On the Move

Saturday, April 9th 2016

The beetle reported on yesterday's blog has been identified as Thanatophilus rugosus.  This was last recorded at Foxglove on the 1st July 2002.

Invertebrates are beginning to show themselves even though the temperature remains low, especially at night.  Lymnaea stagnalis, Great Pond Snail, has been photographed in the ponds, reminding me of one year when pond dipping with school children we caught 29 very large snails.  Each one was returned to the pond, very carefully, by hand so that they would not get stuck down the plug hole!

Another invertebrate lurking in the pond water is this carnivorous dragonfly nymph.  Not in the ponds but in the Pillwort tank, on the windowsill.  It will be returned to its pond over the next few days as there is not enough food for it where it is living at the moment.  It is well camouflaged helping it when hunting prey.

Our moth-ing has not returned many moths so far this year.  Butterflies have also been scarce.  Coltsfoot, one of the few species of flower to be open was visited by a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly.  Three Peacocks were seen today and another Brimstone.  Butterfly surveys will soon be taking place

In the afternoon whilst standing in for our regular member of staff two small nets were put out for a couple of hours which caught over 60 birds including a control Siskin and Redpoll.  This brought the number of new Redpolls in the last couple of weeks to 166.  One of the Redpolls caught yesterday was ringed as a juvenile in 2008 and is 8 years old!  For a Redpoll that is a very good age!

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