It's coming up on mid Feb and there's light in the sky now at 5pm. It's a much needed reminder that the days are lengthening and that Spring is coming. This winter has felt longer than usual and I must admit to just holing up in the house as my way of getting through it, plus I did have a lot of beetle samples to get through. But I think it's probably time to venture out now and remind myself of what's out there!
Back in the depths of time (last May) I visited the RSPB reserve at Cors Ddyga on Anglesey in north-west Wales. I was there to help with a series of invertebrate surveys. The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and one of just three in Wales designated for the richness of its aquatic invertebrates. My water beetling antics have been few and far between so I was keen to see some new beetles and learn a few new techniques.
The site is mainly flooded grassland sectioned off into fields for cattle grazing. Many field edges have ditches in a variety of stages of floral succession. On top of this some are heavily shaded whilst others remain in full sunlight. This gives an extraordinary variety of habitats for beetles and the trick with the management is to maintain the diversity.
We spent a lot of time, nets in hand disturbing the watery margins and also submerging vegetation in shallow puddles and seeing what floated to the surface.
So this is what it looks like...
The main thing I think I learned beetle-wise from a few days doing this (and the subsequent microscope time) is that Hydroporus water beetles are little ba&*ards. They need to be dry to best make use of the characters in the keys and having a few species lined up together makes some of the more subtle characteristics easier to work out. As with most beetles, males help as the aedeagus can be distinctive (but not always, as I found out).
My images of water beetles are a bit rubbish, so here are some other species that I found which were new for me.
Hydrothassa marginella
Three Helophorus species aequalis, obscurus (which was new)and brevipaplis.
The rather wonderful looking Hydrochus brevis found by submerging short grass at the edges of flooded pasture, and then waiting for it to float to the surface. The second of this genus I have now seen.
Finally caught up with Agonum marginatum.
The brilliantly named Horsetail Sloth Weevil Bagous lutulentus found on water horsetail.
Rhinoncus perpendicularis
Pelenomus comari found by submerging Marsh Cinquefoil
Think this may be my new favourite carabid. A much more subtle beauty than its close relatives.
The lovely Blethisa multipunctata aka the Many-dimpled.
So I promise that's it from 2021 and all future posts will be from the here and now (or thereabouts). Just need to get out and find some beetles!
The post title comes from the Thom Yorke's first foray into film scores and is well worth a listen.
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