Hello
Today was another Natutretrek day trip to the Wildlife Trust reserve at Pitsford Reservoir. After meeting at 9am, Mischa provided some eleven specimens from the moth trap to examine before they were given their liberty and included a Bufftip which was recently voted as Britain's favourite moth!
We then took a slow walk around the reserve in initially breezy, grey conditions but this gradually gave way to an increase in temperature and then some lovely periods of sunshine. Ringlets were the first butterflies to put in an appearance followed by the whites and in the end we saw 16 different species with a couple of examples of Marbled White and lots of pristine Peacocks, Red Admirals and one small area with several bright Commas.
The best bird was a stunning adult male Common Redstart that was using the perimeter fence between the Holcot and Walgrave Bays about 400m east of the Old Walgrave Road as it's feeding perch with sallies down to the ground and adjacent plantation.
Clouds of Common Blue Damselflies lifted out of the grass as we progressed and we saw a couple of Common Toadlets. The Walgrave Bay hosted at least three Little Egrets and a Hobby and by this time Ruddy and Common Darters were on the wing and the small pools at the bottom of the bay was good for Four-spotted Chaser, Emerald Damselfly and Blue Emperor with occasional glimpses of Brown Hawkers and Black-tailed Skimmers. A male Muntjac barked at us and we heard quite a few Marsh Tits without properly seeing any of them!
There were rather more birds in the Scaldwell Bay where Mischa rescued a Common Tern chick and placed it in the raft it needs to remain in for a little longer before trying to fly again! Rafts of feeding Coots included plenty of Gadwall and two small broods of Tufted Ducks were present. A Southern Hawker dragonfly posed nicely and a Black-tailed Godwit was on the shoreline between the Bird Club and Maytrees Hides.
Stanwick enjoyed a variety of birds today with two mobile Great White Egrets, two Cattle Egrets, a Black-tailed Godwit, two Redshanks, two Little Ringed Plovers, a Common Sandpiper, a Whimbrel (that subsequently flew off), a Yellow-legged Gull and a Turtle Dove that flew east.
One of the Black-necked Grebes was still at Summer Leys LNR today plus a Dunlin on Round Island and two Great White Egrets flew SW at Stanford Reservoir this morning.
Regards
Neil M
Today was another Natutretrek day trip to the Wildlife Trust reserve at Pitsford Reservoir. After meeting at 9am, Mischa provided some eleven specimens from the moth trap to examine before they were given their liberty and included a Bufftip which was recently voted as Britain's favourite moth!
We then took a slow walk around the reserve in initially breezy, grey conditions but this gradually gave way to an increase in temperature and then some lovely periods of sunshine. Ringlets were the first butterflies to put in an appearance followed by the whites and in the end we saw 16 different species with a couple of examples of Marbled White and lots of pristine Peacocks, Red Admirals and one small area with several bright Commas.
The best bird was a stunning adult male Common Redstart that was using the perimeter fence between the Holcot and Walgrave Bays about 400m east of the Old Walgrave Road as it's feeding perch with sallies down to the ground and adjacent plantation.
Clouds of Common Blue Damselflies lifted out of the grass as we progressed and we saw a couple of Common Toadlets. The Walgrave Bay hosted at least three Little Egrets and a Hobby and by this time Ruddy and Common Darters were on the wing and the small pools at the bottom of the bay was good for Four-spotted Chaser, Emerald Damselfly and Blue Emperor with occasional glimpses of Brown Hawkers and Black-tailed Skimmers. A male Muntjac barked at us and we heard quite a few Marsh Tits without properly seeing any of them!
There were rather more birds in the Scaldwell Bay where Mischa rescued a Common Tern chick and placed it in the raft it needs to remain in for a little longer before trying to fly again! Rafts of feeding Coots included plenty of Gadwall and two small broods of Tufted Ducks were present. A Southern Hawker dragonfly posed nicely and a Black-tailed Godwit was on the shoreline between the Bird Club and Maytrees Hides.
Stanwick enjoyed a variety of birds today with two mobile Great White Egrets, two Cattle Egrets, a Black-tailed Godwit, two Redshanks, two Little Ringed Plovers, a Common Sandpiper, a Whimbrel (that subsequently flew off), a Yellow-legged Gull and a Turtle Dove that flew east.
One of the Black-necked Grebes was still at Summer Leys LNR today plus a Dunlin on Round Island and two Great White Egrets flew SW at Stanford Reservoir this morning.
Regards
Neil M
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| Adult male Common Redstart...sorry it's a bit distant! |
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| Emerald Damselfly. |
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| Four spotted Chaser probably of the form 'praenublia'. |
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| Gatekeeper or if you prefer the old name - Hedge Brown! |
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| Ringlet. |
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| Ruddy Darter. |
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| Southern Hawker. All images taken at Pitsford Reservoir today. |
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