On 15 May, less than 10 days ago, it was still cold and, in the afternoon we had a fierce shower of hail that whitened the grass.
This week it has turned very warm with temperatures between 25 and 30 Celsius at their highest.
Another flower has appeared, the tiny field speedwell, Veronica arvensis.
A small leaf mine has started to develop in a hogweed leaf. I think it is either Phytomyza spondylii or P. pastinacae (Diptera: Agromyzidae) that can only be separated via the adult male genitalia.
The dandelion that flowered earlier fully developed its seeds yesterday but the wind must have caught the 'clock' so that by the time a arrived at 9.30 this morning the little parachutes had already scattered into the grass.
Although the weather is still uncertain and often cold, the vegetation in the Rectangle is now rising rapidly and creating a shadowy green understorey of the kind preferred by insects and other invertebrates. The hogweed looks like becoming dominant.
Yesterday I found a solitary bee (yet to be identified) and a spring cranefly, Tipula vernalis, resting comfortably in the grass.
In the rare intervals of sunshine in the last few weeks, visits to the Rectangle have proved quite rewarding. On one occasion I found the lacebug Physatocheila dumetorum, seemingly the first East Sussex record for over 100 years. Among the plants there are several small stands of Atrichum undulatum, a moss with something of the Carboniferous era about it.
The first grass, annual meadow grass, Poa annua, has reached anthesis.
By the lip of the pitfall trap was one ant woodlouse, Platyarthrus hoffmannseggi. This very small, blind creature spends all its life in or near ants' nests, where it probably lives as a scavenger. It is the first time I have found it in our garden.
Already an interesting dimension of this project is beginning to emerge: I am finding many things that I have never seen in the Square Metre project perhaps only 50 metres away and which I have been scrutinising regularly for nearly nine years.
Despite the cold and wet spell, one of the dandelions has now opened.
Otherwise most of the new wildlife seems to be gathering under the half brick over the pitfall trap. The other day there were two shining woodlice, Oniscus asellus, several small, iridescent springtails, Lepidocyrtus curvicollis and a lesser dung fly yet to be identified as well as other invertebrates that I have already recorded.
Rather to my surprise no seedlings have yet appeared in the bare patch where I turned a turf over.
Today I found two flies on the protective cage over the project. One was a small, female coffin fly, Megaselia sp. (not identifiable to specific level in the female). The other a hawthorn fly or St. Mark's fly, Bibio varipes (below).
Although probably not uncommon, there are only very few records of this species from Sussex.
We have had showers over several days, but it remains cold for mid-April and growth is slow.
However, the invertebrate records are growing. Yesterday there was a small white slug, possibly Lehmania valentiana, though this will need checking. There were also two snails under the half brick, both I think Oxychilus alliarius, the garlic snail. I have kept both alive in a polythene box to try and make a firm ID in due course.
Today there was a larger slug with go-faster stripes. A member of the Arion hortensis group (only separable to species level with dissection). A key characteristic is the dark band on the right had side arching over the pneumostome, visible in the picture below as the depression in the mantle towards to right hand end of the slug. It is a common species and often a garden and greenhouse pest.
There were also two flea beetles (awaiting identification) and a small predatory creature, the minute pirate bug, Orius vicinus that preys mainly on mites and aphids.
I have noticed that some insects seem to like resting on the bars of the metal crate I use to cover the area (to stop rabbit grazing and trampling by children). I suspect that I will find much from scrutinising these bars as well as from the ground and its vegetation below.
One of the dandelions has produced a bud.
