Bob Chapman
Retired after 40 odd years of conservation land management. Birds, Inverts (mainly moths, Diptera, Odonata, Orthoptera) but anything really. S.Hants patchlisting, New Forest area.
- Disappointing to see an increase in Feral Pigeon influence in the Rock Dove population of The Mullet, Co Mayo when I was there recently. Perhaps 1/20 showed either "chequers" or darkened plumage. #ornithology #birds
- I came across what seems to be Leopoldius calceatus on a low Ivy hedge on the Hants coast today not sure if this is a new county record but certainly a first for me. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- A "lifer" for me in the garden actinic trap last night, a Striped Hawk-moth, in very good condition as was the Small Marbled, a moth I had not seen before this year's influx. #teammate #hantsmoths
- Any Dipterist's out there, does this look like Phasia aurigera to you? Picture taken today in S.Hants garden also lots of Ectophasia crassipennis about too. #Diptera #flies
- I'm thinking just a very dark Ectophasis crassipennis?
- Mothing continues to be good here in S.Hants, with Lunar-spotted Pinion NFG last night, but top spot went to the ladybird Calvia decemguttata aka the Jersey Ladybird, I got one a couple of weeks ago but it escaped before I got a picture. #teammoth #Hantsmoths
- Having yesterday bemoaned my failure to see a Lappet for many, many years, I caught one today! A wonderful beast indeed, but sort of eclipsed by this rather tatty Dark Umber, which is strangely very infrequently recorded in SW Hants and the first that I can ever recall seeing. #teammoth #Hantsmoths
- Fig Leaf Skeletoniser NFG this morning, I had only ever seen the larval feeding signs before and that not locally. #teammoth #Hantsmoths
- Ran 2 traps in the S.Hants garden last night, 125w MV & 20w actinic. More moths of more species in the MV but actinic had all the quality and all the migrants, including Small Mottled Willow, Bordered Straw and 2 Small Marbled (new moth for me). #teammoth
- A new moth, at least as an adult, from the garden last night Acrocercops brongniardella. #TeamMoth
- Q. Is iRecord down at present? I don't seem to be able to enter records, either I cannot login at all or if I can the records don't upload. The backlog is growing fast!
- An interesting Villa from a weedy field margin beside the Beaulieu River today, photos only unfortunately.
- I saw my first White Admiral of 2025 today in the New Forest when looking for hoverflies. @ukbutterflies.bsky.social
- The only butterfly I saw in the garden today was this newly minted Dark Green Fritillary, I see the odd one most years but typically much later in the season. @ukbutterflies.bsky.social
- A few from Ynyslas on Friday on a failed Pamponerus germanicus hunt. Philonicus albiceps, Dasypoda hirtipes, Thereva nobilitata & Yellow Shell.
- After a windy week it was good to get the butterfly transect done. Disappointing to find the small grassland that usually delivers well has been mown flat, not sure why, not for a crop and not grazed.
- I spend a lot of time in the New Forest and have held a licence to do casual invertebrate surveys. This year I have been asked to provide £10M public liability insurance by @forestryengland.bsky.social which is prohibitive and presumably intended to deter species recording, anyone else had this?
- Diaperis boleti from the New Forest today, appropriately on a bracket fungus.
- Caliprobola speciosa still looking good in the New Forest this afternoon. #Diptera #Hoverflies #NewForest
- The snail-killing fly Pherbellia annulipes from a walk in the New Forest and 1 of 2 female Scaeva selenitica in the garden today, perhaps suggesting an arrival of migrants, both despite almost no sunshine today. #Diptera #Flies
- Sub-urban garden "mini-meadow" starting into summer now the spring flowers are over. It may not hold viable populations but does provide a stepping stone habitat for lots of species, e.g 31spp of butterflies recorded so far.
- Despite rain threatening 4 Currant Clearwing to TIP on the allotment this afternoon. #TeamMoth #HantsMoths
- Now this is interesting....a second from the same Hampshire site. #Teammoth #Hantsmoths
- An unexpected Flame Wainscot (unless I am mistaken - it has been known!) trapped on the S. Hants coast last night, could be a migrant, but there was also suitable habitat nearby, so you never know. Very rarely recorded in Hants with just one this century as far as I can see. #teammoth #Hantsmoths
- I can goes years without seeing a Bee Hawk-moth, so seeing both species in the space of a few days in Hants has been a real treat. Picture won't win any prizes, but they are not the most cooperative of species. #teammoth
- First Acrosathe annulata out at LepeCP on 30/04 with some already working on the next generation. A smart fly of sandy places looking great in the sunshine. #insects #flies
