RSPB Old Moor Insects - 5th July 2026

 On Saturday, Jayne and I drove across to RSPB Old Moor in the search of a new insect for the region, Norfolk Hawker. Unfortunately, we didn't find them (3 had been reported), but instead we managed to see a few other nice species.

The first one we saw was a Puss Moth caterpillar. I've had this species in the garden ( as an adult moth), but had never seen a caterpillar before. As you can see, the caterpillar is quite a sight!

Puss Moth

The other species seen were Ruddy Darter and Gatekeeper.

Ruddy Darter

Gatekeeper

Big Moor Dragons - 26th July 2025

Yesterday, Jayne and I had a walk up to Little Barbrook Reservoir on Big Moor. We went to look for dragonflies, and managed to see a couple of new species for the year.

The highlight, as always, was our first Golden-ringed Dragonflies of 2025. We saw two individuals, both males, including this one that had, unfortunately, damaged its body, presumably whilst emerging. Despite this, it appeared to be doing ok, and we got very lucky, when it perched by the main path eating a wasp!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Undamaged male!

Other odanata seen were: Emerald Damselfly (new for year), Black Darter (1) and Common Blue Damselfly (2 males).

A few butterflies were on the wing: Gatekeeper (8), Small Heath (1) and Red Admiral (1).

Birdwise, it was very quiet, but we did manage to see a couple of Reed Buntings, Meadow Pipits, a Common Buzzard, and a single, juvenile Stonechat.

Linacre 5th July 2025- A new Hoverfly!

 I had 2 hours down at Linacre yesterday morning. It was 18 degrees and overcast, but a few sunny spells enticed some butterflies out. I also had a new species of hoverfly and a bird species not recorded here since 2018!

The butterflies seen were: Ringlet (2), Meadow Brown (3), Gatekeeper (3, my first Linacre record of 2025), Comma (1) and, best of all, a single, pristine Painted Lady (my first of the year). 2 Common Blue Damselflies were also seen.

Painted Lady

The new hoverfly was a very distinctive one, called Chrysotoxum bicinctum. See here for details. There were at least 2 on the vegetation by the overflow of the top reservoir. This is the second species of Chrysotoxum hoverfly I've seen at Linacre, the first being Chrysotoxum festivum, seen back in August 2016.

Chrysotoxum bicinctum

Chrysotoxum festivum

Birds seen were: Mallard (58), Tufted Duck (13), Mandarin (21; 20 adults and 1 duckling), Coot (18; 5 adults and 13 juveniles), Moorhen (0!!), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (3; 2 juveniles), Great-crested Grebe (12; 6 adults and 6 juveniles), Herring Gull (1 adult) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (3; 2 adults and a sub adult). 1 of the Lesser Black-backs was actively hunting the Mandarin duckling. 3 Chiffchaffs and 1 Blackcap were heard singing.

The most exciting species of bird was Crossbill, which, as I said, were the first record since 2018. Initially 3 birds were heard, and then seen briefly, landing in the Larch trees by the top reservoir. A further 8 (or most likely the some birds, plus 5 more) were seen flying over the ringing site. A great record, and hopefully the first of an "irruption year".

Butterfly Update

 Over the last week or two I've been out and about looking for a few new summer butterflies.

The first were seen at Barbrook Pools (formerly Barbrook Reservoir) last Sunday, when the 2 Small Coppers, Large Skippers and Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet moths were present. Whilst there, I was also able to confirm breeding for Tufted Duck (female and 8 ducklings) and Lapwing (1 adult and 3 chicks).

Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet

Tufted Duck 

The next butterflies seen were at Lindrick Dale, yesterday. Overall, numbers were well down on previous years (possibly due to the very warm spring?), with just 4 Dark Green Fritillaries, 6 Marbled Whites, 4 Gatekeepers, 1 Ringlet and about half a dozen Small Skippers seen. 1 other species, Silver-washed Fritillary, was also seen flying around the woods, on the walk through.

Westleton Heath - 10th August 2023

 On Thursday, I popped down to Westleton Heath to catch up with the last species I wanted to see whilst down in Suffolk, the Dartford Warbler.

