Patch Comparison - Cullaloe LNR versus Dalgety Bay

Cullaloe LNR is a nature reserve that has had years of effort and includes records from more recorders, while Dalgety Bay has two years of 1K efforts to boost it. Many species seen in Dalgety Bay won't have been included here. Dalgety Bay also has the advantage of marine species (see molluscs, algae and annelids), while Cullaloe LNR has more open fresh water.  Broadly speaking the numbers are similar. Looking forward to nudging Dalgety Bay over the 2k mark in future.

Category	CUL	DBY
alga	1	30
Protist other	0	0
slime mould	5	5
lichen	64	64
fungus	310	250
liverwort	16	14
moss	83	53
flowering plant	308	251
conifer	2	3
fern	12	7
cnidarian	0	8
mollusc	30	41
bryozoan	0	2
annelid	6	14
flatworm	1	1
harvestman	11	12
pseudoscorpion	1	2
spider	82	53
gall mite	7	4
tick	1	1
millipede	13	10
centipede	5	5
crustacean	5	17
collembola	11	18
bristletail	0	1
odonata	7	1
dermaptera	1	1
orthoptera	1	0
hemiptera	68	64
coleoptera	149	109
diptera	251	296
lep-moth	364	222
lep-butterfly	18	13
hymenoptera	47	44
insect-other	29	13
tunicate	0	1
echinoderm	0	3
invert-other	0	4
fish	6	5
reptile	1	0
amphibian	3	2
bird	141	132
mammal	15	6
	2075	1782

Stenus impressus, Dalgety Bay, 26/02/20

A male from same tussocking session a couple of days ago. Quite pale at the knees, this one.

Dalgety Bay lesser dung fly

Found in leaf litter at Dalgety Bay, this lovely brachypterous fly is allegedly a common species. Presumably I've just been overlooking it. The only one already on the DB list is Leptocera fontinalis, so defintitely "could do better".

You can see the scutellum here with two pairs of marginal spines and no discals. You can see the middle tibia with two anterodorsals in the distal half. You can also see the costa "overshooting" R4+5 (is that the right designation? Sounds a bit off).

Anyway, glad to have it on my sphaerocerid list. Should be easy enough to recognise in the future too

Two new beetles for Dalgety Bay list

Feeling like a change of scenery from patch bashing I did a bit of tussocking in woodland in Dalgety Bay yesterday. That resulted in two new beetles for me for the Bay. I don't think I did much tussocking in previous 1K efforts. This pair of Stenus nitidiusculus was in cop in a Deschampsia tussock.

Male genitalia for +ve ID

There was also this Trichocellus placidus ground beetle.

The former is recorded from two other places already and the latter is a fairly common species which I think I've recorded on most patches.

Euophryum confine in rotten birchood

In rotten Betula beside the small quarry area across the road north from Cullaloe LNR

Moths are go!

So the first proper spring moths are trickling onto the board already, with March Moh, Dotted Border and Common Quaker all putting in an appearance in Dalgety Bay. Might even be time to get the battery-powered gear out of the loft. once the wind drops, that is.

Leucophenga maculata - the monster fruit fly

I've had this on a pin from Dalgety Bay for going on two years. When I came across it while scouring boxes of "the unexamined" I couldn't remember catching it and can't believe I didn't give it more time since it's a bit "fancy". Maybe something else interesting happened at that time and it got bypassed.

When I keyed it to Drosophilidae I was thinking, "Yeah, right". Its wing length is 4mm! Well, would you believe it - it is in fact the "monster" drosophilid Leucophenga maculata. There aren't many records on NBN and none in Scotland, though who can guess how much that means. Certainly wasn't on the Fife list (though it will be on the new one!)

Wild Weekend in the Cullaloe Hills

So I was intending to be at the BLS AGM this weekdn but for one reason or another that didn't happen. However I didn't waste the weekend, with an hour or two to play out on Saturday I went looking for this to add to the county list ...

Phaeoceros laevis

new-to-county hornwort

I had found hornworts in this field but had no luck cementing their ID - this ought to do it I think. Arable fields are a great place to find a range of bryophytes and I spent a good hour picking up this, Fossombronia pusilla, Bryum rubens, and some others before wandering along the side of a piece of marshy ground, where I found this ...

Pseudocyphellarium norvegicum (not...)

This is not only a new lichen to Fife but also new to the eastern half of Britain. If accepted it will definitely look like a mistake on any atlas from now on! (Edit: this is actually the closely-related Sticta limbata, the only previous record of which is from 1824!)

Yesterday I did a bit of tussocking (Juncus effusus, Deschampsia) and came up with this ...

Hydrothassa marginella

new-to-county leaf beetle

This new pet square is definitely delivering the goods. Looking forward to when it really kicks off