Harlequin Ladybird in Dalgety Bay

A Harlequin Ladybird yesterday was the first for Dalgety Bay. Not the most welcome of additions, as there seems to be a correlation between the appearance of these and the reduction in other ladybirds. Time will tell.

Beetles, birds and a bug

 A few new beetles. A few new birds. Surprising result in a tussock yesterday was Fife's 2nd Blue Shieldbug.

Count	Family	Species	Location
1	Carabidae	Agonum fuliginosum	Cullaloe LNR
2	Carabidae	Agonum thoreyi	Cullaloe LNR
3	Carabidae	Amara plebeja	Cullaloe LNR
4	Carabidae	Bembidion guttula	Dalgety Bay
5	Carabidae	Bembidion mannerheimii	Cullaloe Hills
6	Carabidae	Cychrus caraboides	Loch Fitty
7	Carabidae	Paradromius linearis	Moss Morran
8	Carabidae	Pterostichus nigrita	Cullaloe LNR
9	Carabidae	Pterostichus strenuus	Dalgety Bay
10	Carabidae	Trichocellus placidus	Dalgety Bay
11	Chrysomelidae	Crepidodera fulvicornis	Cullaloe LNR
12	Chrysomelidae	Oulema melanopus s.l.	Moss Morran
13	Chrysomelidae	Phaedon tumidulus	Loch Fitty
14	Erotylidae	Triplax aenea	Cullaloe LNR
15	Silphidae	Silpha atrata	Dalgety Bay
16	Staphylinidae	Anotylus rugosus	Dalgety Bay
17	Staphylinidae	Lathrobium brunnipes	Cullaloe LNR
18	Staphylinidae	Philonthus decorus	Moss Morran
19	Staphylinidae	Quedius fuliginosus	Cullaloe LNR
20	Staphylinidae	Stenus juno	Cullaloe LNR
21	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus dispar	Cullaloe LNR
22	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus hypnorum	Cullaloe LNR
---	---	---	---
24	Carabidae	Bembidion saxatile	Dalgety Bay
25	Chrysomelidae	Phyllotreta nigripes	Cullaloe LNR
26	Coccinelidae	Coccidula rufa	Cullaloe LNR
27	Dryopidae	Dryops ernesti	Cullaloe LNR
28	Staphylinidae	Sepedophilus nigripennis	Cullaloe LNR
29	Staphylinidae	Sitona lineatus	Cullaloe LNR
30	Staphylinidae	Stenus bifoveolatus	Cullaloe LNR
31	Staphylinidae	Stenus clavicornis	Moss Morran
32	Staphylinidae	Stenus picipes	Cullaloe Hills
33	Staphylinidae	Tachinus rufipes	Dalgety Bay
34	Staphylinidae	Xantholinus longiventris	Moss Morran
35	Apionidae	Exapion ulicis	Cullaloe LNR

(below the line beetles not found in Jan '21)

Bird latest totals: 13th January

Dalgety Bay birds 2023: 61 spp. (GSW)

Inverkeithing birds 2023: 41 spp.

Beetles - the first 30

Agonum thoreyii and Coccidula rufa picked up at Cullaloe, where they are pretty certain. Hopefully one or two others in the mix but not as varied as hoped. Maybe the perpetual wetness of the grass makes it harder to get out some specimens. 

