The Lyons Share

I've been having a look at some dead wood today and found a few interesting things. This saproxylic beetle was new to me, Mycetophagus atomarius. I found several on fallen Beech limbs. Later on in the day I also spotted a single specimen of the nationally scarce (Nb) Mycetophagus piceus on some red-rotten oak. I also found several elytra of the Nb Helop caeruleus, a species I have yet to see alive and/or intact.

Always good value is the Lesser Stag Beetle Dorcus parallelipiedus.

Perhaps most unusual was this recently dead Fieldfare I found underneath a hollow tree, a beautiful bird up close. A nicer surprise today though was the trilling of several Waxwings, there were at least four coming down to drink from water gathering high in an old tree. A really nice day and I'm looking forward to the summer's fieldwork!

Is glaucousness a word? It is now. I have a fetish for glaucous plants and this moss is no exception, I can't believe I haven't seen it before. It's Silver-moss Bryum argenteum. There was lots of it growing on an old concreted dew pond on a farm survey this morning. I also found another very common species that was new to me there Grimmia pulvinata and some unidentified crusty lichens. They may well stay that way too.

The birds were pretty quiet today but I did spot a few invertebrates. This Prussian Plate-jaw Leistus spinibarbis wouldn't keep still for a photo but I like this shot anyway. I also found a little beetle known as Scaphidema metallicum.

I found two new ants today too, including this one which after much staring at down the microscope I am fairly confident is Myrmica scabrinodis. The other ant was Lasius alienus. Another day with four additions to my list leaving me on 3163.

Well today started bad. Got up at 5.00 am to do a bird survey, got in the car at 5.45 am to find that I had left the lights on when I came home from work ill a few days ago. Survey aborted. After a £62 update to my RAC cover, I finally got the damn thing going again. A glorious day awaited so I went to Southerham to see what I could see. Lots of Aphodius beetles on the wing. I saw a beautiful spider that was identifiable in the field although I didn't get a photo (too fast!). A male Alopecosa barbipes with hairy segments on the front legs. A real handsome beast, Google it! Tightly grazed chalk-grassland certainly seems like a typical habitat according to the texts. Tick number one. I found these two tiny snails under an old post. Bear in mind that each snail is under 3 mm. The snail on the left is new to me and is the Moss Chrysalis Snail Pupilla muscorum. Tick number two. The snail on the right is the tiny but beautiful Ribbed Grass Snail Vallonia costata. 

I then had time to have another look for Early Meadow-grass at Shoreham. Third time lucky. I found it on the causeway along the river close to the airport. Not much fun dodging dock muck, swooping police helicopters and wet dogs. It's funny how as soon as you bend down you become fair game to any dog. The moment I found the grass and then bent down to take a shot was ruined by a wet dog that jumped over me, the grass and my camera before it's mate came up and shuck half the contents of the river all over me! Anyway, here is the grass. Very vibrant green, reminded me of the colour of Marsh Club-moss. 

 Here it is on the right next to some of the ubiquitous Annual Meadow-grass.

I was worried that it would be hard to spot as you often see AMG that is small and yellowish but with EMG all the plants are consistently the same shade of yellow-green throughout. The leaves are also quite short and stubby. The arrangement of the florets on the spikelets and the shape of the anthers are the clinchers though. I was going to call this post 'Is that it!?' but I actually think this little grass is quite smart. Tick number three. Finally, I had a moss tick growing near the Early Meadow-grass which was Syntrichia intermedia being my fourth and final tick of the day leaving me on 3159 species. I finished the day off by giving a talk to BC on moths which seemed to go down quite well. Now for the the lasagne Jo made which is magnificent!

I just keyed out my first staphylind beetle, which has presented a mental barrier to me for some time. It landed on my Weatherwriter on Tuesday as I was heading out into the field in the Woods Mill car park. I thought I would have a go at identifying it. Actually it was really easy, probably because it's the only species in the genus. It's Coprophilus striatulus and is a wetland specialist apparently. The ridges on the elytra and grooves on the pronotum are pretty distinctive and it's just over 6 mm long.

I also had a go at this acrocarpous moss growing on the wall by the moth trap outside my office window. It's the incredibly common Tortula muralis. Most of the 103 mosses I have seen are the pleurocarps so I am having to try and branch into the acrocarps to get more species which I find much more difficult. Hell of a lot easier when they are fruiting though! I might do a thorough survey of the wall one lunch time.

