With the High Pressure now with us and the sun at long last giving us some warmth, I headed off to Folly Farm to find some bugs. The plan was to park at the top of the hill, walk down to the copse and then make my way to the metal gate further along the track. The idea being was to see what birds were around on the initial walk and then when I got to the gate to do an about turn and carry out my bug walk with the sun behind me.
This worked quite well and before I knew it I'd recorded 3 Skylarks, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting and Blue Tit, within a few metres from the car. As I walked down the track to the copse there were several Shrews in the undergrowth squeaking away. Though I didn't see any you could quite clearly see the grasses swaying back and forth as they ran this way and that.
Corn Bunting
Before I'd got to the copse I had one Peacock butterfly, 3 Green-veined Whites and in the field to my right a Hare. At the copse there were several more Green-veined Whites, one male Orange-tip and a few females. I carried on up the track to the gate and managed a glimpse of a Common Whitethroat. By the time I'd got to the gate there were at least 2 more males singing in this area.
Looking back towards the Copse. Bug Paradise!
So instead of looking upwards now, it was now time to look down and see what I could find. There were hundreds of black flies everywhere, but in amongst them there were Flesh Flies and Blue Bottles flying about alongside Spotted Cranes and Drone Flies. In the plants I came across a Skin Moth (Monopis laevigella), a 14-spot Ladybird (propylea quatuordecimpunctata), Four 7-spot Ladybirds, several Empis tessellata flies, with one devouring another fly with its rigid, downward-pointing proboscis which it had used to spear its prey.
I also came across a beautiful jet black fly the Mesembrina meridiana with its orange spots on each wing. Over the nettles I came across a small wasp, which at first glance looked like a Common Bee Wasp, but turned out to be a Nomada fulvicornis wasp. Also seen were dozens of White-lipped Banded Snails.
Green-veined White
Green-veined White
Small Cabbage White
14-spot Ladybird, propylea quatuordecimpunctata
7-spot Ladybird
White-lipped Banded Snails
A Flesh Fly on a White-lipped Banded Snail
Fly sp.
An Empis tessellata fly devouring its prey
A Blue bottle
A stunning Mesembrina meridiana
Nomada fulvicornis wasp
Spider sp. with eggs/young
Skin Moth, Monopis laevigella
As I was leaving this Great Spotted Woodpecker was leaping from tree to tree and from branch to branch. I dont know if you can see the hundreds of flies around it, but I'm wondering whether it was trying to catch them.
Not a dirty lens but hundreds of flies around this Great Spotted Woodpecker
Bird Species Recorded: 2 Pheasant, 2 Red-legged Partridge, Wood Pigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 3 Swallow, Dunnock, Robin, pair of Blackbirds, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.
Mammals Recorded: 1 Hare, 2 Rabbits, several Shrews heard and a Weasel.
Butterflies Recorded: Dozens of Green-veined Whites, 1 male and 3 female Orange-tips, 2 Peacocks and a Small Cabbage White.
Moth Recorded: Skin Moth (Monopis laevigella)
Other Insects and Snails Recorded: Flesh Flies, Blue bottle Fly, Spotted Crane-fly, Drone Flies, several Empis tessellata flies, Mesembrina meridiana Fly, a Nomada fulvicornis Wasp, 14-spot Ladybird (propylea quatuordecimpunctata), Four 7-spot Ladybirds and dozens of White-lipped Banded Snails.
Today's Photos Here