And still they come...

Today I took another jaunt into the New Forest, this time in the company of The Ghost. Our hope was to find the recently discovered population of Snow Fleas present in one area but, despite quite a lot of leaf-litter sieving and mossy hummock scouring, we ultimately failed in that particular quest. However, plenty more beetles were successfully pooted, the majority being staphylinids, carabids and featherwings (a whole nine of the latter from a single sieve's worth of litter!) plus a couple of weevils and a leaf beetle. 

I haven't attempted a single identification from today's haul - yet. I only finished carding them a short while back and already it's after 11pm. 

For some obscure reason, I neglected to take any pics whilst in the forest, barring an out of focus pic of a Yew Artichoke Gall Taxomyia taxi (which puts Cecidomyiidae on the diptera families yearlist, even though the gall itself was empty) and this pic of a tiny larva which I knocked from a rotten bracket fungus. Behold....(lol)

Pathetic I know - but it's probably the best fungus gnat larva image you'll see today!

My coleopteran haul from the woods comprised 31 individuals, plus a lygid bug and a few tiny flies (sciarids, mostly). We shifted to a different site and had a quick wander along a riverbank in search of flood debris to comb. Less than ideal, though clearly a great quantity of water had rushed through in the recent past, but I managed to find a handful of beetles comprising ten carabids and this leaf beetle.

In real life this is a deep green-blackish colour

Finally, Stenus (a genus of rove beetles) have a protrusible labium which is capable of being violently fired forward in order to ensnare a prey item on the sticky tip, the whole being retracted back to the awaiting jaws at lightning quick speed. Something I'd love to see in action, but is probably very rarely witnessed. Maybe I should keep a few in a small tank and just watch them all day. Anyway, occasionally they die with the labium extended, something I'd heard of but not seen before. Until tonight, that is

Male Stenus impressus (spurs on tibia) doing his best chamaeleon impression

Oh, I've just remembered something (scrap the earlier "Finally"....) 

Finally, whilst carding this Ocys harpaloides, I noticed several Laboulbeniales attached to the pronotum and the apex of one elytron - I've never seen these before, I suspect I can get it to species by host association, something for another night. Edit - Laboulbenia vulgaris appears to be the only laboul that parasitizes Ocys (it also occurs on a great many other genera of carabids) so that was easier than expected. Here's the pic

Tomorrow I'm off to Dinton Pastures CP near Reading with The Ghost. It's the BENHS open day and I have a batch of fungus gnats from Skye to wave in front of Peter Chandler should he be present. Failing that, I have 100 odd beetles collected from the past two days that I ought to compare to named stuff in the collection, if only to see how badly my ID skillz really are. Could be a giggle...

Beetlefest

Well I sure had fun today! 

This morning The Ghost was busy with work (or so he claimed...), so I took myself off in search of beetles. Miracle of miracles, the sun showed its face for most of an hour giving hope that I might find a few flies. Sadly, ten minutes after I arrived at my destination, the sun disappeared and that was that. Woolly hat on, I trudged the waterlogged path of Lymington Reedbeds, a place I've visited once before on a successful twitch for Asian Skunk Cabbage. Sad, I know. Here's a map that I nabbed from the Wildlife Trust's website, it's pretty much the best thing about the entire site if I'm being ruthlessly honest. 

Happily the part of the reserve that I visited was pretty darn decent. The water levels, in common with much of lowland England, were sitting very high. As you can see from the map above, a river runs through the centre of the reserve. Hence it didn't take me very long to find a promising-looking pile of flood debris to search through. I had my sieve and tray, I had my pooter, I had time. I had fun! 

My entire beetling time was spent in this one small pile of flood debris

I reckon this pile of debris measures maybe 8ft by 6ft. I was there for well over an hour. I could have spent far longer there but for one factor - I was determined not to collect too many specimens to card and identify tonight. So I quit early rather than bog myself down with hundreds of specimens. This was the view in the bottom of my pooter a short while before I called it a day

Positively hotching!

