Catching up on a few busy days out and about.
On Thursday evening I joined Mark and Martin doing a spot of moth trapping up at Dare Valley Country Park. The weather payed ball and we amassed a fair haul for the nights work. The spectacular came in the form of a late Small Elephant Hawkmoth as well as several Gold Spot's. Martin missed the Iron Prominent and Double Dart when we emptied the boxes around 02:30. A highlight was a very obliging beetle - Serica brunnea
Gold Spot
Iron Prominent
Large Emerald
Serica Brunnea
After packing up, it was over to Parc Taf Bargoed, and this months WeBS. The only bit of interest was that a pair of Little Grebe had bred again this year - a pair with two large young.
From my WeBS it was over to Craig yr Efail for the first of this years Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey. This scheme has me following the same transect as that for my BBS, counting all the butterflies and marco moths seen in a 2.5m either side of yourself. The walk up to the start point was pleasent, some Chanterelle's were found, but a bit small and slug eaten to think about brining home for the pot. The final approach to my start point saw me disturb a couple of Greylings. Unfortunately no Greylings made it onto the count. Whilst the number of individuals counted looks impressive - 1100, most of these (1051) were from a mass emergence of Six-spot Burnet Moth's. Virtually every Thistle and Ragwort head, plus many grasses, seemed to be covered in these colourful moths. Whilst my transect pulled in just over the thousand, there must of been 10,000+ over the open ridge.In total I recorded 9 species. Hopefully the diversity will improve for my second count next month.
Saturday was taken up with coaching and officiating duties. This morning it was off to CCF, my first visit since early May. A kingfisher on the Taff next to where the old primary school stood was a great start to the day. Unfortunately, that was about as good as the birding got. However, the fungi are starting to show with Chicken-of-the-Woods, Honey Fungus, and Sulphur Tuft all being noted. I did find a rather interesting Slime Mould.
A close look showed these to be a soft, delicate honeycomb, each about 10mm in length. A quick search on line and I think these are Arcyria nutans.
On Thursday evening I joined Mark and Martin doing a spot of moth trapping up at Dare Valley Country Park. The weather payed ball and we amassed a fair haul for the nights work. The spectacular came in the form of a late Small Elephant Hawkmoth as well as several Gold Spot's. Martin missed the Iron Prominent and Double Dart when we emptied the boxes around 02:30. A highlight was a very obliging beetle - Serica brunnea
After packing up, it was over to Parc Taf Bargoed, and this months WeBS. The only bit of interest was that a pair of Little Grebe had bred again this year - a pair with two large young.
From my WeBS it was over to Craig yr Efail for the first of this years Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey. This scheme has me following the same transect as that for my BBS, counting all the butterflies and marco moths seen in a 2.5m either side of yourself. The walk up to the start point was pleasent, some Chanterelle's were found, but a bit small and slug eaten to think about brining home for the pot. The final approach to my start point saw me disturb a couple of Greylings. Unfortunately no Greylings made it onto the count. Whilst the number of individuals counted looks impressive - 1100, most of these (1051) were from a mass emergence of Six-spot Burnet Moth's. Virtually every Thistle and Ragwort head, plus many grasses, seemed to be covered in these colourful moths. Whilst my transect pulled in just over the thousand, there must of been 10,000+ over the open ridge.In total I recorded 9 species. Hopefully the diversity will improve for my second count next month.
Saturday was taken up with coaching and officiating duties. This morning it was off to CCF, my first visit since early May. A kingfisher on the Taff next to where the old primary school stood was a great start to the day. Unfortunately, that was about as good as the birding got. However, the fungi are starting to show with Chicken-of-the-Woods, Honey Fungus, and Sulphur Tuft all being noted. I did find a rather interesting Slime Mould.
I've just sent for the only book on Slime Moulds still in print. It isn't ideal, as it doesn't cover all the UK species, but it will be a help. The definitive guide to all the British species is out of print and second hand copies are being offered for ludicrous sums of money. It always annoys me when a book, still obviously in demand, is allowed to remain out of print by the publishers. If they don't want to risk a second print run, then why don't they scan it and issue it in CD ROM format or for sale as a PDF?
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