This should have been posted before. A sweeping session on some Hare's-tail Cottongrass (Eriophorum virgatum) at Moss Morran revealed the scarce leafhopper Nothodelphax distincta. It's like a Javesella, but dressed for church/court. The female's on the left and the male on the right. There were plenty in the cottongrass.
I really had in mind doing an NVC survey, for which I am not remotely qualified. I think this bit of ground's basically an M20
Calluna-Eriophorum mire, but it probably could fall between M18 and M20 somewhere. It varies over the terrain. From time to time I like to take things a bit more seriously and I would actually love to be able to produce reliable NVC classifications. In the meantime, though, I'm just going to busk it. It's an area of quite limited vegetative "latitude", with a couple of sphagnum species under quite leggy
Calluna vulgaris (heather) and
Eriophorum virgatum (Hare's-tail Cottongrass). A few other peaty mosses are around too, varying by degree of wetness on the ground. Other vasculars are very limited, with a tiny patch of Cranberry in evidence in one spot.
I'm going to keep banging away at this all year (and more) to build up a picture of what's there. Such a specific habitat does lend itself to habitat-specific animalia (
Lochmaea suturalis, Heather shieldbug...). I'm also hoping the decent fringe of
Betula will turn up a few species you'd normally have to travel for. If I get even one or two I'll be well chuffed.
