22 Apr 25

Lower Horse Paddock, Higher Horse Paddock and Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve

It was another visit to the paddocks and butterfly reserve today, and though it was a lot windier than yesterday, there was still plenty to see.

Main highlight was watching 4 Common Whitethroats "fighting" in the lower horse paddock, with two birds missing a few breast and tail feathers. I can only surmise that it was over who was going to have what patch of brambles to nest in. It did get quite heated at one stage, before both pairs headed off in different directions.

Birds Recorded:
1 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
5 Sand Martin
20+ Swallow
Dunnock
Robin
1 Stonechat
Blackbird
7 Common Whitethroat
4 Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch

A Common Buzzard "hovering" over the butterfly reserve.

Just the male Stonechat.....................

.......................seen on the reserve today.

A Common Whitethroat singing on the butterfly reserve.

These two Common Whitethroats..........

............were having a serious fight over what I can presume was over who was having what territory. The above Whitethroat has a few breast feathers missing, whilst this one has had a few primaries ripped out. Ouch!!

Butterflies Recorded:
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
2 Speckled Wood
1 Red Admiral

A Speckled Wood.

A very tatty Red Admiral and it's only the third week of April.

Bees Recorded:
Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica)
Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
Yellow-legged Mining Bee (Andrena flavipe)

This is an Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria) on.................

.........................Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)

This is a Yellow-legged Mining Bee (Andrena flavipe) on American Winter-cress (Barbarea verna)

Wasps, Ichneumon Wasps, Parasitic Wasps and Gall Wasps Recorded:
1 Ichneumon Wasp sp.

An Ichneumon Wasp sp.

Hoverflies Recorded:
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
Spring Epistrophe (Epistrophe eligans)
Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
Syrphus sp.

A Spring Epistrophe (Epistrophe eligans)

A Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Many unidentified flies
Celery fly (Euleia heraclei)
Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

This is an aberrant orange-brown morph................

......................Celery fly (Euleia heraclei)

A male Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

Spiders Recorded:
2 Nurseryweb Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

Plants in flower:
Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)
American Winter-cress (Barbarea verna)
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)
Common Daisy (Bellis perennis)
Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Cowslip (Primula veris)
Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna)
Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus arvensis)
Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

Tall Cape Honey-flower (Melianthus major)

The Tall Cape Honey-flower (Melianthus major) by the lower paddock is now in flower. More on this plant here.