But before I even started sieving I spied six or seven Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni sunning themselves on top of the pile. Every handful of debris contained another three or four individuals, truly they are commonplace here. I remember finding them in the White Swan pub car park at Swaythling several years back, seemingly the first record for Hampshire (or a close second of not), now they are present at near pestillence levels - it's just crazy how they've exploded and spread!

Paederus riparius - several found, the first I've seen for several years

Back indoors I sorted my haul into rough groupings. I was somewhat dismayed to note the fifteen or so Bembidion I'd collected. I think these may be my least favourite genus of carabids, I do struggle with them. Ho hum, practice makes...slightly better. At least ten of them appear to be the same species, but I'll work them through the key anyway, just to be sure. Happily, I have the opportunity to visit the BENHS HQ at Dinton Pastures on Sunday, so I shall be taking my haul with me to compare with specimens checked and named by proper grown ups. 

Bottom left grouping - Ptilidae (plus a random seed)  I must be losing my mind tackling these...

It transpires that I pooted over fifty specimens (I deliberately ignored all aleochs encountered) which may sound like buggerall to professional coleopterists but, for a couple of square metres of reedbed debris in winter time, it kind of blew this amateur away. Clearly I need to employ this technique more often.  

There now follows a whole heap of beetle pics. Some of them I have identified, most I have yet to run through the keys. And it's fast approaching midnight - yet again. These are taken down the barrel of my Telferscope using The Ghost's ring light. I NEED one of these for myself, it's just amazing! 

  

And that's only some of them, I have loads more, plus a few bugs and a single tiny fly (family as yet undetermined). I've named all of the larger specimens (apart from a patterned Bembidion - I have to psyche myself up for that bunch). The featherwings I've carded together, one for another time though I think The Ghost has KOH so I may try clearing them tomorrow if so. 

So far everything I've taken is on a pin or glued to a card. All of my pots and tubes are empty and ready for action. I now realise that I've come away without my beating tray and my pinning stage and I don't have enough labels or pinning pins to see me through. Earlier this evening I dropped my forceps and have broken the tip, hence picking up tiny insects and micropins is decidedly trickier than entirely necessary. Twatburger that I am. 

But I do have a fat fistful of new beetles in my storebox, so it's definitely not all bad news! 

Englandshire - Day 2

The Ghost had a meeting to attend, leaving me to my own devices for the day. I headed west, into the New Forest. The weather forecast didn't look too great, I hoped the worst would miss me as I hid out beneath dense tree cover

Thought I'd left the rain up in Skye....

I headed for Rufus Stone, I've been here just twice before and remembered mature Beech trees interspersed with Holly bushes and plenty of leaf-litter underfoot. Within a few minutes, I was geared up in waterproofs and pulling loose bark from a large fallen Beech

I spent over an hour searching this one small area

Plenty of large cranefly larvae beneath loose bark - Tanyptera or Ctenophora perhaps?

I spent some time sieving the wet leaf litter. Amongst the masses of springtails were a few staphylinids which I pooted up for closer inspection. There were also a few small flies which also disappeared up the pooter, none of which I've been able to identify beyond family level (one sciarid and three sphaerocerids). I managed to identify all of the beetles apart from one which currently defeats me. 

Stenus impressus - this is a male with spurs on the mid and hind tibia

The tiny spur is just about visible on the inside edge of the tibia

Xantholinus gallicus

Lathrobium terminatum

I also managed to sieve a Wood Cricket from leaf litter, an unexpected delight as it leapt around my tray like a mad thing. I popped it back unharmed. Eventually my fingers became too cold for comfort and I headed back to the car for warmth and then civilisation once more.

Not sure yet what the plans are for tomorrow, guess you'll just have to stay tuned yet again!

Englandshire - Day 1

So I'm down in England catching up with The Ghost and hoping to further my 2020 Vision tally in the world of flies and beetles. It has to be said, The Ghost is more into his flies than his beetles. Happily I'm also due to spend a few days with Mark Telfer, beetle botherer extraordinaire. Between them, they should easily boost me into pole position...mwaahahahahaaaaa!!!

