New Species - Necklace Ground Beetle

This beetle turned up in my porch. It looked similar to Carabus nemoralis in my Collins Insects guide but google tells me that this species is generally absent from Wales. I sent photos to the Invertebrate Recorder and he says that it appears to be Carabus monilis - the Necklace Ground Beetle. I am grateful to the UK Beetle site for the following: "In the UK it is widespread and was formerly common across southern England and the midlands, becoming more local and rare in Wales and further north to the Lake District, but there has been a drastic decrease in recent decades and it is now very local and generally rare, being lost from many of its former sites and now classified as endangered." (From www.ukbeetles.co.uk)

NEW ORCHID SPECIES!!! - Twayblade

Yesterday whilst looking to see if there were any more Common Spotted Orchids coming through I was astonished to discover a single Twayblade in the middle of the West Field. That makes five species of Orchid for the site now and this is definitely this year's surprise flora-wise.

Bee Hotel

We have a lot of holes in our old house walls and there are plenty of bees around using these holes. Earlier in the year there were Hairy Footed Flower Bees and their predators the Common Mourning Bee and later I expect to see Mason Bees. I decided to add a small Bee Hotel to the wall to see if it got used and after a month or so there have been 12 of the holes used with continuing interest from various bees. I'll have to get some photos of the bees and maybe be able to identify the species.

First Cuckoo

Heard today coming from the Whitebrook side. That's all.

Recent sightings

No photos unfortunately but I have now definitely seen a Red Kite overhead. There has been one about 2 miles South West for a couple of years but now one has been circling here. I thought I saw one a couple of times but couldn't get the binos on it to confirm, then last week some builders working at the top of the street got some video of one and then two days ago I saw one just outside the village at closer quarters. I also had a close encounter with a Weasel yesterday, right be the new dry stone wall that I thought might be attractive to them. I heard a rustle and saw some movement in a small nettle patch by the wall and kept still. A few seconds later this head popped out of the nettles and eyed me up from about six feet away. After a little while it dived back into the undergrowth.

New Species - Roe Deer

A female deer caught my eye the other day as it didn't look quite right for the usual Fallow Deer we see on site. I wasn't sure as the Fallow Deer do vary a lot in colouration but close examination of the photos shows that it was indeed a new species - the Roe Deer. In particular the rear shot shows the distinctive all white rump and tiny white tail. This is the front view shot.

New Species - Marmalade Fly (Episyrphus balteatus)

I am reasonably confident of this ID although the lack of eyes and antennae made it a a little more difficult. I found it in the house in a state of decay but the markings of this particular hoverfly are distinctive according to my excellent Hoverfly Guide (Ball and Morris). The photo is about 25x magnification. The wings were less than 1cm long.