Saturday, 20 May 2017

Lizards, and other creatures, at the London Wetland Centre

 
I went on a very overdue visit to the London Wetland Centre this morning. The weather was sunny albeit a little windy but with intermittent showers forecast for the afternoon.
 
It was nice to see some colour amongst the lush greenery...
 

 
I saw four species of butterfly before the rain came. The Brimstone and Red Admiral wouldn't settle long enough for a photo, but I managed to get my first record shots of the year of a male Common Blue......


 
and a tatty female Holly Blue settled briefly nearby......

 
I also had my first Mint Moth of the year (aka Small Purple and Gold Moth).....

 
There were a couple of juvenile Herons around......
 
 
From the WWT Hide there was a lone Redshank......

 
which ventured nearer and nearer.....


 
and I managed to add a new photo to my 'Birds Bums' album......

 
I found four species of Ladybird this morning.
 
The 22-spot.....
 
 
7-spot....

 
2-spot...

 
and of course the Harlequins.......


 
I also found lots of hoverflies and managed to photograph four species.....
 
Syrphus sp. side shot.....
 
 
Eristalis sp. side shot....

 
my first ever Anasimyia lineata......



 
and Episyrphus balteatus.....

 
But I think the high-light of my morning was watching the Common Lizards.
 I saw about ten but a few scuttled away before I could grab a photo.
 



 


 
There were good numbers of bumble bees around including this gorgeous Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum).....
 
 
And despite the chilly wind I found a female Azure damselfly.....

 
and a male Blue-tailed damselfly....

 
In the little herb garden there was a very obliging Jay.......
 

 
and all over the site I saw my first Thick-legged Flower Beetles of the year.
The one below is the male with those wonderful thunder thighs.....

 
and in comparison this is the rather drab female....

 
I managed to reach the Wildside Hide before the first heavy rain shower appeared.
And it really was heavy rain.
 
The Shelduck didn't appear to mind... 
 
 
Nor did the Tufted Duck...

 
I made my way home shortly afterwards but it was lovely to revisit my old haunt.
 I really mustn't leave it so long next time.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Nice photos. Last Friday 19th May, I did see a Common Blue and Orange Tip at the centre.

    ReplyDelete