I travelled down yesterday, kipping in the car that night. A fantastic bit of luck saw me stopped at roadworks with a view of these Feral Goat kids in the roadside verge

I gained a bit of height and road conditions became slightly less than ideal

Then I hit England and the conditions became properly shit. I detoured into County Durham in search of Yellow Star of Bethlehem (and failed...) before heading down the A1(M) which included random aquaplaning, hail, sideways rain, spray, yukk. Happily it became better after Birmingham and I found a random layby just off the M3 sometime in the early hours, called it quits and went to kip behind two pulled-in trucks. 

I awoke late to find the trucks departed. And in their place, a vision of beauty

Breakfast was a very sweet affair indeed; three fried eggs with chilli flakes and ketchup in a stick plus a big cup of black coffee - happy days! 

A short while later I was pulling up outside The Ghost's Haunted House, no natural history was undertaken but we had fun anyway. I even had my first Chinese takeaway in a very long time. The weather looks pretty rubbishy for tomorrow, so you'll just have to tune in and see what happens next....

Deadly quiet

Things are finally starting to quieten down workwise and normality, such as it is up here on Skye, has been largely resumed. The weather however, has proven itself to be the complete opposite of quietening down and resuming its normal self. Storm Ciara hit hard, though no harder than the unnamed front that battered us a few weeks back. Or the one before that. Hail, sleet, rain, thunder and strong winds are the daily norm now, as they have been all week. My adventures into the worlds of coleoptera and diptera have seen me record NO species whatsoever! 

The laundry shed has been completely useless, the strong winds and sideways rain doubtless put paid to any flying insects that may have been attracted to the bright lights. Indoors, I've stupidly sealed, filled, caulked or masticked every nook, crack and cranny in the kitchen and dry store areas, repainted and plastic clad throughout - the result being that I have seemingly eradicated anything that may have wandered into a sticky trap and hence onto my list. 

My one venture into the outside world was to perform my monthly WeBS high tide count. Sadly the roost spots were either completely submerged or battered by waves and my total count comprised twenty birds of four species, by far my lowest count ever! 

However, the day after tomorrow is rumoured to be better. I've booked that day off work, my final day off before I head south next week. I'm meeting up with BSBI Recorder Stephen Bungard to check out some weird Snowdrops that I found last month. I have hopes of finding flies in sheltered spots, real flies as opposed to tiny gnats and midges. It won't be long now before the first Gymnocheta viridis is perched on a sunlit trunk, the first Calliphora vomitoria on an ivy leaf and the first Otiorhynchus sulcatus is found sitting halfway up a wall. I can't bloody wait!

But before that, I have three weeks in England. Expect near-daily updates because I anticipate great things (though even a single 7-spot Ladybird would be a vast improvement on this last week!)

Should I find myself with a free hour or two before that, these are the spots I probably ought to be targeting, all in or around Uig Wood itself.

Substantial rot hole in mature Sycamore fork for aquatic larvae

This freshly milled fencing should make for a fantastic dipteran/coleopteran sunbathing spot

A sunlit wall for the flies and a grass heap for the beetles - marvellous!

A Horrid Phorid

I took myself off to Dunvegan Woods yesterday and remembered to bring my sieve and tray. The trees here consist of fairly dense coniferous plantings with a thick carpet of mosses as understorey. Lots of standing and some fallen deadwood, all covered in bryophytes. I shook handfuls of moss over the sieve, stripped loose bark over the sieve, threw rotten wood into the sieve. Springtails aplenty, a few woodlice and myriapods and a couple of spiders. Plus four pseudoscorpions, the most I've ever found in one session. Bugger all beetles whatsoever (apart from the husk of a long dead weevil minus its legs) but I did pot two small flies, both measuring around 2mm in length. One was a Lesser Dungfly (Sphaeroceridae), a family for which I lack a key to take any further, so that's just sitting on a pin for now. 

The second was a Scuttle Fly (Phoridae), happily one of the families for which I do have a key.

