A Bit of Colour Brightens the Day

Monday was a less than exciting day, cutting paths was enlivened by a Kingfisher beside the Ivy North hide when I opened up, not a great picture as it was a bit dark and distant, but prolonged views of these birds are always something special.
From the Ivy South hide I could see that there were at least 32 Common Tern chicks that either were or could fly. I had earlier seen three on Ibsley Water, probably the first brood to have flown and there are still two broods of smaller chicks and one sitting bird. We could see over forty Common Tern fledged! An extraordinary total from the sixteen or seventeen pairs that have nested. Normally a colony is regarded as having had a successful breeding season if it fledges an average of one chick per pair.

Otherwise highlights were few, a noisy mower and ear defenders make experiencing the environment difficult. A patch of Musk Mallow flowers on the Rockford path, although not rare always look as though their flowers are too big to be wild.

Also from the Rockford path I saw a Green Sandpiper and 2 Little Egret, I have seen very few Little Egret this year at Blashford, they have become much less common since I started here in 2006.

The Eyes Have It

After the volunteer task this morning I had lunch at on of the picnic tables behind the Centre. Almost every one had a Horse-fly perched on it, they did not seem interested in me, just trying to bask in the occasional sunny spells. Looking closely I could see that most were males, which don't bite, although there was certainly one female and they definitely do bite. All were of a common species Tabanus bromius, characterised by a single dark line across the eye, the picture is of the female and you can see the fierce mouth parts used to bite through cow-hide or a pair of jeans. The heads are almost all eyes (and mouth parts) and they are amazing creatures. Some species can fly at over 50km per hour and making 180 degree turns in just a few metres.
There were not many birds about today, the flocks of moulting geese include the Bar-headed Goose and the two Little Ringed Plover are still sitting. I expect the Lapwing chick will be flying any day now and on Ivy Lake lots of the Common Terns are already doing so. About twenty chicks were flying and there are still nine small ones and one adult sitting. The picture has about eight of the chicks and a few adults stood about and one adult flying in with a fish.

A Green Sandpiper at the Ivy North hide at the end of the day was about the most notable sighting, although a particularly large Grass Snake at the Ivy South hide was also impressive.

Deer and Oh Dear

Had a lovely start to the day - the Little Ringed Plover are still sitting, despite the events that Bob described in the last posting and walking by "Badger Hill" on the way to opening up the Woodland Hide had a smashing view of a Roe Deer with two kids.

Making the most of a sunny day with no groups booked in and (most!) of the more pressing paperwork in hand, I extended my walk opening up the hides by continuing on to the south of Ellingham Lake, along Ivy Lane and then up to Lapwing and Goosander Hides via the Rockford/Ivy Lakes track. As usual on a glorious day in July, the reserve was quiet (we assume that people are in town or on the beach, but perhaps not?), allowing me to fully appreciate our tranquil setting and the scents, sights and sounds of insects feeding on the bramble and creeping thistle flowers (it may sound a little strange, but if you never have sniffed a creeping thistle, I urge you to give them a go, just beware the bees! They have a very strong honey like scent). Dragonflies were also on the wing aplenty, particularly along the warm sheltered paths by Rockford and up through the willow and reed to Lapwing. Very prominent today were red admiral, meadow brown, comma, small skipper, small tortoiseshell and common blue. Representing the dragonflies were plenty of emperor, scarce chaser, southern hawker, common blue and beautiful demoiselle.

The bee orchids are still flowering on the way up to Lapwing Hide and I also spotted what I took to be a southern marsh/common spotted orchid nearer the Goosander end of the path.

The reserve was a little busier this afternoon, mostly with people enjoying the wildlife and the reserve in the manner for which it is intended, but then, oh dear, a couple of misguided cyclists opted to take a stroll along the southern shore of Ibsley Water to look for a "nice spot for a rest and a picnic". Alerted to their presence by visitors in the Tern Hide (thank you) they were redirected onto the footpath. They were clearly not intending any harm (if they were they probably would not have been advertising their presence with fluorescent yellow hi-viz jackets!), but ignorance is no excuse. It always amazes me how people can manage to climb over locked gates without even realising they are doing so?!

Would have posted some lovely photos of assorted dragonflies, butterflies and flowers, but the camera isn't talking to the computer. Will edit them in later if I can get it sorted.

Hopefully it will be a quiet night tonight.

Hope Goes Up in Flames?

A delay in posting yesterday's news, in fact I would rather not post about it at all, but what happened, happened. I arrived to open the Tern hide and it was plain that the dead hedge beside the hide had been pulled apart. Entering the hide it had been obvious we had received unwanted visitors in the night. Just to the west of the hide on the shore there was a fire with cans and broken glass. The immediate thought was that if there had been people on the shore, the Little Ringed Plovers, so recently sitting on eggs just near the eastern end of the hide, would have left their nest. In fact both sitting birds visible from the hide were still there, although the nearest must have been disturbed from the nest while the people were there, the nest is not 15m away. There is a small chance the eggs will survive, the female had only started sitting hard the day before, so perhaps the eggs were not "set", only time will tell. I cannot go an clear up the mess because the birds are still sitting and so I would disturb them, so we have to look out at it for some time yet.

