Incy-Wincy Week-End Workshop !

Two places have unexpectedly become available on the week-end spider identification workshop being organised by Kate Hawkins ( former curator of Natural History at the Manx Museum). It starts off at Defa HQ, St. Johns about 09.30 ish on Saturday 29th June and concludes the next day. There will be both field work and lab work with microscopes etc. The sessions have been arranged so that MWT members can still attend the AGM on Saturday afternoon and ticket holders for the Invertebrate talk which follows the AGM  likewise. If you think you might like to go along either for one or both days please contact Kate for the full programme details on

carterhawkins@outlook.com

I'm going along  in the hope of learning much more about the spiders I spot at Ballachurry Reserve and elsewhere.

Publicising a Manx Wildlife Trust Event, Saturday 6th July

Weather permitting, the MWT Southern Group has organised a coastal boat trip from Port St. Mary, taking in the Sugarloaf Rock to see the seabirds. And who knows what else you might see too?  Seals? Dolphins? Basking Sharks? Fabulous jelly fish swimming under the water? I have seen all of these from this very same boat on similar trips over the years. The coastal geology is amazing too.

Here are a few photos I took in May this year when the boat was chartered by the Manx Ornithological Society.

Puffins

Guillemots on the Sugarloaf Rock

Kittiwakes on the Sugarloaf Rock

Atlantic Grey Seal and male Eider Duck

Seals swimming.......

....... just lazing around on the rocks

or people watching!

The boat leaves Port St. Mary breakwater at 1.45 but booking is essential so if you are interested you need to ring our Secretary, Janet Thompson, on 835524 very, very soon as the boat only holds 12 passengers. The cost is £25 per person which includes a £5 donation to the Manx Wildlife Trust.

 An afternoon of wildlife watching you won't forget!

Ballachurry Reserve, 17th June, 2019.

It's always a pleasure to walk round Ballachurry Reserve with a knowledgeable naturalist so when Garry Curtis of Manx Butterfly Conservation / the Manx Ornithological Society ventured down from the far north on Monday afternoon I was delighted to share a couple of hours at the reserve with him. Four eyes are always better than two and it wasn't long before Garry was pointing out the caterpillars of Orange Tip butterflies on the seed heads of Garlic Mustard. I have regularly been checking these plants for my last few visits but had not managed to spot any until then. As Garry said, "you have to get your eye in"! (SC210694)

The next tangle of caterpillars were those of Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies. Easier to spot than the Orange Tips, I'd photographed some near Ginnie's Bench some time ago but these were fresh ones on nettles along the gorse boundary.  (SC209694)

Next up were Red Admirals pupating in the nettles nearby. Garry showed me the neatly sewn up nettle leaves, edges perfectly matched and closed to the very end of the leaf. The open ended ones tend to be spider cocoons, although similar looking at first sight. (SC209694)

The butterflies themselves were not in much evidence as it was quite a windy afternoon, but we did see Speckled Woods (SC208695 & SC209693), Small Heaths (SC209694 & SC208694)) and some elusive "unidentified whites flying" as my butterfly reports would often have it.

We both saw and heard Sedge Warblers ( SC209693), heard Willow Warblers for most of the afternoon ( SC209694)  and spotted a few chattering Goldfinches ( SC209694) . Garry identified Blackcaps singing too, one right  above us near the compost heap (SC208694), but with the leaves on the trees now we didn't manage to see them. Before Garry arrived I had seen one adult and one juvenile House Sparrow near the noticeboard (SC210694)

I myself was looking out for Shieldbugs ( a couple of Gorse Shieldbugs seen on the gorse boundary, (SC209694), Ladybird Larvae (some still near the gate, SC210694) and the attractive Capsid Bugs seen on my last visit. We spotted a few of these at SC210694 in the nettles but there were fewer than last time. They are Grypocoris stysi - my thanks to Dr. Joe Botting of  the britishbugs website for the identification. See https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Miridae/grypocoris_stysi.html  for more information.

As a bonus we found a Chrysomelid  beetle ( SC208694)  and the larva of a Tortoise Beetle covered in frass ( aka "poo" )  (SC208695); a few webs of Orchard Ermine Moth caterpillars are about on the Blackthorn ( SC209694); we also had a couple of sightings of Silver Ground Carpet Moths  (SC209693) as well as a different sort of moth, probably Blastobasis lacticolella  (SC210694). A plain yellow snail caught our eye at SC209694 and there was a tiny Crab Spider apparently eating an even smaller fly ( SC210694) There were Wolf Spiders at SC209693, some carrying egg sacks.

Something very small, brown and furry crossed the path ahead of us.  It wasn't a mouse, so I'm pretty certain it was a Pygmy Shrew but they move so fast it is hard to get a good view.

My thanks to Garry for a really interesting afternoon.

a rather fuzzy photo of an Orange Tip caterpillar

Small Tortoiseshell Caterpillars

Webs of Orchard Ermine Moth caterpillars

Small Heath Butterfly

Speckled Wood butterfly with ( I think) a honey bee

Probably Blastobasis lacticolella
( with thanks to Ian Scott for ID)

Sedge Warbler

Capsid bug - Grypocoris stysi

Chrysomelid  beetle

 Tiny Crab spider

it wasn't possible to see with the naked eye that
it had caught a fly

hard to believe that this is a living creature!
nymph of Tortoise Beetle covered in frass

Gorse Shieldbug well disguised among the seed pods

a closer view of another Gorse Shieldbug

7-spot Ladybird larva

and anoather

unidentified moth

unidentified snail

wolf spider carrying egg sack

Ballachurry Reserve, 14th and 15th June 2019.

