30 Days Wild – Day 27

A very different day, windy and quite wet at times with heavy showers, especially in the morning,. Despite this the moth catch was still reasonable, although nothing like yesterday’s. There were several species caught for the first time this year such as slender brindle, dingy footman, black arches, blue-bordered carpet and European corn borer. There were also several extra micro moths such as pine shoot moth,

pine shoot moth

and Zeiraphera isertana.

Zeiraphera isertana

However the top prize for “Catch of the Day” went to a soldierfly, Oxycera rara.

Oxycera rara

Perhaps blown in by the windy weather, a young, second calendar year little gull was over Ibsley Water. At the Centre a hobby flew over and there was a grey wagtail around the ponds. The common tern colony on the rafts on Ivy Lake is still going strong, with the chicks growing fast and lots of pairs with all three chick still surviving. The wind can be a problem for chicks when they are first trying to fly, lifting them off the rafts prematurely, luckily they are not that well grown yet. However strong winds can make it much harder for the adults to catch the fish they need to feed the chicks, resulting in poorer growth, or at worst, starvation. The next couple of weeks will see how they have fared.

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Butterflies, Flowers and the Dead

Although today was another mainly dominated by rain and yet more rain, it was also Thursday and so the rain held off until after the volunteers had finished work, as is to be expected. The task was pulling ragwort, yet again, but we will probably only have one more week to go before it starts to seed. In fact when we started work the sun was almost out an there were butterflies flying between the flowers along the lakeshore, they were mostly meadow browns and marbled whites, two species that will fly in dull conditions so long as it is moderately warm.

marbled white

The moth trap was very quiet following a rather cool night and as I was not in yesterday I will report on Tuesday’s catch, which did not make it to the blog. A couple of new species for the year were included, these being barred straw.

barred straw

Barred straw rest with their wings curled at the edges, presumably to try to look less moth-like when amongst appropriately coloured leaves. There was also a very fresh slender brindle.

slender brindle

Normally this time of year is dominated by insects and as a result lots of plants that flower now are rich in nectar to attract them as pollinators. Moths visit lots of flowers and some like honeysuckle attract species such as the long-tongued hawk-moths, such as elephant hawk-moth and the migrant humming-bird hawk-moth.

honeysuckle

Thistles are also very good nectar sources with the tall marsh thistle being especially popular with silver-washed fritillaries.

marsh thistle

Perhaps one of the most visited plant types are the brambles, they provide a good source of food for insects and the many micro species flower at slightly different times meaning they are available for a very long season.

hoverfly on bramble flower

Ragwort is also a very good nectar source for lots of insects and this is always one of the conflicts we face when deciding to remove it. A site like Blashford will always have ragwort, a long history of ground disturbance and as a result a huge store of seed must now be in the soil. We will only ever keep the amount under a degree of control and reduce the risk of spread onto neighbouring land. It is poisonous to stock, although usually they will not eat it when it is growing and there is grass available, in hay it is a different matter. On the way to today’s task we came across a headless linnet lying beside the path, presumably killed by a bird of prey, probably a sparrowhawk, apart from the lack of a head it was in good condition.

headless linnet

The recent rain has resulted in very high flows in the Dockens Water and this has shifted shingle banks and made and damaged various log jams.  I was inspecting one of the log piles when I noticed the wet log on top was covered in black fungi, they were deadman’s fingers, the picture is not great both because it was raining quite hard and due to the very deep shade.

deadman’s fingers

There are still very few birds of note to report, today’s highlights included a duck pochard on Ivy Lake, where there were also at least 47 mute swans. At the end of the day an adult common sandpiper on the small section of cleared shore in front of the Tern hide was pleasing as we spent a couple of hours removing the vegetation there last week.