Tallies and targets

With the forgotten micro now added, the list stands at 487, and the reserve total list at 997!
Interesting to revisit the targets I set in the beginning of the year to see how far off I am in terms of expectations.

	2014	2014	Target	% of
	Target	Actual	left	target
Birds	90	74	16	82
Vert other	5	4	1	80
Lepidoptera	75	77	-2	102
Diptera	15	31	-16	206
Invert other	35	50	-15	142
Vascular	200	139	61	69
Bryophytes	50	80	-30	160
Fungi	50	29	21	58
Lichens	5	3	2	60
	525	487	38	92

I thought that a huge amount of the number would come from vascular plants. It may be that I will reach 200 over the year but I have my doubts. Fortunately other groups way overcompensated for that shortfall. I still expect to comportably pass 150. The remarkable thing is that even in 139 so far recorded I have probably recorded double figures of plants not previously recorded on the reserve. During July I'll attend a grasses course. Could be a game changer!

Bryophytes saw the bonus of a BBS outing, adding a bonus 30 spp to the pot.

Obtaining a moth trap ensured that I have already passed the Lep threshold at half year. Diptera I thought would be about a dozen hoverflies plus one or two other flies that I could recognise. I wasn't expecting to double my target but now I expect I may triple it with a good run of hovers. Many flowers (e.g. hogweed) aren't really even out yet.

"Invert Other" is clearly a surprise, but also another area which has benefitted from visiting expertise and consultation. Still, way over expectation and before the end of June.

On the vertebrate side of things I still expect to make 90 species of birds, but naturally a good section of those will be autumn migrants, with residents, winterers, and summering breeders essentially done with. Looking forward to lowering the water and racking up a decent wader or three. Surely I can bag a fox or a squirrel?

That leaves the essentially autumnal pursuit of fungi. I'll still reach the target of 50 I'm pretty sure, with the main fruiting period still ahead of us. Ideally I'd like to be moving towards 100..

All this means that in the end I think only vascular plants will turn out to have been a stretch.

(Endnote: I have seen 171 and photographed 161 of the reserve's 272 species of vascular plants)