The Lyons Share

1st October - All-taxa list update

Posted by Graeme Lyons , Friday, 1 October 2010 20:23

I just spent an hour trying to key out an ichneumon wasp I found in a moth trap at Woods Mill last week. I was sent a key by Dr Gavin Broad of the NHM to nocturnal ichneumons (in other words, the ones that turn up in moth traps!). I think this is Netelia virgata but I cannot be sure, I can't even find any pictures of it on the Internet. I'll send it off and we shall have to wait and see. I don't think though I will be getting huge numbers of ticks this way...

I am going to start a new feature, a monthly update on the 1st of each month showing what I have added to my all-taxa list in the preceding month. It became too time consuming to update it each time I saw something new. Once a month it is then. And what a month! Firstly, I should say that some of the ticks this month are actually things I saw years ago and had forgotten about, hence the huge jump since the last update.  I was on 2834 on the 10th September, by the 1st October I reached 2951! So, where have most of the ticks come from? Fungi, I have been really lazy with fungi until recently and I am really starting to get the bug.

Vascular plants	1044
Moths	761 (+23)
Birds	331 (+2)
Beetles	195 (+12)
Fungi	127 (+58)
Mosses	83 (+6)
Butterflies	50
True flies	49
Mammals	38
Molluscs	37 (+3)
Fish	36
Spiders	32
Dragonflies	29
True bugs	28 (+7)
Crickets & grasshoppers	18
Aculeates	18 (+1)
Liverworts	18 (+6)
Crustaceans	17 (+3)
Lichen	10 (+6)
Amphibians	6
Reptiles	6 (+1)
Seaweeds & algae	5
Anemones	4
Cockroaches	3
Caddisflies	2
Earwigs	1
Ant-lion	1
Lacewings	1
Leeches	1

Posted in Ichneumons, listing, Woods Mill

3 Response to "1st October - All-taxa list update"

Steve Gale Says:

Hi Graeme, I'm following your race to 3,000 with interest having just got over the 2,600 barrier myself. Good luck...

1 October 2010 at 20:37

Graeme Lyons Says:

Cool, things are winding down a little but next weekend's residential course at Flatford Mill on aquatic molluscs is timely. Next year I am aiming to get to 4000 by the end of the year.

1 October 2010 at 22:51

Mark Schofield Says:

An excellent count, Graeme! I should definitely take a leaf out of your book and get back into bryophytes this autumn. Target setting is the way to go. I've been surveying limestone grassland axiophytes all summer against the clock so haven't had time to learn many new species. My girlfriend's new found passion for gastropods has been good revision for me though!

2 October 2010 at 18:17