My pan-species list is currently 3155, I'll post a more thorough update on my list on the 1st April but  it won't be long before I have seen more beetles than I have birds.

drab adjective

1. Lacking brightness or interest; drearily dull.

2. Of a light brown colour.

This Lead-coloured Drab got me a bit confused today, lacking the dark marks on the specimen below (taken several years ago also at Woods Mill) I began to wonder if I had finally connected with a Northern Drab (one of my bogey moths) but after a quick call to Colin Pratt (county moth recorder) he convinced me it was an LCD. It actually makes Hypnum cupressiforme (the moss) look pretty exciting!

There were just over 100 moths (50 less than last Thursday). Several Oak Beauties stole the show but were not photographed as they only make the drabs and quakers depressed. There were lots of Twin-spot Quakers too although this one that had hardly any twin-spots caused a brief moment of excitement. So does anyone out there ever catch Northern Drab? In nearly twenty years of mothing (especially spring mothing when I'm at my keenest) I have never seen one. Had to go home from work with a fever today, so no natural history for me but I hope I'll be back on it tomorrow as I have a day off. Got my laptop fixed though!

These metre high Greater Tussock Sedges (NVC community S3) always make me laugh, looking like something from the Dark Crystal, I swear they move around when you're not looking. We went to Amberley Wildbrooks today to discuss management with the RSPB. There were lots of Lapwings and a few Redshank displaying, it was looking really good. Sadly, this Lapwing was predated, probably by a Fox looking at the ends of the feather shafts. Or maybe one of the tussocks got hungry?...

I think this is one of the coolest looking beetles, Lesser Bloody-nosed Beetle Timarcha goettingensis, look at its feet-like tarsi! Sitting on a bed of Hypnum lacunosum it looks good enough to eat! Mapping again at Ditching today and I found another area of the community CG2aiii but this time dominated by the moss Neckera crispa which is quite an odd looking thing.

Finally, there are some big thick patches of the vibrant green Dicranum bonjeanii in this area too. I think Ditchling Beacon is a great place to learn your chalk-grassland bryophytes.

Have you noticed when you drive around at this time of year a tiny white flower (sometimes with a hint of pink) growing along the roadsides in thick strips? It's Danish Scurvygrass, a plant once restricted to the coasts it is now spreading rapidly inland growing on the exposed earth right on the edge of the road where salt is put down in the winter. I think it's fascinating that you are more likely to see this plant now from the car inland than you are walking on the coast.

I spotted this plant yesterday at Shoreham. The top photo was taken in a traffic jam on the A3 a few weeks back. I wonder if the effects of salt on road verges are accumulative,  perhaps when the salinity reaches a certain point, will other halophytes begin to spread inland? Perhaps we will end up with miles and miles of very narrow and dangerous inland saltmarshes whilst all the coastal ones disappear due to sea level rise. The title of this blog post, for those that didn't know, was stolen from Jurassic Park.

A distant record shot of the surprise Spoonbill that flew east over the old fort at Shoreham today. It was a welcome sighting having spent hours looking for the rare Early Meadow-grass which I failed to spot. I was lucky to be looking up at the right time although double-pressing the on switch on my camera in the heat of the moment and then consequently waiting in vain for the camera to turn on lost me critical seconds that ensured a distant shot. I'll have to go back and look for the grass in a few weeks, it's not comfortable botany with a bad back bending over looking for a plant that looks like a small Annual Meadow-grass.

I new today was going to be a good one when I had a singing Firecrest in the first mile! Followed up by a few Siskins over, several Red Kites, Reed Bunting and Stonechat (last two new to the site). I managed to find another Hawfinch too and some Med. Gulls flew over high calling. There was also a Lapwing on the deck which I have seen very rarely on these farm surveys. Just when I thought it was all over I bumped into  flock of 70 Yellowhammers which might be the biggest flock I've seen this winter. Finally, right by the car I heard a Chiffchaff! Also saw my first Comma and Brimstone.

The photo is the carabid known as the Black Clock Pterostichus madidus, a very common ground beetle that I have seen often but I usually see it with reddish legs. The rounded hind angles to the pronotum and the single punctures on the elytra (both visible in the above photo) help to identify the beetle. I'll keep trying until I find a species of Pterostichus that is not madidus! I don't have a clue where the name Black Clock comes from but I like it. I don't take many photos of carabids as they move so quickly!

Oh yeah, I found the remains of a Red-legged Partridge kill and took this photo of some flank feathers as they are pretty smart looking. Perhaps I'll go and look for Early Meadow-grass tomorrow...