Late Summer Specials

17 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by theresagreen in British hoverflies, Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, butterflies, Butterflies of Wales, calcareous grassland, day-flying moths, Nature of Wales, nature photography, plants important to wilflife, Rhos-on-Sea, Wildflowers of Wales

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Tags

ash keys, bee mimic hoverfly, cheilosa illustrata, common ragwort, ferdinandea cuprea, green-veined white, hawthorn berries, mating gatekeeper butterflies, Nature in August, purple hairstreak

August so far has brought mixed weather, days have been mostly warm, but many have been cloudy or overcast and occasionally there’s been some sunshine.

Looking across to Conwy Estuary from Bryn Euryn

It’s only been a week or two since my last visit to Bryn Euryn, but now rapidly approaching late summer, much has already changed. Many plants are setting seed, there are ripe wild raspberries, a few ripe blackberries and sloes, still as hard as bullets.

Purple sloes are swelling on Blackthorn

Last year there were sparse crops of acorns and sloes, this year may be more bountiful.

3/8/15-Wood avens seedhead

Large fruit capsules of the Stinking Iris

On a last hogweed flowerhead, a new-to-me, furry little hoverfly; it is one of a number of species referred to as a bee mimic, but it doesn’t really look like one.

Hoverfly-cheilosa illustrata- a bee mimic

Another hoverfly caught my eye, it was basking on a bramble leaf and as the sun caught it, the insect shone a bright metallic golden bronze colour.

Hoverfly-ferdinandea cuprea

About to enter the meadow, I caught sight of a Speckled wood butterfly basking on an Oak leaf. I moved in to take a photograph as I haven’t had many good opportunities with this species so far this year, then caught sight of another butterfly sitting on a leaf slightly higher up.

7/8/15 – Purple Hairstreak

I moved in a little closer and realised this was a butterfly I had never seen before other than in pictures, a Purple Hairstreak. A species that spends most of its time in and around the tops of Oak trees, I was surprised and delighted to see it and tried not to alarm it as I focussed the camera. It moved a little to reveal two small orange eyespots on its hindwing, but just as I had it back in focus the Speckled wood flew up and chased it away. I waited a while to see if it would return, but no luck. At least I know to look out for them here again!

The colours of the landscape are changing subtly. Hay has been cut and in many places baled and put safely under cover. Meadows of seeding long grass left standing have taken on a golden hue and on our limestone hill, the wildflowers typical of late summer are at the peak of their flowering. Most are ‘tough’ plants, Knapweed, Hemp agrimony & Ragwort, which are all imortant nectar sources for insects.

Late summer long grass and wildflowers, mostly hedge parsley and harebells

7/8/15-Knapweed with a view

It’s been a while since I had a good opportunity to photograph a Green-veined White, so I was pleased to see this fresh one on a Knapweed flowerhead.

3/8/15-Bryn Euryn

Knapweed and Hemp Agrmony

Burnet moth on knapweed- wings faded and almost transparent

Also clinging to a knapweed plant was a pair of mating Gatekeepers; a perfect opportunity to see the difference between the male and female of the species, as helpfully, the female opened her wings to show the plainer upperside to her wings.

Mating Gatekeeper butterflies – female above male

A good opportnity to show the upperside of the female

A good opportunity to show the upperside of the female

As anticipated by the abundance of flowers back in the spring, Ash trees are bearing thick bunches of ‘keys’.

Ash trees have heavy bunches of ‘keys’

Acorns forming on Pedunculate Oak

Haws are ripening and leaves beginning to take on colour

Walking close to gorse bushes the air is filled with the gentle sound of pods crackling as they open to release seeds.

Gorse pods crackle as they open to release seeds

Higher up on the steep slope near to the summit there is a stand of Ragwort growing with thistles.

Ragwort and thistles

And further round more Ragwort, this time interspersed with tall spikes of velvety Mullein.

Ragwort and Mullein

The seedpods of Bird’s-foot Trefoil are from where it takes it name

And a final shot of a Speckled Wood next to hypericum berries sums up the season, I think.

Speckled Wood & hypericum berries

Willsbridge Mill, Bristol

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by theresagreen in Local Nature Reserves, Nature, nature of woodlands, nature photography, woodlands

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Tags

ash keys, catscliffe woods, dark bush cricket, feather moss, haws, red berries, siston brook, spider's webs, willsbridge mill, woodland walks

I am currently staying in Bristol with my son and family, and as they always do when I am here, they make great efforts to take me out to places they know that both I and the children will enjoy.

Avon Wildlife Trust takes responsibility for 35 reserves within the Avon area, with a good few clustered closely around the city.

On Sunday we drove out to Willsbridge Mill, a Local Nature Reserve, which the website describes as ” Set in a peaceful valley on the edge of Bristol, Willsbridge Mill is an impressively restored 19th Century Corn Mill and Long Barn, located within a stunning 22 acre nature reserve.” It continues ” This green oasis, which was once a bustling industrial site, now supports an amazing array of wildlife habitats – woodland, ponds, meadows, scrub, quarries and a demonstration wildlife garden, running along the fast – flowing Siston Brook. The reserve is home to kingfishers, dippers, owls, foxes, badgers, and bats.”

Dragonfly plaque

After several days of rain and general dampness, the ground in the wildlife garden was soggy and its plants bedraggled, there were a few pond skaters skimming over the surfaces of the ponds and a robin piping a few phrases of song, but apart from that there was little movement.

One of the trails around the reserve is the Sculpture Trail, which features ” striking environmental sculptures made from local materials”. There is also a sequence of attractive brass leaf-shaped plaques bearing different designs, which today were the only indicators of the wildlife that frequents the reserve in spring and summer.

Leaves are beginning to change colour and fall

The Ash tree – Fraxinus excelsior, bears its large single-winged seeds – also commonly known as keys, in large bunches

We followed the pathway to Hawthorns are laden with good crops of haws, but there were no signs of these particular ones being eaten yet.

Haws – the fruits of the Hawthorn

On the wooded side of the pathway, on a bramble leaf in a patch of sunshine a Dark Bush Cricket sat having a meal.

Dark Bush Cricket – Pholidoptera griseoaptera

The Dark Bush cricket is a common animal across the southern half of England, occurring in gardens, hedgerows and on woodland edges, where they can often be seen in quite large numbers sunbathing on bramble patches. Males are very aggressive, fiercely defending their territories against intruders. Females lay their eggs in late summer in rotting wood or bark crevices; the young crickets emerge 18 months later, so odd-year and even-year dark bush-crickets never meet.

Bramble festooned with gauzy spiders’ webs – a classic feature of damp autumn days

The pathway through Catscliffe Woods

Common Feather- moss-Kindbergia praelonga growing on a tree trunk

The stream that flows through the woodland is Siston Brook; it flows fast here and its energy once powered Willsbridge Mill’s water wheel. The stream rises five miles away at St. Anne’s Well, just south of the village of Siston and is a tributary of the River Avon, joining it at Londonderry Wharf, near Keynsham.

A fallen tree spanning the brook

A tree has fallen on one side of the stream bank arcing gracefully over the water to form a natural bridge. It has continued to grow, pushing out branches that now grow vertically from the original trunk; those that touch the ground have probably put down roots and appear to be growing as independent trees.