The daring brrrs of May

On a bitterly cold weekend, well, very chilly for the end of May, there were a couple of Field Club outdoor events to attend. The Saturday saw the inaugural Invertebrate group meeting at a breezy Marwick Bay. The idea was to check the beach then climb up Marwick Head, but the latter was shelved in favour of sheltering behind the wall at the back of the beach. Which is where most of the insects were, obviously.

It was neither the weather not the habitat for dragons and damsels, so I could relax and watch other amateur entomologists at work, which was absolutely intriguing.

Take this habitat...

the seaweed strandline. A couple of handfuls of this goop, plopped into a washing up bowl, brought more biodiversity into view than could be reasonably expected in an episode of anything featuring Sir David Attenborough. No wonder birds spend ages sifting through the stuff, it was full of food.

Then there was this habitat...

the line of stones above the strandline, before it became a full-on pile of rocks. This was chocker with beetles, kelp flies, wood lice and all manner of what have you.

A rove beetle

Whilst exploring under the rocks, I did find what I think is a fish fossil...

Moving to the back of the beach, the coastal footpath offered up some pay dirt, perhaps a little too literally for the squeamish. There were plenty of detritovores and dung beetles in this pile of horse poo.

Now wash your hands.

The following day, in similar weather, there was a Sphagnum moss ID event, which was also very interesting. Both days involved quite a bit of hand lens work.

There's about 4 species of Sphagnum here

I may have to purchase a few more ID guides...