After a months worth of rain last week, it was encouraging to see so much insect life around and about. I had expected a quiet butterfly transect today and the glowering overcast sky wasn't encouraging, but I managed 92 butterflies of 8 species. The most numerous were 43 ringlets, with 22 small/Essex skippers and 15 small tortoiseshells coming in second and third respectively. The remaining species were large skipper, small white, red admiral, meadow brown and comma.
Roesel's bush-crickets are starting to become more prevalent and can be heard all around my patch. Whilst I was investigating one over by Reffley Reservoir I happened to look up just in time to see the tail end of a female adder disappearing from its basking spot. If only I had looked up a few moments before!
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| Roesel's bush-cricket |
It was disappointing to see that an owl nesting box close to the reservoir has recently been vandalised. The box has been ripped off from the top of the high post, so it must have taken some effort to achieve. Luckily, it wasn't currently in use, but there is plenty of evidence that it is regularly used as a feeding station from the sheer amount of bones littering the floor!
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| Vandalised owl box |
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| skulls and bones that littered the floor |
