One Sunny day in June

The sun came out and warmed up everything. It was a lovely surprise! I mean we cannot say we have had a flaming June now can we. So we packed our cameras and bins and headed for our favourite RSPB reserve, well one of the many, Middleton.

We walked to the Heron section of the reserve. At the moment it's difficult to see them in the trees, but trust me they are there. Quite a lot of noise was coming from their quarters. Difficult to make out why and also, difficult to spot the herons nesting, but one did pop up and extended his wings. Lovely sight and had the opportunity to photograph one flying over. This is one I took as he flew towards the main reserve area. Quality not brilliant, since I was not quick enough, but hey ho. Such graceful birds. I love to watch them fly and how they land in the trees is amazing.

Heron flying over the reed pond.

We also saw blue and red damselflies by the heron section. Here they are courtesy of Mr Tony Bucknall, thank you Tony.

Enallagma cyathigerum

Common Blue Damselfly

Ischnura elegans

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Pyrrhosoma nymphula

 Red Damselfly

A Common Blue-Damselfly pair in copulation wheel

Enallagma cyathigerum

Common Blue Damselfly

As you walk around the area, you do see a lot of the Common Blue Damselflies, so do watch were you are walking.  Damselflies are very closely related  to dragonflies (Anisoptera). They can be be distinguished from each other by observing them at rest. The damselflies are generally smaller and at rest hold their wings vertically above their body, or partly open. The dragonfly will always rest with its wings spread horizontally. It is very easy to get the two mixed up.

Around the heron section we saw a lot of Swallows, and I am pretty sure there were a good number of juveniles, I thought at first they were swifts, but on closer inspection I am pretty sure they were juveniles. Over by the bird feeder we had the usual Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Reed bunting and Sparrow.

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Not many butterflies despite the warm sun.. Saw just two types a Wood White and this little chap, which I believe is a Speckled wood, if I am wrong please do let me know.

Pararge aegeria  Speckled Wood

As we walked towards the main reserve lake we came across these little critters. We do tend to forget about bees and little beetles, since they are small, but they do play an important role in our environment. We all know that bees play a part in pollination,but less well known ones include moths, thrips, beetles and solitary bees.

 Did you know;

 At least 65% of all species on the planet are invertebrates. There are more than 32,000 terrestrial and freshwater and 7,000 marine species in the UK alone, and many are critically endangered.

I am trying to get these identified (ID), since I am not sure, yet what they are, if you recognise them, please feel free to let me know.

We also came across these peacock caterpillars.If you didn't know these love nettles and will grow into beautiful peacock butterflies. The female is very careful where she will lay the eggs in a silken tent on the tip of a vigorous nettle in full sun. The eggs will eventually get larger and tend to stay in a mass, as shown below.  You can see that they have protruding spines that can help defend against predictors. Those that survive will leave the nettles to pupate and approximately 12 days or so will emerge. So in late summer we may hopefully see them flying around the reserve.

                                   

Unfortunately, despite hearing so many different bird sounds, I was not able to take photos of any apart from this one chap, who was making a lovely bird song and he was visible.

 It is the lovely Reed Bunting and if you click here you will hear the sound he was making.

 One of the most noisy birds was the Chiffchaff, and wherever we walked I heard the distinct sound of them. Click here to listen to their song. I knew there were Whitethroats at the reserve and so far they have eluded me, but I did hear them and this is their song

So, despite hearing these two birds, plus others that I cannot recall we decided to wonder over to the main lake. The main birds that live here are the Black Headed Gulls. You will see that their head is brown, but because in some light it looks more black they were named the Black Headed Gulls. Its scientific name is Chroicocephalus ridibundus, although in some bird books you will see the name Larus Ridibundu. The word Larus is the birds classification and you will find other Gulls that have this prefix to their name. This changed some time ago when it was deemed this word was linked too to many other birds, so it was changed to the genus name of Chroicocephalus.

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Black-Headed Gull

Juvenile Black-Headed Gull

Juvenile Black-Headed Gull

Amongst the adults we saw many juveniles, which look nothing like their parents.I must admit I was quite excited thinking I had spotted a new wading bird, but alas it was not to be, as I asked my bird buddies to ID the bird and I was quickly told  "it is a Black-Headed Juvenile".

Black-Headed Gulls - Juvenile

They weren't the only youngsters on the lake here we have a Mum and young ones enjoying the sun.

 

You of course cannot ignore the Tufted Duck, here we have Mr and Mrs Tufted Duck. Mrs Tufted duck spent most of her time diving in, with Mr Tufted Duck just looking on.

Male and Female Tufted Duck

Male and Female Tufted Duck

Male and Female Tufted Duck

Finally, a favourite of all, the muted  swan towering over the Black-Headed Gulls...

OK Guys, move over.

“The only good cage is an empty cage.”
― Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer

References

Buglife (ND)  - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust http://www.buglife.org.uk/ [accessed 1.7.13]

Funk, D. J., and Omland, K. E. (2003). Species-level paraphyly and polyphyly: Frequency, cause and consequences, with insights from animal mitochondrial DNA. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 34: 397–423.

RSPB (ND) Reed Bunting.  http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/r/reedbunting/index.aspx [accessed 01.07.13] 

RSPB (ND) Bird Guide.http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/blackheadedgull/index.aspx [accessed 01.07.13]

Royal Entomological Society (ND) Dragonflies (Anisoptera) and Damselflies (Zygoptera) http://www.royensoc.co.uk/insect_info/what/dragonflies_and_damselflies.htm [accessed 01.07.13]

The British Dragonfly Society (ND) UK Species zygoptera - Damselflies. http://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/content/zygoptera-damselflies [accessed 1.7.13]

Cone (ND) Butterflies of the nettle patch http://www.nettles.org.uk/nettles/wildlife/butterflies.asp [accessed 1.7.13]