Garden species (lazy) count 2013

December 22, 2013 • Leave a Comment

At the start of 2013, after seeing an old blogging pal (Jane Adams @Wildlifestuff) suggest that she was going to see if she could find 365 species of organism in her garden during the year…. I thought I’d do the same. Or at least similar.

Now Jane is "Mrs.Bioblitz", (bioblitz is where you spend an hour or a day in a spot and try to ID to species level everything that you find) but I knew that might be a bit difficult for me this year. I think if I had spent a day in the garden this year with hand lens and my field guides, I might have made the magic 365 figure, but as it turned out, I didn’t get close to the 365 mark – primarily because I didn’t actually search for or really investigate (ID wise) anything – I relied on obvious macrofauna in the main for my figures – lazy I know, but a new son and my ongoing poor(ish) health meant that was all I could do this year.

Whereas Jane (and others) included plants in their garden count, I chose to ignore them (another reason why my final figure is waaay lower than it should’ve been) – I relied on animals and fungi only for my count. (Fungi are neither plants nor animals in my book).

I also decided to count all animals (including birds of course) that I saw (and identified to species level) OR HEARD from the garden – which explains a few things like Cuckoo appearing on my list. There was no cuckoo in the garden in 2013, but I certainly heard one from the garden.

I’ve almost certainly forgotten to record many things I’ve seen throughout the year, and not even begun to scratch the surface of identifying and counting some very common animals in the garden – things like snails, slugs, beetles, flies, worms, woodlice etc…

Yes. I have little doubt that if I actually pulled my zoological finger out and tried to ID EVERYTHING in the garden, I’d have made 365.

But. As it stands, my lazy, rather half-hearted count (when I could be bothered or remembered) stands at a pretty impressive 216 species. And like I say, that included no plants and very few groups of numerous species in the garden like worms, beetles (the most numerous of all), snails and flies.

Maybe next year I’ll be a bit more energetic and really try to ID the really wee stuff – and who knows….. maybe double my total from this year?

The full breakdown of the 216 species is as follows:

Insects – 147 spp. (and of those, 83 were macro moths, 10 were bees & 12 were butterflies).

Insect highlights: Small elephant hawkmoth, elephant hawkmoth, ruby-tailed wasp, ashy mining bee, poplar hawkmoth, rose chafer, lesser diving beetle and southern hawker (dragonfly).

Birds – 41 spp.

Bird highlights: Jay, green woodpecker, swift, buzzard, fieldfare, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, goldfinch.

Mammals – 6 spp.

Mammal highlights for me were the pair of hedgehogs (unfortunately one was eaten by the local foxes) and the two pipistrelle bats that hunt over our garden (no-one elses it seems) each summer dusk.

Fungi – 10 spp.

Fungal highlight being the shaggy inkcap that appeared overnight in the garden during the autumn, and the large group of huge field mushrooms that fruited on the back lawn late in the autumn rains.

Arachnids – 11 spp.

Arachnid highlight was I guess my favourite sp. of jumping spider, Marpissa muscosa (or the “fencepost jumping spider”), which tends to favour the south of England.

Amphibians – 1 sp. The common frog. I was hoping for newts, but may have to wait for them I guess.

The full list of species I bothered! to record can be found below…. Remember this includes no woodlice, worms, tiny beetles, small flies, snails, slugs, millipedes etc…

So not a bad number I think!