2mm of bristly, heavily gravid fly

Note the enlarged row of strong bristles along the wing costa, plus reduced wing venation. Here's the same image again, though I've added a red dot where each vein reaches the wing margin. Working clockwise from the uppermost left dot we have what The Key names Vein 1, Vein 2 and Vein 3 (all thickened and strong), followed by the much weaker, finer Vein 4, Vein 5, Vein 6 and Vein 7. It's a pretty radical naming system, I'm sure you'll agree. Must have taken them ages...

I've never needed to use the RES Scuttle Flies key before (currently available here for a mere three quid) and so was slightly dismayed to discover that it doesn't cover the large genus Megaselia (over 200 species) though it does cover the remaining genera, accounting for just 93 species. Before I'd even looked at the key, I realised there was a more than two thirds chance my fly wouldn't be in it. 

Thankfully The Ghost pointed out that there was a further work covering Megaselia (which can be downloaded here) and to stop my bleating and just get on with it. Or something like that. He may actually have just said 'good luck'. By sheer coincidence, he had just featured a phorid on his own blog which has better pics than mine showing the 'mini footballs for the third antennal segment and sideways pointing arista'. Well said, hope he doesn't mind me nicking it.

Mini footballs and sideways pointing arista!

The key to genera started off simply enough "does it have wings, does it lack wings..." and asked me to check the relative lengths of various veins against the length of the costal bristles and of each other, was one body part hairy or was it bare, etc etc. I did struggle a bit trying to decide if the hind tibia had transverse rows of bristles or whether the bristles were arranged in longitudinal palisades or not - but I think I got there in the end. And happily the key dropped me out at a genus with just one British member in it - sweet! My fly, apparently, was Beckerina with B.umbrimargo being the sole representative of the genus in Britain. 

Except that Beckerina umbrimargo really doesn't match my fly. I tried again and dropped out at Beckerina once more. Then I quit trying. I'll have another look later tonight, come at it with fresh eyes and try again. Must be those hind tibial bristles.

The good news is that whatever it is, it's nothing I've seen before. Or not knowingly, at least. 

In other news, a large Herring Gull that I found a few days back is now being touted as an American Herring Gull. Opinion is still out, but it's looking as though I may have jammed into a mega! Thankfully it's proving reliable and several local larophiles have taken a barrage of images both yesterday and today. We shall see...

Monthly Round Up - January

As mentioned on the Home page of this blog, I hadn't set myself any goals regarding the number of fly and beetle species I aimed to see throughout the year, nor for the number of lifers I hoped to accrue. I hadn't even compiled a list of my most wanted species for the year ahead - and that's something I've been doing at the start of each year for a long, long time now. My only goals were to find flies and beetles in each month of the year, to add lifers from both groups in each month of the year and to become slightly more familiar with, and competent in, dipterology and coleopterology. 

However, since then I have been Challenged by The Ghost to see which of us can identify the greatest number of beetle and fly species throughout the year, a challenge I immediately accepted. This was then subtly enhanced by Mark Telfer who decided he was quite keen to see just how many dipteran families he could identify during the year. I decided to join Mark in his PFL Odyssey and promptly enrolled an unwitting Ghost into our ranks. I'm by far the weakest dipterist out of the three of us, but it will be fun seeing how long I can keep up with the other two.

And there are absolutely no doubts, worries or thoughts of cheating going on around here, nope...

I think it's fair to say that I've had a very busy January at work whilst the place is closed for refurb. I've put in not too far short of double my usual work hours and have definitely had far less free time during daylight hours than I'd like. But the weather has been utterly shocking anyway with sideways rain almost becoming the daily norm. Rain that falls vertically is a fast-disappearing, vague memory from time spent further south. Thankfully it hasn't been particularly cold, though hail has been frequent and I woke up to find the outside world covered in snow one morning.

All of which is my way of saying that I've had a somewhat underwhelming start to my 2020 Vision. Here's a run down of the species thus far. Anything in red is a lifer for me.

