Ballachurry Reserve, 12th July 2021 Incidental Report:

My husband and I visited the reserve unexpectedly on Monday to do a couple of jobs that had cropped up. While there I noted the following:

SC209694 hybrid duck; Moorhen with 2 chicks.

SC210694 Marmalade Hoverfly on notice on gate.

parent Moorhen with 2 chicks

Moorhen chick

Mallard hybrid duck

 the wording proclaims that the Reserve is managed for wildlife!

 Marmalade fly.

With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly identification.

please click on photos to enlarge them

Ballachurry Reserve, 9th July 2021.

July at Ballachurry Reserve

  My first visit for July! In the afternoon this time, starting at 1.30. Intermittently sunny but with a cool breeze for the most part. My first impression was that everywhere was very quiet from a birding point of view although I did see a few species during the next couple of hours. Here is what I recorded:

Birds:

SC209694 (from hide) Sedge Warbler in reed bed ( possibly juvenile?) with second bird also going into the reeds

SC209694 ( from hide) hybrid  Mallard duck with duckling

SC209694 juvenile Robin;  male Chaffinch; Sedge Warbler; Goldfinch.

SC208694 2 x Goldfinch; Blackbird heard but not seen.

SC209695 Wren heard but not seen; Pheasant heard but not seen

Butterflies & Moths:

SC209693 Speckled Wood

SC208694 Speckled Wood x 2

SC208694 Common Blue male; Speckled Wood x 2; Small Tortoiseshell

SC208695 Speckled Wood; Small Tortoiseshell

SC209695 Meadow Brown x 2; Small Tortoiseshell; Speckled Wood.

SC209694 Meadow Brown x 2;  Small White;  Small Tortoiseshell

SC209695 Common Carpet moth

SC209694 Celypha lacunana micro moth

SC208694 Nettle-tap moth

Ladybirds:

SC209694 7-spot Ladybird on Hogweed

SC208695 7-spot pupa on Bramble leaf

Other:

 SC209695 Eristalis species Hoverfly ( nemorum?)

 SC209694 Marmalade Hoverfly ( Episyrphus balteatus)

SC209693 Hazel nuts getting bigger ( winter food for Wood Mice!) 

SC209693 and elsewhere - Nursery Web spider nests

SC208695 several Green Muscid flies ( Eudasyphora cyanella?)

SC209695 Several Gorse Shieldbug nymphs, various instars.

SC209695 3 unidentified spiders in gorse carrying egg sacks

SC209694 5 x Tortoise beetle larvae on Thistle

SC209694 Froghopper on thistle 

SC208695 Banded Snail

SC208694 several leaches on back of hazard warning tape that had fallen into water

SC209694 Soldier Beetle

SC209694 resting Bumble bee

perhaps a juvenile Sedge Warbler?

Sedge Warbler

same Sedge Warbler

possibly a hybrid female duck - she has juvenile duckling

mother duck

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

colourful Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil

beloved of Common Blue butterflies

Small Tortoiseshell

Celypha lacunana micromoth

 Common Carpet moth

Nettle-tap moth

7-spot Ladybird on Hogweed

note green aphid - for dessert perhaps?

7-spot Ladybird pupa

spider carrying egg sack in gorse

another without eggs

web of a Nursery Web spider

Froghopper - probably the adult of the Cuckoo Spit variety

larva of Tortoise Beetle on thistle.

2 different instars of Gorse Shieldbug nymphs

another Gorse Shieldbug nymph

Banded Snail

 Leeches - probably Horse leeches.

on the back of the warning tape that had fallen into the water

Eristalis Hoverfly  ( nemorum? )on hogweed

another view

Marmalade Hoverfly ( Episyrphus balteatus)

 Muscid flies - possibly Eudasyphora cyanella

for once there was no collapsed Dropwort on the bridge

reedbed from the compost heap area

I had not noticed Horsetail in this location before

Loosestrife coming into flower in the meadow

Hazel nuts swelling nicely

resting Bumble Bee

Soldier beetle - first of many?

usual view from the hide ramp

neatly mown grass near the private entrance

Meadowsweet & gorse near the reed bed

then  home for tea!

 With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly identifications,  Ian Scott for moths and Dawn Colley for leeches.

please click on photos to enlarge them

Publicising two forthcoming Manx Wildlife Trust Events

 The Southern Group Committee have arranged this geology walk at Scarlett next Saturday. Booking is essential. See details below. 

Please click to enlarge

 

Also, if you are a member of the Manx Wildlife Trust you can partake of a rare treat! A members only visit to closed reserve Ballachrink  the following day, Sunday 18th July.  Full details also on www.mwt.im/events or in the What's On pages of your last MWT magazine. Free, but booking essential!

The Southern Group Committee has been campaigning for more access to closed reserves and this visit has been arranged to assess general interest. If well supported, visits to other closed reserves may follow.