Information received, as they say, suggest some seven persons were involved and I have established where the cars were parked. The disturbance of a Little Ringed Plover at a nest is a criminal offence as there are "schedule 1 species" given special legal protection. However I don't expect we will ever bring anyone to book.We often think of predators as a risk to these birds but people are still one of the greatest direct risks. Indirectly, of course, we have completely modified just about every habitat in Britain thereby radically influencing the range of survival opportunities available. This includes the creation of the gravel pits, upon which Little Ringed Plovers depend.

In general Blashford has been a story of gains in opportunities, but there have been and will be set backs. When access is encouraged and it has been at the heart of the project from the start, it has to be expected that some of the access will be abusive. Still the plovers have not given up despite losing their brood and there is a lesson for us there, we will carry on and try to improve the chances for wildlife on the reserve and the opportunities for people to get close. The challenge is to do this without increasing the risks unacceptably and this evidently needs more work.

On a more positive note, another warm night produced a good range of moths in the trap, including a Kent Black Arches, I think new for the reserve (but I have not looked it up yet). Perhaps not the most accurately named moth as it does not have black arches nor is it in Kent, but it is related to the "Black Arches" moths and is presumably a moth of Kent. I particularly liked the small tufts of scales sticking up form the wings, these would indicate that it is a freshly emerged moth, as they are prone to wearing off with age.

There was also a Burnished Brass, or perhaps one of the "Burnished Brasses" as there is now a suggestion that there might be two or even three species lurking under this one name. Whichever it might be they are very smart moths and common as the caterpillars feed on nettles, although a common food plant does not always mean a common moth.

Another species that was new for the year was Beautiful Golden Y, again a very fresh individual.

For really good news on the breeding bird front we need go no further than the Common Terns, more young are flying every day now and I would expect there to be some twenty flying by the end of the weekend. So far we have had no repeat of the last two years incursions by canoes which have cost us several young each year, when they have jumped from the rafts and paddled away in panic.

Lastly a sign of approaching autumn, there were at least 3 Common Sandpiper about, a real indication that the southward wader passage is underway.

More Eggs and a Red End to Headaches?

The Little Ringed Plover nests which had hatched last month all resulted in failure, with the chicks being lost to predators, although I don't know what. However two pairs are now sitting on eggs once again, at least one pair on a clutch of four eggs, impressive, as although four is typical for first clutches later ones tend to be fewer.
Thursday today, so the volunteers were in, the task was not one of our favourites, Ragwort control, but we are getting on top of it and the sward is improving for both grazing waterfowl and nesting Lapwing.

Michelle had returned to the Centre with a fairly large, bright red, beetle, like a giant, unspotted Ladybird. We looked it up and it proved to be a Red Poplar Leaf Beetle. Apparently the adults are distasteful because, when they are larvae, they sequester salicylic acid from the leaves of the willows and poplars they feed on. This compound is the original "Aspirin" so perhaps they would also be a cure for headache. I did not get a picture because it flew away.

Beauty and the Bees

A warm night resulted in a trap full of moths this morning, along with a good number of hawk-moths there were 2 Great Oak Beauty, these large grey moths are typical of old oak woodland and they are something of a New Forest speciality. As well as subtle colouring, no doubt good for camouflage on a tree trunk, they also sport splendid "Dennis Healy" eyebrows, OK so they are antennae really, but you see what I mean.
Although the Little Ringed Plovers that lost their brood at the Tern hide still think there is enough summer to start another nesting attempt, there are distinct signs of approaching autumn. 2 Common Sandpipers on the trees outside the Ivy South hide were already on their way south after breeding. On Ibsley Water the geese are in full wing moult and the air is full of fledgling Black-headed Gulls.

Although Blashford cannot claim to be a great site for orchids we do have some, the willow woodland in some areas have lots of Broad-leaved Helleborine, they flower mostly in July so are not out yet. The one pictured should have a good stem of flowers, I will add a picture of it if it does, I put it in now because they often get nibbled down by Rabbits, so they often don't get to flower.

Another orchid we have and one that is in full flower now is the Bee Orchid. They are scattered around the area of the reserve north of Ellingham Drove, the one below was beside the path to the Lapwing hide.

I spent a good bit of time this morning removing Ragwort from the shore of Ibsley Water, not great for birding but I did see a few butterflies, including a Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Large White and several Meadow Brown. During the afternoon, I resisted the temptation to continue with the Ragwort and cleared some path sides, this gave further butterflies watching opportunities including my first Silver-washed Fritillary, Small Skipper and Ringlet of the year. There were also several summer brood Comma sunning themselves on the paths.

Chicks Lost and Taking Flight

Sorry for lack of posts over the last few days, mainly due to internet problems. Despite "good" weather the Little Ringed Plover chicks all seem to have fallen prey to predators, although the largest single Lapwing chick continues on. The Common Terns on the rafts on Ivy lake are starting to fly, the first three, all from one brood, flew on Tuesday and there are still over thirty chicks on the rafts.

The warm conditions have brought out lots of dragonflies with good numbers of Scarce Chaser and more Gold-ringed Dragonflies than I have seen here before. The numbers of Common Blue and Azure Damsels are amazing, with hundreds together in places. The picture shows a male Azure Damselfly.
Moths have been quite good in numbers, with several Privet, Eyed, Elephant and Poplar Hawk-moths. Following on from the sighting of its parasite, I actually saw a Horn-tail near the Centre the other day, seemingly the first for the reserve.