Kingfishers Galore

Bird News:

Ibsley Water - A juvenile common sandpiper near the Tern hide all day and a dunlin on one of the islands at the end of the day. There were at least 10 Egyptian geese and large numbers of greylag, mute swan and the single black swan. The little ringed plover pair still have their two chicks. A redstart was in low willows beside the southern end of the lake in the afternoon.

Ivy Lake - At the Ivy North hide reed warblers are frantically feeding young and as I locked up I had really good views of kingfisher perched and fishing from the reedmace stems. I also saw a kingfisher on the falled trees outside the Ivy South hide.

Other Wildlife:

Moths were few, but there was a good moth related find, Sam, who is doing work experience with us, found a goat moth pupal case in the same area as larvae were found last year.

Other Stuff:

The Lower Test volunteers were cutting the tall vegetation along the western shore of Ibsley Water and did really well, clearing about half the length, despite the persistent rain. The carp removal from Mockbeggar Lake continued with numbers depressed by the weather, something over 200lbs of fish were caught though, once again all between 8 and 14ibs in weight. I realigned the "Badgercam" today so it should give a better view, I will certainly give it a look tonight

Hatchings

After not being in for a few days, as ever much had changed. The oystercatcher pair have got at least one chick running around, she had been sitting so long that I assumed they must have hatched. I suspect she was not willing to expose the chicks as the island they nest on often has a mass of herring and lesser black-backed gull on it. Oystercatchers feed their young, so unlike say a lapwing, it does not need to run around looking for food itself. On the subject of lapwing, the pair near the Tern hide still have at least one chick growing well and another female is still sitting on eggs.

On Ivy Lake the common tern chicks have been hatching for a week or so, some are now running around on the rafts, although several other pairs are still incubating eggs. So far things are looking good with lots of fish being brought in, so hopefully they will have another good year.

The moth catch was quite good, although the highlight, by some distance, was a male goat moth, only the second I have ever seen.

The Goat's Day Out

A fine, sunny, warm day and it really brought out the insects, there were butterflies and dragonflies and even quite a few damselflies. Rather more remarkably there were also goat moth caterpillars. Michelle found one during the morning, it seemed injured around the head, probably attacked by a predator, but why such a large and juicy food item would have been left was unclear. As it was not very active it did make an easy picture though.
They really are very large, probably 80mm (or three inches plus) long, these are full grown and wandering about looking for a place to make their cocoon. They feed on wood in the trunks of live trees and take several years to grow. They leave the tree and make a cocoon in which they spend the winter, only pupating in the late spring of the following year. During the afternoon Michelle found another caterpillar, this one dead and missing the head, then she found a very lively one marching over the ground. I went to have a look at this and found another predated one. So, all in all, four that we found all around the same group of willows. The curious thing about the predated ones was that none had been eaten despite looking like a good meal, it made me wonder if they are unpalatable in some way. I looked up this possibility but there seems to be no mention of it anywhere, so the mystery of why they should have been attacked but not eaten remains.

It was not a great day for birds, in that there were no new migrants about. The great white egret spent the afternoon on Iblsey Water along with 3 little egrets, 4 Egyptian geese and a common sandpiper. There was also a hobby hunting dragonflies and a peregrine perched on the long shingle spit.