Wet visit to Maple Lodge

Autumn was definitely in the air at Maple Lodge NR today. But despite the frequent rain showers and cooler air, there were still lots of critters around. 

There were two species of hoverfly braving the weather.....

Syrphus sp.

Myathropa florea

 There was even a Comma at Comma Corner.....

On the screens by the Barn Owl Meadow, there was a tiny green jewelled wasp....

and a bit further along I found a Hornet......

The rain bought out the slugs, including this huge orange thug of a slug.....

The rain also caught out this Shield Bug that was on the rails at the Long Hedge Hide.....

More bugs, this time Dock Bugs, were out in force at Comma Corner during one of the brief sunny spells.....

and on another leaf some of them were sharing space with a spider......

One good thing about the rain.....it makes spiders webs look quite pretty.....

Up at the Shell Hide, Reggie the Robin popped in to ask for some meal worms......

and from the Clubhouse Hide the now predictable Nuthatch came as soon as nuts were put out for him/her....

As to be expected at this time of year, there was plenty of fruiting fungi around.....

Despite the cooler wetter weather I still had an enjoyable visit. There was plenty more that I could have photographed including the Treecreeper in amongst a mixed tit flock that was making it's way around the reserve, and the 20-30 Redwings by the Lynsters Hide  but they were a little distant.