Ballachurry Reserve, Rushen, IOM.: June 2024

Saturday 29 June 2024

Ballachurry Reserve: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.

The sun came out mid morning - view from hide ramp

I slept very well on Wednesday night! I had spent the morning at Ballachurry Reserve, the afternoon at another Manx Wildlife Trust reserve where I also do some recording and then in the evening I went on a boat trip organised by the Manx Ornithological Society round the Calf of Man, the Chicken Rock lighthouse, and the Sugar Loaf Rock to see the nesting seabirds. That was a lot of fresh air with only snatched meals in between. My morning visit started around 9.15 and I left just after midday. Here is what I recorded:

Birds:

SC209693 Willow Warbler heard not seen; Woodpigeon flying over; Song Thrush heard not seen; male Blackcap.

SC209694 Blackcap heard not seen; Willow Warbler heard not seen; Swallow flying over; female Chaffinch; Woodpigeon flying over; female Blackbird; Great Tit; Mallard flying over; Goldfinch; Sedge Warbler heard not seen; Blue Tit x 2 together and later x 4 together.

SC208694 male Blackbird; Wren; Blackcap heard not seen; juvenile Robin; Great Tit; male Chaffinch; Song Thrush heard not seen.

SC208695 female Blackbird on the path; Chaffinch heard not seen; Great Tit; Woodpigeon.

Butterflies and Moths:

SC209694 unidentified moth on nettle; Clouded Border moth.

SC209694 Speckled Wood; Meadow Brown.

SC208695 unidentified moth on Oak.

SC209695 Speckled Wood.

Sc209693 Speckled Wood.

Other:

SC208694 Click Beetle (Athous haemorrhoidalis) on Phragmites reed

SC209694 Gorse Shieldbug eggs on gorse seedpod

SC209694 caterpillar on Hogweed seedhead

SC209694 ( dragonfly pond) Blue-tailed damselfly on branch in water and quartering pondside grass;

Conjoined Common Darters "dipping" in water to lay eggs; Greater Water Boatman; small Black beetle out of the water;

SC209694 2 x Common Darter visible over main pond from hide

SC209694 Wolf Spider carrying egg sack

SC208694 Honey Bees on bramble flowers

SC208694 Numerous flies on bridge Handrails and elsewhere

SC208695 Unidentified Hoverfly

Blue Tit

male Chaffinch

Wren


it sings regularly from the same spot

Speckled Wood

unidentified moth

and another elsewhere

caterpillar in Hogweed seedhead

Hoverfly on Hogweed

lots of flies warming up on handrails

there were noticeably more flies this week

the bramble flowers are now attracting insects too

the dragonfly pond

Common Darters

the male "dips" the female into the water to lay the eggs

when they finally separated one returned to rest on a rock


I was pleased to see a Blue-tailed Damselfly using the branch I provided

Water Beetle crossing the weed

Greater Water Boatman

Click Beetle

Grypocoris stysi Capsid Bug

there were several in the ox-eye daisies too

Gorse Shieldbug eggs

Wolf Spider carrying her egg sack

Cuckoo Spit containing Froghopper nymph

It's always a pleasure to meet the little tots from Hopes and Dreams Nursery School enjoying their nature walk round the reserve. I was very impressed to hear what they had to tell me about Cuckoo Spit. We also established ( with the aid of a buttercup) that I like butter!

start of the old beehive loop

hard to imagine that this area once housed beehives

usual boardwalk view

looking back from the boardwalk towards the hide

usual view from the boardwalk

usual view of the hide

water forget-me-nots near main pond

Hemp Agrimony starting to flower

a woodland corner

pond through the shutters

last Saturday's work party cleared the wood chip pile

one of the newly chipped paths

mini meadow near Ginnie's Bench

main meadow near the hide

and a last look at June sightings before I left

My last visit of the month. I arrived under cloudy skies and left in hot sunshine! What weather and wildlife can we expect in July?

please click on photos to enlarge them

Sunday 23 June 2024

Ballachurry Reserve: Wednesday, 19th June, 2024.

Wild roses at Ballachurry Reserve

I am no lark! You will never find me at Ballachurry just after dawn when, friends tell me, there is a great deal of bird activity. Instead, I arrived at the Reserve just before 10 a.m. when all was fairly silent again. Chaffinches and Woodpigeons could be heard, but very little else, or only in small bursts, but by lunchtime I had a respectable list of wildlife both seen and heard. Here is what I recorded:

Birds:

SC210694 Blackbird and Robin flew up together from behind the wood chip pile as I entered the reserve.

SC208694 Woodpigeon; Magpie and Chaffinch heard but not seen; Wren; female Blackbird flying over; Great Tit; Long-tailed Tit x 3.

SC208695 Female Blackbird; male Blackbird flying through; Woodpigeon flying over; Wren heard not seen; male Chaffinch.

SC209694 female Blackbird foraging on path; Chiffchaff heard not seen; Pheasant heard not seen; Blue Tit x 3 in vegetation near hide; Magpie heard not seen; Woodpigeon near hide; Great Tit; female/ juvenile Chaffinch.

SC209693 female Blackbird on path; male Blackbird in tree; 1 adult and 1 juvenile Sedge Warbler.

Butterflies:

SC210694 3 x Speckled Wood together seen in Reserve from pavement when I arrived.

SC208694 Green Veined White; Speckled Wood.

SC209695 Speckled Wood.

Sc209694 Unidentified White flying; Meadow Brown; Speckled Wood.

SC209693 Speckled Wood.

SC209694 small moth on Hawthorn near hide.

Other:

SC210 694 Inkcaps on wood chip.

SC210694 Birch Shieldbug NEW RECORD

SC208694 Pied Hoverfly on Meadowsweet.

SC208694 Honey Bees in Meadowsweet .

SC208695 Grypocoris Stysi Capsid Bug.

SC208694 Grypocoris Stysi Capsid Bug.

SC209695 Common Wasp.

SC209694 Greater Water Boatmen x 4.

SC209694 very small white lipped snail.

SC209695 Marmalade Fly.

SC209695 Great Pied Hoverfly on Hogweed .

SC209694 Meadow Plant Bug (Leptopterna dolabrata) NEW RECORD ( iRecord had this as 100% certain, although looking it up afterwards I do have some doubts!)

SC209693 Wolf Spider.

SC209694 Blue Flower on hide roof - possibly Vipers Bugloss.

SC209694 Gorse Shieldbug.

SC209694 juvenile Rat in Hemlock Water Dropwort.

SC208694 Woody Nightshade and Meadowsweet in flower.

SC209694 Cuckoo Spit Froghopper nymphs here and throughout Reserve ( Philaenos spumarius).

SC209694 unidentified Spider on Iris leaves.

SC208695 Eristalis species hoverfly.

SC209695 Honeybees on Hogweed.

SC209694 Bee mimic Hoverfly - possibly Narcissus Bulb Fly ( Merodon equestris) ?