Wildlife sightings for 25th June 2022
Black-tailed Skimmers in wildside. Great wildflower displays across the marsh and wildside
Birds:
1 Little Egret - main lake
4 Common Tern - main lake, reservoir lagoon
2 Oystercatcher + chicks - main lake raft
1 Kingfisher - sheltered lagoon
1 Hobby - high over the reserve, circling south
Reed Warbler (55 singing birds), Cetti's Warbler (10), Reed Bunting (6), Sedge Warbler (4), Chiffchaff (3) and Blackcap (19) all singing around the reserve.
Flowering plants: Great Burnet, Salad Burnet, Agrimony, Bee Orchid, Pyramidal Orchid, Cut-leaved Crane's-bill, Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, Yellow Rattle, Bugle, Herb Robert, Ox-eye Daisy, Bramble, Self-heal, Common Vetch, Tufted Vetch, Dog Rose, Elder, Common Mallow, Deptford Pink, Beaked Hawksbeard, Smooth Hawksbeard, Creeping Cinquefoil, Red Campion, White Water Lily, Flowering Rush, Arrowhead, Knapweed, Yellow Bartsia, Meadow-rue, Yellow Loosestrife, Square-stalked St John's Wort, Betony, Cat's Ear, Pond Sedges, Club-rushes, Bristly Ox-tongue, Hawkweed Ox-tongue, Rough Hawkbit. The grazing marsh banks currently have the best display of Bird's-foot Trefoil on the reserve. Head to Wildside for the 'tall herb fen meadow' communities which include the lovely frothy flowers of Meadowsweet and the purples/pinks of Marsh Woundwort, Purple Loosestrife, Southern Marsh Orchid and Willowherb.
Butterflies: Brimstone, Small White, Large White, Green-veined White, Marbled White, Peacock, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Holly Blue, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Painted Lady, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral.
Dragonflies/Damselflies: Four-spotted Chaser, Norfolk Hawker, Broad-Bodied Chaser, Black-Tailed Skimmer, Hairy Dragonfly, Emperor, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle, Large Red Damselfly.
Other insects: Alder Leaf Beetle, Willow Leaf Beetle, Poplar Leaf Beetle, Wasp Beetle, Yellow Longhorn Beetle, Thick-Legged Flower Beetle, Buff-tailed Bumblebee, Ruby-Tailed Wasp, Green Lacewing, Red-headed Cardinal Beetle, Cinnabar Moth, Yellow Underwing, Mother Shipton, Yellow-barred Longhorn, Silver Y.
