September 2021
Near the end of the month I called in at Broadland Country Park to have a look at an interesting species found by Milly Kenward. Whilst looking at fungi, Milly had noticed some large white cocoons on Hoof Fungus. After passing on the photos, these were eventually confirmed as Sciophila rufa, a fungus gnat with larvae feeding on Hoof Fungus. It is mostly a Scottish species, so the population here appears to be only the second site in Norfolk. I was able to find a few of them, mostly vacated. The white cocoons blended in well with the birch bark, but the black frass grains helped pick them out. Whilst here I also found a population of Red-banded Birch Aphids, having seen them for the first time on a small birch near Waterloo Park following a tipoff from the county aphid recorder.
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