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| Ballachurry flowering meadow |
I visited the Reserve on 22nd May but didn't get time to update the Blog before leaving for our holiday a few days later. So here it is "better late than never"!
The reserve really felt like Summer on Tuesday afternoon, sunshine, birdsong, the buzz of insects. Then I realised that some of the buzzing was a bit too close for comfort - there were 3 wasps in the hide. Fortunately they went out when I opened the door for them but it made me suspicious and I took a good look around. Do you remember we had a succession of wasp nests in the Hide in 2016? Sure enough there was a nest about the size of a golf ball hanging from timber near the door hinges. For the safety of hide users we removed it next day before it grew to the size of a football, but experience tells me to be vigilant for the next few weeks. The Queen may try to rebuild. Wasps are beneficial insects ( yes, really!) so we are usually happy to have them on the reserve when they confine their living quarters to underground but I don't think we really wish to share the bird hide with them. Their nests are a real work of art.
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| Des. Res. in the wrong location. |
Here's what else I recorded:
Birds:
SC209694 ( direct path to hide)Willow Warbler; Robin.
SC209694 ( from hide) 2 x Adult Moorhens feeding 5 chicks between them ; 2 x Mallard ( pair); Chiffchaff heard
SC208694 ( compost/ willows) Chiffchaff heard; Willow Warbler heard;
SC208694 ( boardwalk) Willow Warbler; Wren; Sedge Warbler heard;
SC208695 ( beehive loop) male Chaffinch; Willow Warbler heard; 2 x Great Tit; Sedge Warbler heard.
SC209695 ( near private entrance) Willow Warbler heard
SC209694 ( gorse boundary) Dunnock; Sedge Warbler heard; Great Tit; female Blackbird.
SC210694 there was a house sparrow on the roof of Old School House.
Butterflies:
SC210694 male Orange Tip; Wall Brown
SC209694 Small Copper ( first I've seen this year) Small Tortoiseshell; Wall Brown; male Orange Tip
SC208694 male Orange Tip
Unidentified flying White butterflies throughout reserve - possibly Green Veined Whites
Other:
SC209694 Wasp nest and 3 Common Wasps
SC209693 Eristalis arbustorum Dronefly on Rowan flowers
SC210694 small unidentified black beetle on nettles
SC208694 Several Crane flies along the willows path
SC208695 small unidentified crab spider on hogweed + various hoverflies including
Epistrophe eligans on willow.
SC209695 aphid?
SC209693 Rhingia campestris hoverfly on Ladysmock
SC209694 "Green bottle" fly - Lucillia sp.
SC208694 very large greenish beetle crossing the path
SC208695 micro moth
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| lovely to see a family of Moorhens |
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| they have been scarce this year on the Reserve |
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| Mallards and Moorhen |
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| Robin |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| an aphid ( I think!) |
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| Honey bee |
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| crane fly |
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| I call these Green Bottles - Lucillia sp. |
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| Rowan flowers were attracting insects Probably Eristalis arbustorum |
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| small unidentified Crab Spider |
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| Hoverfly on Willow - female Epistrophe eligans |
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| tiny micro moth on Bramble leaf |
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| Rhingia campestris hoverfly on Ladysmock |
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| Is this a flea beetle? |
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| Small Copper - one of my favourite buttrflies |
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| Wall on a wall |
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| and with wings closed |
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| willows seeding |
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| do you remember me saying that the stream soon would not be visible? |
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| a woodland feel to this part of the reserve |
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| water level low in the stream |
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| lovely back lit leaves |
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| gorse boundary looking spruce |
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| Campion now in full flower |
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| the view from the bridge |
