As part of our aim to reach 1000 pan-species and 500 moth species for the garden we spent this weekend conducting a Garden Bioblitz.
We used the following methods and gear to record:
3 moth/light traps (125W MV, Actinic and LED traps)
4 pit-fall traps
Butterfly trap
Nocturnal Migration Recorder
Visible migration and birding (Bins)
Bat Detector
Camera trap
Sweep netting and dusking
Checking vegetation for feeding insects
The final scoreboard was as follows:
241 species (not including plants, previous surveys have recorded 151 species of plant which presumably most are still present so we had approx 390 species today in the garden )
Bringing the all time Old Vic totals to:
423 species of moth (not all verified yet)
926 pan-species (not all verified yet)
Highlights included a Black Hairstreak, Small Wainscot, Slender Brindle, Sycamore Piercer, Metalampra italica and a belated Water Shrew. We also did a bit of work on the garden improving the habitat including planting up a butterfly bed and also did a bit on the mini-farm. Totals are up from 849 pan-species and 396 moths since early July HERE) .
All identifications provisional and subject to verification.
Jacob ready for the big bug hunt
Small Wainscot (apparently a Mere Wainscot according to Twitter)
Slender Brindle
Cream Wave
Reed Veneer
Pale Water Veneer
Burdock Conch Aethes rubigana
Batia lunaris - lots of these this weekend
Italian Tubic, Metalampra italica- if I've identified this correctly it is classified in the books as very local with isolated populations in the UK and then only recorded elsewhere in Italy.
Sycamore Piercer, Pammene aurita
Black Hairstreak- this was all over in a flash, I noticed a small dark butterfly fly into the rockery, took a couple of photos, noticed it was a hairstreak and then it flew off. On checking the pics the diagnostic post discal spots are evident.
The lovage was very productive (above and three photos below) . Here's a few striking looking insects awaiting identification.
Probably Gasteruption jaculator. There are 5 spp. in this genera of the Gasteruptiidae (thanks to Lee Dingain)
Ruby-tailed Wasp
Water Shrew (above) and Common Shrew (below). The water shrew was from last July but just re-surfaced after we found another shrew that the dog had killed that prompted to look through old posts on shrews here.
The main trap
The butterfly trap- not a single butterfly went in but did catch a load of hoverflies
Jacob helping out with the pooter (above) and creating our Butterfly bed (below)
Helping Grampies (above) with the mini-farm and harvesting a few seasonal bits (below)
Previous planting up in the walled garden paid off with lots of insect activity here
The breakdown from Irecord for Saturday and Sunday (17th and 18th July but as moth recording traditionally utilises the previous date (to cover the period when the moth trap was turned on) the recording dates are 16th and 17th July)
4 comments:
Nice totals. I think Metalampra italica has spread quite rapidly in recent years and expanded its range. I sweep-netted one in the Lye Valley last year
Thanks Isaac, that's interesting. Its the first I've had here and also sweep netted it- not sure if they come to light (not had them in the trap anyway) ?
Not sure if they come to light. That's the only one I've caught - never had one in the trap. Think they're probably still relatively scarce but obviously a lot more widespread now. Haven't done any mothing since last August...
Certainly a good time to get the trap on while this heat wave lasts- getting lots of new ones here
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