Linacre Insects -28th July 2016

Yesterday, while I was down at Linacre looking at the birds. I also spent some time photographing some of the insect and plant life to be found at this site. All these records refer to species that I spotted on the banks of the middle and top reservoirs in a 2 hour period. This area is very good for insects, especially this year, because the grass there has been left uncut, which has allowed a good number of flowers and grasses to grow. I'm not an expert on flowers, but I recognised knapweeds, Betony, Cow Parsley, clovers, plantains, Harebells and Hawkbit, amongst the grasses.

Knapweeds

Betony

The most obvious insects on site are, of course, the butterflies. This year doesn't appear to be great for butterflies, but I still managed to spot the following species: Meadow Brown (10+), Large White (1), Comma (1) Green-veined White (1) and Small Tortoiseshell (1).

Meadow Brown on knapweed

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell

One species of damselfly; Common Blue Damselfly, and 1 species of dragonfly; Brown Hawker, were seen. The hawker was flying and feeding over the banks, while the damselflies, including young ones (tenerals), adults and pairs "in tandem" were all over!!

Common Blue Damselflies "in tandem"

The final two group of insects, the hoverflies and bumblebees, were also present in good numbers. I identified Red-tailed, White-tailed and Common Carder Bumblebees.

The hoverflies are a bit trickier(!), but I think I managed to identify five different species, none of which have English names. There were: Eristalsis pertinax, Eristalsis tenax, Eristalsis horticola (known collectively as Drone Flies), Myathropa florea and a Syrphus species, possibly Syrphus ribessi. Please let me know if you think otherwise.

Eristalsis pertinax

Eristalsis tenax

Eristalsis horticola

Myathropa florea

Syrphus ribesii

Hopefully, these photos will inspire you to stop and have a look at the many hoverfly species that can be found on a sunny day. If you would like a good field guide, have a look at this one here, it's very informative, with super photos and explanations about the different species.

Linacre insects and flowers

At this time of the year the birdlife at Linacre can go quite quiet, so, whilst walking around on Sunday, I also started to look around at the flowers that are coming out and some of the insects that live on them. Some of the species I didn't recognise, so I put them on iSpot and got a few new names. Here are a few pictures.

Red and Black Froghopper

 

 

Marmalade Hoverfly

 

Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius - male)

 

Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)

 

Marsh Snipefly (Rhagio tringarius)

 

Marsh Orchid species

 

Common-spotted Orchid

 

First summer migrants and 2 nests!

Wow, what a morning. I've just returned from Linacre where, in a couple of hours, I've recorded my first Chiffchaff of the year, a pair of nest building and mating Mistle Thrush, my second ever Linacre Curlew, a Great-crested Grebe, also sat on a nest, and a queen Red-tailed Bumblebee. phew!

The Mistle Thrush record is particularly good because this is my first actual record of breeding behaviour at Linacre except for singing and being in the correct habitat at the right time of year. As well as this it's also the first time I've found their nest. The nest itself is about 15m up in the fork of a sycamore tree, so I won't be able to see in which is a pity because I'd really like to record its outcome for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. I should, however, be able to watch it with my 'scope and so I may be able to record some of the comings and goings. Here's a picture of the nest, well hidden behind the ivy.

Mistle Thrush nest

Curlew is a very uncommon species for Linacre and one that has never been recorded on the ground. My first record was in August 2011, when one was calling and flying over. Today's record was very similar with the bird being heard but not seen. I presume both records will have been local birds flying over "on passage" to their breeding grounds in the surrounding moorlands.

The Chiffchaff record was my first of the year and came 5 days later than in 2011 (12th March, which is my earliest ever record and could have referred to an over wintering individual as it wasn't singing.)

Great-crested Grebes have been present every year since the group's recording began in 2006 and has nested on the reservoirs in 2009 and 2010. This year's nest is the earliest ever and my first in March. The eggs are normally incubated by both adults for about 29 days, so it should mid April before the chicks are seen. Let's see how it develops. Here's one of the adult birds sitting tight.

Great-crested Grebe

Other birds spotted today were: Mallard (32), Moorhen (7), Coot (15), Tufted Duck (6), Mandarin (2), Common Buzzard (calling), Great-spotted Woodpecker (drumming), Tawny Owl ( a pair "twitt twooing"), Pied Wagtail (singing male) and Cormorant (1).

The Year List moved on 2 more species this week:

103: Stock Dove
104: Chiffchaff