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Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Good bye 2015

Well it's almost the end of the year and my festive itinerary means that I probably won't get another chance to post before 2016 is upon us.

Looking back at this time last year I made all sort of natural history goals and predictions, almost none of which came true. So, I think for 2016 my plan is to just enjoy what comes along and to keep trying to see new bits of the natural history of these isles. But I am going to keep concentrating on beetles as discovering these over the last couple of years has been a revelation and has added so much to my enjoyment of natural history. My new job means that I'm based in a nature reserve which should mean some lunchtime forays over the coming months and may even result in some visits to other reserves over the year.

The one goal from last year that has sort of come true is that this blog is still going. In all honestly I was pretty sure it would fizzle out pretty quickly and although it is usually light on text and heavy on crap pictures, this posts represents the 52 post of the year. That's one a week!!

The blog has had more than 3000 views this year from a bizarrely varied list of countries. Not many comments but you can't have everything and that's probably just a result of my unengaging posts!

Anyway, if anyone reads this I hope you have a great Christmas and New Year and that 2016 brings you everything you hope for.

(and here's a nicely marked Mottled Umber that was hanging out at work the other day)


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Merry men

Had a fun day out at Sherwood Forest yesterday. visiting the National Nature Reserve, and getting to hear all about the plans for the future of this rather fascinating and special place.

We visited the Major Oak and saw a good number of other ancient oaks. Apparently the highest density in western Europe.


There was so much dead wood about that I'm guessing invertebrate sampling must throw up some pretty cool stuff. Will have to make a return visit at some point and take a better look.

There were still a few fungi on show including a few Scleroderma citrinum, Common Earthball. A fungus that even I can identify (I hope).