The Lyons Share

Oli and I went to Beachy Head to look for Small Hare's-ear. We failed. But we did see a few other things. What I originally thought was going to be the common Summer Chafer I am now starting to believe is the much scarcer (Na) and very similar looking cousin Amphimallon ochraceum. There were several flying around the cliff tops in the mid day sun. Does anyone out there know if this and the photo is enough to clinch the ID? The key was very comparative and I only have a very bald specimen of Summer Chafer to compare the photo to. We also spotted several of these strange tenebrionids which I had never even heard of, Sulphur Beetle Cteniopus sulphureus. 06/07/11 UPDATE: Mark Telfer and Matt Shardlow both thought that the chafer is likely to be just Summer Chafer based upon the relatively large size of the antennal club.

I also spotted this ground bug running between the Buckshorn Plantain (actually its food plant). It's Henestaris laticeps look how wide its eye are! A frustrating day but hopefully if the scarce chafer ID is correct not a complete waste of time! I end the day on 3525 species.

Yesterday was a dark day. Too painful was yesterday's event that I could not even blog about it until 24 hours later. No, actually I was so busy running around from one end of the county to the other with work that I didn't get a chance to blog. Anyway. Picture the scene: I walk up to a tree at Cowdray which has been very productive to see an ovipositing Hornet Beetle Leptura aurulenta. I pull out the Coolpix, go to turn it on when it begins to make a very pained sound and refuses to turn on at all. At least it went out with style. I bought the camera second hand in 2005 and 95% of all the photos on this blog are taken using this 4 mega pixel fossil. Good job I bought a back up. Perhaps now I will finally figure out how to use this vastly superior camera! 

Anyway, we had a good day with a number of species new to my list and many more for the site. Again, picking through fragments of beetles in old trees proved very productive and we might have found two RDB additions to the list using this method! Not so productive though for the pan-species lister.

I then went on to Friston to look for one of my bogey moths, the Lappet. We failed to see it but we did see Olive Crescent, Great Oak Beauty and one of my other bogey moths, the Fern (which flew off before I had chance to get a photo). We also saw a couple of Scallop Shells (haven't seen them for years), my first male Glow Worms, and this  Brown Chafer Serica brunnea which was also new to me. I end the day on 3515 species. I also remembered that today has another signifigance. It's ten years ago today my career in conservation started as a volunteer at Dungeness RSPB Reserve. I may have to do yet another blog about that...

Eridge Rocks invertebrate survey today with Mark Telfer. We had to work quite hard today but we did get a good list by the end. The above photo is of an Ant Beetle Thanasimus formicarius that Mark found on a sunlit oak tree. I have only seen these once before alive at Abernethy. They feed on bark beetles. We also found throughout the day a Helops pronotum, Platystomos albinus and Tillus elongatus. I saw at least four beetles that were new to me being Triphyllus bicolor (photo), Soronia grisea (awaiting confirmation), Rhizophagus dispar and the striking Lordithon lunulatus.

There is something quite disturbing about the flowers of Henbane. The purple veins remind me of films such as the Exorcist, Evil Dead and Event Horizon. It's a botanical zombie and it's not really a surprise that it's poisonous and smells so foul. I saw lots on a farm survey which was a surprise. There are more comparisons to a black hole beyond just the film Event Horizon, as the gaping black pit at the bottom of the corolla reflects no light at all. Speaking of points of no return, I have just hit 3500. I'm past the halfway mark now and feel like I cannot possibly give up. So, what was species 3500? I'm afraid it was quite dull. Spear-leaved Willowherb, photographed in an incredible thunderstorm and the only shot that came out OK was of a leaf (blunt tip and presence of a stalk are clinchers). I had read that it grew around the village of Stedham and I found one within about 10 minutes.

