Linacre Insects - A New Species!

 I was down at Linacre on Thursday (29th) doing the last check on the nestboxes (more details to follow). The weather was pretty decent, with sunny spells and temperatures in the high teens, so I managed to spot a few insects too, including a new species for Linacre - Burnet Companion. 

Burnet Companion is a species of day-flying moth. It's pretty common, but hasn't been recorded here before, so this sighting was a very nice one.

Burnet Companion

Other species seen were: Common Blue Damselfly (3 males), Wall Brown ( 1 worn male), 1 Scorpion Fly, Nettletap (moth), Swollen-thighed Beetle, Large White (1) and a couple of hoverflies; Helophilus pendulus and Myathropa florea.

Common Blue Damselfly

Linacre - 11th June 2023

 Yesterday, Luke and I went down to Linacre to check on, and ring, the last few chicks. There were four boxes left, but when we got there, just two still had chicks, and two had been predated. The first box contained 3 Pied Flycatcher chicks and the other held 3 Blue Tits.

Pied Flycatcher

Now that all the boxes have been checked the totals for 2023 are as follows: Blue Tit; 14 broods and 93 chicks, Great Tit; 7 broods and 46 chicks and Pied Flycatcher; 1 brood and 3 chicks. This gives a total of 142 chicks ringed.

Whilst on site, we also spotted 5 adult Great-crested Grebes, with 2 juveniles and one pair on a nest, 45 adult Mallards and 7 broods of ducklings totally 34 young, 11 adult Coots and 10 juveniles (3 broods), 6 Moorhens and 8 juveniles (5 broods), 24 adult Tufted Ducks, 40 Mandarin Ducks (28 adults and 11 ducklings (3 broods), 3 Grey Wagtails (1 adult and 2 juveniles), 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3 Swallows, 4 Chiffchaffs, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Willow Warbler, Goldfinch, Skylark, 5 Song Thrushes (singing and 1 adult seen), 2 Bullfinches (1m and 1fm) and 1 singing Garden Warbler.

Coot chicks

Insect wise, we saw 3 Common Blue Damselflies, 1 female Broad-bodied Chaser (first record of the year),  Volucella bombylans (hoverfly), 1 Marbled White Spot (moth, a first record for the site), 1 Silver Y moth, 1 Hairy Shieldbug (my first Linacre record since 2013!), 1 Black-headed Cardinal Beetle, Thick-thighed Flower Beetles,  1 Dark-edged Bee-fly, 1 Speckled Wood, Scorpion Fly, and several Eristalis hoverflies.

Marbled White Spot

Shaded Broad-bar and Tawny Owl

 I popped down to Linacre this afternoon to fill the feeders for a ringing session. It was 24 degrees when I arrived at 3.45pm and very sunny. As I walked down to the feeders, I spotted my first Cinnabar moth caterpillars, along with two Shaded Broad-bar moths, Soldier beetles, Swollen-thighed beetles, a male Blue-tailed Damselfly, several Common Blue Damselflies and a single Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle.

Shaded Broad-bar

When I got to the feeding station I  spotted something perched low on one of the trees. I couldn't quite tell what it was, as it was preening and had its face down. Luckily, it hadn't seen me, so, as it looked up, I managed to get this photo and saw that it was a juvenile Tawny Owl - lovely and a great breeding record!

Tawny Owl

Linacre Insects - 30th May 2020

I was down at Linacre this morning, checking the nestboxes and ringing some of this year's pulli (more on that in a future blog). With the temperature being around 19 degrees whilst there, I also managed to get some good insect records, including a new species for me at Linacre.

Insects seen today were: Large Red Damselfly (1 male), Common Blue Damselfly (c5 males), Blue -tailed Damselfly (1 male, the first Linacre record of 2020), Broad-bodied Chaser (1 female, my first Linacre record since 2014!), Swollen-thighed Beetle, Red and Black Froghopper, Cinnabar Moth (1), Silver Y moth (1), Silver-ground Moth (1), a long-horned moth, Nemophora degeerella, bees including Tree, Red-tailed and Common Carder,  and a couple of yet-to-be identified micro moths.

Broad-bodied Chaser

The new species was Britain's largest species of Crane fly, Tipula maxima. It was very big indeed! Apparently, it can have a leg span of up to 100mm.

Tipula maxima

Seymour Ponds - 18th May 2020

On Monday, I visited a set of ponds called Markham Vale or Seymour Ponds in Staveley, Chesterfield. It was my first visit to this site, after spotting a Facebook post about the presence of Hairy Dragonflies there. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to spot any, but I did find an excellent site for dragonflies, damselflies and other insects.

1 of the 4 ponds on site

The first species spotted was Large Red Damselfly. This species was very common, with 30+ individuals seen, including many pairs "in tandem". Blue-tailed Damselflies were also present and mating, whilst 1 male Azure Damselfly was also seen.

Whilst on site, I spotted 2 species of dragonfly, namely Four-spotted Chaser and Broad-bodied Chaser. The "Four spots", at least 10 individuals, were all newly emerged and hanging around in the long grasses around the ponds. The Broad-bodied Chasers, 1 male and 1 female, were also newly emerged and also "warming up".

Four-spotted Chaser

Other insects seen included: Small Heath (very common, 30+), Peacock (1), Common Blue Butterfly (3+ males and at least 1 female), Mother Shipton moth (3 individuals), a Thick- or Swollen-thighed Beetle and a stunning Spiny Mason Wasp, Odynerus spinipes.

Mother Shipton moth

Swollen-thighed Beetle

Spiny Mason Wasp

I spoke to another photographer whilst there, and he mentioned there being Dingy Skippers and Brown Argus butterflies on site as well. I didn't see either species on my visit, but it will definitely be worth another trip here, later in the year, to try and catch up with them, along with some of the other summer-flying insects.

Bird wise it was quite quiet, but I did see and hear Reed and Sedge Warblers (year ticks), as well as Swifts (5), Swallows (1), Skylark, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler ( all heard singing) and Common Buzzard (1).

UPDATE: I returned to this site today (21st May) in much sunnier weather, and managed to spot 2 Hairy Dragonflies. LIFER!!! I got great views as they flew around two of the ponds, chasing the Four-spotted Chasers. Unfortunately no photos, as they never stood still, so here's a link to see what one looks like.

Linacre Insects - 1st June 2019

It was 20 degrees yesterday afternoon, so I went down to Linacre to have my first proper look for insects. I'm very glad I did, as I ended up recording 4 species I'd not seen before!

The first "new" species was a micro moth, Endothenia sp. Unfortunately, this moth can't be identified to species level without dissection (!), so it will have to remain just Endothenia sp!

Endothenia sp.

The second species was a macro moth, Brown Silver-line, which was seen in the ringing site.

Brown Silver-line

The 3rd species is a beetle with the great name of Swollen-thighed Beetle! You can see how it gets its name in this photo.

Swollen-thighed Beetle

The 4th and final new species was a Blue Lacewing.

Blue lacewing

Other species seen included; Red-tailed Bumblebee, Common Blue Butterfly (1 female), Comma (1), Cinnabar Moth (4+), Orange Tip (1 male), Silver Ground Carpet, Common Green Shieldbug, Common Blue Damselfly, Red and Black Froghopper, Harlequin and Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle.