Garden recording Graham Watkeys As the year winds down it’s a good time to look back on the season’s recording. I have managed to add 171 species to my garden list this year (to date) and I have met some very delightful creatures in the process. My favourite (or at least one of them) has to be Barypeithes pellucidus. One reason for this blatant favouritism is because it’s a Weevil and all Weevils are cool, but mainly because it’s called the Hairy Spider Weevil which makes it doubly cool. I found it by hanging around the compost bins, a generally productive place to be as it turned out, as it also led me to find the Soldier flies Sargus bipunctatus (a Hairy Spider Weevil (Barypeithes pellucidus) © Graham Watkeys
first record for VC42) and Microchrysa polita. The best “right place, right time” records were the Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium
manicatum)
and
the
Hummingbird
Hawk
Moth
(Macroglossum stellatarum), both of which were seen, photographed and gone in minutes. Rarities included two Rust fungi, rare for two different reasons though. I found Cronartium flaccidum on Peony, one of its alternate hosts, which is genuinely rare and Puccinia phragmitis on Rhubarb, not a rare rust but on a very unusual host for a species usually found on Docks. I also have to report on my Hoverflies. I managed to increase my garden list by 15 species bringing the total to 53. Highlights have to be Chrysotoxum cautum, Chrysotoxum festivum and Ferdinandea cuprea.
Photos: Left - Chrysotoxum cautum, Right top—Sargus bipunctatus, Right bottom - Hummingbird Hawk Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) © Graham Watkeys
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