Count	Family	Species		Location
1	Carabidae	Agonum fuliginosum		Cullaloe LNR
2	Carabidae	Agonum muelleri		Cullaloe LNR
3	Carabidae	Agonum thoreyi		Cullaloe LNR
4	Carabidae	Amara plebeja		Cullaloe LNR
5	Carabidae	Bembidion guttula		Dalgety Bay
6	Carabidae	Bembidion mannerheimii		Cullaloe Hills
7	Carabidae	Bembidion saxatile		Dalgety Bay
8	Carabidae	Paradromius linearis		Moss Morran
9	Carabidae	Pterostichus nigrita		Cullaloe LNR
10	Carabidae	Pterostichus strenuus		Dalgety Bay
11	Carabidae	Trichocellus placidus		Dalgety Bay
12	Chrysomelidae	Oulema melanopus s.l.		Moss Morran
13	Chrysomelidae	Phyllotreta nigripes		Cullaloe LNR
14	Coccinelidae	Coccidula rufa		Cullaloe LNR
15	Dryopidae	Dryops ernesti		Cullaloe LNR
16	Erotylidae	Triplax aenea		Cullaloe LNR
17	Silphidae	Silpha atrata		Dalgety Bay
18	Staphylinidae	Anotylus rugosus		Dalgety Bay
19	Staphylinidae	Lathrobium brunnipes		Cullaloe LNR
20	Staphylinidae	Philonthus decorus		Moss Morran
21	Staphylinidae	Quedius fuliginosus		Cullaloe LNR
22	Staphylinidae	Sepedophilus nigripennis		Cullaloe LNR
23	Staphylinidae	Sitona lineatus		Cullaloe LNR
24	Staphylinidae	Stenus clavicornis		Moss Morran
25	Staphylinidae	Stenus juno		Cullaloe LNR
26	Staphylinidae	Stenus picipes		Cullaloe Hills
27	Staphylinidae	Tachinus rufipes		Dalgety Bay
28	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus dispar		Cullaloe LNR
29	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus hypnorum		Cullaloe LNR
30	Staphylinidae	Xantholinus longiventris		Moss Morran

January beetles 'n' birds

Beetles - a few added from Moss Morran plus "leftovers" from other sites. In '21 I had recorded 30 spp. by the 10th of January,  If anything I'm marginally behind (but there are 24 hours to go!). Obviously that means I only recorded 20 spp. in the latter 20 days of January '21, which I can surely better. Thus far only tussocking and light rock/log turning. Too wet/frozen for leaf litter. Nothing strand line/littoral. No pond dipping.

Paradromius linearis, as common as they come.

Count	Family	Species		Location
1	Carabidae	Agonum fuliginosum		Cullaloe LNR
2	Carabidae	Agonum muelleri		Cullaloe LNR
3	Carabidae	Amara plebeja		Cullaloe LNR
4	Carabidae	Bembidion guttula		Dalgety Bay
5	Carabidae	Bembidion mannerheimii		Cullaloe Hills
6	Carabidae	Bembidion saxatile		Dalgety Bay
7	Carabidae	Paradromius linearis		Moss Morran
8	Carabidae	Pterostichus nigrita		Cullaloe LNR
9	Carabidae	Pterostichus strenuus		Dalgety Bay
10	Carabidae	Trichocellus placidus		Dalgety Bay
11	Chrysomelidae	Oulema melanopus s.l.		Moss Morran
12	Chrysomelidae	Phyllotreta nigripes		Cullaloe LNR
13	Dryopidae	Dryops ernesti		Cullaloe LNR
14	Erotylidae	Triplax aenea		Cullaloe LNR
15	Silphidae	Silpha atrata		Dalgety Bay
16	Staphylinidae	Anotylus rugosus		Dalgety Bay
17	Staphylinidae	Lathrobium brunnipes		Cullaloe LNR
18	Staphylinidae	Philonthus decorus		Moss Morran
19	Staphylinidae	Quedius fuliginosus		Cullaloe LNR
20	Staphylinidae	Sepedophilus nigripennis		Cullaloe LNR
21	Staphylinidae	Sitona lineatus		Cullaloe LNR
22	Staphylinidae	Stenus clavicornis		Moss Morran
23	Staphylinidae	Stenus juno		Cullaloe LNR
24	Staphylinidae	Stenus picipes		Cullaloe Hills
25	Staphylinidae	Tachinus rufipes		Dalgety Bay
26	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus dispar		Cullaloe LNR
27	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus hypnorum		Cullaloe LNR
28	Staphylinidae	Xantholinus longiventris		Moss Morran

Bird latest totals: 9th January

Dalgety Bay birds 2023: 60 spp. (Grey Wag, Turnstone)

Inverkeithing birds 2023: 36 spp.

20 Beetles

A decent start without wandering too far or getting too exotic. Nothing brand new but some I didn't encounter in Jan '21.

