Bee Orchids - new for the square

After several days of wind and rain the list can continue. Even the moth trap would have been a waste of time so I didn't bother putting it out the last few days. I had a few  small micros in the fridge that needed checking which I did and gor new new species for the year and added Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana) as I wandered about today.


623.    Cochylis atricapitana (a micro-moth)
624.    Hedya pruniana (Plum Tortrix)
625.    Anthophila fabriciana (Nettle-tap)

Cochylis atricapitana (a micro-moth)

 

With the weather improved (well it wasn't raining) but still very windy I had a walk around the fell with my Pooter. If you don't know what that is (and no its nothing to do with that!), I'll use the BBC GCSE Science description - 'A pooter is used to catch small insects. The user breathes in through the mouthpiece which has a piece of net covering the end. The insects are sucked into the holding chamber via the inlet tube.

I have a particular liking for hoverflies and caught a few today and also a couple of common flies and a Scorpion-Fly which I checked under the microscope when I got back

626.    Criorhina berberina (a hoverfly)
627.    Cheilosia illustrata (a hoverfly)
628.    Melangyna compositarum (a hoverfly)
629.    Volucella pellucens (a hoverfly)
630.    Sericomyia silentis (a hoverfly)
631.    Graphomya maculata (a fly)
632.    Lucilia sericata (a fly)
633.    Panorpa germanica (Scorpion-Fly)

Cheilosia illustrata

Sericomyia silentis

Criorhina Berberina

 
Picked up a few plants including Sand Spurrey (Spergularia rubra), uncommon in the NE but present here and  Oxalis exilis (Least Yellow-sorrel), another uncommon species. However, as I was watching some Dingy Skippers flitting about on the tip, a favourite spot for them that I very regularly check, I spotted two Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid). Increasing but not common in the county, these two, abiet puny specimens,  are the first for square and there can't be many records for the 10km square, I'll have to check. Like I said I check this area regularly and there is no way I would have missed them previously. They are growing on a former colliery spoil heap. Possibly my last Orange-tip butterfly of the year, a female, also flitting about.

634.    Spergularia rubra (Sand Spurrey)
635.    Carex echinata (Star Sedge)
636.    Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid)
637.    Hydrocotyle vulgaris (Marsh Pennywort)
638.    Linum catharticum (Fairy Flax)
639.    Oxalis exilis (Least Yellow-sorrel)
640.    Rubus caesius (Dewberry)

Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid)

Spergularia rubra (Sand Spurrey)

 

and another rust

641.    Puccinia poarum (Colt's-foot Rust) 

Puccinia poarum (Colt's-foot Rust)

and finally, there's still quite a bit of bird song including 5 species of warbler singing today but a chacking sound drew my attention to the resident pair (or are there two pair?) of Stonechats. The wind was keeping them down with no chance of any photographs but as I watched I saw at least two juveniles being fed by both parents. So confirmed breeding, I'm happy with that, a nice finish to the day.