Saturday 26th. May 2012

Got out early this morning before it got too hot and before that wind got too strong . Spent about an hour or so up on the Common , where the grass was still wet from the overnight dew . On the

 heathland site , the first thing to catch my eye was a striking fly with a 'go faster stripe' down the middle of it's back .It took a bit of searching when I got home , but I think it is Tachina magnicornis .
further along , I found lots of Common Heath moths , mostly males , chasing around looking for a mate or someone to have a scrap with . Then one moth with a different 'jizz' fluttered by and landed in the heather . After a couple of re locations , I finally managed to get some shots of the Beautiful

Yellow Underwing , a heathland specialist . Personally , I think it's name should be change to Joseph , or in this case Josephine , with such a colourful coat . I remember we found the caterpillar whilst working here during the Winter . It was a bit too early for most species of butterfly , but the

Small Heath was out and about early , finding them everywhere ,and recording 15+ specimens , many involved in aerial battles . Two other interesting species found , my first 'jumping spider' , or at

least I think it is , Pellenes tripunctatus , but stand to be corrected . I must admit that it helped me with it's ID as I watched it jumping from leaf to leaf , and a second sighting this year here of the

Green Tiger Beetle / Cicindela campestris , but not looking so green now . With wind and temperature both rising , I headed off for a look around the Farm lake . As I started my first lap , the first movement I saw was a Four-spotted Chaser lift from the bankside vegetation , make it's maiden

flight and settle in a tree . It was so fresh that the spots in the middle of the leading edges on both pairs of wings were hardly discernable . It proved to be the only dragonfly seen , but lots of newly emerged and mature Common Blue , Azure , Blue-tailed and Large Red Damselflies were recorded .

Butterfly numbers were low because of the wind , but a Green-veined White was found nectaring on some Ragged Robin and a freshly emerged male Common Blue came to the finger . The ripples in

the wings show that they hadn't yet fully inflated , so I left him to finish doing so . Around the lake , Oxeye Daisies in full flower and he Cowslips finished and going to seed , and the Salad Burnet /

Sanguisorba minor , a member or the Rose family , was somewhere in the middle . However , the most interesting sighting was when a very water-logged adult Little Grebe popped up on the edge of

 a lily pad . It didn't race away when it noticed me , which was unusual . Then I noticed why it was

staying close by , a youngster was 'parked' in the middle of the pad . I was surprised to see how far away the adult went in search of food , leaving the youngster unprotected for long periods of time .

But , when the adult found food , it called the youngster who noisily met the adult half way . I can't be sure , but I think the food was a dragonfly larva , possibly an Emperor . It was a large meal for

one so small , I must admit it brought back memories of the Cormorant and the Pike . This species failed to fledge any youngsters last year , due mainly I think to predation by Grey Herons . Sadly , the same could well happen this year , as two Grey Herons attempted to land whilst I was there , and with the little one being left on it's own --- . The two Herons circled the lake twice before flying off ,

one of them flying more like a Crane than a Heron .