1 Pintail - wader scrape
3 Mandarin - reservoir lagoon
4 Snipe - grazing marsh, main lake
2 Kingfisher - flew across main lake and the wader scrape
7 House Martin - South route
4 Swallow - flew over heading South
8 Chiffchaff - South route, wildside
1 Kestrel - Q.E.W
September bird highlights: Whinchat, Wheatear, Stonechat, Jack Snipe, Pintail, Kingfisher, Buzzard, Water Rail, Peregrine, Greenshank, Grey Plover, Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin, Yellow Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher, Hobby.
Autumn migration is well underway with some great sightings of passage waders (such as Green Sandpiper and Dunlin), a long-staying Garganey, passage Warblers and Whinchats. The grazing marsh is being kept fairly wet to attract species like Black-tailed Godwit and Snipe, and migrating passerines may turn up anywhere on the short-cut banks and fencelines this month. Hirundine species will continue to move through the country southwards and we can expect a lot more Warblers on days when the weather is perfect for migration.
Bats: species of bat recorded on site this spring/summer have included abundant activity of Soprano Pipistrelle (UK BAP priority species); other species have included Common Pipistrelle, Nathusius’ Pipistrelle (UK rare), Noctule (UK BAP priority species), Leisler’s Bat (UK rare) and Daubenton’s Bat.
Reptiles: 9 broods of Common Lizard found on wooden structures (like old bridges and benches) thoughout the wildside and south route (30th July).
Plants: Ragged Robin, Yellow Loosestrife, Purple Loosestrife, Fleabane, Meadowsweet, Branched Bur-reed, Meadow Rue, Meadow Vetchling, Tare, Tufted Vetch, Common Vetch, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Common Stitchwort, Hemp Agrimony, Agrimony, Water Dropwort, Ragwort, Creeping Thistle, Spear Thistle, Forget-me-knot, Betony, Knapweed, Wild Carrot… to name just a few.
Bees: Tree Bumble, Large Red-tailed Bumble, Early Bumble, White-tailed and Buff Bumbles, Common Carder, Tawny Mining, Early Mining, Clarke’s Mining, Gooden’s Nomad, Grey-patched Mining, Red Mason, Hairy-footed, Honey, Yellow Loosestrife Bee, Large-headed Resin Bee, Short-fringed Mining Bee.
Butterflies and day-flying Moths: (abundance thus far – grassland butterflies dominating abundance along with the whites): Meadow Brown, Six-spot Burnet > Gatekeeper, Small White > Green-veined White > Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Large White > Comma, Speckled Wood > Red Admiral > Large Skipper, Holly Blue, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Silver Y > (single imagines) Six-belted Clearwing, White-letter Hairstreak, Common Blue, Ringlet.
Dragonflies and Damselflies: (relative abundance): Small Red-eyed Damselfly ≥ Azure/Common Blue Damselfly > Blue-tailed Damselfly > Black-tailed Skimmer, Emperor Dragonfly > Common Darter, Red-eyed Damselfly > Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker > Ruddy Darter, Four-spotted Chaser > Emerald Damselfly (a single imagine in Wildside), Migrant Hawker
Bush-crickets and Grasshoppers: Roesel’s Bush-cricket (listen out for an extended electrical buzzing sound), Common Green Grasshopper (listen for the sound of a free-wheeling bicycle), Meadow Grasshopper, Field Grasshopper
Bugs: Parent Shieldbug (late instar nymphs on birch leaves), Capsus ater (on Amphibious Bistort south side Sheltered Lagoon), Giant Willow Aphid (lots on living willow fence along South Route)
Beetles: Common Red Soldier Beetle (tall grassland around Sheltered Lagoon), 7-spot Ladybird, Harlequin Ladybird, Oedemera lurida (e.g. Compositae flowers), Donacia simplex (and related species on Branched Bur-reed), Rosemary Beetle (on Lavender in Sustainable Gardens), Red Poplar Leaf Beetle (on poplar sapling leaf Sheltered Lagoon), Viburnum Leaf Beetle (on Guelder-rose beside Bog Garden), Longhorn Beetle.
Sawflies: Social Pear Sawfly, Rhogogaster viridis, Alder Sawfly, Loosestrife Sawfly, Birch Sawfly.