Shieldbugs found in the Carlisle area of Cumbria, August to December 2014: Survey Data
Shieldbugs found in the Carlisle area of Cumbria, August to December 2014: Survey Data.
In Section 3 of the text associated with the shieldbug photo-montages, I suggested that the reason I managed to find so many shieldbug species late in the season may have been due to the simple fact that I kept on looking for them when more experienced recorders would have given up for the year. That my bug-hunting activities were continued with undiminished enthusiasm till the end of the monitoring period (8 December) can be seen from the above chart: This shows the total amount of time spent, the number of different sites visited, and the number of different species found during each week of the survey. In fact the 9.25 hours spent over the final week is the median value for the 14 weeks, and only slightly less than the mean value.
It's interesting to note that eight of the nine species recorded over the period of the survey were found during the second week alone - the exception being the Blue Shieldbug which was only found once, during week 14. As previously noted, till I started on this project my shieldbug tally for the preceding FIVE YEARS was just five species!
The fact that three species - the Green, Blue and Gorse Shieldbug - were found during the last week of the survey raises the question of why didn't I continue beyond 8 December? In fact I did! The first two species were found in a small plantation of oak trees in Kingmoor Sidings, and this area was searched on three further occasions without any luck. The Gorse shieldbug was one of four found in Finglandrigg Wood during an extensive 2-hour search on 8 December, and although I'm pretty sure I'd have been able to find the odd one even later in the month, there seemed little point when this species is so abundant here.
NOTES ON CHART
There are a number of minor points relating to the chart data which are unlikely to be of interest to anyone else, but I feel obliged to record anyway:
1. For convenience the starting point was taken as 2/09/14 as opposed to 30/08/14, and so the first week was from 2/09/14 - 8/09/14 with the final week being from 2/12/14 - 8/12/14.
2. The sites visited only include those specified in Section 2 of the text associated with the photo-montages.
3. The data used in the chart were derived directly from my wildlife diary and so were not subject to the sifting process involved in the derivation of the enveloping records sent to the CBDC. So the site and species numbers may not be fully consistent with the CBDC data (this is of no consequence in context).
4. The estimate of the time spent each week on the survey is the best I could do, but should only be considered as indicative. For example if several sites were visited in a single day, in general only the time of arrival at the first destination and the time of departure from the final destination would have been noted, and I've not bothered to account for the time taken in transit between sites; additionally only a rough correction was (or, in fact, could be) made for time spent at any "non-shieldbug" sites during such days.
Shieldbugs found in the Carlisle area of Cumbria, August to December 2014: Survey Data
Shieldbugs found in the Carlisle area of Cumbria, August to December 2014: Survey Data.
In Section 3 of the text associated with the shieldbug photo-montages, I suggested that the reason I managed to find so many shieldbug species late in the season may have been due to the simple fact that I kept on looking for them when more experienced recorders would have given up for the year. That my bug-hunting activities were continued with undiminished enthusiasm till the end of the monitoring period (8 December) can be seen from the above chart: This shows the total amount of time spent, the number of different sites visited, and the number of different species found during each week of the survey. In fact the 9.25 hours spent over the final week is the median value for the 14 weeks, and only slightly less than the mean value.
It's interesting to note that eight of the nine species recorded over the period of the survey were found during the second week alone - the exception being the Blue Shieldbug which was only found once, during week 14. As previously noted, till I started on this project my shieldbug tally for the preceding FIVE YEARS was just five species!
The fact that three species - the Green, Blue and Gorse Shieldbug - were found during the last week of the survey raises the question of why didn't I continue beyond 8 December? In fact I did! The first two species were found in a small plantation of oak trees in Kingmoor Sidings, and this area was searched on three further occasions without any luck. The Gorse shieldbug was one of four found in Finglandrigg Wood during an extensive 2-hour search on 8 December, and although I'm pretty sure I'd have been able to find the odd one even later in the month, there seemed little point when this species is so abundant here.
NOTES ON CHART
There are a number of minor points relating to the chart data which are unlikely to be of interest to anyone else, but I feel obliged to record anyway:
1. For convenience the starting point was taken as 2/09/14 as opposed to 30/08/14, and so the first week was from 2/09/14 - 8/09/14 with the final week being from 2/12/14 - 8/12/14.
2. The sites visited only include those specified in Section 2 of the text associated with the photo-montages.
3. The data used in the chart were derived directly from my wildlife diary and so were not subject to the sifting process involved in the derivation of the enveloping records sent to the CBDC. So the site and species numbers may not be fully consistent with the CBDC data (this is of no consequence in context).
4. The estimate of the time spent each week on the survey is the best I could do, but should only be considered as indicative. For example if several sites were visited in a single day, in general only the time of arrival at the first destination and the time of departure from the final destination would have been noted, and I've not bothered to account for the time taken in transit between sites; additionally only a rough correction was (or, in fact, could be) made for time spent at any "non-shieldbug" sites during such days.