1/7/17

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Great day with warm weather, clear skies and little wind. A nice day but not totally great with birds as migration has stopped and they have all settled down now. Starting of the day with 1 Male black cap calling in the trees near the Metal Bridge and closely followed by 1 Cormorant flying over head. ChiffChaff numbers were okay with around 10 near and around the Main lake with a astonishing number of 10+ Reed Warblers presuming that most are recent fledglings. Main Lake carried 2 Mute Swans and 3 Cygnets down by 3 from the original 6. The Great Crested Grebe pair may still be present on the lake however they were not seen today as people were canoeing on the lake. Insect wise today was great with Red Admirals flying about as well as around 5 Small Skippers and many Comma Butterflies.
Small Skipper  (Image by Luke Anderson)

Comma Butterfly (Image by Luke Anderson)
Other from the butterflies there were many moths out as well with numbers into there 20s of 6-spot Burnet Moth.
6-Spot Burnet Moth (Image by Luke Anderson)
Many bees were also out flying today but the two most interesting ones were the Leaf Cutter Bee and the Blue Mason Bee which was seen digging out a nest in the harder sand/clay like soil. For the aracnid lovers there were many jumping spiders out today such as the Satticus Pubescens, Salticus Scenicus and one of my personnal favourites the Euophrys Frontalis.

Leaf Cutter Bee (Image by Luke Anderson)

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