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Pond dipping at Ballachurry Reserve
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About four or five years ago I joined the Manx Wildlife Trust's Invertebrate Group in order to improve my identification skills at Ballachurry. It has been a most enjoyable experience accompanying "the experts" on visits to places as diverse as Milntown gardens and the Ballaugh Curraghs, looking for invertebrates and learning how identify them. So I was delighted when I heard that the Group was coming to Ballachurry Reserve on Saturday. Unfortunately another commitment meant I missed the first 90 minutes of the meeting and when I eventually arrived there was a huddle of heads over a white tray looking at what had been caught in sweep nets over the damp meadow. Everything was carefully noted down and I look forward to seeing the full list in due course.On site we had the expertise of Kate Hawkins ( former Curator of Natural History at the Manx Museum), Dawn Colley ( former Education Officer with the Manx Wildlife Trust) and Steve Crellin ( the Island's Dipterist ). We next headed off with them to the new pond to do some pond dipping and also more sweep netting in the long grass round the edge of the water.
I have been reporting the snails, diving beetles, back swimmers, and pond skaters for a few weeks now but actually dipping in the water produced much more, including fresh water shrimps. Just a quick sweep of the long grass also produced a magnificent beetle and some Grass Bugs - both new records for the Reserve.
Once everything seen, photographed and recorded has been identified I'll put another post on the Blog . I'm sure there will be some more new records amongst them. In the meantime, here are a few photos from the afternoon.
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a magnificent beetle caught near the new pond
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Common Darter on the boardwalk
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Field grasshopper sunbathing on a Burdock leaf near the gate
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Grass Bugs from near the pond
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Stenodema calcarata, Grass Bug.
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( with thanks to Steve for permission to use this photo)
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a Green Veined White butterfly
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a blurry photo of a hawker dragonfly over the main pond
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they fly too fast for a good photo!
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a mighty Tegenaria spider in the hide
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our three expert mentors
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If you are interested in joining this group, do get in touch with the Manx Wildlife Trust, you will be made most welcome.
Very many thanks to Kate, Dawn and Steve for a very interesting afternoon.
please click on photos to enlarge them
