This year we focused on invertebrates. The day was sunny but windy and everywhere was very dry. This was perhaps why the invertebrates were very hard to find! The sweep net technique seemed to work best and at the end of the session we had recorded 15 species, of which 11 had not been recorded before in Grove Woods.
These events always turn up interesting new finds, don’t be put off by not being an “expert”, there is always someone who will suggest where to look in the reference books. The smartphone app Obsidentify can also be useful as a starting point, even though some of its suggestions are unlikely to say the least!
The star of the occasion was probably Nick’s Wasp Spider, the second that he has found in Grove Woods.
Invertebrates recorded
Bugs - Hemiptera
(These are the true bugs, with piercing mouthparts to suck juices from plants and other animals)
Bishop’s Mitre Shield Bug Aelia acuminata
Birch Shield Bug Elasmostethus interstinctus
Grass Bug Stenodema laevighata
Long-legged Plant Bug Phytocoris varipes
Flies - Diptera
Common Globetail (hoverfly) Sphaetophia sp
Ants, bees wasps and relatives - Hymenoptera
Large Red-tailed Bumble Bee Bombus lapidarius
Grasshoppers and Crickets - Orthoptera
Oak Bush Cricket Meconema thalasasinum
Meadow Grasshopper Pseudochorthippus parallels
Spiders - Araneae
Spider Metallina spec
Money spider Linyphia Triangularis
Harvestmen - Opillones
Harvestman Opilio canestinii
We also saw some invertebrates that we have previously recorded, these were:
Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi
Hawthorn Shield Bug Acanthosoma Haemorrhoidale
Small White Pieris rap
Seven Spot ladybird Coccinella septempunctata
Blyth Woods 