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| a veritable sea of Hemlock Water Dropwort, but the turf roof on the hide showing signs of drought. |
We arrived home from our holiday mid afternoon on Tuesday and 5 p.m. found me passing by the Reserve so I decided to call in briefly to see how things had changed during the last 10 days while I was away. In terms of vegetation the answer was "quite a lot". The hot sunny weather had made everything grow enormously and the Hemlock Water Dropwort was in full flower. In one very quick circuit of the Reserve I saw the following:
Birds:
SC208694 Willow Warbler; Wren; juvenile Robin.
SC208695 Great Tit; Long Tailed Tit.
SC210694 Wren x 2 together
SC209694 2 x Blackbirds together; Willow Warbler heard but not seen.
SC209694 2 Adult Moorhens + 2 chicks (others predated or different family)
Other:
SC210694 Blue tailed damselfly
SC210694 Honey Bee on Hemlock Water Dropwort
SC210694 & throughout reserve Cuckoo Spit leaf hoppers ( also known as Bubble Bugs)
SC208695 Elachista agrentella Moth NEW RECORD
SC208695 Probably Strongylogaster multifasciata Sawfly on gorse
SC209694 micro moth
SC209694 Eristalis pertinax Hoverfly & Helophilus trivittatus Hoverfly
SC210694 Orange Tip butterfly caterpillars on Garlic Mustard
SC208694 Wolf Spider carrying egg sack
SC209694 native water lilies in flower
SC209693 & throughout Reserve, Depressaria daucella caterpillars on Hemlock Water Dropwort
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| The Hemlock Water Dropwort is excellent for wildlife here a honey bee |
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| and here the caterpillar of the Depressaria daucella Moth |
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| next up a hoverfly - probably Eristalis pertinax |
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| Adult Moorhen on the pool |
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| parent with 2 chicks |
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| looking over the bridge towards the damp meadow |
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| buttercup meadow near Ginnie's Bench- reminds me of my childhood |
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| native water lilies - very different from the exotic ones we grow in our garden ponds |
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| possibly a Sawfly - my book says they are "a challenge to identify to species level" Nevertheless , I'm grateful to the Island's dipterist for suggesting Strongylogaster multifasciata |
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| Orange Tip Butterfly caterpillar. |
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| tiny micro moth - ID not possible from this photo |
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| Hoverfly wearing its stripey "footballer" jersey Helophilus trivittatus Apparantly a less common one than our usual Helophilus pendulus |
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| Elachista agrentella moth ( thanks to Ian Scott for ID) |
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| This is easier to identify! |
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| Two wrens together near the gate |
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| Inside the foam is a tiny leaf hopper |
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| cultivated and wild iris together making a splash of colour |
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| Wolf spider with egg sack |
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| a lush damp meadow despite the drought |
Correction: some photos are labelled 2016. These should of course be 2018. Thanks to Steve Crellin, the Island's dipterist, for pointing this out and helping with identification.
