Whilst checking out a flock of small birds feeding in the margin- a mix of chaffinch and linnet I spotted a tree creeper in Pony Wood
Tree Creeper in Pony Wood
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Author Archives: Nieduszynska
Linnets
We saw our first linnets of the winter today, a small flock of maybe 8 or 9, feeding in the margin.
Wrapping the Hay
The hay in Carr House Meadow and The Hay Meadow has been cut and baled ahead of the rains this weekend.
Moth Trapping
Over the weekend of June 28th – 30th Justine Patton from Lancaster University set moth traps in Upper Sowerholme and The Orchard. These are the species found:
28/06/2019 – Dusking and light traps ( The Orchard)
Single dotted wave, Willow beauty, Brimstone, Swallow-tailed, Large yellow underwing, Hedya pruniana, Bactra lancealana, White ermine, Small Fan-footed wave, Agapeta hamana, Riband wave, Silver y, Freyer’s pug, Agonopterix nervosa, Depressaria radiella, Anthophila fabriciana, Common marbled carpet, White plume, Uncertain, Green carpet, Ghost moth, Aphomia sociella, Snout, Flame, Currant pug, Barred yellow, Double Square-spot, Heart and dart, Buff ermine, Chrysoteuchia culmella, Scoparia ambigualis, Celypha lacunana.
29/06/2019 – 125W MV Robinson trap ( Upper Sowerholme)
Straw dot, Willow beauty, Riband wave, Brimstone, Common white wave, Currant pug, Chrysoteuchia culmella, Clouded border, Map-winged swift, Rustic, Dog’s tooth, Double Square-spot, Lychnis, Buff tip, Flame shoulder, Green pug, Dark arches, Buff ermine, Light arches, Gold spot, Setaceous Hebrew character, Epiphyas postvittana, Bright-line brown-eye, Broom moth, Plutella xylostella, Coleophora trifolii, Aphomia sociella, Agriphila latistria, Agriphila tristella, Mompha ochraceella, Bactra lancealana, Celypha lacunana, Eyed hawk moth, Middle-barred minor, Common wainscot, Beautiful golden y, Scoparia ambigualis, Large yellow underwing, Elephant hawk moth, Phycitodes binaevella, Uncertain, Ingrailed clay, Dot moth, Crambus perlella, Notocelia uddmanniana, Common carpet, Single-dotted wave, Flame, Oblique carpet, Purple clay, Smoky wainscot, Light emerald, Agriphila straminella, Limnaecia phragmitella.
Nomada Flava
Phil Hendry took this lovely photo of a cuckoo bee on the margin of the Long Pads – one of very many. There were lots of mining bees too. This is what he wrote:
Following your questions about whether it is a ‘good’ bee… It doesn’t collect pollen; it visits a wide variety of flowers. It’s ‘naughty’ in that it is a ‘cleptoparasite’ – laying its eggs in the nests of several species of solitary ‘Andrena’ mining bees – along that path, they’re mostly Andrena fulva, the Tawny mining bee, though there are a few Ashy mining bees (Andrena Cineraria) nesting there too.
Wheatear in Flora Field
We saw one possibly two wheatear today – they usually drop by after the field has been ploughed , en route to the Greenland probably. Also a mistle thrush. Over our garden , so should be over the reserve too, our first sighting of swifts.
We haven’t seen roe deer in the reserve recently but one was outside my kitchen window yesterday early morning, on it’s way to nibble the leaves off the roses.
A spring arrival
In the last few days we have seen (and heard) a chiff-chaff in The Orchard.
Also a blue tit using O14 nest box, song thrush in Big Meadow and The Paddock, a sparrow-hawk in Pony Wood then hunting along by the willows in The Hay Meadow, long-tailed tits and the usual finches. Plus a tortoise-shell butterfly in the Flora Field margin
Snipe and hare
Yesterday I flushed 5 snipe from Flora Field and saw a brown hare. Has anyone seen more than one?
The new path gets a new hedge
28 volunteers in the morning and 6 in the afternoon planted over 1,000 hedge saplings. After an early flurry of rain the sun shone and the cakes were delicious. A good day’s work.
Stone Chat
We saw a female stone chat on the West Field hedge along the Long Pads. Ian didn’t manage to get a good photo.