Time flies.........

OK, so the last time I wrote on here it was August and it is now October. It has, weather-wise, been the worst summer I can remember. Natural history recording has been a slog and, like others, I have started to lose a bit of interest. But there have been some good times and some new species.
So here is a bit of a catch-up.

I have a bit of a penchant for naughty species(!) this Orange Balsam was growing near the old gunpowder works at Chilworth in Surrey. I didn't realise that it is considered an invasive species. I think it's rather pretty ;)

Dyer's Mazegill found under pine on a geocaching walk on a damp August day. And so ended a disappointing month.

Next post will be September in a nutshell!

At last!

After hearing about the trap-loads of Cydia amplana arriving on the coast, and then further inland, I reckoned that I deserved one too. And I got one!

The night before I had the local, and rather attractive, Mocha.

And then, the following day this Hornet Robberfly Asilus crabroniformis was netted on Iping Common.

Bioblitzing

I hadn't done it before. I was a Bioblitz virgin. It was only when I found out that my old friend and Pan-species Listing rival Tony Davis was going to be ringing birds at the Bioblitz at Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield, that I decided to go along for the day. Just caught the end of the ringing (don't do mornings!) but got to see this fine Bullfinch in the hand of Dan Hoare.

We helped with the identification of the contents of the moth trap and then went for a walk over some splendid chalk downland. On a rather windy day, few species were hanging around to be photographed, but this Small Skipper was very obliging.

A nice selection of hoverflies was seen and I got a new micro-moth. The highlight, for me, was finally catching up with a moth which had eluded me - the Chalk Carpet.

There was plenty of Clustered Bellflower.

And we saw lots of these flies with black and yellow bodies and black wings.

An Eclectic Mix..........

Catching up after a blogging hiatus. Here is a selection of various goodies!

Driving along a local rural road, a flattened carcass attracted my attention. Sure enough, the small deer proved to be a Muntjac. They are not uncommon in this area. Oddly though, the antlers had been sawn off.

Flat Muntjac

An evening walk was interrupted by a rustling in the undergrowth! A quick delve produced a newly-emerged Sawyer Beetle - Britain's largest longhorn beetle.

Prionus coriarius - Sawyer Beetle

Strolling along the canal at Loxwood, I finally caught up with a fly which had eluded me. The male Tachinid fly Phasia hemiptera. The shape and colouration of the wings is just amazing! I searched some of the Figwort plants and soon found the Figwort Weevil.

Phasia hemiptera

I don't BELIEVE it!!!!

I've not posted anything since July!
Let's take a trip back in time and look at some nice moths from the garden trap.......

Black Arches

Rosy Footman

Buff Arches

Far from Common

A trip to Chobham Common in Surrey produced some new species, but was disappointing in terms of number of insects seen. In my opinion, the wettest April, May and June since records began, is certainly having an effect on some invertebrate populations. Very few butterflies or dragonflies were seen (a few Silver-studded Blues were nice to see, as was a Golden-ringed Dragonfly), hardly any flies or wasps and only very small numbers of beetles. There were plenty of grasshopper nymphs however, one group which doesn't seem so affected by the rain?

Mottled Beefly was new for my list. I am CERTAIN that I HAVE seen it before though!

Leptura quadrifasciata

Twiggy Mullein

Amazing chimney on a wasp nest. Probably
Odynerus spinipes

Cute kitten caterpillar

Neoscona adianta

Delving into the past

I don't spend ALL my waking hours thinking about natural history!! I have recently become interested in my family tree, or rather, half of it! My mother has been working on her relatives for some time now, but my dad's side of the family obviously has no connection to her. I knew, having dabbled a little in the past, that they were a Sussex family going back several hundred years. I started looking using mother's software and the information started to fall out. I was hooked!

Anyway, this led me to the church at Lyminster in Sussex, where I thought I may find some relatives buried. Only one headstone was seen but, on a nearby verge, two interesting plants were seen.

Woad

Milk thistle