Out And About

Another walk around Nythe Pool this afternoon, mainly to see what effect the heavy rain had done. It was quite obvious a fair bit of water had entered the pool and had run off leaving a fair bit of silt to resettle.

On the pool no sign of the 2 Mallard ducklings, but the duck was getting a fair bit of attention from 2 drakes, who chased her relentlessly around the pool. Just a pair of Moorhens, not sure where the other pair has gone.

Around the edge of the pool a sad sight, as a Magpie predated a Blackbirds nest of it young. Not a pleasant sight and very traumatic for the hen bird as the Magpie disappeared into the brambles to remove the chicks.

A male Treecreeper was singing away in the woods close by. Apart from Willow Warbler and few other songsters, the Treecreeper is definitely in my top ten of singing birds. A really pretty song. Other birds singing were 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, a Garden Warbler and not one I've heard for awhile a Dunnock, though I'm not surprised as he was showing off to 2 females.

Overhead there was Red Kite and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Two Grey Squirrels were seen today, it has been quite awhile since I've seen any on the grass embankment.

Just 3 butterflies today with 2 Holly Blues and a Speckled Wood.

Other insects were moths, beetles, snails, slugs, hoverflies, ladybirds, spiders, bees and flies, including:

Common Nettle-tap moth, Anthophila fabriciana
Cardinal Beetle, Pyrochroa serraticornis
Brassy Willow Beetle, Phratora vitellinae
Black-horned Gem, Microchrysa polita
Marmalade Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus
Dagger Fly
Marsh Fly, Ilione albiseta
Spotted Cranefly, Nephrotoma appendiculata
Long-jawed Orb-weaver, Tetragnatha extensa

Here are a few images from today.

The pool viewed from the weir

And the weir just fining down from the recent heavy rain.

A Red Kite overhead

One of the 2 Grey Squirrels out on the grass.......

.......its been awhile since I've seen them out in the open. I suspect they are looking for food for youngsters close-by.

A bee sp.

And another.........

.......I should be able to ID this one hopefully.

A Cardinal Beetle, Pyrochroa serraticornis. Certainly very numerous around the pool. This is on the Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) which is abundant at the moment.

Brassy Willow Beetle, Phratora vitellinae. This would be normally be up in the canopy but just like the ones I found last month a few have fallen to ground level.

Common Nettle-tap moth, Anthophila fabriciana........

..................and another, though I guess with a slightly different wing pattern. There were also many more with a few quite small ones!

Marmalade Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus coming into land.............

......and rested.

I'm pretty sure this is a Black-horned Gem, Microchrysa polita. The only other similar looking one is Green Gem, Microchrysa flavicornis but this one emerges in June.

Possibly a Dagger Fly at the back and I'm not sure about the fly in the foreground.

I've no idea what this. I managed one shot before it flew off.

This could well be a Marsh Fly, Ilione albiseta. These are known as snail-killing flies because their larvae parasitise snails. This one was balanced on a leaf just above Dorcan Stream

A good contender for a Spotted Cranefly, Nephrotoma appendiculata

A Long-jawed Orb-weaver, Tetragnatha extensa with its prey

Snail sp.