The beetles - 

1st Jan - Euophryum confine - (small weevil) one found inside rotten wood in Uig Wood

4th Jan - Aepus marinus (tiny carabid) several beneath rocks on Uig Beach

4th Jan - Micralymma marinum (staph) a couple beneath rocks on Uig beach

6th Jan - Psylliodes napi - (flea beetle) one found on the laundry shed wall after dark, Uig Hotel

10th Jan - Nebria brevicollis - (carabid) one found beneath a rock in Uig Wood

18th Jan - Leptusa ruficollis - (aleoch staph) found inside a decaying Birch Polypore near Portree

19th Jan - Anthobium unicolor (staph) 12 sieved from dead ferns and leaflitter, Uig Hotel grounds

19th Jan - Proteinus brachypterus (staph) 1 sieved from dead ferns and leaflitter, Uig Hotel grounds

26th Jan - Cychrus caraboides (large carabid) 1 found beneath leaf litter in Bernisdale Woods

28th Jan - Laemostenus terricola (large carabid) caught in a sticky trap in Uig Hotel kitchen

Leptusa ruficollis from within an old Birch Polypore - det Mark Telfer

The flies - 

5th Jan - Sylvicola cinctus (window gnat) - male (gen det) attracted to light at Uig Hotel

8th Jan - Limonia nubeculosa (cranefly) - one indoors at Uig Hotel

10th Jan - Protophormia terraenovae (blowfly) - one buzzing around indoors at Uig Hotel

12th Jan - Trichocera regelationis - (winter gnat) - male (gen det) to security lights, Uig Hotel

13th Jan - Heteromyza commixta (heleomyzid) - one attracted to laundry shed lights, Uig Hotel

16th Jan - Trichocera major (winter gnat) - male (gen det) attracted to security light, Uig Hotel

16th Jan - Trichocera saltator (winter gnat) - female (gen det) attracted to security light, Uig Hotel

18th Jan - Phytomyza ranunculi (leaf-miner) - larva in Creeping Buttercup, Portree (now pupated)

[18th Jan - Phytomyza ilicis (leaf-miner) - many vacant mines in Holly leaves, Portree]

18th Jan - Chromatomyia aprilina (leaf-miner) - 2 larvae in Honeysuckle leaves, Portree

26th Jan - Scoliocentra caesia (heleomyzid) - on window of laundry shed by daylight, Uig Hotel

Head bristles of Scoliocentra caesia

All of which amounts to ten species of beetles (three lifers) and eleven species of flies (five lifers). I'd be very happy if the proportion of lifers stayed as high as that! You can read The Ghost's end of January tally here. I'd like to say that it's a close run thing at the moment...but it really isn't haha! 

In addition to The Ghost's Challenge, there's Mark's PFL Challenge in which I'm also taking part.

This is very much a break from the norm for me. Ordinarily I like to identify specimens to species level. But when it comes to diptera, there are so damn many of them that require hard to find, out of print, largely unavailable keys you simply have to leave them at family level. Frustrating, to say the least! The keys are out there though, most of them just need a lot of tracking down first.

These are the thirteen fly families I've encountered so far this year (out of 107)  - 

Limoniidae (Short-palped Craneflies) - 1 species identified 

Mycetophilidae (Fungus Gnats) - several unidentified specimens

Sciaridae (Black Fungus Gnats) - one unidentified specimen

Psychodidae (Moth Flies) - two unidentified specimens

Trichoceridae (Winter Gnats) - three identified species

Anisopodidae (Window Gnats) - one identified species

Simuliidae (Black Flies) - one unidentified specimen

Chironomidae (Non-biting Midges) - several unidentified specimens

Lonchopteridae (Spear-winged Flies) - one unidentified larva (not retained)

Agromyzidae (Leaf-mining Flies) - 2 species as larvae in mines, one as an empty mine

Heleomyzidae (Heleomyzids) - 2 species identified, several unidentified specimens too

Sphaeroceridae (Lesser Dungflies) - several unidentified specimens

Calliphoridae (Blow Flies) - one identified species

So a bit of a push required in February. Happily, I have high expectations of a rather significant improvement. I have three weeks off work (18 February to 10th March) and will be dividing a fair whack of my time between The Ghost and Mark Telfer! There's a possibility of meeting up with a few other PSL nutters whilst I'm down south, but whether I do or not one thing is pretty much guaranteed - my beetle and fly tally is set to take a large hike upwards before my next monthly round up!