Monday 1 March 2021

Spring

 Made the best use of an appointment at the recycle centre to make a small detour to Cullaloe. A good sunny morning is a fine time to observe flies on all the south-facing wood the entrance has to offer.

Long wooden fence - a big draw when in full sun

Sinkhole protector (?). Also good

Even a small signboard.

Wood warms up nicely and makes a fine place for basking in sunshine. Soon these surfaces will be covered with Salix-loving anthomyiids, but for the time being it looks like it's all Muscidae and Calliphoridae. Pollenias were out in force and at least one Lucilia. There may or may not be an anthomyiid. I'll have to wait and see what else there is. It took me ten minutes to make a small collection but there is new stuff there no doubt, and all brachyceran. (Brachycera is the Latin for "proper fly").

I also re-jigged a baited pitfall trap, moving the bait to above the trap wrapped in an old sock. This has shown promise for allowing smell out while stopping insects getting gunky. Luckily, for some reason (!), I happen to have a large box of PPE gloves. Hopefully some chancer mammal won't pinch the bait, as happened in another trap (rotting fish for mammal poo - is that a fair swap? at least I didn't kill the mammal)






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