A Bark worse than it's bite

I put out my actinic heath moth trap last night, and had a nice selection of moths, with several new for the year. Amongst the catch was a small insect, with it's wings held in a tent-like fashion, rather like a small lacewing. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain I recognised as was a one of the Psocoptera, commonly refered to as barkflies and booklice. My insect was one of the barkflies.

After some searching on the web, I found the National Barkfly Recording Scheme website. This is an excellent website, with on online key to all of the species, a gallery with excellent pictures and lots of good information about this group.

Using the information on the website, I have been able to identify my specimen as Trichadenotecnum sexpunctatum (easy for you to say!). One of the useful features are the large dots on the cells around the distal end of the wing.

Trichadenotecnum sexpunctatum

This species is associated with tree trunks and the branches of a range of deciduous and coniferous trees and bushes. A look on the NBN website also suggests that this is the first record of this species for Shropshire, though I am sure that this says more about recording effort than genuine rarity.

Another day out with SIG

I had another very enjoyable day out with the Shropshire Invertebrate Group today. We first headed up to Mason's Bank, a Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserve west of Bishop's Castle. Here, the upland heathland habitats are recovering nicely since the clearance of a conifer plantation in 2008.

Perhaps due to the young age of the heathland, and the stiff breeze at this exposed site, we did not find that many invertebrates. I am sure that this will improve as the site develops, and there were still a few interesting species to see.

One of these was a very large aphid that several of us found in our sweep nets. This was an impressive black aphid, with bright orange legs with black bands, and black markings in the wings. This caused a bit of head-scratching in the field, and it was not until we had returned home that an identification was secured. This is the Greater Black Spruce Bark Aphid Cinara piceae. This species forms large colonies on the undersides of branches and trunks on Spruce (Picea sp.). Their presence at Mason's Bank is presumably related to the previous history of coniferous plantation, and there are other foresty plantations within a few hundred metres of the site.

Greater Black Spruce Bark Aphid Cinara piceae

I was also pleased to find a species of Dagger Fly (Empidae) that I had not seen before. This is Empis livida, which can be identified by the brownish abdomen and the pattern of venations in the wing (though this is difficult to see in the pictures below). It is found around hedgerows, and the larvae are also carnivorous in the damp soil and leaf litter.

Empis livida

Empis livida

After lunch we moved on to Lower Shortditch, a kilometre or so down the road. This is a more established heathland site, with areas of scrub and young woodland, offering a different range of habitats and some comfort from the wind. It actually took us a little while to get onto site, as the brambles by the cars held many species of interest. One of them for me was this pretty micromoth Pammene aurana, a very distinctive tortrix with large orange spots on a chocolate brown forewing. This species is usually found around Hogweed Heraclium sphondylium, and the larvae spin the seeds of the plant together.

Pammene aurana

We eventually got away from the brambles, and as the sum came out there was plenty being found in sweep nets and beating trays. There were several of the bumblee mimic Volucella bombylans found around the site. There are a couple of different forms of this hoverfly, one with an orange-red tail (var. bombylans), and this one with a white tail (var. plumata).

Volucella bombylans var. plumata

Sweeping around a small pool discovered this Brown China-mark Elophila nymphaeata, an impressive micromoth. This moth has a remarkable life cycle, with their larvae being entirely aquatic. These larvae feed on water plants (eg Potamogeton sp.), mining the leaves before they cut circles out of the leaf and fuse these together to form a case. They then live in this case, presumably using this for protection as they feed and continue to develop.

Brown China-mark Elophila nymphaeta

Moving on to bugs, there was a plentiful supply of Gorse Shieldbugs Piezodorous lituratus, though rather than being found on gorse, these were seen to be plentiful on Common Broom Cytisus scoparius. We found them in various stages of their life cycle, from the tiny first instar nymphs through to adults. The sharp-eyed among us also found some eggs on the underside of a seed pod.

Gorse Shieldbug Piezodorous lituratus

Gorse Shieldbug Piezodorous lituratus eggs

My personal highlight of the day was a small day-flying moth found on the heath itself. It is quite rare that I see a new macromoth species, and finding several of these Small Argent & Sable Epirrhoe tristata was a real treat. These smart little moths can be quite common on open upland habitats, particularly where their foodplant Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile is found. I saw quite a large number of these moths across the site.

Small Argent & Sable Epirhoe tristata

In addition to the species photographed we found a huge range of other interesting species. The most notable of which was a small mining bee Andrena tarsata, which had last been recorded in Shropshire back in 2005. This species uses Tormentil Potentilla erecta,which grows in profusion on the Long Mynd, so perhaps a species for me to look out for around Batch Valley.

