Ballachurry Reserve, Rushen, IOM.: Ballachurry Reserve, 2nd June 2022

the smart new boardwalk at Ballachurry Reserve

Ten o'clock on a very warm morning saw me at Ballachurry on Thursday last. I quickly bumped into one of our volunteers who had been there some time with his camera and who was able to give me the lowdown on what to look out for during my visit. Later I bumped into another volunteer, this time my husband! It's good to see us all enjoying the reserve outside the work parties! The warm sunshine didn't last but nevertheless I stayed three hours and recorded the following :-

Birds:

SC209694 male Blackbird; Goldfinch ; male Chaffinch; Sedge Warbler; Wren heard not seen; Wood Pigeon; Song Thrush;

SC209693 Sedge Warbler heard not seen; 3 x Mallard flying over; Chaffinch heard not seen.

SC208694 male Blackcap; Dunnock; Willow Warbler heard not seen; Sedge Warbler; Blue Tit; Chiffchaff heard not seen; female Chaffinch;

SC208695 Sedge Warbler heard not seen; Song Thrush; Swallow flying over; Blackbird; Chaffinch heard not seen. Wren;

SC209695 Blue Tits going in and out of bird box; Chiffchaff heard not seen; female Blackbird flying through.

All these "heard not seen" entries are very frustrating, but with a full leaf canopy the birds are hard to spot. It took me ages to locate the Song Thrush which was singing beautifully, even though I was standing right under the tree.

Butterflies:

SC209694 Small Heath ( with thanks to Garry Curtis for helping determine ID)

SC209693 Speckled Wood

SC209694 Speckled Wood x 2

SC208694 Speckled Wood

Sc208695 Unidentified White flying

Other:

SC208694 2 x Water Crickets seen from new bridge

SC210694 Orange Tip egg on Garlic Mustard; unidentified tiny beetle on Garlic Mustard ( Phyllotreta species?)

SC209693 Narcissus Bulb fly - Meredon equestris; Epistrophe eligans Hoverfly

SC209693 Rhingia Campestris Hoverfly

SC208695 Rhingia campestris Hoverfly

SC208694 several Wolf Spiders, some with egg sacks

SC209693 tiny green Cucumber spider on Rowan

SC210694 Black campion aphids (hopefully some ladybirds will find them)

SC210694 Bumblebee on Dandelion

SC209694 Honey bees in the Hemlock Water Dropwort

SC210694 Cleavers have galls caused by Cecidophyes rouhollahi Gall Mites.

SC209693 Bird Cherry trees have green cherries coming

SC209693 Hazel nuts starting to be visible

SC209693 Depressaria daucella moth caterpillars on Hemlock Water Dropwort.

SC209694 Orchard Ermine Moth caterpillars in larval webs on Blackthorn

male blackbird singing from the Birch tree

and another in the old beehive loop

a couple of hours later the Blackbird was still singing in the Birch

the same Birch tree was popular with a male Chaffinch too

Dunnock - possibly a juvenile?

Sedge Warbler

the elusive Song Thrush stopped singing for a minute to preen

the first Small Heath I've seen at Ballachurry this year

one of several Speckled Woods

warming up on the woodchip

enjoying the nectar

the new bridge from the meadow

the pond in summer

this is the area I call the old beehive loop - the beehives are long gone now

the woodland floor beneath the willows

a glade full of buttercups

Black Aphids on Red Campion - a feast for some birds and insects

A honey bee at work

and a Bumblebee on a dandelion

that wonderful white blossom has turned to cherries on the Bird Cherry

and there are cherries on the ornamental memorial Cherry too

galls on Cleavers caused by a tiny mite with a big name ( Cecidopohyes rouhollahi)

garden escape Oxalis in flower near the gate

Hazelnuts starting to form

the hide almost hidden by Hemlock Water Dropwort

but more visible from the usual angle

there are lots of Wolf spiders on the hardcore near the new boardwalk

several are carrying egg sacks

a tiny Cucumber Spider on a Rowan leaflet

there seem to be less of these moth caterpillars this year

a Rhingia campestris Hoverfly

and another elsewhere - the orange is very noticeable when they fly

caterpillars of Orchard Ermine moth just visible in the bottom of the web

footprints of a large heron and a smaller peacock

Narcissus bulb fly, Meredon equestris

Epistrophe elegans Hoverfly

Phyllotreta species beetle on Garlic Mustard leaf

and an Orange Tip Butterfly egg on the same plant

Ox-eye daisies in the morning sun

And finally....

On Friday Rushen and Arbory Commissioners were holding a Jubilee Celebration in the adjoining Ballachurry Orchard by kind permission of Mr. and Mrs. Clucas. Visitors were also able to go through to the Reserve where the Manx Wildlife Trust's Education Officer had devised an ingenious Celebration Nature Trail for families to follow. The trail was already in place on Thursday so I was able to take some photos. If you were unable to visit in person on Friday you may wish to read the information here instead but even if you solve the puzzle I'm afraid you won't now get any sweeties as a reward!