May visit to Maple Lodge NR (with LOADS of critters)

Today I was back at Maple Lodge NR.

 

I know I have raved about this lovely private nature reserve on several occasions over the last year, and I will rave about it again now.

It is a hidden gem of a place open only to members. Here are the links to the Maple Lodge website and Facebook page so you can judge for yourself. I have never had the feeling of coming away disappointed from Maple Lodge, every visit has high-lighted something great for me. It's maintained by a great group with nature as a first priority.

 

My visit today was mainly to renew my membership and to take Sue along so she could join. Glad to say that after her guided tour (every potential new member has to have a guided tour before they can get their key card) Sue re-joined me and we spent a very enjoyable day on site. And I am safe in saying Sue also thinks Maple Lodge is fantastic.

 

We had mainly sunny spells today, with the odd cloud cover, but the wind was fairly chilly and I only spotted two butterflies the whole time I was there. One was a Green-veined White that settled just long enough for an id but not long enough for a photo, and the other was a Peacock that done exactly the same. However what we lacked in butterflies we certainly made up for with critters.

 

Ladybirds were EVERYWHERE. And I'm still catching up with true id's for most of them....hence the '?' by all of them for the time being....

 

Harlequin sp ?

Probable Harlequin sp ?

fresh Harlequin sp ?

Cream-streaked (fresh sixteen-spotted form).......hopefully ? Amendment - this is a Ten-spot.....

Seven-spot Ladybird ?

Harlequin sp - probably f.spectablis ?

 Of course it being in the middle of May it's Ladybird mating season, so here's a few Ladybird porn pics....

 

 

There were other critters on site too, I got my first Flower Beetle of the year captured on camera.

This is a male with those wonderful 'thunder thighs'. These are also know as Fat-legged Flower Beetle and Thick-legged Flower Beetles......guessing you can see why.......

 

 

This beautiful, but very small, critter caught my eye. Martin Parr identified it for me, and I will name it tomorrow when I have researched the little beauty.....and also because I have shamefully forgotten what he told me..........!

 

Amendment - this is a Striped Oak Bug......

 

 

 

I also saw my first Soldier Beetle of the season, but haven't yet narrowed it down to it's exact family name....

 

There was an Alder Sawfly (thanks to those in the know on the Insects Facebook forum)...

 

 

and there were lots of these about just before you get to the Sluice Gate on the right hand side.

Corizus hysocyami....

 

I was expecting (and hoping) to see lots of Scorpion Flies today, but actually only found two. There are three species of Scorpion Fly in the UK, but the males can only be identified by the differences between the bulbous red genital capsules, and the females can only be truly identified under a microscope. As I only got one photo today, and I still cannot truly say which species it is because my photo wasn't sharp enough, I'm just going to label this as a male Scorpion Fly......

 

 

Other more obliging critters included plenty of these Brassica Bugs....

 

There were many hoverflies around today. I got photos of three species....

 

Helophilus pendulas

Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade Fly)

 But the one below had me stumped.

I'm not very good at identifying Hovers though I'm learning more each year. I have to take several macro photos, get home, upload my photos, crop heavily and then go through my Hover Bible (Britain's Hoverflies by Stuart Ball & Roger Morris) And I always double check my id's on the UK Hoverflies Facebook page.

This one had me completely stumped. So I admitted that on their facebook page.....

 

 

It turns out I was right to be stumped as this little lovely is a Leucozona lucorum and the reason why I couldn't get an accurate id from my Hover Bible is because, and I quote.....

 

'it is a very dark individual of Leucozona lucorum. The large wing shade and pale scutellum can be little else. It's not that uncommon to see them where the white patches are a bit darker than normal...this one is quite extreme, though'.

 

Sue and I saw our first damselfly of the year at Cranford Park a couple of weeks ago, a Large Red. Today we found our first Common Blue of the year, and got photos of both male and female....

 

 

Another little critter seen a lot today was the Common Nettle-tap, a day flying macro moth....

 

 

As well as the critters we saw plenty of birds. Swifts were screeching overhead for most of the day, Sue spotted two Hobbys hawking over the lake from the Lynster Hide plus House Martins and I saw at least two Swallows. Several times today we saw both Red Kites and Common Buzzards high on the thermals. Greylag and Canada Goose (a few with goslings) were in good numbers in Lynster Field, plus a couple of Pied Wagtail.

 

From the Clubhouse Hide we had loads of sightings of Great Spotted Woodpecker. It was usually a male on the feeders to the right, but we later saw two more flying around the feeders on the left.....

 

 

From the Long Hedge Hide we saw Black-headed gulls, Tufted Ducks, Gadwall, Cormorant, a family of two adult and two juvenile Great Crested Grebes and several Pochard...

 

From the Rotunda Hide this morning whilst Sue was having her guided tour, I saw two Treecreepers diving in and out of a gap in the fence carrying nesting material. Couldn't get a photo and we went back later this afternoon and couldn't see them. However we did see a preening Wren....

 

 

a pair of Reed Buntings, Common Whitethroat, Blackcaps and more Gadwalls, Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Ducks and Mallards.

 

We didn't see the Treecreepers by the broken fence panel though and we had decided to leave for the day and were following the path back towards the Clubhouse when we first heard and then saw a Treecreeper..... 

 

Part of that corner of the path way was in shade so getting photos proved somewhat tricky, and after hanging around watching the little beauties we can confirm we saw a family party of about 5-6 Treecreepers. What a great result to the end of our visit...

 

All in all it was a great day out. It may have been more about the critters for me today and it was a shame the weather was holding down the butterflies, but we can honestly say we had a good visit.

Sue has finally seen why I rave on about this great little Nature Reserve.

 

It is the annual Maple Lodge Open Weekend, therefore tomorrow there will still be guided tours, refreshments, raffle, book stall, art stall and the added bonus of seeing several Grass Snakes and a rescued Pipistrelle Bat whilst you're buying from the plant stall (just look in to the tent behind them).