Date: 20th June 2025
Time: from 7:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 18°C to 22°C
I had a long overdue
visit to the reserve this morning following my last on 20th May 2025 and,
following my very successful visit to my St. Nicholas Church local patch site
on 19th June 2025, I was very hopeful in seeing many butterflies and dragonflies
and damselflies.
The morning started well when I saw a Red Fox slowly walking down the path between Asda and the A127 footbridge.
However, it was a very slow start to my visit to the reserve with just a few Meadow Browns to be seen in the Thorny Wood meadow although it became significantly better as the temperature increased.
I had very successful
visit and I recorded 6 new species for the site for 2025: Large
Skipper (at least 2), Small Skipper (at least 5), Essex Skipper
(at least 1), Peacock (1), Large White (2), Black-tailed
Skimmer (1)
In addition, I saw a female darter species continually hawking but unfortunately it did not land to enable a photo and specific identification as a first for 2025.
During my visit, I recorded 10 butterfly species and 4 dragonfly/damselfly species. The number of butterfly species that I have recorded in 2025 (13) is already in excess of that recorded in 2024 (12) and only 2 less than the all-time high in 2022 (15).
Other highlights during my visit were as follows:
Chiffchaff: 6 singing males (2 seen)
Blackcap: 4 singing males (1 seen)
Goldcrest: singing male seen in trees behind the storage shed
Stock Dove: unseen calling males heard in the wooded areas around Puckles Pond and Meadow Pond
Great Spotted Woodpecker: 1 seen in the wooded area between the eastern boardwalk and Puckles Pond
Moorhen: 2 seen on Puckles Pond and another calling bird heard on Meadow Pond
Edible Frog: at least 2 heard on Meadow Pond but unseen
Butterflies (in addition to the above): Small White (3), Green-veined White (1), unidentified “golden skipper” species (at least 5), unidentified “white” species (at least 10), Comma (2), Meadow Brown (at least 10), Speckled Wood (2)
Dragonflies and damselflies (in addition to the above): Common Blue Damselfly (at least 5), Azure Damselfly (at least 2), Blue-tailed Damselfly (1)
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Blackcap
Large Skipper
Black-tailed Skimmer
Dark Bush-cricket
Here are some photos
from my visit ....
Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets):
Birds = 34 (38)
Total species list for the site:
Birds = 49
Love nature .... act now
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