With the weather turning cold again it was time to contemplate moving to phase II - trapping, There's so much water about that bottle trapping the water edge for aquatics definitely ain't happening. That will have to wait, as will any kind of pitfall trapping, except maybe in some higher and more sheltered areas.
Bottle-trapping with bait is definitely a decent way to get hold of a few January flies, though. I expect Calliphora vicina, Calliphora vomitoria, Dryomyza flaveola, Sylvicola cinctus and maybe some heleomyzids will make their way into here shortly.
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| Can you smell what it is, yet? |
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| It's sea bass. And v.stinky! |
A bit of tussocking with frozen fingers produced beetle #43 of the year - Crepidodera fulvicornis, a very common beetle on the willows. Phratora laticollis, another leaf beetle, was added yesterday, from a collection two days ago. If I could make it to 50 that would be 1/3rd of the total beetle list at 1st January!
Good going, and even better when more than one in four species are new for the reserve!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty shocked with that tbh. I did a 1k square here 2 years ago - I must have been rubbish :D
DeleteSylvicola are attracted to bait??? Wow, I had no idea!
ReplyDeleteOMG you have no idea how many 100s of S.cincta I gte in bottle traps! Mating pairs. They're mad for it
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