I like seeing new wildlife, especially when I've never heard of it before! That's what happened yesterday with this beetle. This is the nationally scarce (Nb) Hallomenus binotatus and I found three on the underneath of a Sulphur Polypore at Ashcombe Bottom. I've been doing some freelance entomology for the National Trust up there and I have to say, it's a very strange place.
I'll paint a picture. It's quite hard to get to, about halfway between Ditchling Beacon and Lewes and not far from Black Cap (2.5 miles from Ditchling Beacon car park, I know this, as my legs are killing me). The site is a large ancient woodland nestled in a valley so when you are in there you see hardly anyone, hear hardly anything and don't feel at all like you are on the Downs. There are some huge ancient oaks and ash in there but the old hazels and hawthorns are perhaps the most remarkable, the biggest hawthorns and hazels I have EVER seen I saw yesterday. In fact, the above Sulphur Polypore was growing out of a huge hawthorn. Bracken grows everywhere throughout the wood but there are pockets of chalk-grassland in the form of glades.
Sweeping under the above oak tree, I picked up Ampedus elongantulus. I saw a number of saproxylic beetles there I usually see in the West Weald in West Sussex such as Melandrya caraboides and Hedobia imperialis.
This striking larvae looked easy enough for me to identify and indeed it was, this is the Frosted Green which I beat off a Turkey Oak. Lots of specimens to identify including a tiny Malthodes the size of a thrip and some rather nice looking crab spiders...
...then he would probably look like this. Yesterday, I attended the second half of the Knepp recording weekend and this beetle being the very scarce (Na) Pilemostoma fastuosa was the highlight of the day for me. It's so strikingly unlike other tortoise beetles, I almost mistook it for a ladybird, then a Cryptocephalus but when I realised what it was, it dropped to the ground and I plunged my hand into a mass of hidden Blackthorn spines to get to it! Worth it though. One of the food plants listed for this species is Fleabane, which there's rather a lot of at Knepp! Odd that species restricted to common plants, can often be so scarce.
The rarest thing we saw all day was probably the bracket fungus Phellinus populicola on Grey Poplar.
And also on oak was the rare Phellinus robustus. I was really glad to see these two species, as I missed them during last year's bioblitz!
I sieved a pile of twigs, litter and dead wood, that I think someone said was an old Barn Owls nest, from a large tree that had fallen down. In there, we recorded Korynetes caeruleus, Cobweb Beetle Ctesias serra larvae and (new for me) Attagenus pellio. Nearby we recorded an Awl-fly and Anthocomus fasciatus, being only the second time I have recorded these saproxylic species.
In the garden, I was pleased to finally see Asparagus Beetle Crioceris asparagi. Excuse my hand.
Another cool bug that I didn't manage a photo of was a lacebug (
Dictyla convergens) beaten off oak. Interestingly it turned out to be a species associated with
Water Forget-me-not but as the oak was right next to a lake, this makes total sense. I still have quite a few species yet to identify. A thoroughly enjoyable day in all, a big thank you to Charlie Burrell, Amy Nightingale and Ted Green for such a great day.
10). Finishing the South Downs arable bird survey single-handed
So it took nine months, I walked nearly 600 miles and I saw some great things including: Honey Buzzard, Quail, Black Kite, Hawfinch, Waxwing, Hen Harrier, Striped Lychnis, Night-flowering Catchfly (photo), Blue Pimpernel, White Horehound and Narrow-fruited Cornsalad. It was a privilege to complete the contract so a big thank you to Natural England, everyone who helped and all the farmers.
9). Five new birds for me and all of them in Sussex!
It's great when you don't have to go that far to twitch. Quail I found myself out working (I'll cover that on its own below), Little Crake at Arundel, White-winged Black Tern at Chichester, Pallid Harrier at Burpham and Isabelline Wheatear (photo) that turned up within a few miles of me for just one day near Beachy Head were all welcome additions to my list. I think the harrier was the best bird of the year.
8). My first trip to the New Forest
If only we could turn back time and do things a little differently. I saw some great things but learnt a valuable lesson about how far obsession can go. Here is a rather smart longhorn that I saw quite a few of in the forest, Stictoleptura scutellata.
