Great Diving Beetle at Mossmorran

A brief bottle trap for ten hours during Sunday turned up 2 of the above. Very fine they were too

Chocolate Moth

After a disaster with a petrol-deficient generator we abandoned moth trapping early last night after only catching one macro moth - a Water Carpet. Even that was caught with the headtorch. But with open skies and a bright moon we were always up against it anyway. This is the chocolate form of Water Carpet and, as is traditional, it was caught down near the filter beds.

Diplostyla concolor

A new spider for me, if not for the reserve, this Linyphiid was shaken from leaf litter yesterday morning along with a couple of other Linyphiids yet to be determined

Diplostyla concolor

Also found was this hairy snail which I think is Trochulus hispidus (English "Hairy snail"!)

Percy Grimshaw

Recently I had the fortune to be able to pot a pair of small flies while walking at Red Moss reserve in the Lothians. It turned out that the species, Hydrophorus nebulosus, had not been recorded in the 100km square NT since 1903, when it was recorded by Percy Grimshaw.

By chance I came across a photo of him today while looking for information on his career, and oddly found it a moving experience. Percy was born in Leeds in 1869 and died in Edinburgh in 1939. In 1893 he started working for the Royal Scottish Museum as an entomologist and from 1930-35 was "Keeper of Natural History".

He seems to have co-authored an Atlas of Zoogeography with Eagle Clark and J G Bartholomew (the geographer and cartographer who named Antarctica!), but so far I haven't found anything more. Over that many years he must have made a significant contribution to Scottish entomology. He also must have dodged or survived the Great War I suppose.

Photo reference:
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/dipterists/dipt-g.html

Atlas of Zoogeography:
https://archive.org/details/AtlaszoogeograpVBart

Remarkably, Percy Grimshaw was also the first occupant of Number 1, Coronation Street, though that was an altogether different Percy Grimshaw:
http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Percy_Grimshaw 

Palmate newt at Cullaloe

Out and about all over the place at this time of year, but this one was under a log

Common Grey Disco - Mollisea cinerea

It might be common but it's still lovely - on dead wood on the embankment