2nd October 2015
Another of my Friday reports
from Ballachurry - on a nice sunny afternoon for once!
Birds:
SC209694 Magpie flew up from near hide
SC208695 Willow Warbler/ Chiffchaff - just a very brief
view.
SC209695 Robin singing its heart out most of the afternoon
from overhanging orchard tree
SC209694 Song Thrush
SC209693 to SC210694
Flock of approximately 10 Long Tailed Tits working their way along the trees
parallel to road, alighted briefly on overhead wires and elderberry near
gate then vanished into trees behind Old School House. I've included the blurry
shot of the one that took off just as I clicked the shutter because the
nose-dive amused me!
Butterflies & Moths:
SC210694 Speckled Wood
SC209693 Speckled Wood
SC209694 Small Tortoiseshell; 2 x Speckled Wood;
2 x Red Admiral; Silver Y Moth; Unidentified White flying.
SC208694 Speckled Wood; Silver Y moth on Hemp Agrimony
SC208695 2 x Speckled Wood
SC209695 4 x Speckled
Wood; 2 x Small Tortoiseshell; Red Admiral
Caterpillars:
SC208694 Buff Tip
Moth caterpillars - three on the top of the leaf and 2 below, on willow.
Shieldbugs:
SC209694 there are 2 Hawthorn Bug larvae on the Rowan
still - both at slightly different stages. One is a late instar and you can see
the shoulder projections starting to come.
SC208695 Green Shieldbug larva on blackberry
SC209694 Gorse Shieldbug
adult
Dragonflies:
SC209694 Common Darter on path
near the Hide
Plants:
There is some kind of fungal rust on some alder leaves.
Rust on Brambles now advanced
Other:
SC209694 Large Cross Spider in Hawthorn sapling
SC209695 Water Crickets
SC209694 Frog still under the carpet
SC208694 Small orange beetles on thistles including mating
pair
SC209694 Noon Fly
SC209694 Bee or Hoverfly on willow?
Crane flies and Bumblebees
throughout reserve
Notes:
No visible change in large spider cocoon at SC208694 . No
sign of spider.
Leaves on the "spider sycamore" look ready
to fall, still with the spiders in situ SC209695
We have a working party next Saturday morning - 10th
October.
8th October 2015
It was lovely weather this afternoon,
so I decided to visit Ballachurry today rather than my usual Friday
visit. Here is the report:
Birds:
SC209694 Grey Heron. It was standing in the pool but
opening the shutters put it up.
Flying over: Swallows; Magpie.
Heard but not seen: Robin;
Wren; Blackbird alarm call.
Bugs, Beetles, Ladybirds:
SC209694 One adult and one larva Hawthorn Shieldbug in
Rowan.
SC208694 Small orange beetles in thistles again.
SC208694 Very large black and red beetle flying.
Eventually landed briefly but I didn't manage to get a good photo before it
flew away. I think it was a Common Burying Beetle, New Record
SC208694 Larva of Green Shieldbug on bramble
SC208695 Green Shieldbug on ash sapling
SC209695 BAD NEWS ! Harlequin Ladybird on the "spider
sycamore". Red succinea form this time. I turned over a leaf to check on
spider nest progress and there was the ladybird. New record for
succinea form
SC209695 Gorse Shieldbug adult
in gorse near bench. 3 more on gorse near the stream.
Butterflies, Moths and
Caterpillars:
SC208694 Buff Tip Moth caterpillars on willow
SC208695 3 x Speckled Wood
SC209694 Silver Y moth; Speckled Wood( gorse boundary)
Speckled Wood ( path junction)
SC210694 Silver Y moth.
Spiders and Harvestmen:
SC209695 2 x Harvestmen on nettles together
SC208694 Large X Spider near the dam
SC209695 Still some
spider nests on Sycamore sapling although many leaves have fallen - possibly
some microscopic spiderlings?
Other:
SC209695 White Legged Snake Millepede on underside of
leaf with the Harelequin ladybird; very small snail also on leaf nearby;
slightly larger snail on same tree. Another snail on mature sycamore.
SC208695 Large brown slug on mown path.
