It's not that I've not been out in the field finding things, it is that I am completely overwhelmed. Just about every time I walk out of the door I bump into something new. Most things take a while to process - photograph, edit the photos, work through the identification and if I can't do it go back and find the species again, perhaps taking a specimen, then keying through with the reference and the microscope. There are quite a few things awaiting dissection.
The garden list is currently 228 species, which I think is pretty respectable in that it is about the size of a tennis court, and that has been achieved in just over two months. There are a fair number of things pending further investigation.
Last night I put the light traps out and it quickly became very busy. About 80 species of moths, I'm still working on the photos and there are a few specimens I will need to dissect. There were four species of beetle and yet again I chose to ignore the caddis. I have taken a few to do over the winter but the caddis as well, a step too far!
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| Athripsodes bilineatus, well ok, I have done some caddis, the easy ones. |
I finally added Sparrowhawk to the Patch list, it narrowly missed the garden list. Equally, Roe Deer hasn't quite made it on to the garden list, although I bet the buck's nose crossed the fence-line as he snaffled the raspberries the other morning. Perhaps I could add him. And a cheeky Red Squirrel has sat on the fence across the access track.
Louise and I went up to a consultation at Loch Turret the other Saturday. It's a very lovely area. The whole Glen Turret Estate was sold and bought by the Kith Trust and Edinburgh University, with the Kith Trust holding the significant majority of the land. Edinburgh University have published a broad outline of their ideas; we were somewhat suspicious. (There is, and has been for a while now, a "land grab" in Scotland by the exceedingly rich, much of which results in impacts on local communities and (most often) negatively on the environment. Much of this is funded by Scottish Forestry grants - actually, Scottish tax payers' money - money that often heads south of the border to line share holders' pockets. Hopefully, at the next Scottish election we might be able to vote in a Scottish Government that is properly understanding of what is going on and that is prepared to radically alter Scottish Forestry's modus opperandi and properly fund and empower NatureScot to do their job. But don't get me started....) However, this development looks generally positive, we shall see. The two personnel at the event were knowledgeable and answered our questions in a manner that led us to feel positive about the scheme, a good start. Information can be found here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/sustainability/operations/forest-peatland click the Barvick Burn tab for the information currently available on the Loch Turret scheme.
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Green Pug, new for the garden, I've seen it before occasionally.
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Grey Dagger (Dark Dagger does not occur in Scotland), nice for the garden, they were quite common in Orkney.
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Anelosimus vittatus a brand new spider for me.
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Athous haemorrhoidalis, not a new species but I was quite pleased with the photo.
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Yarrow Plume, a new species for me.
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I was very, very pleased to find this Larch Ladybird at the Community Woodland.
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I did a bit of tree maintenance at the Community Woodland on Sunday. Finding planted trees and clearing the bracken from them. I didn't get too distracted by insects as there wasn't much about on the day for some reason. On the previous visit I'd found the above Larch Ladybird, a species I've been searching for for a while.
A very nice moth or two from last night, I'll post some more shortly (honest).
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Catropia falsella
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Double-striped Pug.
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Juniper Pug, well chuffed with this.
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Pyrausta purpuralis
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