Westleton Heath

I parked up in the car park, and within a couple of minutes, had heard the distinctive "chattering". I managed 4 sightings of different birds, but, unfortunately, they didn't come very close, so this is a heavily cropped photo.

Dartford Warbler!

Other species seen were: Whitethroat, Pheasant, Carrion Crow and Herring Gull (over). 

2 Gatekeepers and 2 Grayling butterflies were also seen.

Grayling

Year List update: Dartford Warbler (180)

RSPB Minsmere - 9th August 2023

 On Wednesday, Jayne and I had 3 hours at RSPB Minsmere. We got there just after 6am, and walked around the main scrape area, before finishing off back at the café with a delicious vegan sausage cob!

It was quite quiet as we set off, but the first sighting, of a Common Lizard, warming up on a post was a great start. As the weather warmed up, we began to spot several Stonechats, Linnets, Reed Bunting, Common Terns, the first Common and Ruddy Darters, along with a couple of Migrant Hawkers and dozens of Gatekeepers.

Common Lizard

Arriving at the East Hide, we began to spot a few more birds, with the following waders seen: Green Sandpiper (3), Common Sandpiper (1), Ruff (3), Avocet (c50), Black-tailed Godwit (c.60), Redshank (2), Dunlin (6), Lapwing and Spotted Redshank (5). Gulls were far and few between, but we did spot a few Black-headed Gulls, a single, juvenile Mediterranean Gull, 1 adult Kittiwake and, best of all, 26 Little Gulls, including a few in breeding plumage. 5 Spoonbills were asleep, and there were also several Shelducks (juveniles), Teal, Mallard, Greylag, Canada and at least one family party of Barnacle Geese.

Avocets

We carried on around The Scrape, spotting another Migrant Hawker, a male Black-tailed Skimmer, more Common and Ruddy Darter and dozens of Red Admirals and Peacock butterflies, feeding on Hemp Agrimony.

Ruddy Darter

Our final stop was the Bittern Hide. Here we spotted Bearded Tit (heard only), a Muntjac Deer, a Kestrel, a distant Marsh Harrier and a fly-by Bittern.

Back at the Visitors' Centre, we had a few minutes watching the butterflies on the Buddleia bushes. Red Admirals and Peacocks were in good numbers again, along with a single Brimstone (1 male), 1 Comma, Gatekeeper (c.5) and at least a couple of Grayling. 3 Hornets were also seen buzzing around the bushes.

Grayling

Year List update: Little Gull (179)

Buzzard Breeding Success!

 Over the years, I've heard of several reports of  Common Buzzards breeding at Linacre. Although I have seen small groups of birds in late summer, which are presumably family parties, I have never managed to see a nest.... until today!

News of a nest with 2 well grown juveniles was shared with me from the volunteers who look after Linacre, so I popped up this morning to have a look. I could hear one bird as we approached the area, and then Jayne spotted 1 perched about 60ft (20m) up in a tree - success!! I managed to get a photo and then left it in peace.

Common Buzzard

Last Monday (17th), I had a quick walk around Linacre and spotted a few butterflies and moths: Ringlet (1), Small Skipper (4), Large White (1), Comma (3), Speckled Wood (1), Gatekeeper (1), Silver Y (1) and Large Skipper (1). 

Ringlet

Small Skipper

Other insects seen were: Volucella pellucens (4), Eristalis sp, Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle, White-tailed/Red-tailed and Tree Bumblebee.

One Swallow, 2 House Martins and 2 adult Canada Geese were also seen.

The Gulls are Back!!

 Late this morning, I had a drive across to Rufford for the first visit since March, looking for the returning Black-headed Gulls.

I was in luck, with 20 birds (all adults) seen on the main lake, including the first darvic-ringed bird of the autumn, 293A! This bird was ringed at Center Parcs, as an adult, in December 2021, and was last seen in February 2022. No breeding season sightings have been reported, yet.

293A

Whilst there, Jayne and I had a walk around and spotted some good insects as well: Common Dater (1, my first of the year), Blue-tailed Damselfly, Emerald Damselfly (1, also my first of the year), a Hawker sp, Comma (4), Small White (10+), Red Admiral (1), Peacock (1) and Gatekeeper (1 being eaten by a female Blackcap!). We also had Swallows and House Martins over the lake.

