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| a lovely Autumn day at Ballachurry Reserve |
It's always interesting to return to Ballachurry Reserve after a holiday to see how things have changed in the interim. Thursday seemed to be summer having its final fling! The weather was warm and sunny, I was greeted by a Red Admiral butterfly before I was through the gate, and there was even a Chiffchaff chiffchaffing! There had been a work party while I was away and there was evidence of hard work everywhere - clearly a great deal had been achieved last Saturday morning. Well done and thank you to all the volunteers!
Today's visit was slightly different from my usual ramble as I was joined for some of the time by Garry Curtis who had made the journey from the north of the Island to to look for the larvae of Holly Blue butterflies on the Reserve. Some of my Blog posts earlier in the year suggested that they might be breeding on the reserve and together we checked out the ivy flowers along the boundary wall. Garry pointed out to me some holes in the ivy buds which could be where the tiny caterpillars had eaten their way in recently, but we only found one caterpillar and unfortunately that was not a Holly Blue! The Manx Wildlife Trust has to keep the pavement passable from vegetation overhanging from the reserve and some of the ivy had been trimmed back at Saturday's work party with this in mind, so there was not the abundant growth of a few weeks ago for Garry to check. There may be ivy flowers out of reach and out of sight along the wall where the butterfly larvae are hidden -we shall just have to wait until 2024 to find out.
What follows is a report of what both Garry and I saw during our visit:
Birds:
SC209693 Robin heard not seen.
SC209694 Chiffchaff heard not seen; male & female Chaffinches; male Blackbird; juvenile / moulting Blackbird; Magpie; Unidentified Warbler; Chiffchaff in reeds; Woodpigeon drinking from new pool; Song Thrush; Robin; Wren.
SC208694 Chiffchaff; Great Tit; Blue Tit; Long tailed Tit x 10; Jackdaw x 2 flying over; Robin and Chaffinch heard not seen; Goldfinch x 2 including one bathing in stream.
SC 208695 male & female Blackbirds; Woodpigeon x 2 flying over; Wren x 2; Robin; Blue Tit; male Blackcap.
SC209695 female Blackbird; male Blackcap; Song Thrush; Goldfinch; female Chaffinch; Tree Creeper briefly going up tree trunk before flying off.
Butterflies:
SC210694 Red Admiral x 5; Unidentified White; Small White; Comma.
SC209694 Red Admiral x 3; Speckled Wood x 3; Green Veined White; Unidentified White; Small Tortoiseshell hibernating in Hide.
SC208694 Comma; Speckled Wood.
SC209693 Speckled Wood.
SC208695 Red Admiral x 2; Green Veined White.
SC209695 Speckled Wood x 3.
Other:
SC208694 unidentified Blue Dragonfly ( probably Migrant Hawker)
SC209694 Gorse Shieldbug x 2.
SC209694 Common Darter on hide; 5 x unidentified hawkers (probably Migrant Hawker)
SC209694 Pink Barred Sallow Moth.
SC209695 unidentified blue Hawker Dragonfly (probably Migrant Hawker)
SC210694 Jumping spider + 3 juveniles.
SC209694 Tegenaria species Spider in Hide.
SC209694 several Nursery Web Spiders.
SC209694 Water beetles x 3; Greater Water Boatmen x 2.
SC210694 Green Shieldbug on Burdock.
SC209694 Green Shieldbug nymph.
SC209694 large Gnat? species on hide door.
SC209694 Noon Fly on hide.
SC208695 "Footballer" species Hoverfly. ( Helophilus?)
SC209695 "Footballer" species Hoverfly (Helophilus)
SC209693 small unidentified green caterpillar in ivy flower ( pavement side of reserve)
SC209693 2 x 7-spot Ladybirds ( on pavement side of reserve)
SC210694 7-spot Ladybird.
SC209694 7-spot Ladybird.
SC208694 2 species of bracket fungi on oak sleeper of boardwalk (including possibly Hairy Curtain Crust)
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| juvenile/ moulting Blackbird in Hawthorn tree |
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| selecting a berry |
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| this one will do nicely |
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| Red Nose Day? |
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| a different Blackbird in Rowan tree |
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| one of two Wrens in Hawthorn |
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| this one was dozing off in the sunshine ( I know the feeling!) |
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| Blackbird in dead Ash tree |
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| Blackcap |
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| it was both in the brambles and a nearby Rowan |
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| wearing a crown of berries? |
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| Robin |
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| Magpie |
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| moulting or juvenile Goldfinch |
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| bathing Goldfinch - possible again now stream cleared |
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| Chaffinch |
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| This Chiffchaff was singing most of the morning |
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| This warbler was feeding in the reeds |
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| I wasn't sure whether it was a Chiffchaff or Willow Warbler... |
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| my thanks to Neil Morris for confirming it is a Chiffchaff |
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| lovely little birds |
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| a Song Thrush was also enjoying the berries |
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| Red Admiral drawing attention to the No Foraging notice |
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| Comma making the point that the berries are for the wildlife! |
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| Commas are a fairly new addition to the Ballachurry List |
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| the white "comma" on the underwing visible |
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| another Comma on the ivy near the entrance gate |
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| ivy flowers are excellent for wildlife - full of nectar |
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| there were 5 Red Admirals on it as well as the Comma |
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| a good view of the Red Admiral's underwing |
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| they are beautiful insects |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| and another very camouflaged on dead blackberries |
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| Speckled Wood on late Hogweed flower |
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| Small Tortoiseshell hibernating in the hide |
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| a very large House Spider calls the hide home |
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| the hide is festooned with spider egg cocoons |
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| at the other extreme, a very small Jumping Spider |
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| they are very camouflaged on the wall and hard to spot |
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| a Nursery Web Spider |
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| these were quite small - possibly juveniles |
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| the new pond was mostly in the shade |
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| looking the other direction |
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| and later in the morning when in the sunshine |
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| Greater Water Boatman |
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| also known as Back Swimmers as they swim upside down |
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| Water Beetle |
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| Common Darter basking on the hide |
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| Green Shieldbug on Burdock seeds |
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| a closer view of it |
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| Green Shieldbug nymph on nettles |
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| not sure what this is - large gnat? |
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| Noon Fly |
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| "Footballer" Hoverfly - possibly a female Helophilus? |
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| and another elsewhere - possibly a male Helophilus? |
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| 7-spot Ladybird noticed while hunting for caterpillars |
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| there were 2 in the ivy |
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| 7-spot Ladybird in thistles |
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| this one was about to fly away |
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| Pink Barred Sallow - with thanks to Garry for the ID |
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| can you see the tiny green caterpillar? |
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| holes in the ivy made by caterpillars |
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| unidentified bracket fungi on boardwalk |
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| and a different sort on the same sleeper -possibly Hairy Curtain Crust |
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| approaching the boardwalk |
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| cleared of vegetation at last week's work party |
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| usual view from the boardwalk |
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| vegetation round the bridge has been cut back |
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| stream visible once more |
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| Ginnie's Bench in the sunshine |
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| reeds cut back |
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| willows cut back |
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| stream flowing well towards the pond |
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| and into the reed bed |
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| nice to see the water again |
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| looking across meadow to boardwalk |
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| usual view of hide |
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| view through the shutters |
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| it seems I missed some exciting sightings while I was away!!! |
with thanks to Garry Curtis for helping with some IDs and to Neil Morris for the Chiffchaff identification.
please click on photos to enlarge them
