Monday 20 June 2022

First Darter

A bit of SSE early on but quickly shifted to west by mid morning. The sun shone for most of the day, making it quite warm.

Middleton Nature Reserve - late morning
Both Janet and myself (MD) checked different areas this morning. First a nice set of pictures from Janet, as ever with Janet's pictures they should be opened to see the detail.


Ringlet were suddenly abundant 

Female Broad-bodied Chaser ovipositoring - the male was buzzing around above her

Narrow-bordered Five-Spot Burnet Moth

Juvenile Little Grebes, acting juvenile!
Meanwhile the adult was fishing 
Lesser Whitethroat 

The following lists are a combination of what we both saw and heard
There weren't many singing warblers, just:
Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Balckcap and a solitary Common Whitethroat 

Butterflies, quite a variety, but with the exception of the Ringlet not high numbers. In order of abundance:
Ringlet
Common Blue 
Small Heath 
Meadow Brown 
Whites (either Small or Green Veined or both)
Large Skipper
Speckled Wood 
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Small Tortoiseshell 

Moths
Silver Y
Cinnabar 
Narrow-bordered Five-Spot

Dragonflies:
Emperor
Broad-bodied Chaser
Four-Spotted Chaser
Black-Tailed Skimmer
Male Black-Tailed Skimmer with a male Common Blue Damselfly
Darter, there were a couple flitting about, but didn't manage a totally conclusive view, but pretty sure they were Common (MD)
Looks to be a Common Darter
Large Red Damselfly
Unusual for a damselfly, resting with its wings spread
Swift 3 and House Martin 2 feeding over the main pond 
Mute 2 adult with 7 cygnets 
Moorhen 2 adult 1 chick
Mallard 7 male now in eclipse 2 female with 1 and 5 young
Little grebe 3 adult 2 juvenile 

The Bee Orchids have had a good year and can be found all around the reserve, but they are already getting past their best.

On her way off the reserve, Janet ventured too close to a nesting Lesser Black-Backed gull, and was duly dive bombed!