BioBlitzed!

Well the weekend's BioBlitz was a great success, with twenty or so attendees (some of whom stayed all night, studying moths etc in between short bouts of sleep), plenty of sunshine and only a little rain.  The final species count is yet to be tallied as there are some that remain to be identified from photographs or descriptions, but there's no doubt that a number of new species have been added to the reserve list.

I want to thank everyone who came along, and in particular Sally Luker for helping to get it organised (and baking cakes) and Sue Scott, who brought along masses of equipment (including the mobile tea-shop) and lots of identification guides and took on the recording.  Special thanks too to the group who came all the way from Reading.  One of those intrepid travellers, Christopher Foster, has written his own take on the weekend here.

Here are some photos from the event (thanks to all concerned for permission to use them):

Forest Bug (Sally Luker http://thenarcolpeticnaturalist.blogspot.co.uk/)

Sneezewort (Sally Luker http://thenarcolpeticnaturalist.blogspot.co.uk/)

Female Adders (Sally Luker http://thenarcolpeticnaturalist.blogspot.co.uk/)

Meadow Grasshopper (Sally Luker http://thenarcolpeticnaturalist.blogspot.co.uk/)

Minor Shoulder-knot (David Fenwick)

Campion moth (David Fenwick)

Eristalis hortocola (Christopher Foster http://consideringbirds.wordpress.com/) 

 Ichneumoid fly (Christopher Foster http://consideringbirds.wordpress.com/)

Wood Sandpiper (Christopher Foster http://consideringbirds.wordpress.com/)

Scaeva pyrastri (Andy Pay http://consideringbirds.wordpress.com/)

BioBlitzers (Christopher Foster)

BioBlitz

We're holding a BioBlitz at the farm on 28th/29th July, starting at 2.00pm on the Saturday and ending 2.00pm Sunday. A BioBlitz is to wildlife recording what the Le Mans 24hr is to motor racing and involves finding and identifying as many species as possible. We have invited local (and not so local) experts in various fields and hope they will help us to build on the reserve's species lists.

There will be moth-trapping, small mammal trapping, pond-dipping, birding, invertebrate hunting, botanising, hopefully bat-detecting and much more.  The information centre on site will serve as a laboratory and tearoom.  The Lizard is pretty special when it comes to hosting rare species of all sorts of things and there are sure to be some goodies on the farm that haven't yet been discovered (as well as lots that have!). Everybody is welcome and for those who want to make a weekend of it, there is a campsite just down the lane.

Here are some examples of what we should find, photos taken on a rare sunny day on Sunday. The first two are hoverflies - the top one is Sericomyia silentis but the second is at yet unidentified.  Below them is a Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis) photographed by Dougy Wright.

Thin pickings

Usually when I'm away something good turns up at the farm, e.g. Buff-breasted Sandpiper or Woodchat Shrike. This year I was abroad from mid May to mid June and it appears that I've missed precisely nothing, except a lot of wind and rain.

Here are some shots from yesterday of a Clouded Buff moth, a young Slow Worm and patch of Ragged Robin, of which we have plenty.

May birds

A few nice birds have called in over the last few days. Not for the first time, some of them were seen along the approach road.  On Thursday Ian Griffiths saw a Turtle Dove on the wires just by the gate, then later that day he was driving back out when a male Golden Oriole flew down the road ahead of him. Yesterday Dougy Wright was watching one of three Dunlin which dropped in on the Plantlife pool when it was dive-bombed by a Short-eared Owl! And today I saw an immature male Marsh Harrier, probably the one which has been around since last November, along with the three Black-tailed Godwits and a Little Egret.  The two godwits which were in winter plumage last week are now rapidly gaining their breeding colours.

A few odonata are finally beginning to emerge - Broad-bodied Chaser and Emerald Damselfly both made their first appearance yesterday.

Thanks to Griff for the photos of Garden Warbler and Turtle Dove (taken through the car windscreen!), and Dougy for the Dunlin and Short-eared Owl.

At last, a touch of Spring.

With blue skies and a hint of warmth in the easterly breeze, it felt like Spring today (for the first time since the end of March).  It was a nine warbler day at the farm: Grasshopper, Reed, seven Sedge, three Blackcap, Garden Warbler, three Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, 15 Willow Warblers and two Chiffchaffs - all singing. There was a steady passage of Swallows flying north: I counted 35. Amongst the supporting cast were two Swifts, two Cuckoos, male and female Peregrine, two Whimbrel, six Skylarks, seven Wheatears, three Song Thrushes and six Linnets.

There were very few butterflies around so I was pleasantly surprised when a Painted Lady flew by.