Common Dater

Yorkshire Black-winged Stilts

 This year has seen a large influx of Black-winged Stilts, with at least 3 pairs so far known to be breeding (2 at RSPB Frampton Marsh) and 1 at Edderthorpe Flash, which is part of the RSPB Old Moor/Dearne Valley reserves.

This morning, Jayne and I drove across to Edderthorpe to see the birds. We found them straight away, but only aw the adult birds, not the four chicks. Whilst there, we also saw a Great White Egret, Avocets ( a minimum of 5 adults and 8 chicks, but probably a lot more), a Grey Heron , Cettis Warbler (singing) and 1 Little Ringed Plover.

Black-winged Stilt

Afterwards, we drove across to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where we had a walk around the grounds, spotting a Mullein Moth caterpillar, 13 Mute Swans (7 adults and 6 cygnets), c.200 Sand Martins, c.20 Swifts, c.20 House Martins, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, a juvenile Grey Heron, Mallard and Great-crested Grebes. There were very few insects around, as it was very windy, overcast with a few rain showers, but we did spot a couple of Ringlets and also managed to see our first Gatekeeper of the year.

Gatekeeper

Year List update - 171 Black-winged Stilt

Silver-washed Fritillaries at Linacre!

 Last year, I saw a photograph of a Silver-washed Fritillary that had been taken "near Linacre". Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any more details, so the record didn't go any further. Earlier this week (13th) I received a video of this species from one of the regular volunteers, taken on a field just beyond the boundary of the site. This morning, Jayne and I popped up to see if we could find the butterflies, and we did, with two males being seen.

Silver-washed Fritillary

The area where the Fritillaries were seen also had 10+ Meadow Browns, 3 Commas and  1 Gatekeeper.

Gatekeeper

After looking at these butterflies, we walked around the top and middle reservoirs, where we found 4 Tufted Duck ducklings and 2 juvenile Little Grebes (middle reservoir), along with 29 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (site record) and 2 Herring Gulls. Other insects seen include Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies and 3 Brown Hawker dragonflies (first of the year).We then walked down to the bottom reservoir to look for Purple and White-letter Hairstreaks. Although it was very warm (23 degrees), the area where we were looking wasn't quite in the sun enough, and we only managed to spot one White-letter high up in the trees.

Lindrick Dale - 2nd July 2022

On Saturday, Jayne and I had our annual trip to Lindrick Dale, near Worksop. It was about 20 degrees, with quite a lot of  cloud cover and also quite windy, but, we still managed to spot the butterflies we'd gone to see, and two species for us there as well!!

First up, the "usual suspects", namely Dark Green Fritillary (c.10), Marbled White (c.5), Silver-studded Blue (just 2, one male and one female), Meadow Brown (c.5), Ringlet (3) and Gatekeeper (1).

Dark Green Fritillary

The two new species were a single 6-spot Burnet, and, most surprising, a pair of mating Silver-washed Fritillaries!!

Silver-washed Fritillaries

In addition to the butterflies, Jayne also noticed this gall on a rose plant, that turns out to be a Robin's Pincushion, also known as a bedeguar gall. This is created by the gall wasp, Diplolepis rosae, that lays an egg in the rose's bud in spring. The larvae then develop inside the gall, before emerging as adults, next spring to begin the cycle again.

Robin's Pincushion

White-letter and Purple Hairstreaks!!

It was 22 degrees again today, so Jayne ad I had a walk around Linacre this afternoon. The top reservoir was closed off as the boardwalk is being repaired, so we just walked around the bottom and the middle reservoirs.

At first it was overcast, but then the sun came out, and we managed to record some insects, including the butterflies in the title! Both these species were seen at about 3pm on the pathway leading down from the toilet block to the bottom reservoir. There were at least two White-letter Hairstreaks - a lifer for me, and one Purple Hairstreak. 

White-letter Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

Other insects seen were: Meadow Brown (6), Gatekeeper (6), Comma (5), Speckled Wood (3), Ringlet (3), Large White (1), Green-veined White (1), Common Blue Butterfly (1), Brown Hawker (3), Common Blue Damselfly (20+, including several pairs in tandem, Blue-tailed Damselfly (2 males), Cinnabar Moth (caterpillar), Mayfly sp (1), Great Pied Hoverfly - Volucella pellucens (2) and Yellow and Black Longhorn Beetle (3). 

