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a sunny but breezy Bank Holiday at Ballachurry Reserve
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Friday was a Bank Holiday in the Isle of Man, it being Senior Race Day for the TT races. Not being a race fan myself I chose to spend the morning at Ballachurry Reserve instead. I arrived about 9.45 a.m. and was welcomed at the gate by a singing blackbird on the telegraph pole. It was a lovely sunny summer morning - with a howling gale! Here is what I recorded:
Birds:
SC209694 Blackcap heard but not seen; 3 x Great Tit flying together; Woodpigeon; 2 x Sedge Warblers heard at the same time; Moorhen + 2 chicks; Wren.
SC208694 Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff heard not seen; Sedge Warbler; Blackbird heard not seen; male Chaffinch. Common Whitethroat ( I took very distant photo from near the hide of a bird in a tree near the new bridge/ boardwalk. I couldn't see it properly through binoculars but once on the PC screen it appears to be a Whitethroat)
SC208695 Blackcap heard not seen; Chaffinch heard not seen;
SC209693 Blackbird heard not seen; Sedge Warbler heard not seen;
SC210694 male Blackbird on telegraph pole just outside reserve
Butterflies:
Speckled Woods seen at SC209693, SC208695; SC209694 and SC208694.
Other:
SC209694 Orange Tip caterpillar; Hawthorn berries ripening. Daphnia in new pond water
SC209694 Depressaria daucella moth caterpillars; Chrysomelid Beetle; Water Forget-me-nots in flower; native yellow water lilies in flower.
SC209694 Yellow Rattle in flower
SC210694 Ichneumon Wasp; Grypocoris stysi Capsid Bug? Nymphs of Grypocoris stysi Bugs? Checking with britishbugs.org.uk) Sepsis fly.
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The meet and greet Blackbird
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male Chaffinch
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Moorhen with one of two chicks
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Sedge Warbler in full voice
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Common Whitethroat
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one of many Speckled Woods
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basking in the sunshine in a sheltered spot
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I think this is the nymph of a Capsid Bug
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possibly its parent - Grypocoris stysi, I think
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this photo has been sent to "britishbugs" for ID - Capsid nymphs I think
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Chrysomelid beetle
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very little water left in the new pond - a liner definitely needed for summer next year
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daphnia in the remaining water
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close up of these tiny creatures
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brambles coming into flower
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still lots of Hemlock Water Dropwort in flower
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Depressaria daucella moth larvae starting to pupate
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this is what the caterpillars look like
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many are taken by birds
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we have at least one Orange Tip caterpillar
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a good place for watching birds, I have found
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we need 2 boards - 1 for sightings and 1 for people's artwork and graffiti!
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view from the ramp - the Whitethroat was in those trees far right
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delighted to see a clump of Yellow Rattle
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it parasitises the roots making grass less vigorous.
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not so many distorted sloes so far this year ( caused by Plum Pocket Gall fungus)
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Sycamore "keys" ripening already
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Parasitic Ichneumon Wasp I think
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Sepsis species fly
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heading for the hide.....
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not much about birdwise apart from the Moorhens
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but the native waterlilies are starting to flower
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water forget-me-not on the pond margin
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signs of autumn - in June! Hawthorn berries ripening
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| beautiful against a blue sky - Hemlock Water Dropwort. |
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A very pleasant way to spend a June Bank Holiday!
With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly identification
please click on photos to enlarge them
