Yesterday (11th July) was my birthday and I decided after a birthday breakfast with my lovely Mum to pop down to my favourite nature reserve - Maple Lodge
A friend of mine was going to join me later for his first visit but I had a couple of hours to myself to do some 'hoverating' before it got too hot
ID's under each photo
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| Eristalis species - possibly nemorum |
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| Syrphus species - possibly ribesii |
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| Eristalis pertinax |
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| Eristalis species - possibly arbustorum |
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| Eristalis species - possibly arbustorum |
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| Myathropa florea - male |
Thank you to Roger Morris / Nicola Garnham / Graham Watkeys of the UK Hoverflies facebook group for confirmation of IDs
There were still plenty of butterflies about - mainly Small and Large Whites again - but also this very tatty Ringlet
There were still plenty of butterflies about - mainly Small and Large Whites again - but also this very tatty Ringlet
a very obliging Brimstone
and a nice fresh Gatekeeper
But it was mainly the Large Whites that were most prolific - with some squabbling for the prime spot on the flowering thistles
And it was another day of not ONE Harlequin ladybird sighting - instead there were plenty of 7-spots again
I'm not very good at identifying Darters - this one could be an immature Ruddy or Red or even a female - either way it posed just long enough for me to grab two side photos and a head on shot
The Teal Hide was fairly busy with a Little Egret / five juvenile Lapwings / three juvenile Little Grebes / three flyby Grey Wagtails / a Green Sandpiper and lots of young Mallards and Coots
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| juvenile Little Grebes |
My friend enjoyed his first visit to the reserve too and particularly liked the layout and privacy of the many hides
My birthday ended with a drink with my friend then watching the football with Mum - shame England didn't make it through to the finals but they done well to get to where they did
This morning I was on dog-sitting duty whilst Mum popped to work but before she did we found this intact exuvia on one of her pond plants - thanks to the experts on the UK Dragonflies & Damselflies Facebook group it was narrowed down to one of the Hawker species
After Mum left Gizzy the dog and myself done a little bit of 'birding' in the back garden
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| Song Thrush |
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| Dunnock |
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| Gizzy |
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