Monday 25 May 2020

Linacre Update - 20th May 2020

I had a walk around Linacre with my nephew, Luke, on 20th May. The weather was warm and sunny and we got some great views of some of the insects and birds, including one species last reported in 2011!!!

I'd better start with the bird not recorded since 2011 - SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. Our last sighting was back in June 2011 (see here). This year's sighting was in a different part of the woods that I don't normally visit, so it's possible it has been present in previous years and not spotted.

Spotted Flycatcher

Insect wise it was also a good visit. The first sighting was a Wall Brown. This was very nice, as I had my first Linacre record of this butterfly last year. Next up was a Green Shieldbug, followed by a Small Copper, a Dingy Skipper (my first sighting since 2014!) and a Speckled Wood.

Wall Brown

Dingy Skipper

Wednesday's trip was also the first time in 2020 that we were able to record any damselflies, with two species seen: Large Red and Common Blue. These two species are recorded annually at Linacre, but this visit was the first time that I've actually seen Large Red Damselflies ovipositing (egg laying) on site. One pair was seen laying eggs in vegetation on the bottom reservoir. Exuviae of this species, and of Common Blue Damselfly were also found for the first time. The Large Red exuviae were in the ringing site, and the Common Blue (1) was found on the top reservoir.

Large Red Damselfly

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