5 Sep 23

Lodmoor RSPB Reserve

With both Ted and Benji at the dog groomers, I took the opportunity to have a slow walk around Lodmoor before picking them up 3 hrs later.

Main highlights were my first Great White Egrets this year, a Hobby which stayed over the reserve for a good hour or more, and a flash of blue as a Kingfisher shot across the water in front of me.

Birds Recorded:
6 Cormorant
2 Great White Egret
6 Little Egret
8 Grey Heron
4 Mute Swan
300+ Canada Goose
2 Shelduck
Mallard
Gadwall
Teal
1 Hobby
Moorhen
1 Oystercatcher
8 Lapwing
6 Black-tailed Godwit
2 Common Sandpiper
Black-headed Gull
Mediterranean Gull
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
1 Kingfisher
1 Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
1 Reed Warbler
1 Common Whitethroat
1 Blackcap
9 Chiffchaff/Willow Warbler
1 Willow Warbler (singing)
Bearded Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Bullfinch

A Great White Egret walks past a Grey Heron and is then joined by a Little Egret.

A couple of..........

............Little Egrets.

One of the many Grey Herons on the reserve.

Below are a few photos of the Hobby with a few showing dragonflies it has caught.

There were a few Lapwings dotted around the reserve.

And also 6 Black-tailed Godwit.

Also on the reserve.........

 were a couple of...........

.............Common Sandpipers.

As a Mediterranean Gull sits quietly in the middle, the 3 Black-headed Gulls around it have spotted something above them.

A fleeting glimpse of a Kingfisher flying across the water.

I guess a Pied Wagtail, though there are a few White Wagtails about.

Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
8 Common Darter

10+ chasers sp.

A male Common Darter

Butterflies Recorded:
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
30+ Speckled Wood
10 Red Admiral

A Red Admiral on Blackberries

Bees Recorded:
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Bronze Furrow Bee (Halictus tumulorum)

A Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) on Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum), a plant that is aka 'Raspberries and Cream'.

And a Bronze Furrow Bee (Halictus tumulorum) on Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)

Wasps, Ichneumon Wasps, Parasitic Wasps and Gall Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

The posts along the track had singles of Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris) on them as shown below.

Hoverflies Recorded:
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

A Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) on Common Ragwort.

Miscellaneous

Hoverfly or fly???

?

?

Plants:
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Hop (Humulus lupulus)

Common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica)

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and masses..........

.............of berries.

Hops (Humulus lupulus). More on this plant here.

Common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare). More on this plant here.

Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica)

Aircraft Today:

This aircraft is a Dassault Falcon 20 registration G-FRAP. More on this aircraft here, here and its flight this afternoon here.