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!