Ballachurry Reserve, 30th June 2021

Final visit of June 2021 to Ballachurry Reserve

  I live on a hill and we woke up in the fog on Wednesday morning! I had planned to visit Ballachurry so this presented me with something of a dilemma. By ten o'clock there were signs of it lifting and the sun started to break through so I hastily gathered together my binoculars and camera etc. and headed down there. I had not been long through the gate when I realised I needed to fetch my fleece from the car! It was only the 30th of June after all! I was glad of it for the rest of the morning even when the sun came out as a cool breeze was blowing from the north west.  Here is what I recorded:

Birds: 

SC210694 Wren  heard but not seen

SC209694 Chiffchaff; Sedge Warbler; Willow Warbler heard but not seen; female Mallard with duckling ( possibly hybrid) Family of Long Tailed Tits ( see below)

SC209693 Blackcap  & Chaffinch heard but not seen; 

SC208694 Robin; Sedge Warbler with food in beak and brief sighting of two fledglings; female Blackbird.

SC208695 family of Long tailed Tits  ( hard to asses numbers but about 4 juveniles)  Chaffinch x 2 (male and female) Great Tit; Blue Tit juvenile. Possible Coal tit juvenile ( to be confirmed)

Butterflies , Moths & Caterpillars:

SC210694 Small Tortoiseshell ( possibly egg laying on nettles) 

SC210694 Clouded Border moth ( sorry , no photo)

SC209693 Speckled Wood

SC208694 Speckled Wood; unidentified White flying;  Small Tortoiseshell

SC208695 Small White; Meadow Brown; Small Tortoiseshell; Speckled Wood x 2.

SC209695 Speckled Wood x 2

SC209695 Silver Y resting in Hogweed . Very camouflaged

SC210694 4 x Orange Tip larvae on Garlic Mustard

SC209694 2 x  unidentified Green caterpillars on Hemlock Water Dropwort

SC209694 Depressaria daucella caterpillars in Hemlock Water Dropwort

Ladybirds:

SC210694  1 x 7-spot; 4 x 7-spot larvae; 1 x 7-spot pupa.

SC209694 2 x  7-spot larvae  on Hazel

SC209694 1 adult 7-spot, 4 x 7-spot larvae; 1 x 7-spot pupa on Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil

SC209694 7-spot  larva on thistle covered  with black aphids

SC209693 1 x 7-spot on Hemlock Water Dropwort

Other: 

SC210694 Nursery Web Spider in nettles; 5 x Capsid bugs in nettles

SC209695  2 x Gorse Shieldbug nymphs ( different instars)

SC209694 Gorse Shieldbug nymphs ( various instars)

SC209695  Muscid fly ( Eudasyphora cyanella?)  species fly on hogweed leaves

SC209695  Soldier fly Chloromyia formosa on hogweed leaves

 SC208694 Syrphus species Hoverfly

SC209694  Eristalis  pertinax hoverfly?

SC209695  Sarcophaga species fly and Wolf Spider carrying egg case on leaf 

SC209693 Hazel nuts starting to form

juvenile Blue Tit

Chiffchaff

one of several juvenile Long Tailed Tits

the same one

 another member of the family

 Female Mallard and duckling hiding in the undergrowth

very vocal Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler with food

one of the waiting  hungry juvenile SedgeWarblers

 Ladybird life cycle - 7-spot larva hatched from egg

then pupates

emerges as adult 7-spot Ladybird

one of several 7-spot larvae on the reserve

another 7-spot pupa

7-spot Ladybird

the larvae as well as the adults eat aphids

another 7-spot in the Hemlock Water Dropwort

unidentified caterpillar in Hemlock Water Dropwort

Depressaria daucella moth caterpillar in Hemlockl Water Dropwort

 a second unidentified  green caterpillar

Speckled Wood basking on the warm wood chip

and another on the grass

Meadow Brown

Small Tortoiseshell in the brambles

and another which might have been egg laying on the nettles

I wouldn't have noticed this Silver Y had I not stopped to photograph a fly

Eristalis  pertinax Hoverfly

Muscid fly - Eudasyphora cyanella  ( probably)

 Soldier Fly Chloromyia formosa

 Syrphus species Hoverfly

Hemlock Water Dropwort had again collapsed onto the bridge

I cut it back to make the boardwalk passable again

a bank of sea mist still sitting atop the hills

previously photgraphed Gorse Shieldbug eggs now empty

there are Gorse Shieldbug nymphs in various stages ( instars)

Gorse Shieldbug nymph

the gorse seed gives you an indication of size

colours change as they go through various instars

Capsid bug with fallen cherry - possibly Grypocoris stysi

Hogweed is taller than me in places but it's Common Hogweed not Giant

Purple Loosetrife coming into bloom in the meadow

Wolf spider with egg sack disturbed by Sarcophaga fly landing beside it

Hazel nuts starting to form

Colourful grasses and Yellow Rattle

Meadowsweet now in full bloom

everything in the meadow growing taller

heading through the gate homewards

It was amazing how much the vegetation had grown on the reserve in such a short time. Having completed my survey, I then removed 4 full barrow loads of  Dropwort, Hogweed and Brambles etc. which had either collapsed or grown across the paths. No doubt it will all be back again before my next visit! 

With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly IDs

 Please click on photos to enlarge them