Ballachurry Reserve, 27th and 28th July, 2016

Birdfood!

The weather was lovely on Wednesday afternoon when I visited the Reserve. I chatted with some of the Reserve's "regulars" who told me the Water Rail had been seen and photographed on a couple of occasions recently. Excellent news! Several people had also seen a Blackcap in the Rowans across from the hide, so I decided to take a look. I waited very patiently and did eventually see it but only managed to get a record shot before it flew away again. Notice the number of berries missing from the stalks! Here is the full report:

Birds:

SC209694 Blackcap, male.In Rowan across pond

SC209694 2 x Blackbirds. Taking berried from Rowan across pond.

SC208694 Willow Warbler

SC209694  Goldfinch feeding on thistles

Sparrowhawk flew over reserve and into the Orchard

  

Butterflies:

SC209694 Green Veined White.

SC209693 Common Blue; unidentified white flying

SC209694 Meadow Brown

SC210694 Wall Brown; unidentified white flying

SC208694 Meadow Brown; unidentified white flying

Moths and Caterpillars:

Micomoths flying up from grass throughout reserve

SC208695  Different sort of micromoth on grass

SC208694 Large day-flying moth on Purple Loosestrife ( seeking ID) 

SC208694 Small but very brightly coloured caterpillar on Blackthorn ( Grey Dagger moth?)   New Record

Plants:

SC208694 Common Valerian has appeared  near the dam

SC210694 Scarlet Pimpernel has appeared by the noticeboard  New Record

Ladybirds & Beetles:

SC208694 2 x 7-spot Ladybirds in thistles with plenty of black thistle aphids for them to eat. 

SC208694 Unidentified Chrysomelid beetle on direction post. Maroon  tone.

SC208694 Soldier Beetles throughout the reserve and at this location

Shieldbugs & other bugs:

SC208694  Over 30 instars of Gorse Shieldbugs at different stages + 2 x adults in one gorse bush.

SC208695 & SC209695 instars of Hawthorn Shieldbugs on the Rowan berries..Seem to be early and 4th Instars.

SC208694  Capsid bugs on thistles

SC208694 Leaf hopper

Spiders:

SC208694 Usual wolf spiders on bridge ( egg sack has turned brown from green) ; small spider on Blackthorn

SC209694 Nursery Web Spider ( Pisaura mirabilis) with young in nursery web. Spider is inset in photo

Grasshoppers:

SC210694 Field Grasshoppers ( very pleased that they have survived a tonne of pea gravel being dumped on their habitat!)

Hoverflies  & other Flies:

Numerous flies throughout reserve including SC209694, 208695,208694

SC210694 Rhingia campestris Hoverfly

SC209694 Unidentified mating hoverflies

Sc209695 Very small unidentified hoverfly on Cushag ( Ragwort) 

SC210694 Liocoris tripustulatus on nettles

Bees:

Honey bees, Carder bees and various Bumble bees throughout reserve. 

 Peacock update:

Peachicks now have their "crowns". 

My husband also visited the Reserve late afternoon  today, 28th July and saw the Blackcap in the Rowans again (SC209694), Sedge Warbler (SC209694) +  Swifts, House Martins, Swallows, Grey Heron, Wood Pigeons and  usual Corvids flying over.

He also saw a Red Admiral  & Wall Brown  at SC209693

Thank you - to Gill & Steve for restocking the white board marks in the hide. 

Blackcap

Goldfinch choosing his thistledown

feeding on thistle seeds

A lovely close view from the hide

Willow Warbler ( or is it a Chiffchaff?)

Family life

Peachicks or Chickpeas? 

7-spot Ladybird

Black thistle aphids

Unidentified Chrysomelid beetle

A beautiful day flying moth

it's taking nectar from Purple Loosestrife

Common Blue Butterfly

Bumble bee and Soldier Beetle

Field Grasshopper

Gorse Shieldbugs and instars

Early instar of Hawthorn Shieldbug on Rowan berries

4th Instar of Hawthorn Shieldbug on Rowan berries

Leaf hopper

Liocoris tripustulatus

Unidentified micromoth

Nursery Web spider with young

Wolf spider still carrying egg sack

Tiny caterpillar on Blackthorn - possibly the larva
of a Grey Dagger Moth

another view

Rhingia campestris Hoverfly - I think!

Mating Soldier Beetles

Unidentified fly

Another unidentified fly

and yet another

yet another

mating hoverflies

tiny hoverfly on Cushag ( Ragwort) 

A lovely combination - Marsh Woundwort & Purple Loosetrife

A loveley stand of Marsh Woundwort backed by the reeds

Ballachurry Reserve Bat & Moth night - The Prequel & The Sequel

THE PREQUEL

Meadow Brown on Ragwort

While preparing for our bat & moth event at Ballachurry on Friday 22nd July I saw the following wildlife:

Butterflies:

SC209695 2 x Meadow Brown on Cushag ( Ragwort) 

SC209694 2 x Meadow Brown; Unidentified White

SC209693 Meadow Brown

SC208695 Meadow Brown

Ladybirds & beetles:

SC208694 6 x 7-spot Ladybirds

SC208694  Unidentified Chrysomelid beetle

Birds:

SC209694  Wren

THE SEQUEL

When doing some final tidying up at Ballachurry on 23rd July after the bat & moth event I saw the following wildlife:

Moths & Butterflies:

SC209695  Scalloped Oak moth on the grass where the tent had been. Moved to long grass. This one was not  trapped or recorded the previous evening.

