Recent Sightings 3rd - 8th July
Highlights: White-letter Hairstreak Butterfly, Spotted Flycatcher, Ruff, Curlew, Common Darter Dragonfly
Millennium Wetlands:
A fantastic record for the site this week was a White-letter Hairstreak butterfly seen in Black Poplar Wood whilst on the butterfly survey Friday afternoon, there has been a few records of this species on site previously however it isn't common, they fly erratically which can make them hard to identify; they are strongly associated with elm trees, usual high up in the canopy only coming to the ground to feed. Other butterflies seen on the reserve this week were Holly Blue, Gatekeeper, Small Copper, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Common Blue, Meadow Brown, and Ringlet
In the northern loop a Spotted Flycatcher was observed on Friday, again a species not recorded often, the last time being back in July 2019; named flycatcher due to its feeding behaviour where it perches waiting for an insect to pass by which it niftily catches before coming back to perch again.
A visitor photographed a female Common Darter Dragonfly this week and very kindly shared it in the Facebook Group, anyone is welcome to join the group and share the wonders they have seen around the reserve too, just search 'WWT Llanelli Wetland Centre Photo Club', we love to see what you've snapped!
Under the reptile tins this week Grass Snakes and Slow Worms have been sighted, with one of the refugia tins containing a recent Grass Snakes skin shed.
On the evening of Friday a moth light trap was run with 50 individuals being caught, species include: Pebble Prominent, Lacky, Large Yellow Underwing, Dun-bar, Small China-mark, Flame, Flame Shoulder, Heart and Dart, Copper Underwing, Bright-line Brown-eye, Common Quaker, and Shy Cosmet.
Saltmarsh and Dafen Scrapes:
With the recent high tides the Saline Lagoons have now got some water in them, unfortunately they won't fill up fully until Augusts hide tides, but we are grateful for some water this week. The hide tides push the birds further up the Saltmarsh from the estuary and on Friday morning 253 Curlew were counted on the fringes of the Saltmarsh from the British Steel Hide; over on Dafen Scrapes Lapwing are starting to gather together with over 30 sighted here; plus seen from the Michael Powell hide were 17 Redshank, 8 Greenshank, a Grey Heron and a couple of Little Egrets. Also a Ruff was seen on Dafen Scrapes Saturday morning.
Freshwater Lagoon:
The two Little Ringed Plover chicks are still around, although quite hard to spot, you may need to spend a bit of time trying to find them with some binoculars as they are tiny and blend into the islands very well, they can be easier to see when they run around to their next feeding spot, they are rather nifty!
