Wildlife

Some years ago I decided to try and identify every living thing that I'd seen on Rospannel Farm, the lists below go some way towards this end, with well over one thousand species identified so far, unfortunately a lot of them only have scientific names and it would have been difficult to include photos of everything, but most can now be found on the web elsewhere.

I started making a list of people to thank, for helping me with the identification of the 1,300 species so far listed from Rospannel Farm, then realised that it was impossible to include everyone individually, as I had been born knowing nothing, and hundreds of very kind people had taught me along the way. In recent years, the members of CISFBR, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation of Biological Recorders, and those tallented people that run all the freely available searchable websites have been a huge help.

Birds

Rospannel Farm bird ringing data - PDF format

Rospannel Farm bird list 126 species -PDF format

We have been involved with a national bird ringing project since 1994 and have ringed over 40 species of birds here including, Firecrest, Linnet, Pied flycatcher, Redstart, Redwing, Reed warbler, Sedge warbler and Spotted flycatcher.

Moths

Rospannel Farm highlights for 2010 - PDF format 333kb

Rospannel Farm moth records

As many of the moths are identified and recorded as possible, and the moths are released back, unharmed, into the wild. So far we have recorded approx 500 species. Our moth record data can be downloaded as PDF files below.

There are quite a few 'lepidopterists' in west Cornwall and Rospannel Farm hosts moth mornings for The Cornwall Wildlife Trust and local moth enthusiasts at short notice, notifying those interested by email.

Moth group at Rospannel Farm

Bedstraw Hawkmoth

Ants, bees wasps, saw flies etc

Bee & Wasp Species Recorded by Bernard Hocking in Cornwall up to 2022

On the 19th. July 2006 I first noticed a Leaf-cutter bee entering a small drainage hole in the side of a large flowerpot with a piece of leaf. From then on I spent many hours noting its journeys to and fro collecting pollen, nectar and pieces of leaf.

It usually did not start work until around noon, by which time the sun had reached the flowerpot, and finished by late afternoon, but worked extremely hard and continuously during the afternoon. If it was late starting because of the weather it worked on a little later.

By the 30th. August 2006 she was exhausted, the weather was bad, and when she was unable to summon enough strength to climb back into the nest, and was obviously going to die, I reluctantly decided to take her to have her identified.

Lots of minute parasitic wasps had been around the entrance of the nest during the Summer, thanks go to S.A.Corbet for identifying these as Pteromalus venustus (listed as P.apum (Retzius in Degeer) in Fitton et al. (1978)).

During the Autumn I constructed a fine mesh cage and placed the flowerpot in it, intending to mark the females as they emerged in the following Summer.

Unfortunately the Summer of 2007 was as you all know, almost non-existent. Two males emerged on two separate days at the beginning of June and were released from the cage. Being used to handling Honeybees it was most noticeable that when being released that they took of without a backward glance, off into the distance, not orienting themselves as to where they had to return to. Obviously, they had no need to return.

These two males were all that emerged, the weather been too bad from then on.
Thanks to David Baldock for identifying M.willughbiella, and many thanks to all who helped steer me in the right direction.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Vagrant emperor

Other Wildlife records from Rospannel Farm

Flies

Recent fly sightings at Rospannel Farm - updated 2019

Flies recorded, but not yet in Album
Bacca obscuripennis, Bibio febrillis, Bibio marci, Calliphora vomitoria, Delia radicum, Dilophus febrilus, Lucilia Caesar, Lucilia sericata, Phormia regina, Pollenia rudis, Ptychoptera contaminata, Sarcophaga carnaria, Sciare thomae, Tephritis crepidis, Tetancera elata, Thaumatamyia notana, Trichocera relagationis

Album of Cornish Diptera

The Tachinid Fly Cylindromyia brassicaria at new Cornish location article

Volucella pellucens

Male Chrysotoxum bicinctum

Cheilosia variabilis (mating pair)

This photo shows the Muscid fly, Coenosia tigrina sucking
the body fluids from a Cleg fly Haematopota pluvialis having immobilised it in mid-air.This is believed to be the first time this has been photographed.