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the inviting entrance to the Reserve
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With bad weather forecast from mid-week onwards, this week needed some careful planning for my various wildlife visits . I was due to walk my June butterfly transect up in the hills on Tuesday so it was essential to visit Ballachurry sometime on Monday to beat Wednesday's rain. I made it down to the reserve shortly after 11 and spent an interesting couple of hours recording the wildlife. Here is what I saw and heard:
Birds:
SC209694 male Reed Bunting; Willow Warbler heard;
SC209695 male Chaffinch; Willow Warbler or Chiffchaff
SC209694 (from hide) Adult Moorhen with 1 juvenile; female Mallard with one largish duckling
Butterflies:
SC210694 Small Heath
SC209693 Green Veined White; Speckled Wood;
SC209694 Speckled Wood x 2
SC208694 Speckled Wood x 4 ( including 3 spiraling together); Green Veined White
SC208695 Speckled Wood x 2; Small Tortoiseshell; Green Veined White; Small White; Large White;
Other:
SC210694 7-spot Ladybird larvae x 2
SC208694 7-spot Ladybird
SC210694 Orange-tip caterpillars on Garlic Mustard
SC209693 and elsewhere Depressaria daucella caterpillars on Hemlock Water Dropwort
SC209695 Gorse Shieldbug nymph on gorse
SC209694 Helophilus pendulus Hoverfly
SC209694 Syrphus species Hoverfly
SC209694 Helophilus pendulus Hoverfly on Oxeye daisy
SC209694 Episyrphus balteatus Hoverfly ( Marmalade fly)
SC208695 Helophilus pendulus Hoverfly
SC208694 unidentified flies on buttercup flower
SC208694 Bumblebee on wood chip path
SC210694 Herb Robert in flower
SC210694 Elder in flower
SC208694 Ground Ivy in flower
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Mallard with duckling
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Moorhen chick swimming
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Moorhen chick keeping its feet dry
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adult Moorhen with chick
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Reed Bunting
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Oxeye daisies attracting insects
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"Footballer" hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
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these flies are usually too small to identify from photos
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Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
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SC208695 Helophilus pendulus "Footballer" Hoverfly ( 05)
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Syrphus species Hoverfly
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Meliscaeva auricollis Hoverfly
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7-spot Ladybird
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Ladybird Larva
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7-spot Ladybird Larva
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Gorse Shieldbug nymph
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Depressaria daucella moth caterpillar
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Orange Tip Butterfly caterpillar
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Orange Tip Butterfly larva
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Green Veined White Butterfly
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and another keeping warm on the wood chip
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Green Veined White nectaring on Bramble flower
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Large White on Bramble flower
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Small White
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another view of Small White on Bramble flower
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Small White and Small Tortoiseshell together on Bramble flowers
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Speckled Wood
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another elsewhere on the Reserve
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and yet another
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Small Heath Butterfly
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Bumblebee on Wood chip path
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Herb Robert flowers
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Gorse boundary path with Hogweed blown down by wind
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Damp Meadow route
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"green" roof on hide suffering from drought
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a sad case of Ash Die-back
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Elder in flower
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Ground Ivy
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path that runs parallel to road
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many thanks to Rushen Commissioners' Contractor
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| for making such a good job of the grass cutting |
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..... and to the Commissioners themselves for continuing to undertake this work for us on the Reserve.
I enjoyed my visit and think the day definitely belonged to the butterflies!
With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly IDs
Please click on the photos to enlarge them