It was quite quiet birdwise, but the highlight was the first Tufted Duck ducklings of the year. There were three broods of 2, 2 and 7. 

Tufted Duck

There were also 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the middle reservoir (13 adults, 1 juvenile - this year's bird, and 1 immature bird) and a juvenile Black-headed Gull.

The last sighting of note was a rodent - a Bank Vole I think, that was seen coming out of a hole under an oak tree by the main path - my first sighting here.

Bank Vole?

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!!!

Linacre - 12th August 2020

 The temperature was a cracking 27 degrees again today, so I decided to have a couple of hours down at Linacre to see which insects I could see. I started off in the ringing site and saw 4 Gatekeepers, 1 Comma, 2 Peacock, 2 Small Coppers, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Silver Y moths, and 3 Shaded Broad Bars. 

Silver Y

Small Copper

Walking around the reservoirs, I added Common Blue Damselflies (including pairs ovipositing), 4 Brown Hawkers (my first Linacre record of 2020), a couple of male Blue-tailed Damselflies, and, very nicely, a male Banded Demoiselle flying over the top reservoir (my first Linacre record since 2015, and only my second ever record here). Another hawker, possibly Southern, was seen hunting along one of the paths by the middle reservoir. 

There were plenty of hoverflies around the site, including 1 Volucella pellucens a.k.a. Great Pied Hoverfly, and a single Myathropa florea a.k.a. "Batman hoverfly".

Myathropa florea

Birdwise, it was quite quiet, as is to expected, but I did have 2 Black-headed Gulls on the bottom reservoir (a very unusual August record), 11 Great-crested Grebes (2 family parties with 4 and 3 chicks, and 4 adults) and 2 Kingfishers on the bottom reservoir.

Linacre - 22nd July 2020

I had a couple of hours at Linacre this afternoon. When I arrived at 12.30pm it was grey, overcast and just 17 degrees. I started down at the bottom reservoir where I was very lucky to see a Kingfisher fly up from the river, over the wall and along the water. Also on the water were 20+ Mallards and a breeding plumaged Black-headed Gull. This gull was a very unexpected sighting, as the first ones don't usually return until September or October! One adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was also present on the top reservoir.

Black-headed Gull

About half way round, the sun came out, and so did the insects! 8 species of butterfly were seen: Large White (1), Small White (2), Green-veined White (1), Ringlet (2), Meadow Brown (c.10), Gatekeeper (2), Comma (2) and Peacock (1). A new species of day-flying moth, 6-spot Burnet Moth (3), was also seen, as were 2 species of damselfly: Common Blue Damselfly (c.3 pairs in cop and ovipositing) and Blue-tailed Damselfly (1 male and 1 female of the "rufescens" form).

Common Blue Damselflies in cop

Blue-tailed Damselfly (female)

Other insects seen included my first Volucella pellucens (Great Pied Hoverfly) of the year (2), 2 Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetles and several species of bumblebee and droneflies.

Great Pied Hoverfly

Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle

Baslow Edge- 19th July 2020

Jayne and I had a walk from Curbar Gap up to Baslow Edge on Sunday. Bird wise, it was pretty quiet, with just the usual Meadow Pipits and a few Crows flying around, but we did enjoy some butterflies, moths and dragonflies.

We started out walk on Clodhall Lane and walked across to the small pond. Here we had a very brief view of a hawker dragonfly, possibly Common. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see it again, so couldn't clinch the id. We did, however, see a couple of Emerald Damselflies and a couple of Common Darter. Walking on from there, towards the Wellington Monument, we sat by a small stream to watch a fantastic male Golden-ringed Dragonfly that was patrolling a small stretch of water by the path. He also perched up on the rocks allowing us some superb views and  a photo.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

The butterflies seen were Ringlet (10+), Small Tortoiseshell (3), Small Heath (5+), Red Admiral (1), Gatekeeper (1), Small Skipper (3), Large Skipper (1), Meadow Brown (5) and best of all, a Painted Lady (our first record for 2020). 

