Damselfly Emergence - Exuviae Everywhere!
Monday, May 13th 2024
The last couple of weeks at Foxglove Covert have seen the emergences of many Large Red Damselflies. One particularly warm, sunny day last week seemed to be enough to encourage lots of them to emerge. Walking along the boardwalk and platforms of the pond-dipping area, the cast skins (or exuviae) of the damselflies covered verticle wooden supports. Although well camoflauged and difficult to spot initially, once you knew what to look for it was hard to stop noticing them!
But how and why is this cast left behind? The transition of dragonflies and damselflies from their larval stage to adult stage is known as 'emergence'. Larvae move from the water body they were living in and on to a stable place out of the water. This is usually vegetation, such as rushes or reeds in or near the pond. Here at Foxglove Covert, the boardwalk and pond-dipping platform supports seem to be very popular places to emerge!
Once out of the water, the adult form of the damselflies can take an hour to fully emerge from their larval skin. Parts of the damselfly's adult body gradually emerge from the larvel skin, expanding and hardening. It also takes time for the full-adult colours to come through, with recently emerged adults looking much paler than the colours you might expect to see. What is left behind of the larval stage is known as an 'exuvia'.
During emergence and their first flights, adults are particularly vulnerable, particularly to rain and predators. The damselfly in the image below didn't get very far before getting caught in a spider's web.
When around waterbodies this spring and summer, why not try to spot emerging dragonflies, damselflies and their exuviae? Make sure to check man-made supports near the water as well as emergent vegetation!
Creating a New Path
Sunday, April 28th 2024
This week, volunteers at Foxglove Covert were busy removing old boardwalking and creating a new path along a section of the 'green route' on the reserve.
The old boardwalk, which stretched across a very soggy patch of mud, was beginning to rot away. Rather than replacing the boardwalk, volunteers diverted the path to higher, and dryer, ground.
The process of removing the old boardwalk support posts was an incredibly muddy one!
The new path creation was a much cleaner affair - a couple of new steps were added, and a small 'corduroy road' was made along a dip in the path.
The new path is open and ready for use, so why not try it out during your next visit to Foxglove Covert? Just head along the green route to find it!
Bumblebee ID
Friday, April 26th 2024
This Sunday at Foxglove Covert the Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust held a bumblebee identification and survey training session, in support of the Bilberry Bumblebee Project.
Image: catching bees
Attendees learned all about how to ID different bumblebee species, and how sometimes it can be quite tricky - the bee in the image below was either a Buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris) or White-tailed (Bombus lucorum) Bumblebee - the species couldn't be determined in the field.
Attendees also gained some survey experience, and spent some time catching bees to ID them.
This training session will help volunteers with their ID as they carry out 'bee walks', a citizen science survey established by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. In 2023 volunteers across Richmondshire carried out 35 bee walks, recording 388 bees total, and 13 different species of bumblebee.
If you would like to contribute to this project, email wildwashton@gmail.com for more information about how to volunteer.
Image: Red-tailed Bumblebee
More Dead Hedging
Thursday, April 18th 2024
This Tuesday Foxglove Covert volunteers finished up work on the dead hedge at Spigot Mere.
The hedge now runs half the length of the pond, and was created largely using cut material from coppicing efforts all around the reserve.
Later this year, once nesting ends, trees go dormant, and coppicing starts again, the hedge will be extended to continue along the full length of the pond.
As spring continues we hope to see waders such as Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing or Curlew nesting at Spigot Mere. Oystercatchers have already been seen around the reserve, Curlew heard flying over, and Little Ringed Plover spotted visiting Spigot Mere. Lapwing have yet to be reported, so keep an eye out the next time you visit!
Dead Hedging
Thursday, March 7th 2024
This week volunteers have been hard at work creating a new dead hedge to act as a screen along Spigot Mere. This will help reduce disturbance to nesting birds that can be caused when pedestrians pass by.
Lots of different tasks went into making the hedge, including moving material for the hedge, putting points on the hedge posts to get them in the ground easier, installing the posts, and filling the hedge.
There was even time at the end of the day for a spot of birdwatching!
Dead hedges can be used to create natural-looking boundaries while also providing a wonderful habitat for insects. As time goes by this hedge will rot down and gorse will grow around it. Eventually a screen will be formed by the gorse, but until then, this hedge will do the job!
Ground nesting birds like Lapwing and Ringed Plover have been spotted around the pond in previous years, so keep a look out in the coming months! Spigot Mere can still be viewed from a hide on the edge of the pond, which is accessible by foot and wheelchair.
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