Count	Family	Species		Location
1	Carabidae	Agonum fuliginosum		Cullaloe LNR
2	Carabidae	Agonum muelleri		Cullaloe LNR
3	Carabidae	Amara plebeja		Cullaloe LNR
4	Carabidae	Bembidion guttula		Dalgety Bay
5	Carabidae	Bembidion saxatile		Dalgety Bay
6	Carabidae	Pterostichus nigrita		Cullaloe LNR
7	Carabidae	Pterostichus strenuus		Dalgety Bay
8	Carabidae	Trichocellus placidus		Dalgety Bay
9	Chrysomelidae	Phyllotreta nigripes		Cullaloe LNR
10	Dryopidae	Dryops ernesti		Cullaloe LNR
11	Erotylidae	Triplax aenea		Cullaloe LNR
12	Silphidae	Silpha atrata		Dalgety Bay
13	Staphylinidae	Anotylus rugosus		Dalgety Bay
14	Staphylinidae	Lathrobium brunnipes		Cullaloe LNR
15	Staphylinidae	Quedius fuliginosus		Cullaloe LNR
16	Staphylinidae	Sepedophilus nigripennis		Cullaloe LNR
17	Staphylinidae	Stenus juno		Cullaloe LNR
18	Staphylinidae	Tachinus rufipes		Dalgety Bay
19	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus dispar		Cullaloe LNR
20	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus hypnorum		Cullaloe LNR

Beetles, birds update

A second session of beetling briefly in the rain at Cullaloe has added about ten species (two or three to still do), including two new species for Cullaloe. That's not a bad result. Both are species I know from other sites. Sadly my phone seems to lose colour so that Agonum muelleri's lovely bronze and green barely show at all in the photo, despite being clear even to the naked eye.

Dryops ernesti

Agonum muelleri

Despite the consistently rainy/frosty weather that's a start that would probably get me where I want to be. Beetles on the list so far:

Count	Family	Species		Location
1	Carabidae	Agonum muelleri		Cullaloe LNR
2	Carabidae	Amara plebeja		Cullaloe LNR
3	Carabidae	Bembidion guttula		Dalgety Bay
4	Carabidae	Pterostichus nigrita		Cullaloe LNR
5	Carabidae	Pterostichus strenuus		Dalgety Bay
6	Carabidae	Trichocellus placidus		Dalgety Bay
7	Chrysomelidae	Phyllotreta nigripes		Cullaloe LNR
8	Dryopidae	Dryops ernesti		Cullaloe LNR
9	Erotylidae	Triplax aenea		Cullaloe LNR
10	Silphidae	Silpha atrata		Dalgety Bay
11	Staphylinidae	Anotylus rugosus		Dalgety Bay
12	Staphylinidae	Lathrobium brunnipes		Cullaloe LNR
13	Staphylinidae	Quedius fuliginosus		Cullaloe LNR
14	Staphylinidae	Sepedophilus nigripennis		Cullaloe LNR
15	Staphylinidae	Stenus juno		Cullaloe LNR
16	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus dispar		Cullaloe LNR
17	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus hypnorum		Cullaloe LNR

Also a walk around Dalgety Bay on the 2nd returned a handsome 51 species. Usually on a walk I'd count over 40 as a good result. Nice to see some partridges, with or without a pear tree, and a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits.

5th January

Dalgety Bay birds 2023: 58 spp.

Inverkeithing birds 2023: 31 spp.

Beetle Game

In January 2021 I recorded 50 species of beetle...

Loch Fitty

At the south end of the St.Ninians area is Loch Fitty - a large, stocked fishing pond which I had never been to, somehow assuming it wasn't going to be very interesting. It turns out that this is now part of the Fife Pilgrim Way, a walk that takes you through St.Ninians south to Dunfermline. It also turns out that it can be somewhat interesting.

I wandered up from Kingseat, where you can park, to only the southern edge of Loch Fitty, where there's a causeway into the south of St.Ninians. Here there was a decent amount of flood refuse, which was obviously going to provide sufficient entertainment for even an extended lunchbreak.

