I've been tracking a new site for the invading Rosemary Beetle (Chrysolina americana) in Leicester for the last year. I kept finding larvae and pupae which were difficult to identify definitely but it's taken until now to find any adults. When I checked, someone else had already recorded them at this site - not altogether surprising for a day-glo fluorescent-striped beetle! Truth be told, they don't do that much damage, and the RHS says: "Host plants often survive light infestations without any noticeable adverse affects and so control is not usually necessary ... Hand picking can help to keep beetle numbers below the level at which serious damage occurs". Put the insecticide away and stop the insect apocalypse.
Tuesday 20 August 2019
Saturday 17 August 2019
Moth records continue to fall
A Toadflax Brocade (Calophasia lunula) turned up in the moth trap yesterday. It was a very worn specimen, but I suspect it's come a long way. Although they've been turning up in small numbers in VC55 for the past two years I suspect this is a migrant rather than a local. Which set me thinking (on a wet day) about the County moth records.
All VC55 moth records (>68k) (to end 2018) (all data copyright Leicestershire and Rutland Environmental Records Centre, data series to end 2018):
click for larger image
I can break this down to look at VC55 moth families:
click for larger image
With over 68,000 records, this is approaching big data, so - heatmap of all VC55 moth records:
click for larger image
From the heatmap, the contributions of individual (groups of) moth recorders can be seen - as well as the remaining gaps in coverage. However, at least two of the islands point to the traditional VC55 honeypots of Charnwood and Rutland Water.
Acknowledgements:
All VC55 moth records (>68k) (to end 2018) (all data copyright Leicestershire and Rutland Environmental Records Centre, data series to end 2018):
click for larger image
I can break this down to look at VC55 moth families:
click for larger image
With over 68,000 records, this is approaching big data, so - heatmap of all VC55 moth records:
click for larger image
From the heatmap, the contributions of individual (groups of) moth recorders can be seen - as well as the remaining gaps in coverage. However, at least two of the islands point to the traditional VC55 honeypots of Charnwood and Rutland Water.
Acknowledgements:
- All data Copyright Leicestershire and Rutland Environmental Records Centre.
- Data visualization performed using the R platform, v. 3.6.1 (R Core Team (2014) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org).
- J. Cann for assistance with data visualization.
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