Some good arachnid records!

Having found the extremely good Spider Recording Scheme website at http://srs.britishspiders.org.uk/ I felt inspired to have a go at identifying a handful of photographs of spiders I had accumulated over the last few years.  I had a go at four spiders and a couple of harvestmen.  The first response I got confirmed that most were incorrectly identified and that the harvestmen needed to go to another recorder.  Once I got all of the responses back, I had a bit of a shock.  One of the harvestmen, which I had photographed on the wall of the house here in Langthorpe back in January 2008, was a female Opilio canestrinii which was not only new for Yorkshire but possibly only the second UK record; I have been advised by Peter Harvey who runs the SRS scheme, that following the first in Lea Valley in 1999, the next was in Matlock in 2009, then with 4 in 2010 and 9 in 2011 from various other locations. 

Opilio canestrinii, NEW for Yorkshire

Opilio canestrinii

Another spider of interest was a bright yellow Araneus marmoreus var. pyramidatus seen at Pilmoor which was only about the 2nd VC62 record in the last 30 years.

Araneus marmoreus var pyramidatus

One spider I did not have a photo of, but knew rather well was Pholcus phalangioides.  I first came across this one back in 2003 in Dorset, when idly perusing the internet and found a request for sightings of this species on the Dorset Environmental Records Center website.  I looked up, and blow me down there was one of these with a family of spiderlings in an untidy little web on the ceiling.  They are quite distinctive, and when touched they tend to spin round madly.  As it happens I noticed them again when we were renting in Hartwith near Harrogate, and again several times in the house here in Langthorpe.  It turns out, it is a new record for VC65!


Platybunus triangularis was the other harvestman photographed, which was at Low Wood, Sessay, on 12 June 2011, and appears to be the first recent record in the last 20 odd years for VC62.

Platybunus triangularis

The other photos were of more regular species and I include them just for completeness.  I think it just goes to show that spiders are vastly under-recorded and there is plenty of scope for making discoveries...as long as you can identify the little buggers!

Araneus quadratus, Windmill Farm NR, Lizard, Cornwall, VC1

Araneus diadematus, Windmill Farm NR, Lizard, VC1

Pisaura mirabilis, female with egg sac, Holm Bushes near Middlemarsh, VC9.  A new record for 10km square.

Last year's top 20 macros...

A very unscientific look at 2011 compared with the previous two years threw up some quite interesting statistics.  There are obvious drawbacks with such a small data set, and even taking into account 25% more effort through the year, the spread of trapping sites and dates was fairly consistent.  The 20 most numerous macro species were, in most cases, considerably more numerous than the average of the previous two years.

There were declines noted in 4 species, Common Quaker and Small Quaker down due to the extremely good numbers of Spring 2010; Large Yellow Underwing was well down on 2010, but similar to 2009, as was Mottled Beauty which was only fractionally down on the average. 

The next few slight increases may be accounted for mainly by the extra effort, and then there are some dramatic figures, more than doubling for Brown Silver-line, Clouded Border and Yellow-tail.  Next, Flame Shoulder, Common Footman, Dark Arches and in particular Smoky Wainscot and July Highflyer increased greatly, and the amazing numbers of Four-dotted Footman was also the third most common species which in itself is remarkable.

Taxon	Vernacular	2011	2010	2009	Ave 2009/10	% change
Orthosia cerasi	Common Quaker	272	530	135	333	-18.2
Noctua pronuba	Large Yellow Underwing	190	283	180	232	-17.9
Orthosia cruda	Small Quaker	107	201	48	125	-14.1
Alcis repandata	Mottled Beauty	217	133	303	218	-0.5
Campaea margaritata	Light Emerald	122	39	187	113	8.0
Pheosia gnoma	Lesser Swallow Prominent	116	71	99	85	36.5
Orthosia incerta	Clouded Drab	188	223	51	137	37.2
Conistra vaccinii	Chestnut	107	112	22	67	59.7
Xanthorhoe montanata	Silver-ground Carpet	142	81	69	75	89.3
Idaea aversata	Riband Wave	124	39	89	64	93.8
Petrophora chlorosata	Brown Silver-line	175	112	62	87	101.1
Oligia strigilis agg.	Marbled Minor agg.	112	69	39	54	107.4
Euproctis similis	Yellow-tail	131	38	88	63	107.9
Lomaspilis marginata	Clouded Border	194	46	86	66	193.9
Ochropleura plecta	Flame Shoulder	136	39	35	37	267.6
Eilema lurideola	Common Footman	562	119	142	131	330.7
Apamea monoglypha	Dark Arches	109	42	7	25	344.9
Mythimna impura	Smoky Wainscot	122	24	22	23	430.4
Hydriomena furcata	July Highflyer	220	23	33	28	685.7
Cybosia mesomella	Four-dotted Footman	258	0	13	7	3869.2

Four-dotted Footman

The Four-dotted Footman trapped in 2011 were all in the Pilmoor area:

Pilmoor wood SE	SE4672		1	07-Jun-11
Pilmoor wood NE	SE4673		1	07-Jun-11
Low Wood (E), Pilmoor	SE4772		5	14-Jun-11
Sessay Wood, Pilmoor	SE4773		14	14-Jun-11
Pilmoor wood SE	SE4672		1 dead	29-Jun-11
Sessay Wood, Pilmoor	SE4773		82	02-Jul-11
Low Wood (E), Pilmoor	SE4772		21	02-Jul-11
Pilmoor wood NE	SE4673		84	10-Jul-11
Sessay Wood, Pilmoor	SE4773		42	14-Jul-11
Pilmoor wood SE	SE4672		7	21-Jul-11

A mild night was too tempting.

After a run of several mild nights, and 100% cloud cover shielding the almost full moon, I was tempted out to spend an hour or so with the 160MVB over a sheet at Pilmoor.  So while not expecting very much, the odd moths fluttered to the light between 1805 and 1900, but no more thereafter, so gave up gracefully.

The total catch was four Tortricodes alternella, a Winter Moth, Spring Usher and two Chestnut.  To start the year off with a photo of possibly the least inspiring geometrid moths, especially as it is one from the dark end of the spectrum.....

Spring Usher, Pilmoor wood, 10 Jan 2012

As a brief footnote, Charlie has since mentioned that this is the 4th earliest Yorkshire record, and two others were this winter too.