23rd December Apologies for not writing a post over the last two days, was way two tired two days ago and was too busy yesterday. I will endeavour to write two posts today to make up. In theory the advent period ends tomorrow but I will get to 24 species even if it takes meContinue reading “Advent Species No.20”
Category Archives: Insect
Advent Species No.16
December 17th This series of blog posts has made me look at, and try to identify, insect specimens that have taken this year. I can be a little un-focussed at times (probabaly the opposite of Asperger’s if that is such a thing) so my mind wanders from one thing to the next, whether it beContinue reading “Advent Species No.16”
Advent Species No.14
14th December There’s been a frozen ground beetle in my freezer since the end of May. For some reason I never got round to getting it out and trying to identify it. As I said in a few days ago for another species of ground beetle (Loricera pilicornis) I’m in the very early days ofContinue reading “Advent Species No.14”
Advent Species No.8
8th December I know, I know. A day late. So this will the first of two posts written today. The subject of this post came to me when I saw a dead example caught up in the roller-blind in my bathroom, it looked a little silly and decidedly flat as an adornment to the fittings.Continue reading “Advent Species No.8”
Advent Species No.6
6th December I went into my garden today and looked desperately for something that isn’t a bird. A fruitless task when the temperature is 4 degrees Celsius. Sure I can write about a squirrel or a random garden plant but I wanted something a bit more obscure today. I found a lichen on the appleContinue reading “Advent Species No.6”
Advent Species No.2
2nd December The weather has been mirky and uninviting. I wanted to go out and cycle ride somewhere but I would have got wet. So instead I drove to a local wildlife spot which is a flooded field. But alas, the temporary lake is getting smaller and smaller so nothing of note was there (andContinue reading “Advent Species No.2”
64. Silver Y
It’s unseasonably mild here in my bit of the UK (not warm though!) with the overnight temperature last night falling to 11 C (double it and add thirty for a rough figure in Fahrenheit). There was no wind, barely any rain and good cloud cover, so a great night to survey moths in late autumn.Continue reading “64. Silver Y”
Poplar Hawk-moth
My dad shouted up earlier today (I’m living with the folks during the Covid crisis) ‘there’s two Elephant Hawk-moths on the tree under the bird feeder!’ This I had to see. Now sure enough there were two large hawk-moths right where he said, and they were elephant grey in colour. And they clearly liked eachContinue reading “Poplar Hawk-moth”
55. Poecilus cupreus (a ground beetle)
Blimey, getting longer between posts but I’m still going which is the main thing. I am doing a lot of writing for work as well as being out in the field a lot (still thanking my lucky stars this year!), but enough with the excuses. Today’s post is about one of the obscure things IContinue reading “55. Poecilus cupreus (a ground beetle)”
51. Buff-tailed Bumblebee
Wow, 3 posts in 3 days, feels like January again! I handed my dissertation in, which means my Masters course is done! No more studying (of course, I like to learn all the time – so no more formal studying! woo!)! Day 4 of my new job and as a consequence of being a generalContinue reading “51. Buff-tailed Bumblebee”
A Species a Day 