Spring - it's already too difficult!

Spring's fantastic, but it does mean that the top shelf of my fridge starts to fill up with glass pots containing a variety of invertebrates, and the number of "to be identified" photos starts to get out of control. Perhaps I should just work in the winter, and take the summer off?

Anyway, I made a rare weekend visit to the Nunnery Lakes today with my youngest son Duncan, to employ his sharp nine-year-old eyes in the service of the BTO TEAL assault. Good move, as he added at least two species, the first Alder Fly Sialis lutaria of the year and, more excitingly, my first sighting of a Water Scorpion (Nepidae sp.) This latter was an impressive beast in the shallows of the "Bob Clarke" lake (note to self - must find out who Bob Clarke was, one of these days). I've still to find out how many species of Water Scorpions there are, and whether my photos are sufficient to identify to species.

Otherwise, no new birds (although the Little Egret was still around) but we did add Sticky Mouse-ear Cerastium glomeratum, Thale-cress Arabidopsis thaliana, Shepherd's Cress Teesdalia nudicaulis, Silverweed Potentilla anserina, a bright red weevil that might be Apion miniatum (or similar) and the ugly looking beetle Oiceoptoma thoracicum. A crab spider, a large ant and a water snail also require some work!

Great fun anyway, even if it's hard work!

Andy

Edit - unless anyone can say otherwise, this appears to be Nepa cinerea, with no confusion species. Result!