Bedwyn Brail and Romsey - 13th September

This early part of September has been rather stunning weather wise and I have been amazed at the number of insects appearing on the Canadian Goldenrod in our garden in Romsey. Two of the best species that I have seen have been the Tachinid fly Tachina fera and the Ivy Bee Colletes hederae. I quite like the Tachinid flies, there are some fantastic looking bristly beasts amongst the group and they have an interesting life-history. Typically, Tachinid larvae are endoparasites (internal parasites) of the caterpillars of butterflies and moths. As its name suggests, Ivy Bee is typically found feeding on Ivy blossom but there were good numbers on our Goldenrod.

The Tachinid fly Tachina fera - Romsey, Hampshire

Ivy Bee Colletes hederae - Romsey, Hampshire

On 13th September I was back at Bedwyn Brail near to Marlborough in Wiltshire checking bat boxes, with around 30 boxes to check spread over a very wide part of the woodland it took me much of the day. It was a superb sunny day and there were lots of common insect species and a few migrant birds including Blackcap and Chiffchaff. This is a great site for the localised naturalised Autumn Crocus which was first recorded in the wild in 1783. At Bedwyn Brail it is found in many areas of the site both within the grassland and under closed canopy. In the boxes, I recorded a total of 21 bats, all of which were Pipistrelle species, either Common or Soprano. This is a great site for Barbastelle bats and I was a little disappointed not to record any in our boxes.

Autumn Crocus - Bedwyn Brail, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Autumn Crocus - Bedwyn Brail, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Autumn Crocus - Bedwyn Brail, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Hop - Bedwyn Brail, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Pipistrelle species - Bedwyn Brail, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Pipistrelle species - Bedwyn Brail, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Pipistrelle species - Bedwyn Brail, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Bedwyn Brail, Bentley Wood and Bonaparte's Gull - 12th May

Today I had the pleasure of spending a day surveying Bedwyn Brail in Wiltshire close to Shalbourne  this is largely a private site and I was there plotting the distribution of Bluebell and selected Ancient Woodland Vascular Plants (AWVP) within the woodland to inform the location of on-going conservation woodland management. It was a beautiful spring like day and the Bluebell were vibrant, a classic English spring-time scene spread over the floor of this fantastic broad-leaved woodland dotted here with the white dusting of Greater Stitchwort and there with the lemon-tones of Yellow Archangel. Insects were out in full force with many hoverflies including Eristalis pertinax and Eristalis tenax and species I come across less frequerntly such as Xylota signs and Criorina berberina. Butterflies included vibrant Brimstone, Large White and one of my favourite species which seems to be on the wing for a far to brief period in April and May, the Orange-tip with its vibrant orange wing-tips and intricately dappled green underside to the hindwing.

Bluebell - Bedwyn Brail

Greater Stitchwort - Bedwyn Brail

Oiceoptoma thoracicum - Bedwyn Brail

Woundwort Shieldbug - Bedwyn Brail

Xylota segnis - Bedwyn Brail

Criorina berberina - Bedwyn Brail

Bugle - Bedwyn Brail

Red-headed Cardinal - Bedwyn Brail

Orang-tip - Male at Bedwyn Brail

Having finished my survey I decided to head for the nearby Bentley Woods where Pearl-bordered Fritillary had been on the wing for a couple of weeks and within a few minutes I had found my first and in the, by now, mainly cloudy conditions they were readily approachable and during the course of my relatively brief stop I recorded approximately 11 individuals. Other species recorded included three Brimstone, a freshly emerged Fox Moth, Red-headed Cardinal (my second species of Cardinal beetle today), Common Lizard as well as Cuckoo and Tree Pipit.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Bentley Woods

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Bentley Woods

Fox Moth (Female) - Bentley Woods

Green Tiger-beetle - Bentley Woods

I had to be home to take over the care of Tobias by 18:30 but I calculated that there was just enough time to sneak a quick twitch for the Bonaparte’s Gull that has been frequenting Riverside park and Chessel Bay Local Nature Reserve (LNR) I first went to Riverside Park where there was little to be seen but for a few Herring, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gull so I decided to head for Chessel Bay where the Bonaparte’s has been regularly seen feeding on the foreshore in the afternoons. After a brief scan there was nothing to be seen but I continued scanning around and eventually saw a gull lurking on the shore-line, a brief and distant view and I was pretty much convinced that this was the Bonaparte’s. I spent the rest of the late afternoon trying to get some half decent photos in pretty harsh low angle light before heading home.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (1st Summer) - Riverside Park, Southampton

Bonaparte's Gull (1st Summer) - Chessel Bay, Southampton

Bonaparte's Gull (1st Summer) - Chessel Bay, Southampton

Bonaparte's Gull (1st Summer) - Chessel Bay, Southampton