Kings, Spot and Elephants at Maple Lodge NR

My plans for today were always to visit Maple Lodge NR and as this week went on reports started coming in on the Maple Lodge Facebook page of some good finds.

 First of all 13 Common Sandpipers and two Green Sandpipers dropped in on the 25th, then on the 27th two Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars were found. Reports from yesterday (the 28th) suggested that most of the Sandpipers and both of the caterpillars were still on site. So with anticipation I set off this morning on the hour public transport commute to the reserve.

 

It was straight to the Rotunda Hide, and I was seated and patiently waiting by 9am. Sadly for me the Sandpipers weren't as excited to see me as I was to see them, and it looks as if they've moved on elsewhere. But within ten minutes one of the local Kingfishers landed on a handy perch in front of the hide......

 

 

I could hear the calls of other Kingfishers nearby but it wasn't until I followed the gaze of the first one......

 



 

that I saw my second one, perched in a shrub across the water.......

 

then came the shrill call of another one, that landed in the reeds on the waters edge......

 

and for a brief few minutes I had three Kingfishers all perched and in view at the same time. They were all males, with the one in the shrubs across the water looking distinctively more juvenile than the other two but as I only had my 150-300mm zoom lens on the camera, I couldn't get a clearer shot of it. Eventually they all flew off chasing each other around the reeds so I decided to venture off to find the Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars.

 

The contractors levelling out the new paths were working right by the area I thought the caterpillars were, so I carried on walking figuring the caterpillars wouldn't go far and the contractors will have moved on after a while

 

. It was a decision I'm glad I made.......

 

By the owl box meadow I hung around for a bit hoping one of the Brown Hawkers would settle on an obliging perch or a Brown Argus would show itself, but neither were to be.

 I was just approaching the area with the three benches when movement caught my eye. A small brown job was flushed out of the nearby brambles and landed in front of me......

A lovely little Spotted Flycatcher.....

 

 

Sadly a ChiffChaff was chasing it around, and they both flitted from tree to tree before I grabbed the photo below......

 

and they both flew over me heading towards the farmland.

 

I don't know what the ChiffChaff had against the Flycatcher, and I've never seen this behaviour before. At two of my local patches, Lake Farm and Cranford Park, I've seen Spotted Flycatchers hang around in the same tree or scrubby bush for hours and never be mobbed by other birds, but for some reason this ChiffChaff really didn't like this lovely little migrant and persistently chased it away.

 

So I've got the contractors to thank for seeing the Flycatcher......if they hadn't been working right next to the area where the Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars were, I'd have lingered there too long and completely missed the Spot Fly. Thanks contractors (smiley face).

I went back to the same area three more times during the course of the day but could not relocate the Spotted Flycatcher again. 

 

So back to the caterpillars. An hour later I went back to the area where they had been seen yesterday, and bingo, I was in luck, and the contractors had moved further down the path.

Only Maple Lodge regulars will understand these directions - there are several patches of Orange Balsam (photo of flower below) on the boggy water side between the Puddingstone and the tree where the Sparrowhawks nested.

In the largest patch were both of the caterpillars....

 

 

The 150-300mm zoom lens went in my rucksack and was replaced by my macro lens.....

 

This is why it is called the Elephant Hawkmoth........When disturbed or threatened the caterpillar can pull it's head deep inside it's body, showing just two large 'eye' markings which are meant to put off any predator. But undisturbed, the head emerges from the body on a long thick narrowing 'neck' which gives the appearance of an elephants head and trunk.......

 

Considering how intricately marked the caterpillar's body is, the head is small, dowdy and grey, but it's jaws are powerful and it made light work of the tough balsam leaves and buds.

 

I've seen several species of adult Hawkmoth before, but this was my first Elephant Hawk caterpillar so for me, my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year and these caterpillars more than made up for missing the Sandpipers.

 

Elsewhere around the reserve I saw Hobbys. From the Rotunda, Clubhouse, Long Hedge and Shell hides I saw a Hobby swooping down from the sky, low over the water then back up. I don't know if it was the same bird each time, but it was very active. Even though I changed my camera setting to 'sports' mode I couldn't capture it and the below shot was the best I could do today.....

 

 

 

There were still a few butterflies around today. I mainly saw Large Whites and a couple of Speckled Woods. There were also a few day flying Pyrausta aurata micro-moths around (aka Small Purple and Gold)....

 

On the path alongside the owl box meadow there were some small Puffball fungi. They probably wont last long though as they're only the size of marbles and will get trodden on and squashed before they can get to the giant size they're capable of......

 

The sunshine bought out some critters....

Long-winged Conehead.....

 

Dock Bug......

 

Female Scorpion Fly with lunch I think, and being observed by another little critter........

 

Naturally at this time of year there were plenty of dragonflies around, but as usual trying to get a photo is hard work. Even when they do settle, it's usually a way off and I struggled to get any clear shots today. I think the two below are Southern Hawker but feel free to correct me....

 

The Darters were much more obliging. I'm no expert in Odonata but I think the photos below are of all Ruddy Darters......

 

And this obliging one below let me get in quite close for a macro shot......

 

It wouldn't be a visit to Maple Lodge without seeing the regulars.....

 

Little Grebe...

 

 

Great Crested Grebe, adult and teenage juvenile.....

 

male Gadwall.....

 

female Gadwall.....

 

female Tufted Duck with feather stuck to her beak....

 

I was also fortunate to meet Jill whilst in the Clubhouse hide eating my sandwich. She showed me where to put my donation for using the facilities and making myself a cup of coffee (£1 in the pot), and I showed her a Darter that had settled itself on the log in front of the hide.

 But Jill had the best view whilst I was waiting for the kettle to boil, of a juvenile Heron swooping in to the feeder area and plucking out a rat from the bushes. I'd just got back to my seat and raised my camera when an adult Heron which had been happily perched on the rafts, heard the commotion and flew over to muscle in. The juvenile then took the rat further under the willows and out of camera shot.

The squeaking rat could be heard for a few minutes, then all was silent and a short while later the juvenile Heron flew out and over the clubhouse.

Heron 1 - Rat 0

That's Nature for you.

 

As always since I joined the reserve in May, I had a great visit to Maple Lodge, and I will definitely keep up the once a month visits to this beautifully kept and looked after reserve.

It's been a great day.