26 Aug 21

Priorslee Lake only

13.0°C: Overcast. Light wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:10 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:35 – 05:31

(186th visit of the year)

A short visit to check moths at the street lights before I headed off for a day in East Anglia

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths
- 1 Common Roller (Ancylis badiana)
- *1 Blood-vein (Timandra comae)
- 1 Flame Carpet (Xanthorhoe designata)
- 1 Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)
- 1 possible Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi): seen in flight only

And
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris): dead in web
- *1 small ichneumon species
- *1 mosquito sp., likely Culex pipiens
- *1 probable Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus) instar
- *2 different spiders to be identified
- 2 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 2 Dicranopalpus sp. harvestmen
- *1 probable Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

In the sailing club shelter pre-dawn:

Spiders etc.:
- Clubiona sp
- Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)

Other things
- caddis fly sps. not identified

A fresh specimen of a Blood-vein (Timandra comae) out in the open and showing its colours. Note the feathered antennae indicating this is a male – he needs them to detect the female's pheromones.

I think this is one of the very many small ichneumon species. Specific features are a short white section in each hind leg and a white area at the back of the thorax. Does not help me to provide a specific ID.

The angle this insect is resting at suggests it is a mosquito rather than a midge. It is most likely the abundant Culex pipiens. I read that this species can bite man but rarely does so. Good to know.

Not entirely sure about this. My thoughts are towards an instar of Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus). There are not many illustrations of this bug's instars I can find.

One of the two as yet unidentified spiders found this morning.

You would think: "find a spider species gallery on the internet and out pops the ID of this very distinctively marked spider". You would think....

This harvestman has leg-pairs one and three very much shorter than the other two pairs. The legs are noticeably thicker for almost the first half of each leg. I think this makes it my first Paroligolophus agrestis of the year.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day can be found via the yearly links in the right-hand column.

Sightings from previous years without links are below

2013
Priorslee Lake
Yellow Wagtail
(Ed Wilson)