Ballachurry Reserve: some recent identifications and useful websites.

 As stated in my profile, I often have to seek help identifying the wildlife I photograph at Ballachurry Reserve. Professor Helen Roy of the UK Ladybird Survey has been helping me for many years now and I am indebted to her for identifying two recent sightings among the nettles.

"Such an important ring –
 I mostly see 11-spots without the rings but
 it is indeed also an 11-spot with the rings.
Characteristically a small ladybird. Great find! "
( Prof. Helen Roy, UK Ladybird Survey)

This next one is not a great photo but I think you can see that it had no rings round the spots

Professor Roy commented :  It is an 11-spot – an exquisite find! 

Hopefully the above two tiny ladybirds are of different sexes and will meet up!

http://www.coleoptera.org.uk/coccinellidae/home  is where you will find the UK Ladybird Survey.
http://www.coleoptera.org.uk/home is the home page for Beetles generally.

This ladybird is clearly a 7-spot but what about the Bug?

  "This one is tricky, but it seems to be rather the worse-for-wear Lygus wagneri..
 I just can't be 100% on that, although it wouldn't be at all surprising for Man."
(Dr. Joe Botting from britishbugs website)

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/index.html  is a useful website. I have used it many times for  Shieldbug identification, in particular. I am most grateful to Dr. Botting and his colleague Dr. Tristan Bantock for all their help.

Late news: Dr. Bantock suggests this might be Lygus rugulipennis, the Tarnished Plant Bug rather than Lygus wagneri. I'll leave the two colleagues to fight it out but their website has the following information:
This genus is one of the most problematic mirid groups to identify. The five UK species can overlap considerably in colour, markings and size;The most reliable identification features concern the fine detail of the corium, and are visible only at high resolution.
My photo is hardly high resolution! Either way though we have a new record for the reserve.


Much closer to home this website may be of interest

https://isleofman.nbnatlas.org/   Top left has a search facility. If, for example, you type in 11-spot ladybird  you can find all the records for 11-spot ladybirds on the Isle of Man since records began! You will find that most of the recent records  come from Ballachurry Reserve! These 11-spots are so small they are easily overlooked and, I suspect, under recorded rather than rare.

It seems to be a good year for ladybirds, so if you spot any ( no pun intended!)  when out and about please do consider reporting them to the ladybird survey. The record will automatically find its way back to the IOM Atlas too.

And finally, with  more settled weather forecast for the coming week I hope to be back at Ballachurry soon. May is always a wonderful month on the Reserve.

Ballachurry Reserve, 23rd April 2019.

attractive willows in flower

It wasn't meant to be a recording visit on Tuesday, but just a pleasant stroll round the Reserve with my husband on the way to the Civic Amenity Site! We'd heard that a Sedge Warbler was back and sure enough we heard it although we didn't manage to spot it on this occasion. But of course my "citizen science gene" swung into operation and I had to note down the following:

Birds:

SC209694 Long Tailed Tit; Mallard flying over;
SC208694 male Blackbird
SC209694 ( hide) Wood Pigeon
SC208694 Willow Warbler; Great Tit seemingly enlarging hole on nest box; 2 x Goldfinches
SC208695 Wren; Long Tailed Tit; Chiffchaff;
SC209695  Sedge Warbler; Long Tailed Tit; Blue Tit; 2 x Goldfinch.
SC210694 Swallow

Ladybirds:

SC 210694 14 x 7-spots between gate and Noticeboard.
SC210694  11-spot Ladybird ( no rings round spots) .

Butterflies:

SC209693 2 x male Orange Tip
SC209694  ( near hide) male Orange Tip
SC208694 male Orange Tip ( 3 sightings in this area) ; Speckled Wood
SC208695 male Orange Tip
SC209695 2 x  male Orange Tips seen together
SC209694  ( gorse boundary) Small Tortoiseshell;male Orange Tip;  Speckled Wood; unidentified White flying
SC210694 2 x Small Tortoiseshell; Red Admiral; male Orange Tip.

Other:

SC209695  c.40 Water Crickets in stream.

3 x 7-spot in a row

4 x 7-spot in a row

a nearby 7-spot  shows up the difference in size

a rather fuzzy photo of an 11-spot
( with thanks to Prof. Helen Roy, UK Ladybird Survey)

Small Tortoiseshell

Red Admiral

Speckled Wood

Possibly my most interesting visit to the tip ever!

Ballachurry Reserve, 19th April 2019.