SC209693  Small Copper Butterfly

Mammals:

SC209694 Rat -clearly very ill with large patches of fur missing and scarred tail. Poisoned? 

Sickly longtail

Small Copper

Scalloped Oak - the one that got away!

Ballachurry Reserve: Bat Walk & Moth Trapping event, 22nd July 2016.

Friday 22nd July saw a great flurry of activity at Ballachurry Reserve in anticipation of the Bat Walk and Moth Trapping event that was to be held there that evening. I arrived mid-afternoon armed with shears and secateurs  ready to do any necessary cutting back of vegetation brought down across the paths by the storm earlier in the week. I was soon joined by Janet & Guy Thompson who were kindly loaning us a Scout tent for the evening's refreshment area.

Putting up the tent

Hammering in the pegs

All ready and waiting

 I  had already noticed  the electric cables draped through the bracken ready to power up the moth traps & towards evening Ian Scott, Moth Recorder for the IOM, arrived with his 3 traps. These were kindly supplemented by a further trap from Louise Samson.

As the sun set at 9.30pm, people began to arrive at the reserve and our interesting & exciting evening could begin

Gathering to listen to the talk on bats

Jill & Bill Dunlop from the Manx Bat Group gave us a short talk about bats and bat detectors. They handed out the detectors they were kindly loaning us, and we set off towards the area known as The Orchard. Although just outside the reserve area, it is where most bats were detected last September and landowners, Pam & Stan Clucas, had very kindly given us permission to go through once more.

Jill  telling us about bats....

and Bill telling us about detectors.

We set off to search for bats

In the Orchard

Detectors start clicking

It was by now about 10pm and very soon the detectors began clicking away telling us there were Pipistrelle bats in the area. Looking up we spotted them silhouetted against the darkening sky through the trees. Fast flying, it proved impossible to photograph them with the little pocket camera I had with me. All around me there were gasps of excitement as people spotted the bats, often the first they had ever seen. What a thrill for all concerned!

As darkness fell we wandered back to the tent for tea and hot chocolate before moving on to the second event of the evening. While we sipped our hot drinks Ian Scott  talked about moths and how moth traps work, then ( in true Blue Peter style!) showed us "some he had caught earlier" in Colby the previous night. Some were large such as the Emerald Moth, others absolutely minute and still to be identified. 

Torchlight refreshments......

....appreciated by all. 

Ian Scott taking questions about moths

Ballachurry Lecture Theatre!

Drinks finished, we headed back out into the darkness with our torches, following Ian to each moth trap in turn.

Moth trap with top removed showing egg boxes where
the moths accumulate.

The first few moths to be caught

We gather round the egg boxes to see what has come in

Ian starts identifying the moths for us

Ian points out and names the moths

Most are happy to sit on our hands....

....and even land on our clothing!

A beautiful Swallowtail moth is one of the first
 to be handed round

These 2 are Common Wainscot moths

Ruby tiger - I think?

I'll caption these once I've checked with Ian

Another Swallowtail

To be captioned later

Large Yellow Underwing?

Yet another Swallowtail and a  Common Footman?

Again, I'll caption later

We were all keen to take photos

Brimstone

To be captioned later

Three in a row

My favourite of the evening -  the Peppered Moth.

It was amazing how quickly the time flew by and all too soon it was Midnight and time to head homewards.

We had earlier thanked the Bat Group leaders and Ian Scott for such an exceptional evening and the Southern Group Committee would also like to thank all our visitors  for their generosity  with the collecting boxes. Donations will be made to the event leaders, with the residue going to the Manx Wildlife Trust. Thanks also to the Kelly family for the refreshments, the Thompson family for the tent and to Louise Samson for the additional moth trap and her identification skills. Many thanks too to the Clucas family for allowing us into the Orchard.

Ian Scott has kindly sent me the list of moths recorded - a total of 39 species.

Beautiful plume

Mother of pearl

Rush veneer

Bee moth

Agapeta hamana

Brown house moth

Common emerald

Riband wave

Small fan-footed wave

Shaded broad-bar

Common carpet

July highflyer

Rivulet

Foxglove pug

Clouded border

Brimstone moth

Swallow-tailed moth

Peppered moth

Mottled beauty

Brussels lace

Light emerald

Coxcomb prominent

Iron prominent

Common footman

Buff ermine

Ruby tiger

Crescent dart

Large yellow underwing

Lesser broad bordered yellow underwing

True lovers knot

Square-spot rustic

Dark Arches

Common rustic

Plain Golden Y

Beautiful Golden Y

Bright line brown eye

Common wainscot

Clay

Ingrailed clay

The Brussels lace is a nice record as it has only been recorded from four other sites on the Island since 1912 

Having wandered round Ballachurry almost weekly for several years now I feel I know most of its inhabitants fairly well, but I felt very privileged to see all these nocturnal creatures which also call the Reserve home.

Once again, a really big thank you to everyone who made this special event possible and to those who came along to enjoy the experience with us.