Linacre Insects - 3 new species!

 The summer of 2024 has, so far, been pretty awful weather wise, with very few periods of dry, warm weather. Today, the temperature managed to drag itself to 17 degrees (!), and there were a few sunny spells, so Jayne and I had a couple of hours at Linacre, and managed to find 3 new species!!!!

Although it was sunny, the number of insects seen was still pretty low, but it did, at least, have a few new records for the year, along with the new ones. Firstly, we spotted Common Blue Damselflies (c15), followed by 1 Speckled Wood, Swollen-thighed Beetles, Red and Black Froghopper, 3 Green-veined White, 1 Volucella pellucens (Great Pied Hoverfly), Eristalis sp, 1 Myathropa florea, 1 male Sericomyia silentis, 1 Mayfly sp, 3 Cinnabar Moths, 1 Latticed Heath and White-tailed and Common Carder Bumblebees.

Sericomyia silentis

The three new species that we saw today were: 1 Speckled Longhorn Beetle, an Agapeta hamana moth and a Orthotaenia undulana moth!

Speckled Longhorn Beetle

Agapeta hamana

Orthotaenia undulana

Linacre Insects - 4th September 2022

 It was 21 degrees on Sunday, so I had a couple of hours around Linacre to see which insects were still flying.

It started well, with a Red Admiral, followed by 3 Speckled Woods, 1 Large White and 1 Small Copper, of the form caeruleo-punctata (blue spots of the wings).

Small Copper

Dragonflies were far and few between, but 3 Brown Hawkers were seen, including 1 that posed nicely by the bottom reservoir.

Brown Hawker

There were a few hoverflies, mainly Eristalis species, but I did manage to spot one Helophilus pendulus and  this one, which I believe is a Sericomyia silentis (my first record since 2017).

Sericomyia silentis

Birds seen on site included: Tawny Owl (1 in the ringing site), Buzzard (1), Grey Wagtail (4, including at least one juvenile), Great-crested Grebe (2 adults and one juvenile), 1 Chiffchaff (still singing in the sun) and this juvenile Tufted Duck.

Tufted Duck

Linacre- 1st September 2017

The sun was out this morning, so I decided to have a few hours down at Linacre. There were 6 species of butterfly on the wing, 3 dragonflies and 1 damselfly species.

The butterflies seen were: Speckled Wood (5), Peacock (5), Red Admiral (2), Large White (1), Comma (1) and Small Copper (3, my first record of 2017).

Small Copper

Dragonflies and damselflies seen were: Common Dater (1, the first Linacre record of 2017), Brown Hawker (3), Southern Hawker (1) and Common Blue Damselfly. 2 species of hoverfly were also seen: Volucella pellucens (Great Pied Hoverfly) and Sericomyia silentis (only my second Linacre record, after 1 on 18th August 2016).

Sericomyia silentis

Birds seen around the site today were: Mallard (37), Tufted Duck 19; 18 adults and 1 duckling), Mandarin Duck (25), Great-crested Grebe (2 adults and 1 juvenile), Grey Heron (2), Grey Wagtail (1), Coot (3 adults), Moorhen (12; 6 adults and 6 juveniles), Cormorant (1), Common Buzzard (1), Swallow (c. 15) and Chiffchaff (3, including 1 singing).