Soggy.

Rainy day so I'm identifying things.

Yesterday I spent a large part of the day sploshing around in water. A number of conversations were held ankle-deep. The mission was to find the elusive Hydrothassa hannoveriana - accomplished, but no thanks to me, BR found one lurking on its favoured Marsh Marigold. And to introduce people to each other and discuss the beetles, Pelophila borealis was also on the agenda, as was Chrysolina intermedia (latecincta); the later is a designated Species on the Edge; see below.

Not a very good photo of Hydrothassa hannoveriana, better ones are here - https://literateherringthisway.blogspot.com/2022/05/co-operation.html

This was a Species on the Edge outing - https://www.nature.scot/doc/species-edge-project-area-summaries and although this species and the nearby Pelophila borealis is also not on the list of target species it is a species of interest in the wider context of this initiative. As discussed on the Today programme this morning on Radio 4 in the context of Beaver introductions into the UK, there is a need for not just watching our wildlife on TV (the Excellent Wild Isles, the "Watch" series etc) but doing stuff, promoting its importance, and getting people engaged - especially engaging younger people. Thus the ankle-deep field meeting. Coincidentally, and to the point, Orkney Native Wildlife Project was also present at the same site working with SURC (Scotland's Rural College) and students - good to meet you NL and thanks again for your help and encouragement with the camera trapping.

I failed to find Pelophila borealis to show to everyone, but did turn one up later whilst walking the dog. 

A very bad photo of Pelophila borealis.

 

As usual along the shore there were tons of Paranchus albipes and I also found a couple of Pterostichus nigrita/rhaeticus. A Bembidion scuttled away too quickly.

Paranchus albipes, very common along the shore.

Water crickets are hard to photograph. They're not crickets but Heteroptera, bugs. Velia caprai is the species I frequently find, in the burn by The Shunan for example, and until 1951 was thought to be the only UK species. I've been looking for the other species for a few years but identification difficulties and having the animals still enough to capture or to photograph has been an impediment to success. Turning over a stone in the search for the Pelophila a cricket revealed itself and I took a few pix, with low expectations despite this being exactly the correct habo.

Velia saulii, a female.

However, downloading my photos this morning I found I had a decent one. No spines on the hind femur so it's a female, and no wings: even better as unwinged females are more easily identified. Then I couldn't find my identification reference. It took a bit of searching but I successfully found something that did the job - https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/HetNews/Issue%2012_Autumn%202008_2422Kb.pdf

Here are the relevant illustrations:

From: Het News 12; Autumn 2008 - Figure from E.S. Brown (1951) edited by B.S Nau (2008).

So finally, a definite Sauli's Water-cricket, Velia saulii, excellent.

In the last few days I have, with help, thanks IA and JS, identified a sawfly Euura vaga and had a go at another one, which I'm certain I have made a mess of.

 

Putative, Euura vaga

 

Sawfly, 13mm female, lots more pix on the FB Sawfly group, help appreciated.

The E.vaga was from a recent colour water trap, but the other sawfly is from a tube in the fridge from July 2021. I'm trying to address the ID backlog. The same tube contains another sawfly and two Ichneumonoidea - they'll be fun!

 

Yesterday, a wee arrival of Swallows, at last, 9 over The Shunan. And here's a quiz, how many species birds can you see and hear in this video clip from the camera trap in the back garden.

Answers in the comments if you can be bothered.