my local patch and wildlife - Ian McDonald

[ian mcdonald]

Last Saturdays visit by about 20 naturalists went well. The day was hot and sunny. A lot of recording was carried out on various aspects of natural history and some mentioned a return visit would be good later in the season. Today started out dull and cold then the sun came out, so did the mossies. I went to check a sedge, similar to one seen on Saturday. This one fitted the description in the books. Saturdays sedge has been sent to a Referee for a decision. Two roe deer were seen in different areas today. In a wet wood I noticed Yellow Flag was about to come into flower. If it were not for the mossies and the excess water I would explore this area again. The new pump is still not working but the water levels have gone down a bit, probably due to evaporation. Birds seen today were whitethroat, chiff chaff, willow warbler, garden warbler, blackbird, song thrush, pheasant, crane, wood pigeon, tufted duck, black headed gulls, mallard, shoveler, teal, grey lag geese and young, cuckoos, blackcap, linnets, pied wagtail, crow, buzzard, wren, lapwings, marsh harrier, hobby, coot, swift, and great spotted woodpecker.



Lapwing.

[ian mcdonald]

Today I went with a local Naturalist to look at a local Fen. Due to the wet winter it was not possible to access the whole area. We did see Meadow Rue in a grassy area. We then moved to an area of acid grassland. Among the insects seen was a Cinnabar Moth. Also seen were quite a few plants of Spring Vetch (Vicia lathyroides). Yellow flag was in flower in a ditch. We then visited a pond where Variable Damselfly had been recorded in the past. The day was hot (33C at ground level) and several of the variable damsels were seen. Also seen were male and female Banded Damsels ( Agrion splendens). I have just received a message to say that the Variable Damselfly may not be that species, will have to wait and see.



Cinnabar moth.



Yellow Flag.



Variable Damselfly.



Male Banded damselfly.



Female Banded Damselfly.

[Robert]

Ian,

Variable Damselfly or not, great photographs. 

[ian mcdonald]

 The weather today was muggy, i.e., misty, hot and no wind. I met a group of people who were going to look at Transects to study the Large Heath butterfly in the coming weeks. I saw a few beds of Marsh Cinquefoil in ditches. A cettis warbler was singing from bushes for a while but as usual I could not get a view of the bird. Many small birds were heard and sometimes seen. These included Stonechat and Meadow Pipit. A Willow Tit was heard in small trees. On open water Mallard, Teal, Lapwing, Shoveler and Tufted Duck were seen. Several Cuckoos were calling in different areas. Butterflies were still not common but those seen included Speckled Wood, Small Copper and Common Blue. A caterpillar of Yellow Tail was seen on grey willow. Lackeys were on their web.  A Drinker was found on a path. Several sedges are now either flowering or in fruit. Birds were, black headed gulls, mallard, whitethroat, reed bunting, reed warbler, blackcap, garden warbler, blackbird, cettis warbler, teal, shoveler, lapwing, chaffinch, chiff chaff, cuckoo, willow tit, robin, willow warbler, crow, pheasant, wren, grey lag geese, gadwall, stonechat, yellowhammer, meadow pipit, sedge warbler, marsh harrier, hobby, buzzard, tufted duck and a grey squirrel.



Marsh cinquefoil.



Stonechat.



Meadow pipit.

[ian mcdonald]

Pendulous sedge, C. pendula.



Speckled wood.



False fox sedge, C. otrubae.



Wood sedge, C. sylvatica.

[Robert]

Ian,

I was working with some biologists the other day. The Sibley's App was very interesting with excellent recordings of bird songs and calls. There must be a UK - European version of something very similar. I was quite impressed as we could call in a number of difficult to observe birds such as Willow Flycatchers (we did not have a lot of time). Do you use anything like this on your outings or do you do 100% manual observations? I like the idea of manual observations and the skill it requires, however something like Sibley's can have its places, especially to review a day out in the field and check ones results. It was clearly helpful when we had limited time and needed to make the best of our limited time.

[ian mcdonald]

Robert, the RSPB bird site has recordings of many of the UK species songs. I do not use aids (apart from binoculars and camera) while on site, my phone is not able to do such things. I don,t even have it switched on. Maybe it would be useful to play a cettis warbler song to see if the bird comes out into the open but I rely on luck. I don,t really go out to record other wildlife apart from the plants. Anything else is a bonus.

[ian mcdonald]

Today started out dull but when the sun did come out it was very warm. I decided to look at the marsh orchids. The photos of northern marsh do not show the deep colour of the petals. Some of the southern marsh orchids have a deeper colour than usual but are still D. praetermissa. A count of the dune helleborines totalled 35. They are not in flower yet. Many small birds were seen and heard and several species of butterfly were on the wing. In the late afternoon I met a young lady who said she was looking for open water. She did not say why. I met a party of naturalists who came on site just as I was leaving and they found a dead water vole by the track. All in all a good day. A roe deer ran across the track as I was leaving the site. Birds today were grey partridge, skylark, reed bunting, black headed gulls, shoveler, gadwall, reed warbler, sedge warbler, crow, robin, mallard, coot, moorhen, willow warbler, chiff chaff, cuckoos having a choir practice, wren, marsh harrier, hobby, pheasant, jay, blackbird, yellowhammer, tawny owl, crane, tufted duck, canada geese, grey lag geese, blackcap, blue tit, swifts, house martins and sand martins. Butterflies were large skipper, common blue, speckled wood and several large heath. Animals were hare, rabbit, roe deer and dead water vole.



