Advertising Wildlife Trust Event at Scarlett

FAMILY FOSSIL HUNT lead by DAWN DICKENS

At SCARLETT VISITOR CENTRE

on Thursday, 10^th August

5pm to 7pm

Cakes and hot/cold drinks

Free admission  but donations gratefully received

Please wear footwear suitable for exploring the rocks

All welcome - not just for families!

Ballachurry Reserve, Work Parties resuming in August.

Dust down those wellies, tone up the muscles! We are resuming Work Parties in August! Details follow soon.

Ballachurry Reserve, 24th July 2017. Visit by U3A Natural History Group.

U3A Natural History Group - their first visit to the Reserve.

It was a real pleasure today to show 9  members of the U3A Natural History Group around Ballachurry Reserve. Clear blue skies and sunshine, tempered by a brisk north westerly breeze, made for very pleasant conditions for our visit. We saw very few birds but this was made up for by several species of butterfly being on the wing. Members of the group also spotted froglets,  ladybirds and various flies & Hoverflies, as well as showing an interest in the colourful flowers now lighting up the Reserve.

I  spent some time  at the Reserve today both before and after the U3A visit, so the list below includes wildlife that the group may not have seen.

Birds:

SC210694 Jackdaw sitting on the wooden post at the entrance where the  Reserve signage is intended to go.
SC209695 juvenile Robin
SC209694 male Blackbird.
SC208694 5 x Swallows overhead
SC208695 Blue Tit.

Butterflies:

SC209694 ( near Ginnie's bench) Small Tortoiseshell; Red Admiral.
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Meadow Brown
SC209695 2 x Meadow Brown together
SC208695 ( old beehive loop) Small Tortoiseshell; Meadow Brown; Speckled Wood.
SC209693  Green Veined White; Meadow Brown.
Several unidentified Whites flying throughout the Reserve.
Several other Meadow  Browns seen flying but grid references not noted.

Ladybirds:

SC208694  7-spot on thistle. Seeing this enlarged on screen suggests it may have been parasitised by the Dinocampus  coccinellae wasp. Some golden thread like webs visible around it.
3 other non parasitised 7-spot ladybirds near the board walk thistles.
SC208694 7spot ladybird in gorse near dam - wings still showing.
Various other 7-spot ladybirds seen but grid references not noted.

Other:

SC209693 3 x Froglets  ( 2-3 cm long) among Hemlock Water Dropwort.
SC209694 Silver Y Moth
SC208694 Very small unknown larva
SC209694  various  small spiders in the gorse.
SC209694 Common Capsid bug on thistle
SC208694 nymph of cassida family Tortoise beetle?
SC208695  White legged snake millepede
SC209694  & SC208695 Various flies and hoverflies
SC208694  3 x Gorse Shield Bugs
SC209695  various instars of Gorse Shield Bugs
SC209694  various instars of Gorse Shield Bugs

I was particularly pleased to see the Gorse Shield Bug nymphs in various instars. They have been very scarce this year.

Small Tortoiseshell

Rather ragged Red Admiral

Rather ragged Meadow Brown

Speckled Wood

Silve Y  moth - they are immigrants
Y marking clearly visible.

7-spot Ladybird with wings still showing

7-spot, probably parasitised by Dinocampus Coccinellae wasp

Unknown larva on Blackthorn

Possibly a Tortoise Beetle nymph

Gorse Shield Bug - late summer adult

Gorse Shield Bug - still in early summer "livery"

Early Instar of Gorse Shield Bug nymph

Later Instar of Gorse Shield Bug nymph

Unknown Hoverfly

Unknown Hoverfly

I call these Green Bottles

Hemp Agrimony in the foreground,
 Purple Loosestrife in the background

I would like to thank the U3A Group, on behalf of the Manx Wildlife Trust, for the very generous donation they made to the Trust before leaving Ballachurry Reserve today. The gesture was much appreciated.

Ballachurry Reserve, 18th July 2017

Sizzling in the sunshine

18th July was a very warm July day at Ballachurry Reserve. My idea of high summer is perhaps of meadows buzzing with insect life, with swallows swooping overhead. So on Tuesday I was disappointed! I saw and heard very little - perhaps it was just too hot ! Here is a very short report:

Birds:

SC209694 Solitary Goldfinch
SC208694  1 Swift
SC209694 1 Swallow

Butterflies:

SC209693 ( parallel road)  Unidentified White flying
SC209694 (near hide) Unidentified White flying; Meadow Brown.
SC208694 ( near compost area) Meadow Brown; Unidentified White flying
SC208694 ( boardwalk) Meadow Brown
SC208695 (old beehive loop) Unidentified White flying; Meadow Brown.
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Meadow Brown
SC209694 ( path junction) Meadow Brown

Ladybirds:

SC209694 3 x 7-spot Ladybirds on thistles

Other:

A few honey and bumble bees  mostly on Marsh Woundwort
SC208694 Hoverfly
SC210694 Common Wasp on the entrance gate taking wood for it's nest.
SC210694 Soldier Beetles throughout the Reserve, including this location

a stand of Marsh Woundwort

Colourful Reserve

Very relieved to see our turf roof has greened up again

This was wonderful species rich turf from Ballanette Reserve
kindly donated by Stuart Clague. Good to see it in flower already.

