The Lyons Share

This is my big spider weekend in the south west. Can I close the gap between myself and Matt? Yet what better way to get distracted from the spiders than with the gorgeous Blue Ground Beetle Carabus intricatus. It had been very wet, so yesterday morning was damp but good for spidering, the afternoon though was pretty soggy and a heavy down poor made suction sampling difficult. I met up with John Walters who kindly agreed to show me one of these magnificent beasts and also unexpectedly Kev Rylands, who I have not seen for nine years and is now a fellow top 20 pan-species lister. Just re-read that and it sounds like we found Kev in the field like a woodland creature (I can confirm Kev came with us and we didn't record him).

It's always a pleasure spending time with naturalists in the field on their patch, the last time I met John was the day that inspired me to write the first of my two Calosoma sycophanta blogs. I learned so much in the couple of hours we were together. Here are some more shots of this gorgeous beetle and a wee video showing how long and gangly it is.

And here is a common Carabus problematicus for comparison, just to show how different intricatus is. It looks very squat and plain in comparison.

And on the way back Kev spotted this amazing Witch's Whiskers Usnea florida! A lifer.

What a stunning landscape Dartmoor is. I have never really spent much time here.

Now for the spiders. The first species I recorded at Yarner Wood was actually Micrommata virescens! (if you don't include the two species I got at a service station that is). You know it's gonna be a good day when that's the first spider you find on a site.

By 10.30 am I got a new site/new 10 km square record and my favourite genus. Walckenaeria nodosa and Matt tells me only the third record for Dartmoor, this was in Sphagnum moss. I also picked up Stenus kiesenwetteri which John says is new to Dartmoor!

My other new spider for the day was Tenuiphantes alacris, Which just shows how little spidering I do in the north or west, it's really scarce in the south east.

Here is the spider list up to yesterday for the trip. Quite a few added today in another amazing day in the field but that will have to wait for another day! Loving it down here.

Amaurobius fenestralis

Bathyphantes gracilis

Centromerus dilutus

Cercidia prominens

Crustulina guttata

Dolomedes fimbriatus

Gonatium rubens

Gongylidiellum vivum

Mangora acalypha

Metellina mengei

Metellina merianae

Micrommata virescens

Nesticus cellulanus

Pholcus phalangioides

Phrurolithus festivus

Pisaura mirabilis

Savignya frontata

Steatoda nobilis

Taranuncus setosus

Tenuiphantes alacris

Tenuiphantes cristatus

Tenuiphantes zimmermanni

Theridiosoma gemmosum

Tiso vagans

Walckenaeria nodosa

Zilla diodea

Zora spinimana

Zygiella x-notata