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.

Bees, Butterflies and a Bee-Fly

The weather yesterday was gorgeous, with temperatures of 13 degrees, blue skies and bright sunshine. As a result I decided to have a look at the insects at Linacre, and I'm very glad I did, with 5 species of bee, 6 species of butterfly, 2 species of Hoverfly and a new species of Bee Fly seen!

First up the bees. The species seen today were: White-tailed, Buff-tailed, Common Carder, Honey and Tree Bumblebee. All these, with the exception of the Tree Bumblebee, were the species that I've recorded before at Linacre. The Tree Bumblebee is a relatively new arrival in the UK, and is slowly spreading North. More details on the Bumblebee Conservation website here.

Tree Bumblebee

 

Next, the butterflies. In total I saw 6 species in just 1 spot, at the base of the top reservoir dam wall. Species seen were: Green-veined White (c.6), Comma (1), Peacock (minimum of 8), Small Tortoiseshell (2), Orange Tip (2 males) and a Brimstone (my first record for Linacre).

 

Green-veined White

Comma

Orange Tip

Brimstone

Whilst watching the butterflies, I also managed to spot a Bee Fly - a brand new species for me! Looking on the web, I'm pretty sure it was a Dark-edged Bee Fly (Bombylius major). Details here.

Dark-edged Bee Fly

Returning Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Cowslips and Tawny Owl success

This morning's ringing session at Linacre was excellent with 3 Chiffchaffs (2 new and a retrap from last year),1 Blackcap (the first Linacre record for 2014 and a "Year Tick" for me), 2 Jays (1 new and 1 retrap), and, best of all, a sitting Tawny Owl in one of the "owl boxes"!

The Chiffchaffs were the first to be caught and ringed at Linacre this year. The first bird, ring number ECA340, was ringed by David from the Sorby Breck Ringing Group, at Linacre, on 20th April last year, as a 5, which means it was born in 2012. The other 2 Chiffchaffs were new, so hopefully, we'll retrap them later in the year and perhaps in future years too.

The Blackcap, a 5 male (born last year), was also caught early on this morning. The picture below shows this bird and the remaining juvenile brown feathers on the "blackcap"can just be seen. Whenever we catch migrants, we like to check their fat levels. The scale goes from 1- 8, and today's bird was assessed as a 5, which means it was fat! This stored fat, obviously, helps the bird when migrating, so chances are this Blackcap was still en route.

Blackcap

As stated above, this is our first record at Linacre, and much earlier than last year (21st April).

 

The other big bird news of the morning was our first record of Tawny Owls using the "owl boxes" that were put up in October 2011 (see here). They have been used by Mandarins in previous years, and hopefully the others will be this year as well, but we were very pleased to find this female sitting tight this morning. An empty eggshell was found on the ground below the nest box, so hopefully there'll be at least 1 chick this year. A brilliant record for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

 



Tawny Owl

After all the excitement we also caught and ringed/retrapped a good number of commoner birds (Blue, Great, Coal Tit, Chaffinch and Robin). My numbers were (new/retrap):

 

Coal Tit 1/2, Great Tit 2/2, Blue Tit 0/2 and Robin 0/2.

 

As well as the excellent birding we also spotted the first Cowslips of the year in the ringing area, along with dozens of Coltsfoot.

 

Cowslips

Several large queen Bumblebees were also flying about and feeding up on the Willow blossom. I think they were either White or Buff-tailed Bumblebees, but I couldn't get close enough to check.

 

Year List update:

115 - Blackcap

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.

Linacre nests at last and summer migrants

Today started with a walk around Linacre to check the tit boxes. After a complete blank back on the 13th I was hoping for something, anything, and thankfully I wasn't completely disappointed. No eggs or birds were found in the boxes, but at least there were 14 nests being built. They ranged from a few pieces of moss up to a nests lined with feathers, so hopefully there should be some eggs this year and some records for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.

1 of the most advance nests

 

Also found in one of the boxes was a Brown Long-eared Bat. It was in the same box as previously (see here), and, as can be seen on the picture, there was small mite on it as well.

 

Brown Long-eared Bat

 

As well as checking the nest boxes I also walked all around the valley today and managed a couple of new species for the year; House Martin (6 over the middle reservoir) and Swift (1 over the middle reservoir). The Swift was my earliest ever record since recording began in 2006. 30ish Swallows were also present today, along with at least 3 singing Blackcaps, 4 singing Chiffchaffs and 7 singing Willow Warblers! An adult male Pied Wagtail was on the top reservoir. Another first for me was a record of Toad, with 4 dead on the boardwalk. They all looked as if they had been eaten, presumably by Carrion Crows?

Whilst walking around I met Jackie,one of the rangers and a volunteer, Antony, who told me they had recorded some Common Lizards around the top reservoir this year and Grass Snakes around Spire View, so there's 2 new species for my records. Something else for me to look for!!

One final report from Linacre as this bumblebee, which I think is a White-tailed Bumblebee, seen here feeding on a Willow.

White-tailed Bumblebee

After lunch I had a walk up to Barbrook Plantation with Jayne, where we spotted a nice male Wheatear and a stunning male Redstart. 2 more year ticks.

Dodgy photo!

 

Singing Redstart

 

Year List update:
115 – Red Grouse (1 last week on Burbage Moor)
116 – House Martin
117 – Swift
118 – Wheatear
119 - Redstart

Linacre - 3rd June 2011 - Butterflies, Bees and Damselflies!!

When I first started visiting Linacre on a regular basis it was primarily to enjoy and record the bird life around the reservoirs. Very quickly, however, I realised that there was a lot more to this area than just the birds. At the this time of the year the birds around the site tend to be be pretty quiet and it is at these time that I turn my attention to the much smaller inhabitants, namely the invertebrates.

With the temperatures hitting an amazing 24 degrees Celsius for two consecutive days I thought today was the day to start this year's "bug hunt" and I was to be rewarded  with some lovely sightings and a new species for me and for Linacre.

The first species I want to show you is the new one for me and is called a Red-and-Black Froghopper.

Red-and Black Froghopper

Froghoppers or "spittle bugs" are species that lay their eggs on a grass stem. When the young hatch they blows bubbles out of their bottoms to create a froth which is also known as "cuckoo spit" and acts as a defence against predators. As I said before this is a new species for me and, as far as I know, for Linacre. I saw a total of 6 individuals around the top reservoir today.

There are lots of different bee and hoverfly species around Linacre, most of which I can't correctly identify(!), but here are a couple of pictures of some that I think I've identified correctly.

White-tailed Bumblebee

Common Carder Bee

Also seen today was a Mayfly, which I think is a Drake Mackerel ...

Mayfly "Drake Mackerel"

6 Small Copper buterflies and my first damselfly of the year, a teneral or newly emerged Common Blue Damselfly. As you can see from the photograph the damselfly isn't blue yet, which tells me it is newly emerged. The blue colour should develop over the next day or so.

Small Copper

Common Blue Damselfly

Other species of butterfly seen today included a single Speckled Wood, 2 Peacocks and 1 Small White. A butterfly larvae was found feeding on a nettle and is either a Peacock or a Small Tortoiseshell.

Butterfly larvae

All in all, a great start to the season, with hopefully lots more to tell you about as the summer progresses.