I then called in briefly to Graffham to look for Green-flowered Helleborine. Pretty sure this is one, there were two growing next to a Broad-leaved Helleborine so I could see the differences, the bracts were much longer on Green-flowered but I will go back in a week or so to confirm. The light was bad and the rain was coming down so the photo is pretty poor. Just as I was leaving I looked up and saw Spear-leaved Willowherb! I must have got my eye in.

I'm almost half way, 3499 to be precise. I went to look for a trio of vascular plants in the Arundel area that would all be ticks for me. I found them all quite easily. First off was this Wild Madder. A pretty straggly looking thing that won't be winning any beauty competitions but interesting all the same.

And within metres were a number of plants of Small Teasel just coming into flower. Not that small actually, it was already at about waist height.

A few miles away at Bury and I was up to some more roadside botany. This time the rather smart looking Wild Liquorice which smells nothing like liquorice as far as I could tell. All in under an hour! So, what's going to be species 3500?

I'm pretty sure this is the reed beetle Donacia vulgaris. I saw this today feeding on Reedmace by the edge of the pond at Woods Mill. It was the only one I saw like this, smallish with two obvious bands of colour along the elytra. There were lots of a much bigger reed beetle there too feeding on Branched Bur-reed but I think that was Donacia marginata. I find them a little tricky, I think I need to get a more up to date key than the one in Joy for these smart beetles.

It's my annual grasses, sedges and rushes course at Woods Mil this weekend. I always enjoy running this course but it did not stop me getting two ticks (a bug and a beetle) in the process. They were Deraeocoris flavilinea (the bug) and Plagiodera versicolor (the beetle) which puts me on 3490, only ten to the half way mark! This latter was found at rest on one of the course attendees backs! The photo is of neither species. The only soldier beetle I saw at all today in the meadow were these small Cantharis nigra of which there were quite a few. It's resting on a panicle of Yorkshire Fog. Each spikelet is completely enclosed by the two glumes. Right, enough grass anatomy, I need a pint!

We've been at Graffham today and had a good day discussing management. Didn't get many good photo opportunities but did get this female Common Emerald Damselfly. New for me was the chrysomelid Luperus longicornis. We also saw several more Agonum sexpunctatum and a Beautiful Snout. I end the day on 3488.

Went to Friston Forest today to discuss grazing. Saw this male Onthophagus coenobita, first time I have seen a male with the cephalic horn at the back of the head, looks a little like it has been set in place with gel! I like this family of dung beetles. We also saw many of these small Nb chafers that I have seen once before at Southerham, Omaloplia ruricola. I didn't manage to photograph it last time. There must have been five or six flying around today.

Neither of these beetles were new ones for me but this plant was, Field Pepperwort. It's not at all scarce, just one I never see in quadrats and one I must have over looked.

But the best find today was actually in reception as I was leaving Woods Mill. I saw what I assumed was going to be Xylota segnis in the window but when I got home I realised it was the nationally scarce Xylota florum, a new species for me. I end the day on 3483 species. It would be really nice to get to 3500 by the end of June.

I changed the vane traps at Cowdray today and found this pretty little micro moth sitting on the bottom of a trap inside a hollow oak tree. Didn't expect it to be anything exciting but thought I would give it a go. I thought it was going to be a gelechid but it's actually a pRDB3 saproxylic Dystebenna stephensi. I'm going to have to get the specimen confirmed but it is highly unlikely to be anything else considering where I found it. By the time I extracted myself from the tree, I noticed this first for West Sussex sitting on the outside of the tree. It's the Nb Pseudocistella cermaboides. I new it instantly as I found it new to Sussex at Eridge Rocks last year. Now it's in West too, it would seem I am the only person who has seen this beetle in Sussex! This is what happens if you go poking around in red-rotten hollow oak trees.

I also saw new to the site this Na Tomoxia bucephela which was doing something quite odd. I decided to take a small video to show what it was doing. Perhaps its over-sized head (hence the Latin name) is adapted to whatever it is it is doing. I also recorded the Na Dasytes niger which was new to me. I didn't find a single beetle new to the site list that didn't have a conservation status! My list is currently on 3480.