Hard to imagine how I (and an entire BBS outing!) managed to overlook the abundant aquatic moss on the burn. But they did and I did for many years. Now it's on the list though - at bryophyte species #100. Hoorah!
Cataloguing Cullaloe
An exercise in Biophilia
Friday 26 March 2021
New Fife Shore Fly
A shore fly swept this week turned out to be Parydra aquila, apparently new to Fife
As we approach the end of March the invertebrate 1k challenge has thus far produced 77 species new for the reserve, 46 species new to me and 12 species new to the county, which isn't bad at all. It certainly makes the case for it being a worthwhile project.
Away from inverts there are still things other than inverts which are going to pop up. In this case, a sheep poo based trap for dung beetles sprouted fungi this week - the Cowpat Gem, Cheilymenia granulata. A watching eye will be kept on the bait as well as the trap in this case as there aren't many dung based fungi records for the reserve.
Cowpat Gem |
Tuesday 23 March 2021
Cassida flaveola, Pale Tortoise Beetle, new to Fife from Cullaloe
With the weather cool and threatening rain (and windy...) I went to Cullaloe anyway and decided to sieve even more of the grass pile of wonder. Most of what fell into the tray was of the ho-hum, would-have-been-pleased-to-see-you-in-January variety but one little translucent disc caught my eye, thankfully.
I have recorded the larger, greener Cassida rubiginosa on the reserve, and this is quite noticeably a different thing. It likes Caryophlyll ... Carophylea ... probably Red Campion.
2021 Beetle #87
Thursday 18 March 2021
Bee aggressive, bee bee aggressive
Another good lunch break at Cullaloe took me over the 250 with some nice big bees and a new/not-new fly. Fly first, since I need to explain. Hydromya dorsalis was in the list of diptera for the reserve but somehow never made it to the total list, so it was recorded, but not counted. Anyway, now it's both and I get to count it as an addition. This was swept on damp pathside, so not a Willow hit.
Bombus hypnorum, Tree Bumblebee |
Bombus lapidarius, Red-tailed |
Saltus scenicus, where it always in when it's sunny |
Kidney-spot Ladybird. Not new, but numerous |
Tachina ursina. One of my favourites |
Salix in Wonderland
I spent a happy lunchtime getting a crick in my neck to look at Salix catkins yesterday, mostly trying to avoid the 100s of honey bees that I think have something to do with the reserve's neighbour.
Wednesday 17 March 2021
Moffs plus
Finally the moth challenge got some air under its wings and rose off the ground. I set the actinic heath trap up last night and then had a look at the salix catkins, which were happily being feasted on by a usual early spring collection of Common Quaker, Hebrew Character and Satellite moths, An Agonopterix heracliana was netted on the way along the path. This morning the trap held three of my target species - Yellow Horned. The moth total is now up to a monster 8 species. That's nearly double figures!
Kidney-spot |
M.quadrimaculata |
Thursday 11 March 2021
Latest category counts
On the realisation of 300 dipteran species, it's a good time to post the latest breakdown by category. In addition to a 300 landmark for flies this record also makes the number of additions this year (77) equal to the whole of that for 2020.
Class | Count |
alga | 1 |
Protist other | 0 |
slime mould | 5 |
lichen | 64 |
fungus | 313 |
liverwort | 16 |
moss | 83 |
flowering plant | 307 |
conifer | 2 |
fern | 11 |
cnidarian | 0 |
mollusc | 31 |
bryozoan | 0 |
annelid | 7 |
flatworm | 1 |
harvestman | 11 |
pseudoscorpion | 1 |
spider | 86 |
gall mite | 7 |
tick | 1 |
millipede | 13 |
centipede | 5 |
crustacean | 7 |
collembola | 13 |
bristletail | 0 |
odonata | 7 |
dermaptera | 1 |
orthoptera | 1 |
hemiptera | 81 |
coleoptera | 185 |
diptera | 300 |
lep-moth | 384 |
lep-butterfly | 18 |
hymenoptera | 61 |
insect-other | 36 |
tunicate | 0 |
echinoderm | 0 |
invert-other | 0 |
fish | 5 |
reptile | 1 |
amphibian | 3 |
bird | 141 |
mammal | 16 |
2225 |