7). Time in the field with Howard Matcham
I spent some great days out with Howard this year and made a great new friend. We went to Ebernoe, Wakehurst Place even Ladies Winkins! Howard added perhaps 40-50 species to my list but this photo was my favourite, Dark Honey Fungus.
6). Seeing three Quail in one day
I can't remember the last time I found a lifer (a bird lifer). I think it was perhaps Glossy Ibis at Dunge in 2001. So, to find my first Quail was a real treat and then one month later to see three in one day was ludicrous. Here is the worst photo of a pair of Quail in flight that has ever been taken.
5). My encounter with Shelob
There are few things that make me jump (other than E.T.) but this did. When I coaxed this spider out of a wall in Chichester it just kept coming. What an absolute beast. It might be an alien but it made my day! It's Segestria florentina and if you have the balls for it I would go and have a look.
4). Cowdray invertebrates
Hollow trees, golf balls and a number of species new to Sussex. The first Wood Crickets in the county. An RDB saproxylic micro moth called Dystebenna stephensii new to Sussex. This rather handsome click beetle Ampedus cardinalis. However, one day in the field with Mark Telfer I heard him say something I have never heard him say. "What the *@#£ is that!?" in reference to a strange looking beetle that I had just found. It was only the RDB1 Laemophloeus monilis. A huge thank you to Mark for being such a help with everything natural history and giving me the beetle bug.
3). Finding a Black Kite during a farm survey
Perhaps the bird I expected to see least on a farm survey was Black Kite. Especially as it was fighting one of those common or garden Red Kites. I was a little excited.
2). The Podcast
The most fun three men can have with a microphone and some wildlife. I'm happy that people like it but I wouldn't mind if they didn't as I have so much fun recording with with Michael and Mat that anything else is a bonus. I love our theme tune that much it's my ringtone on my phone!
1). Crimson Speckled
It was a great autumn for moths and we might have seen more Flame Brocades than anyone in over a hundred years but that was nothing compared to my strange encounter with a Crimson Speckled. So, I have added 710 species so far this year. I might add a few more but not many. I'm winding down and next year will be much slower. 19% of everything I have ever seen, I have seen this year for the first time! That is crazy. Anyway, the next thousand is going to be much more chilled out.
We've spent the whole day getting to know the New Forest today and with such rubbish weather, we concentrated on plants. I added 7 species to my list and some of them were very nice. The carnivorous plants stole the show though and I was particularly pleased to find some Lesser Bladderwort. Another tick for me was this Great Sundew covered in its dinner, flies caught on its leaves! We also saw some Pale Butterwort, only the second time I have seen it but the photos didn't come out so well.
We then went on to look at a number of ponds and I saw some less bloody-thirsty species. This includes the rare Hampshire Purslane in a couple of places as well as Floating Water-plantain and Lesser Marshwort (photos in that order), again all new for me. Sadly, several sites were completely choked with New Zealand Pygmyweed.
I've also seen a lot of plants I have seen only occasionally like Marsh St Johnswort (which is everywhere) and Pillwort, it's really great! I'm impressed by how common Redstarts are here too. I also heard Firecrest and Wood Warbler singing at the same time, might be the only place this is likely to occur in the UK? We didn't see a lot of insects today but I did see a few Silver-studded Blues and this dead Stag Beetle.
And here is me unable to contain my excitement as we stumble across some Slender Sedge! It was funny watching Jo walk through the bog.
I ran a course at Ebernoe today, more of a very involved guided walk really. I always enjoy these days but the weather wasn't great and although we saw a lot, we didn't see much I hadn't seen before. We did spot the Na Stenurella nigra resting on a buttercup but then Nigel Flynn spotted this longhorn beetle on a log in Dennis's Croft. It is the Nb Poecilium alni and is a new one for me and for Ebernoe Common. It looks a bit like a tiny Anaglyptus mysticus. Although it's 'only' Nb, it's a 16 pointer on the SQI list and will add quite a bit to the SQI for the site. A great find and I am glad to add this species to mine and the site's lists, it's the 18th species of longhorn I have seen at Ebernoe. We saw lots of other things but a Bird's-nest Orchid and a Hobby were some of the highlights.
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