Bee book updates and corrections

In the hopes that this will help me find it later, corrections to the bee field guide

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/collections/72157660455505269/

More fun with lichens

A veritable miniature garden of lichens on a fallen twig. Xanthoria parietina (yellow), Physcia adscendens (with hairs) and Lecanora chlarotera (tan discs)

A big day in the east end

A trip out to the eastern leg of the reserve proved a big success at the weekend, with a particular focus on lichens. I started out by dropping into the area north of the paddock to check a hawthorn I knew had a lot of lichen. My intention was to record Platismatia glauca which I was sure must be there. On the same tree I also bumped into Pseudevernia furfuracea.

Phlebia radiata

Pseudevernia with its dark underside

The lettucy-looking Platismatia

Further along the eastern leg I checked out the Phlebia radiata just because it's so nice, but also found Diatrype disciformis there which I hadn't recorded before. As I walked along I looked down into the ditch on the right to see a Woodcock standing in the shallow water. It eyeballed me for a few seconds before deciding to make a break for it. A few seconds longer than I normally see them for!

My intention now was to check the wall for lichens, but what I wasn't expecting was a new fern and a new moss at the same spot. I barely covered a few feet of wall and also had some nice unrecorded lichens there.

Candelariella sp.

Asplenium ruta-muraria and Encalypta streptocarpa

Caloplaca holocarpa

Verrucaria nigrescens

Verrucaria nigrescens

On the way back I took some photos of a tree-trunk lichen which turned out to be Lecanora expallens. It is in an extensive patch but some small outliers allow the grey prothallus and mint green sorediate centres to be more apparent:

All in all a big day with several new lichen species addded plus one bonus fern and one bonus moss.

Fuscidea lightfootii

This badly photographed coloniser of small branches is the latest addition to the fledgling lichen list of Cullaloe. Target for the year was 25 so only a couple more to go and I will feel like we're starting to get somewhere

Early December fungal additions

So the new records keep trickling in with a nice collection of fungi on site today. Of note was this Hygophorus hypothejus - "Herald of Winter" which I recorded exactly two years ago to the day.

One new one for the reserve list was the delightful "Lemon Disco" Bisporella citrina

 

A small selection of other fungi still out and about in early December:

Mycena sp.

To be determined

Hemimycena tortuosa

  

In addition to the fungal records there was also a large piece of Scots Pine which has joined us at ground level, no doubt soon to be overtaken by Stereum sanguinolentum and other Pinus lovers.

750 milestone reached!

So the 750th species for the year was also the 125th species of fungus for the reserve - a rust on Coltsfoot leaf which I don't have great pics of. Instead here's a lovely Velvet shank - Flammulina velutipes

Also seenon the day was this lovely frozen Tremella mesenterica, which could have served as an ice cube!

Rush Disco

A small cup fungus on the base of Soft Rush Juncus effusus, this is the latest addition to the fungal flora of Cullaloe. To the list anyway - it's supposed to be common, just as many other species with no apprent records on NBN from Fife/VC85. I suppose I should go and record it from the adjacent hectad as well.

More pictures at:
http://mycomagic.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/rush-disco.html

Totals

Clouded Funnel - common but new

With a month and a half to go and some groups still to receive special attention it seems that this year's species total will exceed 750 comfortably. Fungi are still popping up all over to deconstruct the untidy green stuff that summer has left all over the place and lichens and mosses will come to the fore. Currently at 744 species in total there are also still a bee and a number of spiders to process.

Taxon Group	Recs	Spp.
acarine (Acari)	1	1
amphibian	4	3
bird	88	79
centipede	2	2
conifer	2	2
crustacean	5	4
false scorpion	3	1
fern	4	4
flowering plant	184	157
fungus	111	87
harvestman (Opiliones)	2	2
horsetail	2	2
insect - alderfly (Megaloptera)	2	2
insect - beetle (Coleoptera)	29	23
insect - butterfly	25	10
insect - dragonfly (Odonata)	2	2
insect - earwig (Dermaptera)	1	1
insect - hymenopteran	10	7
insect - lacewing (Neuroptera)	1	1
insect - moth	154	119
insect - orthopteran	1	1
insect - scorpion fly (Mecoptera)	1	1
insect - stonefly (Plecoptera)	2	1
insect - true bug (Hemiptera)	8	8
insect - true fly (Diptera)	242	84
lichen	24	19
liverwort	16	12
millipede	5	4
mollusc	4	3
moss	75	58
slime mould	1	1
spider (Araneae)	53	38
springtail (Collembola)	2	2
terrestrial mammal	3	3

"It's starting again"

Calais Muir Wood and Duloch Park. A brief lunchtime diversion for when time is short

30/10/2015
Taxon Group	Number of Records	Number of Taxa
bird	18	16
conifer	1	1
fern	3	3
flowering plant	9	9
fungus	3	3
insect - hymenopteran	1	1
lichen	2	2
liverwort	3	2
moss	11	11
		48

Nothing really interesting so far, but you never know. An interesting patch in that it's basically an island on the edge of new housing development with a nice mix of trees and an area kept open by power lines is wet enough to hold Sphagnum.

Long time ...

It;s been almost a month since the last update from Cullaoe, though recording continues and records approach 750 species for the year. Of late fungi have been standing out, though these three not so much!

Two new species for the reserve and one new for me:

Leptosporomyces garzinii - new to me

Botryobasidium subcoronatum - v.commonly encountered

Botryobasidium conspersum - new to reserve

Drapetisca socialis

Tree bark loving Linyphiid spider Drapetisca socialis

Fungus frenzy

Back from holidays and back to adding new species to the catalogue!

A couple of new fungi added to the list and a couple of new spiders for me, although one is already recorded on the reserve (Meta segmentata). Spider pics to follow since I left my camera at home.

The first fungus is Hebeloma pusillum, growing in association with willows on boggy ground. The second is Russula fellea, the Geranium Brittlegill (because it smells like geraniums). Other fungi were added to the year list, but weren't new (Wrinkled Shield, Woolly Milkcap, Clustered Toughshank, Redleg Toughshank)

The second spider is Drapetisca socialis, a Linyphiid which was in its expected niche of Beech tree bark.

H.pusillum

H.pusillum

Geranium Brittlegill

Blushing bracket, Rosy Minor

Everything's coming up rosy these days

The blushing bracket, which likes willows, bruises pink and eventually becomes an outrageous red colour

This rosy minor was new for the reserve on 1st September. Pretty little thing.

Painted Lady

At long last the much vaunted arrival of .. one Painted Lady!. Well, one's better than none. Maybe there are more out there today with the sun continuing to shine

Inverkeithing guest appearance

Lovely band of the orange lichen Caloplaca marina along the rocks at Inverkeithing. Everyday things that you can take for granted. imagine how many millions of asco-spores are being churned out.

Gribbit

From a splendid morning yesterday I wish this frog photo had turned out better, but I only had my phone and the result isn't as nice as it could have been

As well as a Green Sandpiper and some nice Water Rails out in the open I also added a new lichen (Hypogymnia physoides) and found some heather growing in the middle of the mossy barrens. Will it settle and expand? Why not? On the other hand it's in an area I'd rather it didn't expand in. Everything changes sooner or later though.

Lovely lichens

A duo of completely different lichens - first up is Aspicilia contorta, which is a common concrete lover and which I found on the concrete buttress of the wall in the car park area. The last two pictures is on top of the wall and I believe is the older, more settled version where the "jelly tots" have all flattened down into tilework

The second is a lovely Cladonia chlorophaea with chunky soredia. This is from Mossmorran though, amongst the heather.