The natural history exploits of Ross Newham - and the ultimate cure for insomnia!
Monday 31 January 2011
31 January 2011 - Wallingford, Oxon
A day of little wind presented the opportunity to snap a few of the Hazel catkins that are currently adorning the hedgerows. The season is beginning.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45PAoeGgHWoaX3tGbdQ9SjkVWEHU5FwhSDxflzGD3DBlewOw1xjJHyd4vXE0_loMvxNTmqqEdnDclZyd6AwSz5wDNX4tQfo1DbcsUxjLDcC0uTDL8QiwqNqlJL6UPUWPZqNiICReGi9Q/s320/Hazel+Catkins+2.JPG)
Thursday 27 January 2011
27 January 2011 - A small wood near Didcot, Oxon
My second catch of the year and a further respectable catch - Spring Ushers being the highlight whist the micro Tortricodes alternella (not that this would be much of a highlight for your average aged mother).
Spring Usher![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_5jLyhAf9QeaQugzYuU8ufAAvTr5M63V4Mmsm_9Fdx1AcZy7eYP2aW2XCmqu21JM6Cavbk7vY86arRCllTIVgmYm_twegGY86lYoH-ikSaeuuI66HN9KRFbWskkyI3EvBEGLh2HFDhs/s320/1932+Spring+Usher+2.JPG)
Spring Usher![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeijxhCZUPn8jpRcYY8PLNx3-Fmbyv3mDCkKEV9G6MLTyiWdQxomI_oSnkAYBr_mthSJJvNAAPSnKbc5WE8FEdCH68uUBLWR4qSZPwo6AZKHNRuEPyrYhYu-CnyuTUXwQ-vw_Mpz3S3dI/s320/1932+Spring+Usher+1.JPG)
Tortricodes alternella ![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEiceJDA58IxtxGbU210CT47sSYINguAapFQ9Hj7oo-ZUNhEPKoGbZn9rHGHnh758GsBgl2hhnq8kO220IbUziudr560tymzgU2SxZ1dDX8Suay58dAiDtK3cVORuCTI1dNIc4m16jmw/s320/1025+Tortricodes+alternella.JPG)
Saturday 15 January 2011
15 January 2011 - Didcot & RSPB Rainham Marshes
My first trap of the year - and several weeks since my last attempt - things could only be good... or naff. Decided on putting the trap in the nearby wood as a garden catch would surely be naff. The result was very good - for an actinic light. 9 moths of 4 species. Three species new for me owing to this being my first winter of mothing.
Pale Brindled Beauty
Mottled Umber![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggebaFFk7_Vq3sqDEnHt-yYUnTfsvJ4SlinQYUColkiC0E5r3cA3TW62C-G-3Grm0aHcQWJ8pYlYTVPgCm4UD2Xw3lM_yVNbiuhxpD5K9_tyt90RDjgG2ST96KCrFXkuo6J5VtL4_D_vI/s320/1935+Mottled+Umber+1.JPG)
Mottled Umbers![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaydZbR6wNJ9uJ2PuUhHp5Gj4BQz7hy0YAZyIKMyCn-viD7yZ5nRBTKlgSqxH_VBq4f-xMLm0UmOGtp0wd1p71jWNsL3GBakdfrEb2kzvbgvXvlo1BEj_NCJT-l_TrvNi1mwSyVTrgrVA/s320/1935+Mottled+Umber+2.JPG)
Mottled Umbers - this chap was a lot smaller than the other two![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjratTGjpCu4Q7nciuCRm94vCDZHH9l19hFGClA7CCV2Wa_KyTvLpcCHqK4PyxlMSpn_ToI2VXUcPtSY2jaFV8tzct_SGVt3l6VU1H8DnbkBWEunxMrJ23ghGeKd3MuFG7f9g_OL9_t6LE/s320/1935+Mottled+Umber+3.JPG)
And finally, this Early Moth hid in the trap amongst numerous Winter Moths.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQl55_OjIsXv6swegoUKiwH6wLIIZn-_ZP4sfTP0UPe-iqt9EjcTiwtPJOX4UZwK28ogH-3jy6_FPQ8KP5ikSIuo-aCH-MYh-5Z8PaFKZFZUuwMR1nOerRYEAvFoRxUh3iWHZdojPW6c/s320/1960+Early+Moth.JPG)
And finally, this Early Moth hid in the trap amongst numerous Winter Moths.
Spent the remainder of the day at RSPB Rainham Marshes looking at rubbish and gulls - the less said about that part of the day the better!
Sunday 9 January 2011
9 Jan 2011 - Back Garden, Didcot, Oxon
I opened my new copy of 'Woodlice and Waterlice in Britain and Ireland' (S Gregory), only to be inspired that some of these mini-beasts can be found easily during the winter (summer can drive them, er, underground).
With no news of any Waxwings in Didcot, I instead ventured out to the back garden for a quick look-see while the Wiff was asleep. Checking a few upturned bricks and bits of wood, this was definately my childhood returning!
So, how did I do? Well, I was really choughed to find a few tiny, tiny white Woodlice (3-4mm) in an ants nest. In the past, I probably would have dismissed these as baby Woodlice - but I'm more educated on these things now, so have identified them as Platyarthus hoffmannseggii - great name eh?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNKlAwtNKPxMCA_BsFldcBmq5tN3OFTtNxF-tmjONiNuw2XXP1GgzTVYP4eRyaYEbqlH70xo_3PmO9g751Iu4j2btM9C7E0wvvsLYOUIISWOww_-RX3Nvl-Of_1P4u3UGYGPTe7U8qqE/s320/Platyarthus+hoffmannseggii+2.JPG)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5wXnVOgsHqT0zCSEm0AQWrbAzbsLS-vGRS9L3rHqV5OArSm8e5CQcz0h4v4ZdPB5jkK7Y2hK31BhoqdWeg-nMKVvzY4Yl9x7pNYe5KZ0-8N2PdUImNGB8pLuOrpROb9eaOkCMKZVYMoU/s320/Platyarthus+hoffmannseggii+1.JPG)
The other species found wasn't quite so easy to ID - and I may well have got things wrong. But I reckon they are Porcellio scaber.
With no news of any Waxwings in Didcot, I instead ventured out to the back garden for a quick look-see while the Wiff was asleep. Checking a few upturned bricks and bits of wood, this was definately my childhood returning!
So, how did I do? Well, I was really choughed to find a few tiny, tiny white Woodlice (3-4mm) in an ants nest. In the past, I probably would have dismissed these as baby Woodlice - but I'm more educated on these things now, so have identified them as Platyarthus hoffmannseggii - great name eh?
Platyarthus hoffmannseggii
The other species found wasn't quite so easy to ID - and I may well have got things wrong. But I reckon they are Porcellio scaber.
Porcellio scaber
Saturday 1 January 2011
1 January 2011 - Glen Shee, Perthshire
First day of the year and so I thought I'd have a quick run up to Glen Shee to see if there was anything about. The car park up at the ski centre produced a flock of about 20 Snow Buntings.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTac8BGl2w32AZg0OOBgwitTARpCrIDYROav-7KfWfcnP2pl9FsjHXSTF5mizh_Zkj_NZDYt9AmNess8IZGNdRdJebgvspxsna_GN3wxuwys3W5Y46rHco50qKUqjVQLSZ-0pBC_VkN1s/s320/snow+bunt+2.JPG)
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