Ballachurry Reserve, Rushen, IOM.: Ballachurry Reserve, 14th May 2018.

the damp meadow

A week late posting this report, having been exceptionally busy.

My plans for last Monday changed radically. I'd hoped to walk my Butterfly transect for "Butterflies in the Wider Countryside" in the late morning and go to Ballachurry Reserve in the afternoon. What a fabulous day I was going to have! But at 11 o'clock my butterfly square was in thick mist, although it was sunny enough down here near Port Erin. So I went to Ballachurry first and eventually walked my transect about 3p.m. when the mist had cleared from the hills.

The Reserve was really noisy ( sorry, tuneful) with bird song. Sedge Warblers everywhere, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, to mention just three. Here is my report:

Birds:

SC210694 ( entrance) Chiffchaff heard but not seen; Goldfinch; Robin
SC209694(path junction) female Blackbird; Pheasant; Wood Pigeon; Sedge Warbler.
SC209693 ( path parallel to road) Willow Warbler heard but not seen; Wren Heard but not seen; Sedge Warbler;
SC208694 ( compost area) 2 x Wood Pigeon; Willlow Warbler heard but not seen; Chiffchaff heard but not seen.
SC208694 ( near boardwalk) Sedge Warbler; Long tailed Tit; male Blackbird; Willow Warbler heard but not seen.
SC208695 ( beehive loop) Magpie; 2 x Long Tailed Tit; Willow Warbler
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Sedge Warbler.
SC209695 Great Tit

Butterflies:

SC209694 male Orange tip
SC210694 male and female Orange Tips + Garlic Mustard has Orange Tip eggs
SC209693 Unidentified White flying

Other: (with thanks to Steve Crellin for identifying flies)

SC210694 7-spot Ladybird
SC210894 Noon Fly + unidentified fly on noticeboard, possibly a Muscid or Anthomyiid sp.
SC208695 on Hogweed - Yellow Dung Flies both male & female (Scathophaga stercoraria); Noon Fly; Blowfly ( Calliphora sp.) ; male Eristalis pertinax; Syrphus sp. hoverfly; another Scathophaga sp. possibly inquinata;+ unidentified Bumble Bee; One Hogweed has a flower
SC208695 on ash tree Muscid or Anthomyiid sp.
SC209695 Water Crickets
SC209694 Hawthorn now in blossom; Crab Apples in blossom
SC208695 Unidentified spider on Hogweed

Sedge Warbler making a din

and another elsewhere

same bird pausing for breath

male Orange Tip nectaring on Bluebells

patterned underwing visible

on garlic mustard this time - its caterpillar food plant

perfectly camouflaged female Orange tip

spot the Orange tip egg on Ladysmock
- another caterpillar food plant

two eggs here on Garlic Mustard

close up of Orange tip egg

Noon Fly on the left
Unknown on the right ( Muscid or anthoyiid)

Unknown on left (probably Calliphora species - a Blowfly)
Noon Fly on right

this one was on the ash tree
(again, probably a Muscid but could be Anthomyiid)

this one on Hogweed -identified as a female Dung Fly
(Scathophaga stercoraria) by the Island's dipterist, Steve Crellin.

yellow dung fly, male this time

Eristalis pertinax Hoverfly - male
( apparently spring ones can be hairier than summer adults)

Syrphus species Hoverfly

this fly had startling red eyes
Scathophaga species, possibly inquinata

Great Tit

7-spot among the nettles

unidentified Bumble bee

tiny spider

Hawthorn coming into blossom

first Hogweed flower of the season

Sedge Warbler again!

singing

listening

singing again

and looking very grumpy!

if you didn't know before what a Sedge Warbler looks like
well I'm sure you do now!

Off I then went for a quick lunch and up into the hills to do the butterfly walk. I saw lots of birds there too but it was eerily quiet without the Sedge Warblers! I had to be back for 5 p.m. but it was such a lovely evening that I sneaked back to Ballachurry for an hour a bit later on. So here is the evening report:

SC209693 male Blackbird
SC209694 ( path junction) Blue Tit; Willow Warbler or Chiffchaff
SC208694 ( near boardwalk) Long Tailed Tit; Willow Warbler; Sedge Warbler heard but not seen
SC208694 ( near dam) Blue Tit and later 2 x Blue Tit together
SC208695 ( beehive loop) 2 x Great Tit together; 2 x Goldfinch