Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Sunday 6 April 2014

Garden Biodiversity - 365 Challenge - Part 2

As mentioned in a February post I have set myself a little challenge this year to try and spot 365 different species in the garden this year. As I suspected, February and March have been fairly quiet months as I'd added most of the birds I can expect to see in January and its still too early for many insects to be out and about. During the last two months I've managed to bring my total up to 68 species so I'm about 23 species behind schedule!!

New Additions to the List

Amphibians

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)


Common Smooth Newt (Lissotriton vulgaris


Hoverflies

Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)



Flies

Blue Bottle (Calliphora vomitoria)


Birds

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)



Beetles

Black Sexton Beetle (Nicrophorus humator) caught in the moth trap



Other Invertebrates

Pond Skater (Gerris lacustris)

Earwing (Forficula auricularia)




Molluscs

Yellow Slug (Limax flavus)




Bees, Wasps and Ants

Tree Bumble Bee (Bombus hypnorum)
Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumines)
Buff-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus terrestrial)

Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) - not the best of photos but I had no wish to faff around too much with the camera in such close proximity!!!!




Plants

I'm still resisting the temptation to count species planted such as primrose and cowslip!!

Dandelion (Tarraxacum officinale)
Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)
Hairy Bitter Cress (Cardamine hirsute)


Butterflies

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
Peacock (Inachis io)
Small White (Pieres rapae)


Moths

I think my only chance of reaching 365 species this year is going to rely heavily on moths and this year has got off to a much better starter than last :)

Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria)



Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii)


Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)


Emmelina monodactyla (I won't post photos of all the moths as most of the pictures you've seen before!)

Oak Beauty (Biston strataria)


Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)


Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)

White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella)

Twin-spotted Quaker(Orthosia munda)


Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)

Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda)

Early Grey (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla)


Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea)


Double Striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata

Many-plumed Moth (Alucita hexadactyla)



I did see a black millipede which I haven't counted partly because I should have examined it more closely - did you know there are over 60 species of millipede in the UK? !!! and also I've managed to "lose" the photo!

April has got off to a good start and so far I'm back to seeing a species a day. I need to start identifying mosses and lichens this month too.

Apologies for the lack of italics for scientific names - I still can't get Blogger to insert italics and the species are in rather a strange order due to problems with uploading photos in the order I wanted!! Hopefully, identifications are correct but if you spot any errors please let me know!





15 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a really interesting challenge for the year and I think you are doing well :-) I'm listing all the plants I can find growing in the garden here- it's already amazed me how many we've got.

The Quacks of Life said...

good luck on 365!!

Wendy said...

This is such an interesting challenge and such a great thing to do to see the variety of wildlife in your garden. I imagine you'll start to see so much more now it's April.

Ragged Robin said...

Countryside Tales - Thanks so much :) I do wish I could count all the native species we've planted it would rather boost my total :) I'm looking forward to seeing how our seedball plants etc. do this year :)

Pete Duxon Many thanks :) There will be plenty of moths for you to enjoy :) lol!!!! :)

Rohrerbot said...

I love your challenge. Each one counts. I hope you find that many but if not, it's still a wonderful goal:)

Ragged Robin said...

Wendy Thanks so much:) I'm going to struggle identifying some species but I'll try and get more photos this month.

Chris Rohrer Thanks so much Chris :) Its a fun thing to do and hopefully will get me trying to identify species I am less familiar with :)

Anonymous said...

Nice one, Caroline. The bio-diversity species will start rolling in now. Pretty sure you`ll exceed your target.

Em Parkinson said...

WE'll all be cheering you on. I thought your wasp photo was pretty good to be honest. Spring is really coming at last!

Ragged Robin said...

Dean Stables Thanks so much Dean. Things are looking up already with the arrival of April :) Thanks so much for your vote of confidence :)

Em Parkinson Thanks so much. Really happy that Spring is arriving :) Thanks about the wasp photo. I still haven't worked out the best exposure to use when I have things up against light or a grey sky :(

Dartford Warbler said...

You have made a good start on the 365!

Isn`t the Oak Beauty moth just stunning.....

Ragged Robin said...

Dartford Warbler - Many thanks :) Oh yes its a real beauty :) Some people can think moths are boring but so many are just as beautiful as butterflies :)

Anonymous said...

What a very good sstart you have made in your challenge.

Ragged Robin said...

Toffeeapple - Thanks so much :)

Anonymous said...

Good luck with this challenge Caroline, I'm sure you'll reach the target :-) I love that Oak Beauty, sadly a scarce species in VC61 and one I have yet to record :-( However I'm hoping I'll have better luck in VC62 :-)

All the best and kindest regards :-)

Ragged Robin said...

David Turner - Thank you so much :) I don't get many Oak Beauties - from memory this was only my second!! Good Luck in the new Vice County and do hope you trap one :) Definitely worth the wait :)