Ballachurry Reserve, Rushen, IOM.: 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.