ID and everyone else there for their much appreciated help.

The beast created quite a thread on Pan-listing and I messed about with the photos a bit to try and get a definitive ID (if that is possible without the pocket barcoding kit). Anyway, I now have quite a few references on these not well known Platyhelminths. And I filled an ignorance gap. The only flatworm I was familiar with before was the NZ flatworm which is not uncommon in the fields around the house.

On the birding front the Pintail flock is still present if a tad reduced. It is wonderfully noisy late evening out in the garden and always worth a few minutes to soak up the Curlew, Oink, Rook, Lapwing, Wigeon, Teal, Coot chorus, even if that does put paid to the noc-mig for now.

The Rooks have had chicks in the nests since 14 April.

This week I have been listening to Floating Points, but mostly Le Volume Courbe. Much enjoyed Bark Psychosis and GAS as well, oh and some Jon Hopkins.

Recommending, Tim Harford's Cautionary Tales podcast.

Last night we watched Rocks, suggested by elder daughter. Superb performances from the young women who took all the main roles. Click the pic for Mark Kermode's review. Interestingly, according to MK, the film was made using methodology we have been developing at work, anti-heirarchical and collaborative, empowering young people.