 Ballachurry Reserve pond in June

It was rather a dull afternoon on Friday when I headed for the Reserve but it was my first opportunity that week to do my weekly survey. A little more sun would have brought out more butterflies etc. but there was plenty going on down in the nettles anyway. The good news is that just as I was preparing my camera to send off for repair it suddenly put itself right! So fingers crossed it stays that way! Here is what I recorded:

Birds:

SC210694 Willow Warbler and Chaffinch heard but not seen.
SC209693 Goldfinch on wires
SC209694 ( just outside hide) Willow Warbler ( see video); Sedge Warbler heard but not seen.
SC208694 Chiffchaff heard but not seen; Woodpigeon.
SC209694 ( path junction) Sedge Warbler

Ladybirds:

SC210694 several 7-spot Ladybird Larvae
SC209694 7-spot Ladybird x 2

Butterflies & Moths :

SC209693 Small Heath; Unidentified White flying; Speckled Wood.
SC210694 unidentified White flying
SC209693 & throughout reserve - Depressaria daucella  Moth larvae on Hemlock Water Dropwort
SC209694 Silver Ground Carpet Moth;
SC208694  Clouded Border Moth

Other:

SC210694 40+ Capsid bugs on nettles ( Grypocoris stysi); unidentified beetle ( flea beetle?)  Nymph of Anthocoris species, probably nemorum. ( Flower bug) *
SC208694 Wolf spiders on boardwalk
SC209694 unidentified Hover fly and several Yellow Dung Flies.
SC208694 several Noon Flies on the wooden bridge
SC209693 unidentified fly
SC208694 and throughout reserve, Cuckoo Spit leaf hopper

* My thanks to Dr. Joe Botting of the britishbugs website for the identification of the Capsid and Flower bugs.  See more here: https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Miridae/grypocoris_stysi.html

Willow Warbler

nearly the same photo but I liked the bee!

Willow Warbler

7-spot Ladybird

and another nearby

this is a 7-spot Ladybird larva

these Capsid bugs were all over the nettles

they are rather beautiful
Grypocoris stysi

Nymph of a Anthocoris species ( Flower Bug) - probably
Anthocoris nemorum

possibly a flea beetle?

Speckled Wood butterfly

a great plant for wildlife, Hemlock Water Dropwort
Depressaria daucella caterpillars on the left, Honey Bee on right.

close up of Depressaria daucella caterpillar

and another

Honey Bees on the Hemlock Water Dropwort

a couple of Noon Flies on the bridge

Silver Ground Carpet Moth

and a Clouded Border Moth

not a photo I take very often!
the compost heap

Cuckoo Spit on thistle*

Meadow buttercups are starting to appear in the damp meadow
Hopefully they will spread

Flag iris in the damp meadow

Small Heath butterfly

Native yellow waterlilies in flower now

the hide in June

Cuckoo Flowers in the damp meadow
one of the Orange Tip butterfly food plants

a veritable sea of foamy white Hemlock Water Dropwort

Common Valerian and Hemlock Water Dropwort

a lovely combination near the boardwalk - nature does it so well!
Red Campion and Hemlock Water Dropwort

Red Campion

another pretty corner

Yellow Flag Iris in the damp meadow

Meadowsweet in bud

Ragged Robin in the damp meadow
hopefully it too will spread

mown area seen from the private entrance

the pond seen from the hide

*The cuckoo spit Froghopper nymph is making the headlines at the moment as a possible vector of the bacterial plant disease Xylella fastidiosa. We do not yet have this disease in Britain but I believe it is devastating olive groves in Italy. A citizen science project has been launched to see which plants the Froghopper nymphs live on in their cuckoo spit but as far as I can see they are not at all fussy and it can be found on just about everything.

15th June 2019

While at Ballachurry on Friday afternoon I noticed that the Reserve had marched under the gate and out about 2 feet across the pavement! So I returned on Saturday with a sharp spade and dug it back to the boundary. I soon had a full trug of vegetation which I took to the compost heap so any wildlife lurking in it could escape elsewhere. I also cut back a few brambles etc. which were trying to cross the paths.

I enjoyed the birdsong while working and saw 2 x Wren near the gate ( SC210694) There was a Song Thrush on the Bowman Bench ( SC209695) and a Goldfinch on the wires ( SC209693) The Moorhen was on the pond (SC209694)

Two Small Heath Butterflies were around the longer grass near the noticeboard and there was a Silver Ground Carpet Moth near Ginnie's Bench. Speckled Woods at SC209694. & SC208695. Unidentified moth at SC209694.

Song Thrush on the bench

Moorhen back on the water
Sadly, we don't think the 2 chicks survived

Small Heath butterfly

Speckled Wood

unidentified moth at SC209694

I am seeking IDs for some of the above and will update the captions when I know more. I have another short report to post following a walk round the Reserve with a friend on Monday, but you will have to be patient a little longer for that one!

Remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them.