Thursday 3 September 2009

Thursday 3rd.September 2009

Against my better judgement , I ventured out after lunch , making my first stop at the farm lake . Well , today it was a lake of two halves , with one side sheltered from the worst of the wind by the trees along the lane , and the other side , out of the shelter , looking like the Bay of Biscay . I must admit that I wasn't expecting much in the conditions , but the first time I stepped into the bankside vegetation , I was joined by an old friend , the Common Froghopper . It seemed quite happy on my finger , but was obviously camera shy , as it kept on turning it's rear end to face the lens . Very little was seen on the wing , just a couple of Meadow Browns , a Large White and a very tatty Common Blue . I did find one day flying moth , a Silver Y , which definitely looked unhappy with the conditions and was well down in the vegetation . Just a handful of Common Darters were recorded , and not a single Damselfly . Just the usual Mallard types , Coots and Moorhens were on the water , with just 2 Little Grebe , feeding on the sheltered side . Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker and two small flocks of Goldfinches , feeding on seed heads , were recorded .
I stopped at the Common on the way back , but things were quiet there too . On a fallen Sycamore , I found one of the easier fungi to identify , as it is what it is named , Coral Spot Fungi -Nectria cinnabarina . It can be found on any dead wood , but I find it mostly on Sycamore . On the heathland area , I found two Common Lizards , one on a fallen tree , and the other , looking like it was sunbathing on a Heather hammock . I had to pass the Hornet's nest , so had a quick look . The activity is still as brisk , so , not pushing my luck , one quick shot , and I was away .
Very few butterflies were recorded here either , but I did find a couple of Common Blues , and this Brown Argus , nectaring on some more of that Alpine Ragwort . On the way back to the car , I found another nest , this time of the Common Wasp-Vespula vulgaris . There were many more of these than there were of the Hornets , and once again the nest was underground . I did not push my luck , after being stung eight times already this year , I gave them a wide berth , and headed home for a cup of tea .

4 comments:

Warren Baker said...

you did alright in the wind today greenie. See you got one of them Coots too, star bird!

Anonymous said...

Another good haul of species, Greenie - I especially like the Darter and the Lizard photos.

Ken. said...

Hi Greenie. Nice pics of the Common Darter, and Lizard.
I see you have learnt your lesson with the Hornets

ShySongbird said...

Lovely to see the Lizard and glad you didn't push your luck with the 'stingers'. Our weather has been very, very windy.