Narroways!

A fabulous couple of hours on the reserve this morning. It was great to see my first Large Red Damselfly of the year near the cutting, along with a female Orange-tip butterfly and a Speckled Wood. Hoverflies included my first ever Neoascia (very small with a wasp-like 'waist'), a Cheilosia pagana, Eristalis pertinax and my first Rhingia rostrata of the year. Amazingly, two different Nomad Bees occupied the same spot along the stony path, a Gooden's Nomad Bee and a more tricky species best left as Nomada sp.

Large Red Damselfly

Cheilosia pagana

Neoascia

Gooden's Nomad Bee

Nomada sp.

Eristalis pertinax

Female Orange-tip

Birds included singing Blackcaps and a Chiffchaff plus a very bold Jay. The Raven pair were very active overhead.

Jay

Back in Montpelier I was delighted to see a Crab Spider Xysticus cristata, a Holly Blue butterfly and, best of all, my very first ever Velvet Mite!

Xysticus cristata Crab Spider

Velvet Mite

I was greeted in the bathroom by a Carabid beetle of the family Amara. It was trying to get out of a window so I released it after a short photo session.

Amara beetle

Lockdown Lepidoptera!

I am beginning to add more butterflies to my 2020 list - today I saw my first Speckled Wood in Station Road and there was a Holly Blue flying around a neighbour's garden but too flighty and distant to photograph. I was able to get a distant photo of an Orange-tip from my window though!

Distant Orange-tip

Speckled Wood

Today I spent much time looking out of the window - Great Tits, Robins and Woodpigeons were the main highlights.

Woodpigeon

Breeding Bird Survey!

Bright and early this morning I did the first of my two BBS visits to ST5974 (covering Montpelier, St Andrews and St Pauls). The totals counted were as follows:
Lesser Black-backed Gull 10
Herring Gull 4
Woodpigeon 16
Collared Dove 3
Wren 6
Dunnock 2
Robin 10
Blackbird 4
Blackcap 3
Long-tailed Tit 2
Blue Tit 9
Great Tit 6
Magpie 7
Carrion Crow 13
Starling 2
House Sparrow 16
Goldfinch 8
Feral Pigeon 30

Incredibly low numbers of Blackbird, Dunnock and Magpie but of course you only record what you see or hear during the survey itself so it may not be a true reflection of the situation. Two odd things happened - and no, I wasn't arrested for using binoculars in a built-up area - there was a dead fledgling Jay on the pavement in Chesterfield Road which was rather sad and also there was a swarm of Syrphus hoverflies around a shrub in Ashley Hill. I reckon there were between 15-20 of them!

Later at the station there was a cute little Zebra Spider out hunting on the wall and up to 6 Holly Blue butterflies around Ivy on the disused platform along with several Orange-tips - similar numbers to a couple of days ago. A Brimstone also made an appearance.

Zebra Spider

Orange-tip and Holly Blue!

Two spring butterflies at the station this afternoon - at least 3 Orange-tips patrolling the disused platform and my first Holly Blue of the year near the Cromwell Road end of the footbridge. Needless to say they never settles for a photograph unfortunately!

Narroways!

A couple of hours on the reserve this morning produced 20 Goldfinches, 2 Greenfinches, a fly-over Jackdaw, a Grey Wagtail, singing Blackcap and Chiffchaff plus plenty of Robins, Blackbirds, Dunnocks and a Great Tit. The Ravens were much in evidence.

Goldfinch

Butterflies were represented by 5 Green-veined Whites, a Speckled Wood, an Orange-tip and a Holly Blue. Other insects included a Red and Black Froghopper, a couple of Dock-leaf Bugs, an Andrena mining bee, the hoverflies Eupeodes, and Cheilosia variabilis, Honey Bees and Common Carder Bees and my first Thick-thighed Flower Beetles of the spring.

Andrena

Green-veined White

Dock-leaf Bug

Cheilosia variabilis

Another Holly Blue was flying around the front garden this afternoon.

Fairlawn Road!

A few minutes looking at the verge produced a Nursery Web Spider, a couple of Common Carder Bees, a few Honey Bees, a Syrphus hoverfly and a Speckled Wood. A Byturus sp. beetle was in a buttercup.

Nursery Web Spider

Speckled Wood

Byturus

St Andrews Park produced another Speckled Wood and a Harlequin Ladybird. I had a brief sighting of a Bee-fly, presumably a Dark-edged Bee-fly but it didn't hang around.

Harlequin Ladybird

At least one Holly Blue butterfly was flying around the disused platform at the station.

Montpelier Station!