Painted Lady

We also saw 2 species of day-flying moth, 3 Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet Moths and a Yellow Shell.

Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet Moth 

LINACRE LIFER!!!

It was about 20 degrees on Thursday, so I popped down to Linacre in the afternoon for 3 hours to see what was about. In the sun there were lots of butterflies in and around the buddleia in the ringing site, including: Painted Lady (8 - it's been a fantastic year nationwide for this species, and my best ever at Linacre too), Red Admiral (1), Peacock (2), Comma (1), Wall Brown (1), Gatekeeper (1), Common Blue Butterfly (3 males, 1 in the ringing site and 2 on the bank below the top reservoir. A female was also seen in the ringing site on 23rd), Small Tortoiseshell (1), Meadow Brown (1), Speckled Wood (1), Small Copper (1 on the bank below the bottom reservoir) and Large White (2). Other insects seen were: Brown Hawker (2), Volucella inanis (1), Volucella pellucens (1) and many Marmalade and Eristalis hoverflies.

Birdwise it was relatively quiet, except for the Linacre lifer in the shape of a juvenile REDSTART!!

Redstart

This bird was seen flycatching on the boardwalk, with about 3 Chiffchaffs, for about 1 minute, during a short rain shower. Luckily I managed to get this photo before it flitted off into the bushes and disappeared. I only have one other record of this species at Linacre, 2 birds reported in May 2016, so it could be a breeding species, which has been missed, or it could  just be a passage migrant. Only time, and more records will tell. 

Other birds seen were: Mallard (71), Tufted Duck (14), Mandarin Duck (29), Coot (2 adults and no juveniles!!), Moorhen (12; 4 adults and 8 juveniles), Great-crested Grebe (1 adult), Grey Wagtail (1 juvenile), Robin (1 juvenile), Swallow (2), House Martin (6) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (10 dropped in for 5 minutes during the rain).

Linacre Insects - 6th August 2019

Yesterday morning I went down to Linacre to do the final check of the nestboxes (more of that in another post), and afterwards spent another 3 hours walking around the site recording the insects (and a few birds!).

It was pretty sunny all the time I was there (up to 22 degrees by the time I left), and there were a good number of insects to see. First up the dragonflies and damselflies. The most numerous species, as always, was Common Blue Damselfly, with 20+ seen, including 2 mating pairs. Two male Blue-tailed Damselflies were also seen, along with 3 Southern Hawkers and 5 Brown Hawkers. 

Southern Hawker (immature male?)

Brown Hawker

Butterflies were also present in good numbers, including a new species for me at Linacre: Peacock 20, Ringlet 2, Large White 1, Small White 1, Green-veined White 4, Gatekeeper 6, Meadow Brown 7, Small Copper 1, Red Admiral 2, Comma 1, Painted Lady 5, Speckled Wood 1, Small Skipper 1, Narrow-bordered 5 spot Burnet moth (1 mating pair), Cinnabar Moth caterpillars, Shaded Broad Bar (1) and Wall Brown 1 female in the ringing site- my first record for Linacre!

Wall Brown

Hoverflies seen were: Volucella inanis (4), Volucella pellucens (2), Eristalis sp and Myathropa florea (1). Other insects were: Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle (1), 6-spotted Ladybird (1), Tachinid flies,  Common Carder, White-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees, 

RSPB Dungeness

Jayne and I had a trip around RSPB Dungeness on 1st August. We spent a couple of hours on the reserve, and saw some nice birds, insects and a couple of Harbour Porpoises.

Birdwise we saw, amongst others Dunlin, Lapwing, Common Tern, Little Egret and heard Bearded Tits.

Insects were in good numbers, and included Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor, Brown Hawker, Black-tailed Skimmer, Common and Ruddy Darter, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral and Painted Lady.

One of the Emperor dragonflies landed in a bush, and allowed some photos, as did a male Black-tailed Skimmer.

Emperor

Black-tailed Skimmer

After visiting the reserve, we had a walk down to the beach by the lighthouse, where we spotted a couple of Harbour Porpoises in the sea ( and a dead one on the beach) and several Herring Gulls on the beach.

Harbour Porpoise