So another excellent day out with the group - great company, lots learnt and a friendly and patient welcome for a complete novice such as myself!

Jewels

Another warm and cloudy night and another good haul of moths in the Robinson moth trap. There is no let up in the pace of new species for the garden appearing, with another four last night. This included a couple of good county records.

The first good moth was one that I found on the outside of a window as I was setting up the trap. This is Monopis obviella, one of the Tineidae. This species is right on the edge of its range here, in fact according to the county recorder this is only the second Shropshire record of this species. Elsewhere in its range the lack of records is partly due to confusion with the very similar Monopis crocicapitella. However, the latter species has not occurred in Shropshire, so this appears to be genuinely rare (or, as more likely, genuinely under recorded). This pretty little micromoth is separated by the dark forewing with limited white spotting, and the deep yellow colour of the band spreading back from the top of the head and along the inside edges of the forewing.

Monopis obviella

My other two new micromoths last night were pretty dull in comparison to the M. obviella. These were Brachmia blandella, a Gelechid associated with Gorse Ulex europaeus, and this positively dingy Matilella fusca (or known as Pyla fusca - I am not sure which is most current in usage). Matilella fusca uses Heather (Erica) and Bilberry (Vaccinium) as larval foodplants. The main commen theme linking my recent new micros has been an association with these and other typical upland heath plants.

Matilella fusca

On to the macromoths, and I recorded this glorious noctuid in my garden for the first time. Beautiful Brocade Lacanobia contigua is a species of moorland, heathland and woodland. I would expect this to be a species I would record here fairly frequently, so perhaps more records will follow.

Beautiful Brocade Lacanobia contigua

There were also a couple of jewels in the trap, emeralds to be precise. This splendid Large Emerald Geometra papilionaria is only my second record of what it usually a common species. I recorded this on my very first moth trapping session back in August 2012, so this is a welcome return. Another species of woods, heaths and moors, it is associated with Birch (Betula). All of these are in good supply here, and so it is a bit of mystery why I do not see this more frequently.

Large Emerald Geometra papilionaria

I have been recording Grass Emerald Pseudoterpna pruinata reasonably frequently this year, but they all appear to be very worn by the time they make it to my garden. This is probably the smartest one I have seen in the garden so far, though it still looks a little worse for wear.

Grass Emerald Pseudoterpna pruinata

One of the more interesting moths in the trap was this variant of Mottled Beauty Alcis repandata, with the broad dark brown band across the wings helping this to blend in with the garden furniture. Having not recorded this species in the garden before this year, I am now seeing them on most occasions I put out the trap. Either a good year for this species, or one that my old actinic heath trap failed to pull in.

Mottled Beauty Alcis repandata

Finally, one of the headaches for moth trappers in the summer is the identification of The Uncertain Hoplodrina octogenaria and The Rustic H. blanda. This is fiendishly difficult species pair that I have only just started to get to grips with this year. Identification is based on subtle characters to do with cross lines, ground colour and texture of the wings. This individual from last night I believe is The Rustic, but this conundrum is something I will continue to work on in the next few weeks.

The Rustic Hoplodrina blanda

Kite Robber

The outside walls of the house have come up trumps again, with my third Robberfly (Asilidae) of the summer. This one was on the front of the house, and I managed to snaffle it in a pot and have a closer look.

Kite-tailed Robberfly Machimus atricapillus

I believe that this is a female Kite-tailed Robberfly Machimus atricapillus. There are two very similar Machimus species with previous local records, but this one has a more strongly-marked and greyer abdomen, without the dark rings on the fore and mid tibia shown by M. cingulatus. As with others in the group, this species is predatory on many other species and flies and other insects. It is found in scrubby grassland and woodland edge habitats.

Fortunately this individual posed nicely on the side of the pot on release, allowing me to take some decent photographs.

Kite-tailed Robberfly Machimus atricapillus

Kite-tailed Robberfly Machimus atricapillus

On the Rocks

My parents are up to visit this weekend, so we were looking for somewhere to take them. My mother has a love of wild flowers, and my father beautiful and dramatic places, so we thought we would try Llanymynech Rocks, a Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserve on the English/Welsh border. This is part of a carboniferous limestone outcrop, and so has a range of really interesting species that are difficult to see elsewhere in the county.