Not too much to get excited about at the station today other than a Jay flying across, a few mainly Small White butterflies and a strange little fly on the wall which looks like a Fever Fly - never seen one before, how exciting! Some Scarlet Pimpernel was in flower in the planted area on the main platform.

Fever Fly

Scarlet Pimpernel

A Holly Blue was seen in the garden this afternoon.

Narroways

Today on the reserve: Pair of Robins near brook, 1 male Grey Wagtail on brook carrying food, lots of Raven activity, 1 Common Buzzard over cutting, 1 or 2 Greenfinches (cutting), 1 Chiffchaff orchard, pair Long-tailed Tits near Ashley Hill entrance.

Long-tailed Tit

1 Brimstone butterfly (cutting), 1 Small White and 2 Holly Blue butterflies at Ashley Hill entrance.
Lots and lots of Cryptocephalus beetles - every buttercup on the cutting had one! Also my first Thick-thighed Flower Beetleof the year and lots of Pollen Beetles on hawthorn blossom. 1 Harlequin Ladybird.

Holly Blue

Cryptocephalus

Myathropa florea

Pollen Beetles

Celery Fly

Adela reaumurella

A couple of Andrena spp., Buff-tailed Bumbles and Common Carder Bees mainly in Simons Grove. Hoverflies - first Myathropa florea of the year, Rhingia rostrata plus loads of Syrphus sp.
A couple of Celery Flies at Simon's Grove.

Several long-horned moths Adela reaumurella near Ashley Hill entrance plus a Green Shieldbug.

In St Andrews Park there was an Andrena sp., a Holly Blue, several Tadpoles in the pond and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Andrena sp.

In Fairlawn Road a Blackcap was singing and a Harlequin Ladybird was basking on a leaf.

Montpelier Station!

Another new butterfly for the year at the station this morning - a Small White! Also 4+ Orange-tips and a Holly Blue on the disused platform. A Blue Tit seems to be nesting in a crack in the brickwork just below the 'Montpelier Station' sign at the foot of the steps going up to the footbridge.

Totals for yesterday's Breeding Bird Survey are:

Sparrowhawk 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull 4
Feral Pigeon 33
Woodpigeon 11
Collared Dove 5
Magpie 3
Carrion Crow 8
Blue Tit 4
Great Tit 6
Coal Tit 2
Willow Warbler 1
Blackcap 3
Wren 6
Starling 8
Blackbird 8
Robin 8
Dunnock 6
House Sparrow 22
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 6

Butterfly extravaganza!

No less than 4 species of butterfly at Montpelier Station this afternoon - my first Orange-tip of the year was the first sighting, followed by a Brimstone, a Holly Blue and a Speckled Wood!

St Andrews Park

A repeat performance of last week, with several Xylota segnis hoverflies, a Garden Spider and 2 Speckled Wood butterflies. Also several Common Carder Bees, Buff-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees in the park and on lavender in a front garden near the park. A Robin put in an appearance - the first bird I've seen for ages on the patch!

At Montpelier Station there were 2 Holly Blue butterflies and a Harlequin Ladybird.

St Andrews Park

Invertebrate highlights in the park this morning included a Holly Blue and a Speckled Wood, at least 2 Xylota segnis hoverflies, a Sawfly sp., the tachinid fly Eriothrix rufomaculata, a Harlequin Ladybird, a Garden Spider, Red-tailed and Buff-tailed Bumblebees and a Common Carder Bee. Still lots of tadpoles in the pond and a rather ill-looking fish.

Fish with possible fungal infection

Holly Blue

Xylota segnis

Common Carder bee

Eriothrix rufomaculata

Montpelier Station

Not an awful lot to report other than Buff-tailed Bumblebee and the hoverfly Myathropa florea on the Buddleia, and a Holly Blue on the disused platform.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Myathropa florea

Holly Blue

A Holly Blue butterfly was in the garden today, along with a Large White.

Montpelier Park

A Holly Blue butterfly was basking on a leaf at the back of the park this morning - seems a good year for this species. Also a Eupeodes hoverfly and an Anthomyia fly. A Couple of Swifts overhead and a Blackcap singing.

Anthomyia

Holly Blue

Eupeodes

Butterflies again....

A circuit of Montpelier today produced at least 2 Holly Blue butterflies in the garden, a Common Blue at the station, and both Large and Small White at Fairlawn Road. Other insects included a Green Shieldbug, a small mining bee species, a Drone Fly Eristalis pertinax a Harlequin Ladybird and a Garden Spider. Plants in flower included an Evening Primrose species at the station and Scarlet Pimpernel at Fairlawn Road.

Mining bee

Common Blue

Evening Primrose

Large White

Drone Fly

Scarlet Pimpernel

Green Shieldbug

Small White

Garden Spider