New Order

No, not the 80's band, but this odd-looking creature which I photographed back in May on the reserve. Thanks to the nice people using iSpot to help beginner-entomologists like me, it transpires that this is Graphopsocus cruciatus. Not only is this new for the Nunnery list, it's an entirely new Order of insects for us - the Psocoptera (or booklice, barklice or barkflies).

New, new, new

The Lodge is one of the best recorded of all the RSPB's nature reserves. We have commissioned several invertebrate surveys over the years; one of the former wardens is an expert mycologist who accumulated a large fungus list for the site; and staff with expertise in various groups have been based here for some of their careers. So I have been surprised by how much we have been able to add to the reserve list this year. Our current total of 1146 for the year includes 253 species new to the reserve, so over 20% of what we have found has not been noted here before. One of my favourite new finds was Platystomos albinus, a weevil that lives in dead wood (above). The taking part really has been good, regardless of who wins.

Common Frog!

Found a froglet on Saturday afternoon (with no help from my 2-year-old, who was too busy playing with thistles) - at long last! Other things sorted out at the weekend included Masked Hunter Reduvius personatus and the localised - if otherwise rather uninspiring - Dotted Fan-foot. The 1200 mark has now been passed...

Twitching with a ladder

No, not another White-throated Robin, but Chris Gregory kindly showed us one of the Nunnery's rarest and most specialised species - Wall Bedstraw Galium parisiense. OK, possibly not the most stunning addition to the list, but they all count and this is presumably (?) one that doesn't occur at the Lodge anyway. Not easy to see here either!

Other additions today were Richard's Hummingbird Hawk and Dawn's Agriphila straminella , whilst I could only chip in with yet another leaf-miner, Parornix anglicella.

More Leps

In addition to the fantastic night's mothing that Moth(-)er Musgrove initiated, I managed a few more micros at the other end of the reserve the following night - namely Phlyctaenia coronata, Epagoge grotiana and Helcystogramma rufescens. Better still were the Purple Hairstreaks that eventually yielded to my scoping of the 4 mature oaks that mark the boundary of my front garden and the reserve - from the reserve, of course! I make that 1138, give or take.

Whilst initially scanning the canopy with bins, a Little Egret flew through my field of view! There was another one on the flood a few minutes later, along with an obliging pair of Little Ringed Plovers that I scoped from the meadow.

Mothing at the Nunnery Lakes - Act 1

Although we've notched up a fair few moths so far, we hadn't actually got round to any trapping down on the main part of the reserve. So ten of us (seven staff and three visitors) were out on Friday night until late (in fact, it was getting light as I got home). A very enjoyable evening, especially after Kate showed us that the generator worked much better with the air inlet open.

Not a bad haul, with 2 MV traps and 1 Actinic producing at least 97 species of moths, of which 34 were new to the BTO's TEAL list. Not a huge amount in the way of the real Brecks specialities though, so we'll have to go back a few more times. Also various beetles and bugs potted by the team.

For interest, the moth additions to the list were:

MACROS - Scalloped Hook-tip, Common Emerald, Lesser Cream Wave, Wood Carpet, July Highflyer, Toadflax Pug, Bordered Pug, Rosy Footman, Yellow-tail, Short-cloaked Moth, White-line Dart, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Gothic (not Bordered Gothic as we hoped for a few moments), Southern Wainscot, Suspected, Oak Nycteoline;

MICROS - Roeslerstammia erxlebella, Carcina quercana, Cochylis atricapitana, Pandemis cerasana, Aphelia paleana, Acleris forskkaleana, Thiodia citrana, Epiblema uddmaniana, Epinotia bilunana, Gypsonoma dealbana, Chilo phragmitella, Calamotropha paludella, Agriphila inquinatella, Catoptria pinella, Schoenobius gigantella, Elophila nymphaeata and Dipleurina lacustrata

In addition, a handful more micros reside in the fridge at Chez Musgrove, to be considered more fully when I feel more awake. There's an interesting looking plume moth here though.

1130+ now

Andy

Monster

Whilst the light traps were running last night, I had a look round the reserve for nocturnal beetles. It is a very different place after sunset, and many of the insects that hide away during the day were sitting out on tree trunks. I was hoping to find one of our most spectacular residents, the huge Tanner Beetle Prionus coriarius. I got lucky, and discovered this one was emerging from the soil at the base of a larch. It has been delighting or horrifying people for most of today. We were not far over the 1000 species mark yesterday, and there should be a few more moths to add in once I get lists back from all who came out to help last night.