Whilst my mother was concentrating on the plants, I was having a look at other taxa. One of the first things I saw when leaving the car park was this magnificent fungi, growing in large, overlapping clusters. I believe this is Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus. A dryad is a mythical wood nymph, and presumably the legend goes that they would rest on these brackets. They certainly seem large enough.

Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus

I also got the chance to test my hoverfly identification skills, and put into practice what I learnt on the hoverfly course a few days ago. A quick check through the keys identified this species as Leucozona glaucia. This is a relatively common species that visits white umbels, and the larvae feed on ground layer aphids. This is a typical species of woodland clearings.

Leucozona glaucia

I am growing my interest in Diptera, and whilst there is a huge amount to learn I am having a stab at flies that look reasonably distinctive. I found one of these picture-winged flies on the same plant as the hoverfly above, but despite the distinctive wing pattern I had been struggling to identify it. I then happened to look at Pete Boardman's excellent invertebratechallenge365 blog, in which he describes a recent visit to Llanymynech Rocks on which he found Urophora jaceana. This is the same species as the one I found, and is associated with knapweed (Centaurea).

Urophora centaurea

There were quite a few moths around the site, and a bit of sweep netting revealed several micromoths, including a species that I had not seen before. In the warm sunshine I did not manage to get a nicely posed picture, so an in-the-pot picture will have to suffice. This is Homoeosoma sinuella, a species often found on limestone grasslands, and previously recorded at Llanymynech.

Homoeosoma sinuella

At the ohter end of the size scale I found this Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet Zygeana lonicerae. This was my first of the year and another species that favours alkaline grasslands. It even was happy to pose on my finger for some photographs.

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet Zygeana lonicerae

Arriving home this afternoon, I noticed a soldier fly (Stratiomyidae) on the kitchen wall. I potted this up and had a look to see if I could put a name to it. Under a handlens, though difficult to see in the below picture, it can be seen there are six spines on the back edge of the scutellum. This narrows it down to one of the six Beris species. From there, the pale yellow legs, black abdomen and yellow base to the wings identifies this as Beris morrisii, a new species for me.

Beris morrisii

Hello Tiger!

There was a tiger in the moth trap yesterday. This was not a Garden Tiger moth (though there was one the other day) or even a Scarlet Tiger moth (which I have seen recently in the garden), but a Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma flavescens. This is one of the attractively marked Nephrotoma craneflys, with the orange/yellow colouration and black markings on the abdomen and thorax. Craneflies are not exactly everyone's favourite insect, but perhaps this group of species can change some minds.

Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma flavescens

Back to the moths themselves, and this Barred Straw Gandaritis pyraliata was the first of the season. This is a curious-looking moth with its strange posture, and is associated with bedstraws (Galium sp).

Barred Straw Gandaritis pyraliata

There were a couple of grey looking micromoths which got me very excited, if not anyone else. Anarsia spartiella is a species that I have only recorded on a couple of occasions, and is generally a little recorded species. This may be a grey species, but I have a soft spot for the subtle makings and wonderful labial palps. The larva spin the shoots of gorse (Ulex) and broom (Cytisus).

Anarsia spartiella

The other grey looking moth was another that looks beautiful in my eyes when you appreciate the subtle markings and the character of the species. This is a first record for the garden of Neofaculta ericetella, which lays its eggs on heather (Caluna).

Neofaculta ericetella

Hover craft

Today was spent on a hoverfly course in Mortimer Forest, on the Shropshire/Herefordshire border. The plan was to find hoverflies in a variety of habitats, with a session tomorrow to identifiy the species. The day was led by Nigel Jones, local diptera expert and all round entomologist.

It was a very hot day and hoverflies were in short supply. We did find several species though after much effort, and one of the more interesing species was this Eristalis intricarius. This large hoverfly is one of the furry bumblebee mimics, the only one of the Eristalis species to do this.

Eristalis intricarius

As always, there were plenty of other interesting insects to see. One of the bugs that we regularly found from sweeping the vegetation was this Grypocoris stysi. This is a widepsread bug, commonly found on nettles.

Grypocoris stysi

There was also this snail-killing fly Trypetoptera punctulata. This remarkable fly deposits its eggs near snails, and the larva emerge and eat the snail. Some members of this family have been used for biological snail control.

Trypetoptera punctulata

There was also this attractive crab spider Agelena labyrinthica. The bright green thorax is a sure means of identifying this species from others in the family of related spiders.

Agelena labyrinthica

There were several micromoths found as well. My favourite was this fresh Crambus pascuella. This is one of several Crambidae that are found in grassy habitats.

Crambus pascuella