Literate herring, this way.: 78 days.

Saturday, 12 March 2022

78 days.

So I've been looking for new species for 78 days, since Xmas Eve 2021 and I have 55 in the bag with a few more pending. 310 to go. Two good - this is in the winter; only one new vascular plant in those. Two bad - that's 55 easy ones (on the whole); where am I going to get more easy hits? (Look in the fridge, there are quite a few tubes from the last couple of years with unidentified things in there.)

I have done this all going out on my own, well, Louise has helped and found a couple of things. The Field Club outings will likely be a way of adding more. Enlisting some help to find things... BH I'll be knocking on your door! Looking at beetles, which I really enjoy identifying, and Diptera which I find hard, but help is to hand. I've got some new pheromone traps and lures. I should put a permanent yellow water trap in the garden, the pony water added the Catops. Load up the lagomorph corpse lure and set the pitfall traps. Actually, I have a load of schemes, but further ideas gratefully received, except please don't tell me to look at grasses, they kind of do my head in! (I do know about twenty common species, after that they are hard.)

Aedegus - penis which should nail the ID.

Catops chrysomeloides one of my favourite newbies so far.

This has been a very, very smelly place to live recently. The farm put some piles of cow shit in the field next but one. When the wind wafted a gentle SE a few days ago, the sunny day, one of three this year when it was still and sunny; it was pretty strong. To be fair when it blew the following day they got on and spread it and then ploughed rapidly, it could have been worse, but it was mighty stinky.

Of course poo and ploughing bring gulls, hundreds of them. Unfortunately I failed to dig out a new patch tick. I had a possible Med Gull at dusk on Thursday but I just couldn't nail it. No pix, too dark.