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| a distinct autumnal feel to the Reserve today in contrast to this time last week |
Not a great weather forecast for this week. Tuesday sounded about the best option for a visit to the reserve so I headed down there straight after lunch. It seemed strange to be wearing a cagoule after all the hot weather we have enjoyed this summer but I was glad of it in the chilly wind. A real autumnal feel to the Reserve and quite a contrast to my last visit. Enjoyable nonetheless - here is what I saw:
Birds:
SC209693 unidentified warbler seen briefly; Pheasant heard but not seen
SC209694 ( from hide) 2 x juvenile Moorhen on pond. Willow Warbler heard but not seen. 2 x Wood Pigeon down in dry area of pond
SC208694 2 x Chaffinch; 3 x Swallows over.
SC209694 Great Tit; unidentified trilling warbler seen briefly; juvenile Wren; 3 Blue Tit together;female Blackbird taking Rowan berries
Butterflies:
SC208694 Speckled Wood; unidentified White flying
Other:
SC209693 about a dozen Shieldbug nymphs
SC208694 very small Hoverfly
SC208794 Tortoise beetle nymph
SC208695 Noon fly and 2 other unidentified flies
SC209695 Green Shieldbug nymph on Rowan
SC208694 Unidentified leaf hopper
SC209695 aphids on Sycamore leaves
Powdery mildew on some Hawthorns, + on Meadowsweet (SC209693) and Hogweed (SC 208695) - usually caused by hot dry conditions.
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| One of our barrows full of the week-end rain |
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| the other almost hidden under the vegetation |
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| just a record shot of a Goldfinch |
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| one of two Wood Pigeons walking around in what used to be the pond! |
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| Busy bee in the Hemp Agrimony White tailed Bumble bee? |
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| Male Eupeodes Hoverfly with pronounced genital capsule so should be Eupeodes corollae |
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| Different sort of bee on Cushag ( Ragwort) |
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| Lots of these small green Blowflies flies about Lucilla species |
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| this one was in the brambles - Lucilla species |
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| Solitary Noon Fly I'm not seeing as many of these this year |
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| bright colour combination - berries and lichen |
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| about a dozen Shieldbug nymphs possibly Hawthorn Shieldbugs |
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| they are really tiny at this stage |
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| Angelica starting to flower |
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| aphids on the underside of a Sycamore leaf |
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| Tortoise beetle larva covered in frass |
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| some sort of Leaf Hopper? |
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| recent raindrops caught in a spider web |
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| Crane fly |
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| hazel nuts we don't have squirrels but the mice will love them |
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| corner of the pond looking high and dry |
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| powdery mildew on Meadowsweet |
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| and on Hogweed |
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| our pond is shrinking as the vegetation advances |
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| stream hidden by the summer vegetation |
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| heading along the gorse boundary path |
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| plants now seeding for the autumn bounty for the seed eating birds |
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| Hemlock Water Dropwort is collapsing |
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| path past the reedbed |
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| reeds are in flower |
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| Seeding docks and Hemlock Water Dropwort |