Critter	Type
Large yellow underwing larva	Insect
The Chestnut	Insect
Buff-tailed bumblebee	Insect
Honeybee	Insect
Brindled plume moth	Insect
Dark chestnut	Insect
Dotted border	Insect
Hebrew character	Insect
Drone fly	insect
Double-striped pug	insect
Angle shades caterpillar	insect
Peacock	insect
Common wasp	insect
Comma	insect
Red-tailed bumblebee	insect
Common carder bee	insect
Tree bumblebee	insect
Brimstone butterfly	insect
Seven-spot ladybird	insect
Red Admiral adult	insect
Large (Cabbage) white adult	insect
Tawny mining bee	insect
Feather-footed flower bee	insect
Small diving beetle	insect
Pond skater	insect
Hawthorn shieldbug	insect
Early bumblebee	insect
Bee-fly	Insect
Holly blue	Insect
Early thorn (moth)	Insect
Speckled wood	Insect
Ashy mining bee	Insect
Red mason bee	Insect
Orange tip	Insect
Lime specked pug	Insect
Large red damselfly	Insect
Cockchafer	Insect
Brimstone moth	Insect
Poplar kitten moth	Insect
Poplar grey moth	Insect
Poplar hawk moth	Insect
Angle shades moth	insect
Heart and dart moth	insect
Flame carpet	insect
Yellow-barred brindle	insect
Buff ermine	insect
Common marbled carpet	insect
Shuttle-shaped dart	insect
Grey dagger	insect
Rose Chafer	insect
Cabbage moth	insect
Silver Y	Insect
Thick legged flower beetle	Insect
Wasp beetle	Insect
Flame shoulder	Insect
Willow beauty	Insect
Clouded silver	Insect
White ermine	Insect
spectacle	Insect
Small elephant hawk moth	Insect
Lesser diving beetle	Insect
Lesser stag beetle	Insect
Coronet	Insect
Rosemary leaf beetle	Insect
Common blue damselfly	Insect
Common earwing	Insect
Common backswimmer	Insect
Peppered moth	Insect
Varied carpet beetle	Insect
Amblyteles armatorius	Insect
Red ant	Insect
Black ant	Insect
Greenbottle	Insect
Bluebottle	Insect
Volucella pellucens	Insect
Heliophilus pendulus	Insect
Dark arches	Insect
Harlequin ladybird	Insect
Gasteruption jaculator	Insect
Wormwood pug	Insect
Azure damselfly	Insect
Flesh fly	Insect
Common emerald	Insect
Green oak tortrix	Insect
Golden variegated tortrix	Insect
Lunar yellow underwing	Insect
Fanfoot	Insect
Blue-tailed damselfly	Insect
Dot moth	Insect
Swallow-tailed moth	Insect
Gatekeeper	Insect
Ringlet	Insect
Banded demoiselle	Insect
Ruby-tailed wasp	Insect
Marbled white	Insect
Shoulder-striped Wainscot	Insect
Cypress carpet	Insect
Broad bodied chaser	Insect
Riband Wave	Insect
Setaceous hebrew character	Insect
Garden carpet	Insect
Elephant hawk moth	Insect
Common footman	Insect
Heart and club	Insect
Bird cherry ermine	Insect
True Lovers knot	Insect
Least carpet	Insect
Buff arches	Insect
Mother of pearl	Insect
Copper underwing	Insect
Nemapogon clematella	Insect
Scalloped oak	Insect
Large emerald	Insect
Purple hairstreak	Insect
Cinnabar moth	Insect
Phoenix moth	Insect
Pale prominent	Insect
Willoughby's leaf cutter bee	Insect
Brown eye white line	Insect
Yellow shell	Insect
Small blood vein	Insect
Southern hawker	Insect
Twenty-plume moth	Insect
Chequered fruit tree tortrix	Insect
September thorn	Insect
Canary-shouldered thorn	Insect
Dusky thorn	Insect
Sallow kitten	Insect
Straw underwing	Insect
Broad bordered yellow underwing	Insect
Yellow tail	Insect
Knot grass	Insect
Orange swift	Insect
Iron prominent	Insect
Miller	Insect
Central-barred sallow	Insect
Hornet	Insect
Common darter	Insect
Lunar underwing	insect
Large ranunculus	insect
22 spot ladybird	insect
Ectemnius gavifrons (d.wasp)	insect
Blairs shoulder knot	Insect
Green and red carpet moth	Insect
November moth	Insect
Winter moth	Insect
Feathered thorn	Insect
Woodpigeon	Bird
Mistle Thrush	Bird
Blue tit	Bird
Robin	Bird
Magpie	Bird
Jay	Bird
Carrion crow	Bird
Starling	Bird
Feral pigeon (dove)	Bird
Black-headed gull	Bird
Jackdaw	Bird
Coal tit	Bird
Ring-necked parakeet	Bird
Great spotted woodpecker	Bird
Collared dove	Bird
Dunnock	Bird
Redwing	Bird
Fieldfare	Bird
Blackcap	Bird
Pied wagtail	Bird
Goldfinch	Bird
House sparrow	Bird
Blackbird	Bird
Long-tailed tit	Bird
Great tit	Bird
Goldcrest	Bird
Wren	Bird
Grey heron	Bird
Herring gull	bird
Green woodpecker	Bird
Swallow	Bird
Buzzard	Bird
Kestrel	Bird
Swift	Bird
Cuckoo	Bird
Chiffchaff	bird
swallow	bird
canada goose	bird
Grey wagtail	bird
Greenfinch	bird
Sparrowhawk	bird
Grey squirrel	Mammal
Fox	Mammal
Hedgehog	Mammal
Woodmouse	Mammal
Common pipistrelle	Mammal
Bank vole	Mammal
Channel web spider	Arachnid
Silver-sided sector spider	Arachnid
Common false-widow	Arachnid
House spider	Arachnid
Zebra spider	Arachnid
Fencepost jumping spider	Arachnid
Enoplognatha sp.	Arachnid
House jumping spider	Arachnid
Walnut spider	Arachnid
Segestria florentina	Arachnid
hydrachna sp (red water mite)	Arachnid
Orange peel fungus	Fungus
Horse mushroom	Fungus
Pleated inkcap	Fungus
Shaggy inkcap	Fungus
Meadow puffball	Fungus
Common inkcap	Fungus
Brown mottlegill	Fungus
Common stump brittlestem	Fungus
Common bonnet	Fungus
Field mushroom	Fungus
Common frog	Amphibian

Keywords: 2013, garden species count

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