Belatedly catching up with some of Nicola Devine’s most notable photos from earlier this summer … Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae) is a conservation priority species, in severe decline all over the country, but Nicola has photographed it on the Trap Grounds in every year since 2015. Its larvae need Blackthorn to feed on; we planted […]
These beetles were found in May on a rotten tree stump on the Trap Grounds during our Springwatch Family Day by a pupil at St Philip & St James primary school, but until today we did not know his name. Today I had the pleasure of meeting Karim Chibane and congratulating him on his significant […]
Clare Weiner writes: “Today (September 13th) about 5.45pm, I spotted a Fox in the meadow by the school fence. It ran off, but we saw it again later, boldly out in the midst of the mown meadow, in the sunshine. A family with a dog (on a lead) were nearby. I told them there was […]
Clare Weiner writes: “On 22 August, Nicola Devine and I saw this Banded Demoiselle (female) perch on a small dead branch of a willow growing by the Mill Stream. These Damselflies (we know it is a Damselfly as its closed wings are lying along its back) like slow-flowing streams, so the location was perfect for […]
Nicola photographed this rare visitor to the Trap Grounds today. In the UK, numbers of Spotted Flycatchers fell by 85 per cent between 1970 and 2015. So this was an honoured guest. It was Nicola’s lucky day. Besides the Spotted Flycatcher, she got a glimpse of our most elusive resident, the Water Rail. More often […]
Spotted by Alan Allport on 7 September feeding on Rosebay Willowherb. Three inches long! It will pupate in a couple of weeks’ time and overwinter under the ground; but will we see the spectacular pink-winged adult next summer? Not likely, because it is a nocturnal moth.
Autumn approaches, but butterflies are still plentiful on the Trap Grounds. Nicola photographed this Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta (which she describes as “bold and` brassy”) on a Buddleia bush on 1 September. The most important food plant for the larva is Common Nettle – of which there is no shortage on the TG. On the […]
Nicola photographed this Brown Argus feeding on a cornflower on 26 August. The caterpillar of this species has an unusual relationship with ants. As it grows, it produces a secretion that is irresistible to them, and when it turns into a chrysalis they will carry it away and bury it underground. There is no shortage […]
On 16 August Nicola photographed a pair of Stock Doves mating (scroll down to see the evidence), next to the requisitioned owl box from which their chicks were clamouring for food. By yesterday (27 August) those chicks had ventured out of the box and were still calling for food, while their mother disappeared into the […]
Purple flowers are everywhere on the Trap Grounds this month, in the form of thistles, teasels, marjoram, mallow, knapweed, water mint, hemp agrimony, clustered bellflower, buddleia and michaelmas daisies (both of them garden escapes) … and (photographed below) Great Willowherb, Rosebay Willowherb, Purple Loosestrife, and Phragmites australis. Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum — ‘hirsutum’ refers to the softly […]