Latest news
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with any items for inclusion, or other comments on the website. |
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Some
snippets of interest
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- Following a BBC request to film the Wood-ant Spider (Dipoena
torva) for Springwatch, Stewart Taylor decided to
try and see how common or otherwise the spider is. He found it quite
regularly despite its small size, and it would be helpful to know more about its
distribution in Highland. Details and photos are available
here to help with
identification. Currently, there are only 9 records on NBN Atlas, all in
Highland.
- An item from the BBC website features
the
rediscovery of Coralroot Orchid - a fascinating little plant - in W Ross.
- Another TRY! target is ripe for recording, the
Honeysuckle Rash fungus
Lasiobotrys lonicerae. This seems to be a
very rare fungus over the UK, but we have a lot in Highland. If you have
Honeysuckle near you just check it for the bumpy round black spots and
preferably report a 10-figure grid reference if you can manage it.
- We are getting in to 'high season' for recording, and today provided the first House-fly of the year. The common view is that these are very common, but they are not at all.
Some years we have no records, and they are never numerous here. Check the TRY! page, and if you think you have
found one please photograph it or keep a specimen for confirmation. One of the best pointers is
its seriously irritating manner of invading one's personal space in a way few other flies indoors will do.
- The first Bee-beetles of the year have just been
reported. All details are
here, and you can
download a paper analysing our records from our website (.pdf, 1.2MB).
- Another TRY! target is becoming apparent now.
The gall on Bird Cherry fruits caused by the fungus
Taphrina padi is a whitish
banana-shaped growth, very obvious if it is there. Details are
here.
- Butterwort is now in flower, so check the flowers for
the anther smut fungus Microbotryum pinguiculae
which only came on our radar last year. The paper describing what to look
for is available
on our
website (.pdf, 2.4MB). It has proved to be widespread across Highland
and it was in evidence on Lismore at the end of May.
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The HBRG Social Wasp Atlas project
Please assist with our continuing atlas project, mapping the
distribution of our social wasps.
All the information you
need is
here.
Anyone can help with
this, whether just collecting dead wasps from your house or garden,
or becoming
competent at identifying the different species.
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Please
look out for the Tree Bumblebee
Bombus
hypnorum which has this spring at last become
established around the Inverness / East-Ross area with several reports already
this year, including nesting in Inverness. Details are here, and
the map opposite shows how it has colonised Scotland since 2013. |
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©
Jan Ove Gjershaug. |
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The first
adult Solomon's Seal Sawflies of the year have appeared in my garden.
This is one of our TRY! targets - all the details are
here.
It must be more widely distributed in Highland than the map (R) suggests.
Give it a couple of months and even if you miss the adults all doubt will
be removed once the voracious larvae get chomping (below). |
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©
Murdo Macdonald. |
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