On Friday night we ran a (slightly early as it was really Saturday) National Moth Night event. The target was moths and bats, the latter have declined, probably because night-flying insects seem to have got scarcer, certainly many moth species have.
We started by trying to see the
Badgers feeding at the Woodland hide, unfortunately the Badgers were true to form, at least when I try to see them and did not show up. As it got dark we set five moth traps running and tried a very speculative couple of goes at "sugaring". The bat detectors started clicking and slapping as the
Pipistrelle bats came out to feed, they particularly liked feeding over the moth traps.
The night was calm which was good, but the sky cleared, so the temperature dropped, which was not so good. An ideal night for "mothing" is calm, moonless, cloudy and warm, perfect nights are those muggy ones when sleep is difficult, then the moths will fly for long periods and so are more likely to come within range of the trap.
As well as moths the lights attract caddis-flies, beetles, wasps (especially parasitic ones) and lots of tiny flies. The complete list of moths caught on the night, some of which were only found when we opened up the two traps run overnight, was as follows:
Clouded Border, Common Wave, Common White Wave, May Highflyer, Red-green Carpet, White Ermine, Muslin Moth, Clouded Drab, Nut-tree Tussock, Flame Shoulder, Common Quaker, Hebrew Character, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Pebble Prominent, Pale Prominent, Lesser swallow Prominent, Least Black Arches and an unidentified Pug species.
Other birds in the last couple of days included the duck Pintail and Wigeon still on Ibsley Water and 3 Goosander which flew in as I was after poaching anglers at dusk. Today two Dunlin and a Wheatear were the highlights. the Wheatear sounded like it was a male Greenland race, but I never actually saw it. The best I could do was a quick pic of one of the Dunlin.
Out in the woods the Bluebells are looking good and a bit of warmth today has brought out more damselflies and butterflies.
Hopefully a bit more tomorrow if I get time.
In between each bout of threats between the pairs each pair engaged in short displays as pairs, neither had any weed to truly "danced" but they looked very fine in the sunshine and the whole effect was enhanced by the reflections. 
Other birds on the lake were little changed from yesterday, the Pochard, Wigeon and Pintail are all still there. A single Common Sandpiper was the only non-breeding wader. During the afternoon the Little Ringed Plover were displaying vigorously right in front of the hide and only about half way to the shore, I cannot think I will ever see them better.
We also all managed to see the Fox cubs near the store at the start of the day, one of them was constantly head shaking, for no obvious reason, but it did look very odd.
As today was the nearest thing to a decent May day that we have had so far I had a short search for some of the spring insects that should be out by now. Along the way I saw four species of damselflies including my first Azure Damsel and Blue-tailed Damsel this year. The picture is of the Blue-tailed.
In the same area as the damsel I came across the little jumping spider below, it had just caught a fly. The huge forward pointing eyes can be seen in the picture, these are important for the judging of distance crucial to making accurate jumps. It is a common species called Heliophanus flavipes and has distinctive pale legs and yellow palps.
Sweeping the vegetation I caught the small caterpillar below, I think it is the larva of the Engrailed, a common moth of the late winter period which has a second brood in late summer.
After a good start the sun went in and i was just about to give up when I found the hoverfly below resting on a frond of Royal Fern, it was evidently waiting for the sun to come out again as it was in basking mode. This is a particularly striking black and yellow species called Xanthogramma pedisequum.
From all this concentration on other wildlife you will have guessed that today was pretty light on birds. The Pintail, Wigeon and Pochard were all still on Ibsley Water, as were two Dunlin. The most notable bird event of the day was that the Great Spotted Woodpeckers featured on Woodpeckercam have obviously hatched as they adults are now bringing in food.
As well as the ducks the Little Ringed Plovers are still performing and they were joined this morning by a single Ringed Plover. The Oystercatchers have lost their nest on the island half way up the lake and are now taking an interest in the small island just east of the hide.