I'm often asked about these pink flowers near the stream -
it's Hemp Agrimony, very popular with wildlife
 and a native wild flower.

This hoverfly was keeping cool in the shade

One of three 7-spot Ladybirds in the thistles

Rowan berries ripening already

Soldier Beetle

These thistles will soon be providing food
for our local Goldfinches

 

Purple Loosestrife and Sneezewort look good together.

Purple Loosestrife  in the wild flower area

Whilst not wishing away our Manx Summer weather, I'm hoping for a fresher feel to the Reserve next week and perhaps more to report.

Ballachurry Reserve, 6th July, 2017.

July at Ballachurry Reserve

On 6th July I unexpectedly found myself with a couple of hours free - should I go to bed and nurse my heavy cold, clear the huge pile of ironing that was building up at home, or go to Ballachurry?  No contest, really! So here is my report:

Birds:

The reserve seemed very quiet from a birding point of view. For the first hour and a half I saw nothing at all and only heard the odd Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff in the distance. Towards the end of my visit I did see a Goldfinch, Blue Tits and a Great Tit as follows:
SC209693 Great Tit; Blackbird heard not seen. Willow Warbler heard but not seen
SC209694  ( hide) Willow Warbler heard not seen.
SC208694 ( reed bed area) Magpie heard but not seen; Chiffchaff heard but not seen; unrecognised call needing investigation, sounded like "here mamma, here mamma, pip, pip, pip"; Pheasant heard not seen.
SC208695 ( beehives loop) 2 x juvenile Blue tits
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Goldfinch. Sedge Warbler heard but not seen.
SC209695 (  near Private area) Wood Pigeon heard but not seen.


Ladybirds:

In contrast to the birds, there were 7-spot ladybirds everywhere, mostly feasting on black thistle aphids.
SC209693 ( parallel to road) 7 x 7-spot Ladybirds
SC209694  ( near hide) 4 x 7-spot Ladybirds
SC209694 ( gorse boundary)  7-spot Ladybird
SC208694  ( near boardwalk)18 x 7-spot Ladybirds
SC208695 ( beehives loop)  2 x 7-spot Ladybirds
SC209695 (stream inlet) 7-spot Ladybird

( Total: 33 Ladybirds. Given that these are just the ones I managed to spot from the paths, there are probably many more on the reserve at present)

Butterflies:

SC210694 Red Admiral; Meadow Brown
SC209693 Meadow Brown
SC209694 ( hide area) Red Admiral
SC208694 ( willows) Speckled Wood
SC208695 ( beehive loop) Speckled Wood
SC208694 ( boardwalk area) Unidentified White flying; Meadow Brown
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Meadow Brown

Other:

SC209694 ( near Hide Bridge) 2 x Common Capsid bugs
SC208694 ( willows) 2 x Common Capsid bugs
SC208694 ( near boardwalk) several unidentified  Capsid bugs
SC208694 ( near boardwalk) Unidentified Moth
SC208694 ( near boardwalk) Parasitic wasp?
SC209695  ( hawthorn "island in mown area) Wolf spiders
SC208695 ( beehive loop) very active Depressaria daucella caterpillar on Hogweed
SC209695 ( near Private entrance) Wolf spider with egg sack
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) just 2 Gorse Shieldbug nymphs*
SC209694 ( near hide) Unidentified moth
SC209694 ( near hide) Male and female Common Blue damselflies
SC210694 Soldier Beetles here and throughout the reserve
SC209693  some of the Hazel bushes have hazel nuts forming for the first time
SC209693 Unidentified Hoverflies
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Common Hairy Snail.
SC209695 ( near stream inlet)  Banded Snail
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Wolf spider with egg sack
SC208694  ( near boardwalk) Unidentified fly
SC209693 ( parallel to road) Unidentified fungi
SC208695 ( old beehive loop) Leucozona lucorum fly

* Although there were plenty of Gorse Shieldbug eggs earlier in the year, these are the only 2 nymphs ( both different instars) that I have seen. Usually the gorse is awash with them, so were they eaten by predators, washed away in recent storms or are they simply "running late" this year?

 Goldfinch taking off

Banded Snail

Common Hairy Snail

I think these are Common Capsids

Another sort of Capsid?

Unidentified fly

Unidentified Hoverfly

and another

and a third

Soldier Beetle

Mating Soldier Beetles

Leucozona lucorum ?

Some sort of parasitic wasp?

Meadow Brown on Hazel

Ox-eye daisies with Soldier Beetle

Wolf spider carrying her egg sack

Wolf spider with egg sack

Tortoise Beetle nymph - the bottom layer is the nymph
the top layer is poo under which it hides!

beautiful Meadowsweet

Great Willowherb

Unknown micromoth

Hemp Agrimony

our first Hazel nuts!

first fungi of the season

female damselfly

sturdy Burdock plant

Ladybirds galore

7-spots feasting on aphids

lovely grasses

It's taken a while to post this report - cold almost better but ironing still piling up! Another report in the pipeline!