Causeway with foreground flood refuse

There were a good number of beetles, with several commoner species which were nevertheless new for the year (e.g. the ground beetle Paranchus albipes, the leaf beetle Hyrdothassa glabra). There were a couple new to me too, though these are relatively common and well recorded in Fife.

New for year, the click Hypnoidus riparius

New for me, Dryops ernesti

Also new for me, Calathus melanocephalus

So far this area's been pretty good to me. Looking forward to joining the dots. The east side seems to have a lot of people and heavy machinery around, and I think they are actually working on completing roads/paths around the site. In some ways that will be a shame. It's very nice to visit the site with nobody else there!

Here's the Fife Pilgrim Way, from St.Andrews to Culross (or vice versa?). It's a pretty decent transect across the southern half of Fife.

Weirdly, when I look at my beetle recording this year (including on the Pilgrim Way!) I find this spooky pattern:

There's only one song for this...

Beetle drive

Last year in the early part of the year I did a lot of beetling. This mostly centered around tussocking and rummaging through an enormous grass pile at Cullaloe LNR. Until early March I was able to record 75 species, many of them new to me. This year, early March, I have recorded 65 species. So today I checked them to see how much was overlap.

Remarkably the total list for both years has been 111 species, which isn't quite double, but it does show  a big gap in the lists. Only 29 species featured on both lists, with 46 unique to 2021 and 36 unique to 2022.

Two main reasons stand out - no water beetling thus far in 2022 and no giant grass piles at Cullaloe. Both of those things are a shame, but at least the water beetles can be remedied at some point. I expect also many of the "missing" species this year will be encountered at some point.

One thing I didn't do enough of last year was gardening, apparently. Yesterday when trying to reposition some slabs on the front path I came across the ground beetle Platyderus depressus, which looks like the third record for Scotland

Platyderus depressus

And the lists. 

NT18: Aberdour loop, NT1884

Presented with a two hour window of free time yesterday I headed for a square not botanised this year, but also carrying a tray and sieve. 

The botanical haul in NT1884 was fairly routine, but gave a reasonable account of the square in February. Perhaps not enough woodland/arable covered as I skirted the coast and golf course. I found a lovely marshy area which will require further bothering for invertebrates later in the year, but which already delivered on a brief prodding.

I found this Leistus fulvibarbis under the loose bark of a large log, under which was a nest belonging to a quickly-escaping small mammal. I hope it returned happily after I left.

The marshy area held a few Stenus, including S.bimaculatus, which was only new to Fife from Cullaloe a couple of years back.

Finally looking at other habitats than tussocks I had a bit of a seaweed shake and found Cafius xantholinus and Omalium laeviusculum. The latter appears new to me, though I can't quite believe that. Must have forgotten to write it down at some point, surely.

Cafius

Omalium

Last night I found something even more intriguing on the Cafius - a Laboulbeniomycete, which appears to be the host-specific Laboulbenia littoralis, only described in 2014. That requires some more confirmation (though I'm claiming it!) as it doesn't yet appear on NBN. The species is known from Belgium and France, the locations under consideration in the original 2014 description. I have a sneaking suspicion that I remember a Laboulbeniomycete new to Britain was documented by Mark Telfer in the recent past. It couldn't be this one, could it? (no - it was on a millipede). It looks like this:

a femur-full

mature fungus, spores escaping at the tip

In order to complete my loop I had to wander out and in of my 1k square, which threw me into a street full of Mind-your-own-business. This is a plant scarce in Fife, and previously known from the St.Andrews area. Since the start of the year, this is the 2nd location in NT18 that I've found it running wild.

A small sample of far more extensive cover. 

New plants for the year in NT18 were Veronica beccabunga (Brooklime), Hypericum tetrapterum (Square-stalked St.John's Wort) and Iris pseudacorus (Yellow Flag Iris).Current total 283.

NT18 - beetles

It wasn't really my intention to go big on beetles in 2022, but in a cold February when there's not a huge amount of gains to be made on plants and flies are in short supply, what's a boy to do? (typical winter sports of bryophytes and lichens aside, that is). A few exploratory trips and suddenly NT18 beetles 2022 stumbled into the light.

