Bird wise the highlight of the visit went to my first sightings of Little Egret on the reserve,with a duo feeding around the bottom islands on the main lake.This is my sixth species of Heron seen on the reserve after Green Heron,Purple Heron and Grey Heron,Little Bittern and Bittern....impressive stuff and i have also missed Great-white Egret and Cattle Egret.
A bonus bird and a tad unseasonal was a drake Pintail feeding in the same area as the Egrets and a close encounter with a brood of Robin fledglings was special.
Onto insects and very few butterflies were seen on the visit,but included 3 Brimstone,3 Speckled Wood and a single Green-veined White.Other lepidoptera logged saw 2 Silver-ground Carpet and a Common Carpet being flushed from the grassy areas while counting the Odes.
Insect highlight of the day,apart from the dragons obviously went to my first adult Orthoptera of the year,a single male Common-green Grasshopper which was happily stridulating away in the first meadow down from the car park.I love this family of insects having seen a good sized percentage of all the native species.
A few hoverflies were also recorded during the day and included the usual suspects..an unidentified Cheilosia sp,Helophilus pendulus,Parhelophilus fruit/vers and a couple of Volucella bombylans.
Other bits and bobs seen included a single Hairy Shieldbug,Wasp Beetle and a couple of Golden-bloomed Longhorn Beetles.
An excellent visit today with interest from all parts of the reserve.
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| Male Brimstone. |
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| Hairy Shieldbug. |
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| Male Early BumbleBee. |
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| Little Egrets around the bottom islands on the main Lake. |
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| Drake Pintail on the main lake. |
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| Newly fledged Robin. |
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