Thanks to all the experts and members of the public who attended our BioBlitz last Sunday, our sightings this week make a long list! On the launch day of the new Giving Nature A Home campaign, it's great to see just how much nature we provide habitat for here at Coombes! To hear more about the new campaign and the call to action it represents, have a read of Martin Harper's brilliant blog:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2013/06.aspx
Here is a Top Ten Taster of the nature we provide a home for:
1. Barn Owl - After their breeding success last year, we were all disappointed by the barn owls' absence from Coombes this summer. However, on Sunday, we had our first sighting of the year. Whether it's one of last years' family we aren't sure- it could be when the parents failed to take up their old territory, one of their offspring stepped in. We can hope!
Barn owl, RSPB images; Spotted flycatcher, RSPB images
2. Spotted Flycatcher - An agile little bird on the wing, spotted flycatchers have been seen most frequently between Buzzard Bank and the plantation.
3. Dingy Skipper - This UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species is a target species we manage the reserve to promote here at Coombes Valley. So you can imagine how pleased we were to get our first sighting of the year during our weekly butterfly transect! The bird's foot trefoil mentioned in last week's blog is the foot plant of the dingy skipper, so look out for them where trefoil abounds- for example as you enter Clough Meadow on the right.
4. Small Copper - Another butterfly to recently emerge, small coppers like dock and sorrel, so look out for it in the Long Meadow!
Dingy skipper, photo by Simon Gray; Small copper, photo by Simon Gray
5. Common Lizard - During a very successful guided reptile walk on Sunday, we found a whole family of common lizards living around an old tree stump, on the slope below the Buzzard Bank buzzard bench.
6. Roe Deer - Spotted just below Buzzard Bank yesterday, just past the gate that leads off along what will soon be the extended trail.
7. Hedgehog - The Shropshire Mammal Group, who kindly came along to the BioBlitz, laid mammal traps baited with peanut butter and lined with a sticky mess of oil and powder paint. One of the prints recorded was unmistakeably made by a hedgehog; great news considering the serious decline hedgehogs are suffering nationally.
8. Peppered moth - Our moth trap has been bursting with species these past few days! Peppered moths are an example of observable adaptation to environmental conditions; during the Industrial Revolution a darker form proliferated, being better able to blend in on soot-stained walls. Since industry has become cleaner, the light form’s again more common. They're beautiful moths, an great to see at last, having heard so much about them at university!
Peppered moth, photo by Simon Gray; Elephant hawkmoth, photo by Simon Gray
9. Elephant hawkmoth – Another product of our moth trap yesterday were four exotic-looking elephant hawkmoths, and one small elephant hawkmoth!
10. Common spotted orchid – The first flowers are out in the meadow below Buzzard Bank, and in fact one narrowly escaped being stepped on by a warden intern who shall remain nameless (not me!).
Common spotted orchid, photo by Simon Gray
You should do these like a run down of the charts, like Top of the Pops!