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After my hugely abortive wildlife attempt of 2019, I've decided to rein in my neck just a bit this year. I learned a few things during 2019, affirming some suspicions along the way. I consistently try tackling too many things all at the same time, I just lose myself in it all. It's time for me to slow down. So in 2020 I'm concentrating on just two orders in a serious attempt to become marginally more proficient in each. By the end of this year I should have a better idea of where, if anywhere, I'd like to specialise. 

Coleoptera held my attention throughout 2019, though in truth I didn't really put in enough time or effort to progress very far. I had an incredible day and a half beetling Speyside's Caledonian forests with Mark Telfer, grandmaster coleopterist and good friend, and came out the other side that little bit wiser. In total, I added just short of 100 species of beetle to my PSL in 2019, plus a handful of species that were new to the Skye fauna, including Adistemia watsoni which was entirely new to Scotland. I finally began carding rather than pinning my specimens, including a few just 2mm in length, and late in the year discovered how profitable sticky traps can be for recording very small domestic species. I feel I owe it to myself to give them a more serious attempt in 2020.

Cionus scrophulariae at 'The Rhu' - found a mere 5 days after Skye's first record of the species! 

Philopedon plagiatum the Marram Weevil - in sand dunes at Balranald RSPB, North Uist

Ptinus fur on 1st Jan 2019 - my very first beetle of the year and 'new' to both Skye and myself - sweet! 

Diptera were a surprisingly pleasant distraction in 2019. I never really made very much in the way of solid progress, in fact I only achieved around 40 lifers, but I really enjoyed keying through various calliphorids, muscids, bibionids and syrphids. They are a massive group and tremendously rich in lifers for me. I'm naturally drawn to their bewildering forms and guises, so I'm definitely going to persevere and improve my understanding of them this year.

Bibionidae - a male Bibio leucopterus with milky wing membrane

Tachinidae - Gymnocheta viridis, a sure sign that Spring has arrived here on Skye 

Tephritidae -  Xyphosia miliaria on its larval hostplant, Creeping Thistle

My objective for 2020 is to identify every single beetle and fly specimen that I collect to family level, and to species level where I have the relevant key. I intend to find and identify specimens in every month of the year and I hope to gain lifers each month too. My only other objective is to keep fully up to date with blogging and record submitting, something I'm hoping won't be anywhere near as soul-destroying as Cryptophagus keying.