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| An autumnal feel to Ballachurry Reserve |
Very late posting this account of my visit to the Reserve on Thursday, 17th September morning. This was a dual purpose visit. Education Officer, Dawn Colley, at the Manx Wildlife Trust had suggested that the reserve might be enhanced by a log pile for invertebrates such as beetles to call home. Although we have a pile of rotting planks near the compost heap a pile of natural logs looks so much nicer. I found a few candidates for the job in my own garden and we can add to these as others become available. So first job of the morning was to find a suitable location for this. I eventually decided to place the pile quite near the path junction and half buried some of the logs in the soil and left others on the surface. One of the smaller logs already has some Tremella fungus growing on it which I hope will increase as time goes on.
Once this job was done I set off round the reserve with binoculars and camera at the ready to see what was to be seen. Here is the report:
Birds:
SC208695 Robin
SC209694 ( hide) Mallard duck; Wren heard but not seen.
SC209694 Water Rail heard from reed bed
SC208695 Woodpigeon
Butterflies:
SC209694 ( path junction) Speckled Wood x 2 together
SC209694 Speckled Wood x 4
SC208695 Speckled Wood x 3; Red Admiral; Unidentified White flying
SC209695 Speckled Wood
SC209693 Speckled Wood
Ladybirds:
SC209694 5 x 7-spot
SC209695 3 x 7-spot
Other:
SC208695 Sargus Species Fly ( Soldier Fly)
SC209693 Helophilus pendulus Hoverfly; Eristalis Pertinax Hoverfly; Eristalis tenax Hoverfly.
SC209695 Sargus species fly ( Soldier fly); Eristalis speciesl Hoverfly; Episyrphus balteatus Hoverfly (Marmalade fly)
SC208695 Shieldbug nymph
SC208694 Shieldbug nymph
SC209695 unidentified tiny snail
SC210694 small Crab spider on nettles
SC209695 various unidentified spiders in brambles and gorse
SC209694 acorns on oaks ( NB grid ref. is incorrect on photo)
SC209693 ripening Hazelnuts
SC209694 Tremella fungus on log pile and unknown fungus on hurdle
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| Autumn Robin rather than Christmas Robin |
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| Our resident Mallard |
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| on her way to snack on the blackberries! |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| and another |
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| one of eight x 7-spot Ladybirds seen today |
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| Photo not doing justice to bright red of this Soldier fly's body | (Sargus species) |
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| "footballer" in striped jersey - Heloophilus pendulus |
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| male Eristalis pertinax |
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| Eristalis tenax male |
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| Red bodied Soldier fly ( Sargus species) |
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| Eristalis species Hoverfly |
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| Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) |
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| Shieldbug nymph - Hawthorn perhaps? |
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| another Shieldbug nymph - Common Green this time? |
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| really tiny snail on Sycamore leaf |
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| tiny crab spider on nettles |
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| you can tell it's Autumn when the spiders appear |
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| this one had caught a juicy meal |
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| annoying how they hang with their undersides to the camera! |
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| Some large acorns to feed the Fieldmice when they drop |
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| and ripening Hazelnuts for them to store |
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| new logpile |
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| we can add to it in future |
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| orange blobs are Tremella fungus ( sometimes called Yellow Brain) |
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| different sort of fungus on willow hurdle nearby |
With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly ID's
I have been back to the Reserve again since this visit and hope to post another account shortly.
Please click on photos to enlarge them
