Wildlife sightings for 6th October 2016
1 Little Gull juvenile - feeding around main lake from 1220hrs
1 Yellow-legged Gull 2nd W - main lake a.m.
1 Bullfinch - flew W 1555hrs
2 Yellow Wagtail - flew SW, one on to the marsh
35 Meadow Pipit - mostly SW/W, some on to the marsh
6 Siskin - flew W
10 Chiffchaff
8 Snipe - main lake, marsh
1 Kingfisher - wildside
1 Buzzard -perched in Poplar tree on towpath
3 Redwing - flew W
October bird highlights: Wheatear, Stonechat, Pintail, Kingfisher, Water Rail, Peregrine, Snipe, Yellow Wagtail, Siskin.
Autumn migration continues 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.
Flowering plants: Autumn Crocus, Yarrow, Fleabane, Bird's Foot Trefoil, Field Scabious.
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: Red Admiral.
Dragonflies: Common Darter, Migrant Hawker.
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.
