Hardwick Ponds - 24th July 2021

 Jayne and I had a walk around the ponds at Hardwick Hall yesterday. It was 20 degrees, with a lot of cloud cover and a few sunny spells.

Whilst there we saw 6 species of odanata, the highlight being my first record of Small Red-eyed Damselfly for this site. Other species seen were: Red-eyed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor, Brown Hawker and Black-tailed Skimmer.

Red-eyed Damselfly

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Butterfly species seen were: Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Gatekeeper and Large White. We also saw this caterpillar, which I think is a Large White. and a single Volucella pellucens (Great Pied Hoverfly).

Birdwise, it was pretty quiet, but there were Mallard and Tufted Duck ducklings as well as young Coots, Moorhens , Canada Geese and 2 adult Black-headed Gulls.

Linacre Ringing - 18th July 2021

Last Sunday I was down at Linacre for a mist netting session with Sorby Breck Ringing Group. It was our first session since May, and we managed to catch  a good number of birds, including our first juvenile warblers of the year.

Totals were (new/retraps): Blue Tit 0/1, Goldcrest 1/0, Great Tit 7/0 - all juveniles, Willow Warbler 2/0 - both juveniles, Chiffchaff 2/0 - both juveniles, Blackcap 6/0 - 5 juveniles, Blackbird 2/1 - 2 juveniles and an adult female, first ringed in 2019, Dunnock 1/0 - 1 juvenile and Wren 1/0 - juvenile.

Willow Warbler (juvenile)

Other birds seen whilst there were a Swift (the last record of 2021?), a Jay and a Sparrowhawk. 

The temperature was 20 degrees whilst we were there, so there were lots of insects about, including 2 Gatekeepers, 1 Brown Hawker, 2 Small Skippers, 2 Meadow Browns, 20+ Ringlets, 2 Great Pied Hoverflies and, nest of all, a single Purple Hairstreak!!!

Isle of Wight Insects

Following on from my first post about the butterflies of the Isle of Wight, I thought I'd better blog about some of the other insects that Jayne and I have spotted this week. We've been pretty lucky with sightings, including a few new ones!

First up, the dragonflies and damselflies. In addition to the Beautiful Demoiselle, we have seen Azure Damselfly (pair ovipositing in a small pond at Osborne House), Common Blue Damselfly (1 male at the Garlic Farm) and Blue-tailed Damselfly (6+, including ovipositing females) at Ventnor Botanical Gardens.

Azure Damselflies

Dragonflies seen are: Emperor (1 male flying around Ventnor Botanical Gardens), Common Darter (1 female in Ventnor Botanical Gardens), and a hawker species, either Migrant or Southern Hawker seen flying around the Botanical Gardens.

Surprisingly, we've also managed to see a few moths. The first one ( a new species for me) was a Brown-Tail that was found on a chair outside a restaurant in Ventnor last Saturday. Also seen in Ventnor during the day was a Magpie. The last three species were seen yesterday evening. Two, Mother of Pearl (new) and Small Magpie were seen near St Boniface Down in Ventnor, whilst the final species, Jersey Tiger (new) was found on the cliff side at Wheelers Bay, just outside Ventnor.

Brown -Tail

Mother of Pearl

Jersey Tiger

I haven't seen too many different hoverflies so far, but I have managed to see a couple of Volucella species; Volucella pellucens (also known as Great Pied Flycatcher) and Volucella zonaria. The first species, V. pellucens is a common species seen regularly in Derbyshire and at Linacre, whilst the second species; V. zonaria, is much less common. It was first reported in Britain in the late 1930's and has not yet, as far as I know, been reported in Derbyshire. It is also the largest and most impressive British hoverfly, growing up to 19mm in length! So far we've seen this species at Ventnor Botanical Gardens and at Osborne House.

Volucella zonaria

The last two species of note are two beetles; Rose Chafer seen at Ventnor Botanical Gardens (thanks Jayne) and an, an interesting beetle called a Bloody-nosed Beetle seen at the Garlic Farm today.

Rose Chafer

Bloody-nosed Beetle

Linacre June WeBS and new insects

This month's WeBS count was carried out today by Mandy from the Chesterfield RSPB Group (thanks Mandy). Wildfowl numbers were good, and a confirmed breeding record for Tufted Duck was also a really good record.

Counts this month were: Mallard 57; 51 adults and 6 juveniles, Coot 25;13 adults and 12 juveniles, Moorhen 7; 1adult and 6 juveniles, Great-crested Grebe 2; 1adult and 1 juvenile, Tufted Duck 10; 5 adults and 5 juveniles, Mandarin 23; 14 adults and 9 juveniles, Canada Goose 1, Grey Wagtail at least 4; 2 adults and 2 juveniles.

Whilst Mandy was doing the WeBS count , I spent some time looking at some insects! 5 species of butterfly were seen; Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood , Ringlet (my first of the year), Large Skipper (also a first for the year, and a new species for the site, as far as I am aware), and a Red Admiral (seen by Mandy).

Large Skipper

I also spotted one species of damselfly; a pair of Common Blues "in cop" i.e. mating, and most excitingly, another brand new species for Linacre; Broad-bodied Chaser! Not only did I see 2, a male and  a female, but I also got a photo of both sexes.

Broad-bodied Chaser (male)

Broad-bodied Chaser (female)

 

Final note on the insects goes to two hoverfly species that were seen. The first, Great Pied Hoverfly, is one I first recorded last year.

Great Pied Hoverfly

 

At least 2 individual were seen, along with a couple of another species, Volucella bombylans, a stunning bee mimic (see last post for a photo).

Linacre Insects

Every summer I spend some time looking at the insect life at Linacre. Today I spent  three hours walking around the bottom and middle reservoirs and recorded some lovely things. Here are some photos:

White-tailed Bumblebee

Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle

Common Carder Bee

Great Pied Hoverfly

Green-veined White

Small Copper



Other species seen, but not photographed were: Small White, Large White, Peacock and a Southern Hawker dragonfly that chased, caught and ate a Speckled Wood butterfly.