Large skipper.



Northern marsh orchids.



Common spotted orchid.



Woody nightshade.

[ian mcdonald]

Dog rose.



Sothern marsh with spotted leaves.



Southern marsh with unspotted leaves.



Bee orchid.

[ian mcdonald]

Large heath,



Dead water vole.



Roe deer.

[ian mcdonald]

Yesterday started with a clear sky and then a cloud cover came over, however, it was a hot clammy sort of day. Walking along a path by open water I noticed an adult grebe with a chick, not far away. The Grebe was a black necked grebe, not a common bird in this area. Later the chick climbed on the parents back for a ride. A naturalist turned up with a telescope and we watched the birds for a few minutes when he noticed a grass snake swimming over the water. Two other naturalists were on site recording large heath butterflies in various areas. In the early evening when we were leaving, another black necked grebe was seen on an adjacent pool. The first one was still in the same area as the morning and the chick seemed to be calling from near the waters edge. More butterflies are present now with additional species being seen. I heard my first Turtle Dove of this year, although other people have recorded them for some time. I noticed an orange coloured moth and decided to try and get a photo. of it. While following the moth a roe deer buck jumped up from the grass about twenty yards away and I lost the moth. Cuckoos are still calling their usual song. I met the naturalists again later and they started sweeping the vegetation for insects. One of the insects caught was a conehead. They had found a small colourful spider which was uncommon in our area. As we were talking, a red deer joined the main track and headed away from us. Rest harrow,  Ononis repens, so named because its tough roots used to obstruct cultivation, is spreading along the main track. I noticed one orchid with red flowers. Southern marsh orchids have variable shades of pink/purple but this one was a clear red in colour. The pattern on the lower lip still resembled that of D. praetermissa and not being an orchid expert I would think that it is another variation. The camera does not record the red colour of this orchid flower, instead it is purple. This year seems to be a good one for orchid flowers in our area.



Black necked grebe and young.



Skullcap.



Red flowered southern marsh orchid.



Ringlet.

[ian mcdonald]

Rest harrow.



Pyramidal orchid.



Tufted vetch, Vicia cracca.



Meadow rue, Thalictrum flavum.

[ian mcdonald]

Dog daisy.



Conehead.



Red deer.

Seen or heard were, kestrel, buzzard, reed bunting, sedge warbler, coot, black headed gull, shoveler, gadwall, black necked grebe, hobby, pheasant, reed warbler, blackcap, song thrush, willow warbler, chaffinch, wren, turtle dove, crow, lapwing, teal, chiff chaff, cettis warbler, yellowhammer, crane, starling, little grebe, swift, marsh harrier, cuckoo, sparrow hawk, blackbird, whitethroat. Roe deer, red deer. Butterflies were, large heath, common blue, large skipper, meadow brown, ringlet, peacock and small copper.

[ian mcdonald]

As the weather has improved I have decided to visit the site twice a week. The report will be combined. On Monday the weather was sunny and warm with a breeze. On Wednesday it was warm and windy. On Monday I went to look at the water situation in one of the wet woods. The water level has gone down quite a bit, probably due to lack of rain and transpiration from the trees. Walking along a rough path I flushed a woodcock, this is usually the only time I see them when they are flushed. Cuckoos are still calling their usual song. On Monday I nearly stood on an adder which was in the centre of a track. Six species of butterfly were noted on Monday including large heath, a specialist of bogs, marshes and heaths. Many large skippers are on the wing now. On Wednesday I met two naturalists who are carrying out a butterfly survey with the main target being the large heath. Set transects are followed so that the numbers are recorded along the same areas. Two long horn beetles were seen, Rutpela maculata and Leptura quadrifasciata. Two roe deer were standing by a field edge as I reached the site, only a few yards away and did not seem disturbed by my presence. On Wednesday we were walking along a track when we noticed a female red deer come out onto the path behind us. A gruesome discovery was a well decayed carcass of a male red deer in a shallow ditch. As we were leaving on Wednesday a female adder slowly crossed the track in front of us. Butterflies seen on the two days were large heath, ringlet, common blue, large skipper, meadow brown, speckled wood, large white and red admiral. Birds were, stonechat, linnet, black headed gull, kestrel, coot, crow, willow warbler, great tit, blue tit, marsh harrier, swift, chiffchaff, woodcock, song thrush, mallard, reed bunting, wood pigeon, hobby, buzzard, sedge warbler, whitethroat, blackbird, cuckoo, pheasant, wren, lapwing, crane, blackcap, water rail, teal, shoveler, robin and cettis warbler.



Nursery web spider.



Red deer hind

[ian mcdonald]

Six spot burnet moth.



An almost pure white marsh orchid (southern?)



Carex demissa.



Rutpela maculata