A new survey site: the Cathedral Meadows

I have recently been asked by members of our parish council to help surveying the Cathedral Meadows, some parish council land running between the North Elmham Chapel ruins and the railway (the chapel was formerly known as a cathedral).  They are particularly interested in my records of moths and butterflies, though of course I will be recording everything I can.  There is a small wildflower meadow on the site which they are especially interested in, but I plan to record wildlife from the whole site, and use it as an opportunity to brush up on some of the taxa I've not paid as much attention to as I would like (though for the foreseeable future there will still be some big gaps - I can't see me having time to master ichneumons any time soon for example, or most of the flies, and I'm not sure I can reaslistically hope to make much progress with mosses and lichens at the moment either).

My first proper look round was on 20th April.  I found my first dragonflies of the year, 2 teneral Large Red Damselflies.

Large Red Damselfly, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

A number of bees were active, including Orange-tailed Mining Bee, Red-tailed Bumblebee, Common Carder Bee and Buff-tailed Bumblebee.

Orange-tailed Mining Bee Andrena haemorrhoa, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

Common Carder Bee, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

Having recently acquired the Naturalists' Handbook guide to Ants I made use of it to identify a red ant as the Common Red Ant Myrmica rubra, possibly the first time I've ever made a confident species-level identification of an ant!

Common Red Ant Myrmica rubra, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

There were Dark-edged Bee-flies along the track and I identified 3 species of beetle: 7-spot Ladybrd, Pea-leaf Weevil Sitona lineatus, and a new click beetle for me, Limonius poneli (according to Mike Hackston's excellent keys this is the same species that is often recorded as Kibunea minuta).

Pea-leaf Weevil Sitona lineatus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

Limonius poneli, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

Bugs included 2 Stenodema laevigata and a new species for me, Scolopostethus affinis.

Stenodema laevigata, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

Scolopostethus affinis, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

My first positively-identified Stenocranus minutus were among the hoppers.

Stenocranus minutus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

Another new species for me was Euscelis incisus.

Euscelis incisus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

I'm not 100% certain about this one - I suspect it's a nymph of Javesella dubia - please let me know if you can confirm (or otherwise).

possible Javesella dubia?, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

Despite being in posession of the lovely new book on spiders I had been unable to put a name to this one, and wasn't even be sure of what family it belonged to.  Keith Kerr and Richard Wilson kindly confirmed that it's in the Lyniphiidae family and Richard suggested a couple of possible genera.  Keith gave me some more pointers which with the help of a close-up view of its palp lead me to conclude that it was Bathyphantes nigrinus.

Bathyphantes nigrinus (male), North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th April

The flora didn't present many surprises but of 3 species of fern growing on the chapel ruins this Maidenhair Spleenwort was technically a lifer.  I'm sure I've seen it before (probably including here) but have never looked it up and identified it before.

Maidenhair Spleenwort, North Elmham Chapel, 20th April

No moths and not many butterflies, but a productive start to surveying this site.

A new site for Bluebell Conch, on my patch

Recently Matthew Casey discovered multiple Bluebell Conches Hysterophora maculosana at different sites in Ringland and Costessey, a significant discovery given that there have only been two records in the county since 1881.  Even more unusual for a micro, the discovery generated quite a bit of interest with several moth-ers going to see and photograph them.  I resisted the temptation and decided to go and find my own, so when there was a glimmer of sunshine on Thursday I headed for a small patch of bluebells on the local patch.  I was joined by Dave, and almost as soon as I reached the bluebells I scored.  Bluebell Conch Hysterophora maculosana under the belt, on my patch and a new site for this supposedly-rare species.  It's also the first post-Victorian record for the vice-county.  Great stuff!

Bluebell Conch Hysterophora maculosana, near Bittering, 19th May

We continued hunting through the patch of bluebells but couldn't find any more, except possibly one that Dave saw in flight but didn't manage to catch.

Other moths at this site included Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana, 8 Cocksfoot Moths Glyphipterix simpliciella and Grey Gorse Piercer Cydia ulicetana.

Cocksfoot Moth Glyphipterix simpliciella, near Bittering, 19th May

Grey Gorse Piercer Cydia ulicetana, near Bittering, 19th May

Also this caterpillar appears to be Yellow-tail.

Yellow-tail, near Bittering, 19th May

Moths weren't the only attraction.  We did quite well for beetles too - here are a selection:

Red-headed Cardinal, near Bittering, 19th May

Green Nettle Weevil Phyllobius pomaceus, near Bittering, 19th May

Common Leaf Weavil Phyllobius pyri, near Bittering, 19th May

10-spot Ladybird, near Bittering, 19th May

14-spot Ladybird, near Bittering, 19th May

Among the hoverflies I identified were some Leucozona lucorum.

Leucozona lucorum, near Bittering, 19th May

This Scorpion Fly, my first this year, gave me a chance to learn new ID skills (though it did have to sacrifice itself in the process).

Panorpa germanica (female, gen det), near Bittering, 19th May

It was the Bees that gave me the most new species, if only because I've not spent much effort identifying Bees until the recent publication of Falk & Lewington's excellent field guide on Bees.  Four Bees retained for checking proved to be male and female Orange-tailed Mining Bees, Wilke's Mining Bee and the very striking Lathbury's Nomad Bee, all species I had not identified previously.

[Edit 2023 - the Nomad Bee was misidentified - I think it's a Flavous Nomad Bee and it certainly isn't a Lathbury's]

Orange-tailed Mining Bees Andrena haemorrhoa (male above, female below), near Bittering, 19th May

Wilke's Mining Bee Andrena wilkella, near Bittering, 19th May

[2023 edit: probably Flavous Nomad Bee Nomada flava], near Bittering, 19th May