☀️ Wednesday 14th June 2017 ~ Sadly my mum isnt too well at the moment and so in between numerous trips up to Liverpool I managed my first extended Brandon Marsh visit today in glorious sunshine.
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| Mating Speckled Wood |
With the birds busy nesting I spent my time touring the woods and meadows and didn't bother visiting the hides. Despite the glorious conditions I have to say that the amount of butterflies on the wing was very disappointing. In fact I spent a little while on River Meadow with John Osborne, who was completing a butterfly transect and he confirmed that the numbers were of concern. We did manage various counts of
Meadow Brown and
Ringlet, plus around a dozen or so
Chimney Sweeper moths,
Banded Demoiselle were abundant and a single
Emperor Dragonfly was on the the River Avon. Along the treeline a year first
Brown Hawker!
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| Large Skipper ~ Horsetail Glade |
Lunch in Horsetail Glade around the bench area and here a
Hairy Dragonfly, along with a couple of
Large Skippers and single
Grass Snake. Some juvenile
Treecreepers were spending a lot of time around the fallen trees and it seems that a pair of
Jays have also been nesting in the area, a distant
Cuckoo was also heard!
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| One of three Small Heath on Farm Field |
The dipping pond adjacent to the old tool store produced
Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly, plus
Large Red,
Azure and
Common Blue damselfly and I also completed a full circle around the top reed beds and farm area, recording of note
Marbled White and three
Small Heath, but once more numbers were disappointing!
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| Female Banded Demoiselle |
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| [oedemera nobilis] a type of Flower Beetle |
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| Black-tailed Skimmer in volunteers car park! |