SC209695 Several Noon Flies on the ash saplings
SC208694 Fungus - under investigation!
Bees on cushag & ivy
throughout reserve.
10th October 2015 WORKING PARTY
Today's Work Party volunteers put in place the new bridge built during the Open Day in September,& made repairs to the dam as well as more general tasks. Stan Clucas, the land owner of the Reserve, arrived with a plate of cakes kindly baked by wife, Pam, for the refreshment of the workers!
Another visitor was Adrian Cain of CultureVannin which has kindly funded the bi-lingual (Manx/English) interpretation panel on the Noticeboard.
28th October 2015
Just
back from a holiday in Scotland and Yorkshire, so anxious to pick up the threads at
Ballachurry. I went down straight after lunchtoday. The sun came out
occasionally but by and large it was overcast. Nevertheless I saw a few things
of interest and some of the autumn colours are lovely.
Birds:
SC209693 ( Church corner)
male Blackbird in ivy
SC209694 ( willows) Robin
SC208695 ( beehive corner)
male Blackbird; Great Tit; male Chaffinch
SC209695 ( orchard entrance)
male Blackbird; Robin
SC209694 ( Ginny's bench) Robin seen and 2 others calling
from nearby at the same time -in fact I was hearing robins all afternoon.
SC210694 ( entrance) 2 x
Dunnocks together; male Blackbird
SC209694 ( seen from hide)
Moorhen
Flying
over: Grey Heron; 2 x Magpies; usual gulls and corvids.
Butterflies:
SC208695
( beehive corner) there was a large dark butterfly flying above the orchard
trees - probably a Red Admiral
Gorse
Shieldbugs:
SC209694
& SC209695 2 adult Gorse Shieldbugs seen.
Slugs:
Several
small brown slugs, often on the carpet eg. SC209694 and one much larger
one on the path to the hide SC209694
Wasps,
Bees and Flies:
SC210694 Ivy
flowers near the entrance are attracting many wasps and flies.
SC208694 The tree
guards round the willows had many Noon Flies congregating - I counted 16,
including three in a "Legs of Man" formation!
SC208695 More Noon Flies on the ash saplings.
SC209693 Bumble bee
SC208695 The wild bees
in the orchard were active, going in and out the hole in the tree.
SC210694 A few yellow dung
flies in the nettles, some mating.
Spiders:
SC209695 the
"spider tree" near the orchard entrance has now lost most of its
leaves but those that remain mostly have spiders.There was a very small
creature on one leaf which, even enlarged on screen, I am not sure about.
I had thought it was a Harvestman, but I am not quite sure. It's markings are
not like others I have seen and its shape was rather more pointed. As far as I
can see though it does have 8 legs. Will seek advice.
SC209694 ( direct path to
hide) spider in large web.
Other:
SC209695 Earwig
hiding between leaves of tree.
SC208694 Empty egg
cases on willow leaf. This is where I recorded the buff-tip moth caterpillars
so I wondered if these were their egg cases. Otherwise they look similar to
Green Shieldbug egg cases.
SC210694 Moth Fly on
nettles near the entrance. I saw lots of these last year but they seem to have
been few and far between this year.
SC210694 Leaf Hopper on
nettles.
SC210694 Jelly Ear
fungus on the elderberry "tramman" near the gate.
SC209694 Dragonfly. Large
blue dragonfly over the pond. I watched it for 15 minutes and not once did it
settle so I could get a photograph for ID purposes.
SC209695 Whitefly aphids on
underside of sycamore leaves.
Hide
Noticeboard:
It's
always interesting to read what other people have seen at the Reserve. I was
pleased to see that the Water Rail had been seen again recently.
It's good to know that it survived the attention of whatever killed the moorhen
and chicks earlier in the year. No sign of it today though, unfortunately.
Entrance
Noticeboard:
My notice about the working
parties had come off and was hanging by one drawing pin. My efforts to put it
back remind me to say that we shall need some sort of cork backing behind the
perspex as it is pretty much impossible to push in pins without a hammer! In
fact, I pinned the notice into the framework wood above in the end as this is
much softer.
Dam:
Sorry to see that despite the
Working Party's best efforts the water is still going under the dam rather than
over it.
