If you are a regular visitor to the reserve, you'll probably be quite familiar with the paths between the visitor centre and Joist Fen viewpoint. But how many of you have made the long three mile trek down the Public Footpath to Botany Bay? If you have, then you'll know what a fantastic wilderness it is, home to lots of interesting, and some rare, wildlife. It is an area of washland that has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) under the European Nature Directives mainly for its plant and insect interest.
As a slight aside, some of you may also know that the government is thinking about weakening these Directives, which would be bad news indeed for sites like Botany Bay, as it would mean that they wouldn’t have as much protection as they currently do. The RSPB is part of the ‘Defence of the Directives’ campaign, which aims to encourage people to support the Directives and show the Government just how important they are. Please have a look at the website 'Defend nature' for more details.
Anyway, as I’ve said, Botany Bay is fantastic for wildlife but it can also be a bit of a wilderness! In fact quite a lot of our footpaths tend to become a bit of a wilderness at this time of year, particularly the grass ones, and much of our time during the summer season is taken up with trying to keep it under control. Occasionally it gets away from us, and occasionally rare and interesting wildlife prevents us from keeping it as neat as we would perhaps like. Take the footpath in Botany Bay for example, it is a Public Footpath, and this is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago (apologies to those trying to get to the reserve from the Paddock camp-site at Sedge Fen!).
Public footpath where? By Katherine Puttick
Ah, there it is!! Much more inviting! By Katherine Puttick
This footpath is also home for two particularly rare creatures. These are the marsh carpet moth and the tiny solitary bee, Macropis europea (the yellow loosestrife bee). (You don't actually need to go to Botany Bay to see Macropis europea, as we've discovered it on the yellow loosestrife in the raised bog bed near the visitor centre!).
Macropis europea on it's favorite flower yellow loosestrife. By Katherine Puttick
The larvae of marsh carpet moths feed on the developing seed heads of common meadow rue (more on them in a future blog), while M. Europea funnily enough, feeds mainly on yellow loosestrife! Both of these plants, and their associated insects, grow and live in other areas on the reserve but this particular footpath is really quite good for them. So I’ve done a bit of imaginative strimming, leaving as many of the interesting plants as I can, while ensuring that visitors can get through without being attacked by stinging nettles and hemlock!
Common meadow rue - the food plant of marsh carpet moth. By Katherine Puttick
If you haven't visited Botany Bay before, then now is a great time to go. It is full of flowering plants like purple loosestrife and hemp agrimony, which attract huge numbers of butterflies at this time of year. The long walk on 26 July will head up past there, so book on it if you can!
Apart from lots of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies, it’s worth looking out for some of the larger hoverflies. A group of volunteers from Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire visited a few days ago, and one of them, Linda, was lucky enough to get this photo of Volucella zonaria, or the hornet mimic hoverfly (only the second record for the reserve!).
Volucella zonaria, the hornet mimic! by Linda Pidgeon
As a bit of an advance warning, we will in the next few weeks, be strimming some views through the reeds into ditches. We will be avoiding as many of the flowering plants as we can! The reason behind doing this is to create a bit more interest along the trails, and also hopefully give some views of a few of the many species of dragonfly and damselfly that call the reserve home. Hope to see you soon!
Katherine (Warden)
Ps The cranes have fledged!!! But more on that in the next few days....