So far I've submitted 45 records of 37 species, 8 of which have been new to me. Other than the first records, which were of incidental ladybird observations, that means one new species per outing. I'll take that. It's not like I'm keying masses out, either. There's just enough variation between sites to keep things ticking along.

Coverage

The list

#	Family	Accepted name	Common name
1	Carabidae	Aepus marinus
2	Carabidae	Agonum emarginatum
3	Carabidae	Bembidion guttula
4	Carabidae	Bembidion mannerheimii
5	Carabidae	Calodromius spilotus
6	Carabidae	Ocys harpaloides / tachysoides agg.
7	Carabidae	Paradromius linearis
8	Carabidae	Pterostichus diligens
9	Carabidae	Pterostichus niger
10	Carabidae	Pterostichus strenuus
11	Carabidae	Trechus obtusus
12	Carabidae	Trichocellus cognatus
13	Chrysomelidae	Altica lythri
14	Chrysomelidae	Chrysolina staphylaea
15	Chrysomelidae	Phaedon tumidulus	Celery Leaf Beetle
16	Chrysomelidae	Phyllotreta nigripes	Turnip Flea Beetle
17	Coccinellidae	Chilocorus renipustulatus	Kidney-spot Ladybird
18	Coccinellidae	Coccidula rufa
19	Coccinellidae	Coccinella septempunctata	7-spot Ladybird
20	Scirtidae	Cyphon variabilis
21	Silphidae	Silpha atrata	Black Snail Beetle
22	Staphylinidae	Anotylus rugosus
23	Staphylinidae	Lathrobium geminum
24	Staphylinidae	Quedius curtipennis
25	Staphylinidae	Rugilus orbiculatus
26	Staphylinidae	Stenus bifoveolatus
27	Staphylinidae	Stenus canaliculatus
28	Staphylinidae	Stenus clavicornis
29	Staphylinidae	Stenus flavipes
30	Staphylinidae	Stenus fulvicornis
31	Staphylinidae	Stenus impressus
32	Staphylinidae	Stenus juno
33	Staphylinidae	Stenus similis
34	Staphylinidae	Tachinus rufipes
35	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus chrysomelinus
36	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus hypnorum
37	Staphylinidae	Tachyporus obtusus

NT18 - Lathrobium geminum new to VC85

From a tussock at the end of a hedge and ditch on the edge of woodland and arable land, east side of Townhill Country Park. NT11398985. You can actually see the tussock here. I only cut out about 2.5"/10cm square and there's another first for VC85 still to confirm from the same section.

Male and female. Relationship status: unknown.

aedeagus

 

And I looked and Behold! there was a Pale Tortoise Beetle

Fourth new species for Fife from the same grass cuttings pile at Cullaloe LNR was this Cassida flaveola at lunchtime today. Not easy to spot, as it's quite small and, as you can see, not very colourful. It's quite a bit smaller than C.rubiginosa that I've had before.

Bembidion mannerheimii

 Bembidion mannerheimii is very close to Bembidion guttula. Closer, in fact, than traditional keys suggest, with recent publication indicating whether a specimen is winged or not is not 100% surefire way to separate the two - including in the same locations. This, from yesterday, I am taking to be mannerheimii until I can find the relevant article. It has two things which are separating it from B.guttula.

A new one for Cullaloe, but not for me.

Lacking two subterminal spots on elytrae

Wingless

On finding the Coleopterist article it seems that short-winged guttula nevertheless does still have more wing. I'm still happy with this as mannerheimii

Staphylinus erythropterus, Charles Hill, Dalgety Bay

Amongst moss on an old building foundation at Charles Hill three of these Staphylinus erythropterus were running around

18-spot ladybird at Braefoot, Dalgety Bay

First for Fife outside of Tentsmuir. With the amount of conifers in fife and the distribution in the rest of the country it seems unlikely that these are the only two localities for the species though.

Cleopus pulchellus - a weevil from Comon Figwort (Scrophularia nodosa)

Considered local by Duff both in England and southern Scotland. Glad we have some! A swept handful of scrophs yielded an abundance of them.

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

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