Dots of Green

The prolonged dry conditions have caused the grass to go brown almost everywhere you look at the moment. Grasses are a group of plants that are drought adapted and when it rains you can be confident that it will green up again quite rapidly. Other plants respond differently, most annuals are as crisp as the grass, often growing less than usual and seeding earlier before the lack of water kills them. What is obvious though is that even in the brownest grass there still dots of green, these are the deep rooted perennial plants. In my mini-meadow the field scabious in particular still has green leaves and is covered in flowers.

The plants that can keep growing in these conditions provide valuable nectar sources for insects. At Blashford Lakes one plant that just carries on is burdock and the plants near the Education Centre are a magnet for insects.

silver-washed fritillary

Most butterflies have had a good season, numbers overall have been higher than in recent years, although many are not flying for very long. The species that over-winter by hibernation such as peacock and small tortoiseshell have disappeared, they will be hiding away in sheds and cellars, before they fly again in the early autumn.

One group of butterflies that don’t seem to mind the conditions are the whites, perhaps being white their colour reflects the heat better than the dark browns, which hide away in the shade during the hottest part of the day.

small white

As well as butterflies the same flowers are attracting bees as well, at Blashford Lake, a swell as the bumble-bees, I have seen lots of green-eyed flower bee on the burdock flowers. These smallish, compact bees are very fast flyers and have a distinctive, high pitched buzz.

green-eyed flower bee

In general the reserve remains quite for birds. On Ivy Lake over a hundred gadwall is a good count for the time of year and on Ibsley Water there are good numbers of coot and tufted duck, although counting them is proving tricky. A few migrant waders are turning up, a common sandpiper or two and the occasional black-tailed godwit are witness to approaching autumn. The ringers have reported catching willow warbler, whitethroat and grasshopper warbler recently, almost certainly all migrants rather than local birds.

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30 Days Wild – Day 27 – On the Marsh

The majority of my day was spent at one of our occasional staff meetings, a chance to catch up with what other members of staff have been doing, learn about the projects and discuss future direction. Despite their undoubted value, it is often difficult to be sat indoors on a fine day, although on such a warm day being in the shade was not that unwelcome.

After the meeting I went down to as saltmarsh site beside Southampton Water to try to assist with a research project looking at the worrying rates of change along the eroding outer edged of the marshes. Large sections of The Solent coast has a margin of saltmarsh, this narrow strip of habitat has a whole suite of specialised species that live nowhere else. Unfortunately sea level rise and the lack of space for these habitats to migrate inland is meaning they are disappearing as they get squeezed out of existence.

The saltmarsh along Southampton Water is very diverse with lots of the characteristic species of these habitats. The outer edges have banks of shells known as cherniers which can smother the vegetation, if they kill leaving bare mud this can get more easily eroded although it can be recolonised by plants such as glasswort.

glasswort colonising mud on the chernier edge

The lack of freshwater makes a saltmarsh somewhat similar to a very arid area and some of the adaptations are similar, for example fleshy and glaucous leaves.

sea purslane growing through the chernier bank

Inland from the shell banks the marshes are very flat, but still have variety in the form of creeks and subtle changes in elevation. These are enough to offer a variety of slightly different niches. In shorter areas sea-spurrey  can be common and its starry flowers are popular with the insects that also live out on the marshes.

sea-spurrey flower

The higher areas of long-established marshes can have large areas of sea-lavender are very popular with insects and produce large swathes of colour.

sea-lavender in flower

Returning home I had time for a quick look at the meadow.

What’s in My Meadow Today?

There were several small skipper and a meadow brown or two in what is now a very dry meadow. Most of the grasses are brown or yellow, but the deeper rooted perennial herbs are still green and many in full flower. Wandering over the vegetation I found a 7-spot ladybird. This used to be our commonest larger ladybird, before the arrival of the harlequin ladybird from SE Asia, via the horticultural trade.

7-spot ladybird