I've been toying with the idea of producing monthly summaries and updates for my 2019 Challenge. I think it's worth doing, though it will be a rather short summary this month.
January 2019 - not a productive month for a variety of reasons. Firstly it's the middle of winter and we've endured low temperatures, hail, ice and also experienced snow cover towards the end of the month. Secondly, this is pretty much my busiest time of year at work whilst the hotel is closed down for various refurb projects. I've been putting in the extra hours and missing daylight hours as a result. Plus it's just a crappy time of year for trying to find inverts! Nevertheless, it hasn't been a complete flop and I even managed a lifer.
Hemiptera - just a single individual hopper nymph beneath a rock (unidentified) Total = 0 species
Diptera - I undertook two targeted searches for hoverfly larvae in leaf litter and found a single Melanostoma (4 British species) plus several Syrphus (4 British species), a Phaonia larva (nearly 50 British species), a few Lauxiniidae larvae (nearly 60 British species) and quite a few of the trilobite-lookalike Lonchoptera larvae (6 British species). Also lots of tipulid larvae, families unknown (100s of British species). None of these are identifiable to species without being reared through to adulthood. However, I did manage to find and identify an agromyzid pupa found in the petiole of a Primrose leaf. Total = 1 species.
(Agromyzidae) Chromatomyia primulae
Coleoptera - six ground beetles, two weevils, two spider beetles, a rove beetle and a carrion beetle, all found beneath rocks/bark or on floodlit walls after dark, plus one indoors. Total = 12 species
(Carabidae) Cychrus caraboides, Nebria salina, Nebria brevicollis, Pterostichus niger, Pterostichus nigrita, Pterostichus madidus, (Silphidae) Phosphuga atrata, (Ptinidae) Ptinus fur, Niptus hololeucus, (Curculionidae) Otiorhynchus sulcatus, Euophryum confine, (Staphylinidae) Othius punctulatus.
Total = 12 Coleoptera (1 lifer), 1 Diptera, 0 Hemiptera.
I had been hoping to end the month on 20 species of beetles and at least a couple of diptera and hemiptera apiece. To be fair, the nights have been too cold for much nocturnal activity so hardly anything has been attracted to the security lights, plus I haven't bashed a single conifer or ivy hang for bugs. February should see the pace pick up with ever increasing daylight hours and a change of tactics on my part.