The damp meadow at Ballachurry Reserve

Good Friday - a lovely sunny day and a free morning.  I was at the Reserve for over three hours so recorded quite a lot of interesting wildlife.  There seemed to be Willow Warblers everywhere - the soundtrack to summer! Here is my report:

Birds: 

SC210694 2 x Willow Warbler heard but not seen.
SC209694 Willow Warbler ;  Wren; Great Tit
SC209693 Willow Warbler
SC209694 ( hide)  Blue Tit; pair of Mallard; pair of Moorhen ( female nesting); Pheasant heard but not seen;  Chiffchaff heard but not seen; Great Tits using nest box.
SC208694 Chaffinch; Willow Warbler ; Great Tit; Long Tailed Tit; male Reed Bunting; Robin
SC209695 2 x Chaffinch; Chiffchaff; 2 x Willow Warbler; 2 x Goldfinch
SC208695 Goldfinch; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Song Thrush; Long Tailed Tit; Chiffchaff; Chaffinch

Ladybirds:

SC210694 16 x 7-spot Ladybirds between entrance and Noticeboard
SC210694 11-spot ladybird with ringed spots
SC209694 4 x 7-spot Ladybirds near Ginnie's Bench
SC209695 7-spot Ladybird


Butterflies:

SC208694  unidentified white butterfly - no black veins or spots - ID being sought
SC209694 Speckled Wood
SC209695 Speckled Wood
SC209694 2 x Small Tortoiseshell; Peacock
SC208695 male Orange Tip; Speckled Wood
SC209693 male Orange Tip ( many sightings of male Orange Tips throughout the reserve)
SC210694  3 x Small Tortoiseshell;  unidentified white flying; Green Veined White

Other:

SC210694 2 x Nursery Web Spiders (Pisaura mirabilis)
SC210694 unknown fly close to spider
SC210694 Sloe Bug
SC210694 unidentified tiny beetle in nettles
SC210694  Lygus wagneri  bug near 7-spot on wall NEW RECORD
SC208695 Honey bees throughout reserve and here on dandelion
SC209694 on Hogweed:  Yellow Dung Fly; Footballer Hover Fly; possibly Eristalis pertinax Hoverfly; possibly a Blowfly; very small fly or winged ant.
SC209694 Gorse Shieldbug
SC209695 c. 40 Water Crickets in stream

Willow Warbler

same bird a little closer

Willow Warbler warbling

they seemed to be everywhere

they seemed happy to pose for a photo
( SC208694)

eye contact?

then back to warbling

Willow Warbler yet again

Ah! Something different!
A Song Thrush.

A beak full of worms suggests it may be feeding young

Song Thrush

Chiffchaff 

Chiffchaff

although the Goldfinch and Chiffchaff obligingly perched
close to each other, I couldn't get them both in focus so this is
two photos inexpertly stitched together - don't look too closely!

                                                                               

Moorhen

a second Moorhen suddenly emerged from the reeds.
The pair briefly acknowledged each other before the female
headed back to her nest

Moorhen on nest
( taken from hide on telephoto)

Mallard drake

one of the nest boxes made by children from the Buchan School
being put to good use this year by Great Tits

Apple Blossom on the Reserve

Field Maples looking attractive

close up of their blossom

Flowering currant planted originally for the bees which used to be
kept on the Reserve

Alliaria petiolata has a number of common names - Garlic Mustard,
Hedge Garlic, Jack-by-the-hedge etc.
It is the food plant for Orange Tip Butterfly caterpillars and
also those of the Green Veined White Butterfly
(neither of which will harm your cabbages!)

Hawthorn coming into flower

flower buds on the Rowan

the Oak is out before the Ash, so we'll only get a splash-
the old adage proved true last year

Red Campion now in bloom

a lovely patch of Stitchwort in the damp meadow

and another patch close to the path

7-spot Ladybird with friend ( or lunch?)
Lygus wagneri - with thanks to Dr. Joe Botting at britishbugs
 for the I.D.

this 7-spot seemed to be snacking on a bird dropping -
their normal food is aphids but there are not too many
of those around just at present

2 x 7-spots in the Holly

one of many 7-spots on the Reserve on Friday

mating 7-spots

This Ladybird was tiny. At first I thought it was a 10-spot
but the enlarged photo shows a black pronotum rather than white
and rings round the spots. I am seeking help with the I.D.

unidentified tiny beetle near the gate

all wildlife loves dandelions 

Yellow Dung Fly on Hogweed

Unidentified fly on Hogweed

"Footballer" Hoverfly on Hogweed

another Hoverfly on the Hogweed - Eristalis pertinax perhaps?

Sloe Bug - also known as the Hairy Shieldbug

Thanks to Dr. Joe Botting at britishbugs for identifying this
as almost certainly Lygus wagneri

very small fly indeed ( unless it is a winged ant?) 

Won't you walk into my parlour said the spider to the fly.......

Nursery Web Spider

Water Crickets in stream

Gorse Shieldbug

Another view

Green Veined White ( the green veins are on the underside)

male Orange Tip on Spanish Bluebell

Male Orange Tip Butterfly on Willow with wings closed

Peacock Butterfly

Peacock Butterfly

mystery white - no markings

Small Tortoiseshell

Hemlock Water Dropwort now looking very lush

The reed bed

definitely a new species for Ballachurry!

 A very relaxing morning!