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 |