Yesterday's Sphagnum moss is a hard act to follow in the top-10 Dove Stone wildlife countdown to Saturday's BioBlitz.  Next up it's the turn of fungi. 

A bit later in the year and I'd be writing about Pink Waxcap but it's not waxcap season yet.  It was a tough choice as we have so many great fungi at Dove Stone but our top-10 BioBlitz fungi is Amethyst Deceiver ( Laccaria amethystina ).  It's a common…

Last Saturday the BioBlitz team were out in Oldham for Alexandra Park Life, braving the elements to stage a mini-BioBlitz ahead of the main event on Saturday. It’s amazing how much nature you can find right on your doorstep - in just a few hours we found 65 species, including birds, insects, flowers and pond-life. I think my favourites were two great little spiders – one had a really bright lime-green body, and the other…

Next in the Dove Stone top-10 wildlife countdown to Saturday’s BioBlitz is Sphagnum moss.  Sphagnum has to be one of the most important species for us at Dove Stone  as the building block of blanket bog and healthy bogs provide breeding habitat for birds such as Dunlin and Golden Plover. In the UK there are 35 species of Sphagnum and about a third of these are found growing in bogs with about ten species being found…

The top-10 Dove Stone wildlife countdown to Saturday’s BioBlitz continues with the Bilberry Bumblebee (Bombus monticola).

The Bilberry Bumblebee is a relatively small bumblebee.  Look out for an orange abdomen and two lemon yellow stripes on the thorax with the rear band looking slightly less pronounced. Male & females are similar in colour, with the males having additional yellow facial hair.  Queens emerge April…

A quick update on recent sightings at Dove Stone.  Yesterday we had Grey Wagtail and juvenile Common Sandpiper seen alongside Yeoman Hey reservoir.  There were also 5 Curlew flying over Yeoman Hey which was good.  Over at Chew Brook there were also more sightings of Grey Wagtail and House Martin as well as Great Spotted Woodpecker with Willow Warbler heard around the Life for Life woodlands.  Up at Binn Green yesterday and…

Featured next in our top-10 Dove Stone wildlife countdown to the BioBlitz it's the Noctule Bat ( Nyctalus noctula ). 

We're hoping we'll record Noctules at Dove Stone on our Friday night bat talk and walk,  they have been recorded previously at Dove Stone,  alongside records of Common Pipistrelle,  Soprano Pipistrelle,  Whiskered Brandt and Daubenton's bat.  So why are we featuring Noctule ?  It was a bit of…

...And the next species in our top-10 Dove Stone wildlife countdown to nex Saturday's BioBlitz is Violet Ground Beetle (Carabus violaceus).

There's about 350 ground beetle ( Carabidae family ) species in Britain and the Violet Ground Beetle is a widespread, common beetle found throughout the UK but none-the-less spectacular for that because it's just a great looking beetle !

Violet Ground Beetles are about…

I'm constantly amazed by just how many different types of wildflowers we have at Dove Stone, especially in the meadows and along the edge of the main trail. It's an area of knowledge that I've been getting into more and more over the last few years, and there's always something new to learn, thanks to Kate telling me what to look out for! I think I've got my work cut out though - last year at BioBlitz…

Day 8 in the countdown to the BioBlitz on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th July and it's time to take a look at Common Cotton-grass (Eriophorum angustifolium),  the next in our run down of top-10 species at Dove Stone.  Common Cotton-grass is a really characteristic species for us at Dove Stone,  a plant that's really iconic of moors and bogs.  Cotton-grass just looks fantastic - particularly when you see it around a moorland…

A quick update with a few highlights from today.  Reed Bunting,  two Kestrels including a female juvenile,  a first summer Stonechat,  Curlew,  Common Sandpiper,  Willow Warbler as well as Mistle Thrush,  Greenfinch,  Goldfinch,  Wren,  Coal, Blue & Great Tit.  Aside from the birds we have sightings of Mountain Hare,  Meadow Grasshopper,  lots of Small Heaths,  Large Skipper and Large Red Damselfly.  The pond in the lower Binn Green…

Nine days to go to the Dove Stone BioBlitz and coming 9th in our top-10 of wildlife it's the Common Crossbill.  Common Crossbills are seen reasonably regularly around Dove Stone so we're hoping that we'll be able to also get a record for this really stunning looking finch on the day of the BioBlitz. 

This is a bird that's most definitely a specialist feeder ! Their bills enable them to extract seeds from pine…

A quick update with sightings yesterday of two Ravens and a Kestrel seen whilst walking the main Dove Stone trail from Chew Brook,  with the Ravens mobbing the Kestrel.  Thanks to Jamie for the info.  Elsewhere around Dove Stone our woodland birds are showing well,  particularly up at Binn Green.  And flying low over Dove Stone reservoir we had 5 Oystercatchers as well as a Common Sandpiper.

The team at Dove Stone are gearing…

Kicking off our top-ten species,  ten day countdown to BioBlitz on Saturday July 7th it's Green Hairstreak ( Callophrys rubi ). 

Green Hairstreaks are widespread throughout Britain,  although this butterfly has declined in some local regions.  They can be seen at rest with wings closed,  showing their bright green undersides.  And if you've ever wondered about their colour,  it's produced by light scattered and reflected…

A very brief stop-off at Binn Green feeding area last night gave views of Great Spotted Woodpecker,  Jay,  Mistle Thrush,  Goldfinch,  Greenfinch,  juvenile Coal Tits,  Wren,  an adult Black Pheasant and some young Pheasants. Obviously that's just one small part of Dove Stone and there's plenty to see elsewhere around the estate.  Binn Green is lookiing lovely at the moment,  particularly with lots of long grass - lots of…

An update on what's happening with the Peregrines at Dove Stone this year.  Over the last few months we've had some really great views of both birds and we've watched them through their courtship displays to mating to what looked like sitting on eggs.  Unfortunately the Peregrines haven't had any chicks this year.  Elsewhere around the country it's also been an unpredictable year for Peregrines - particularly…

It's the national event for moths this weekend and as part of the annual Moth Night the RSPB team will be out this Friday night from 9pm with our Robinson light trap.  On previous nights when we've set out traps we've recorded moths such as Map-winged Swift.  Hebrew Character,  Rustic Shoulder-knot,  Antler Moth,  Dark Arches and Marbled Beauty. 

This year's theme for Moth Night is brownfield sites,  by definition…

A quick update for this week.   Starting from the main carpark still plenty of House Martins and Swallows around - particularly flying along the reservoir bank.  Regulars such as Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Pied Wagtail can be seen around the feeders at the main carpark.  Willow Warblers still to be heard also.  Earlier in the week on Wednesday there were good sightings of Spotted Flycatcher across from the Life for a Life woods…

Here's an update from last week from the volunteer work parties.  Thanks go to John for highlighting the good work as well as some of the issues that arise in open access areas for livestock and tenant farmers.

' Friday 1^st  Jess, Ian G., and I worked with Kate and Jon at Binn Green.  Today we finished digging out the foundations around the feeder and then put the remaining edging board in and placed an edging board…

Here's an update from last week from the volunteer work parties.  Thanks go to John for highlighting the good work as well as some of the issues that arise at Dove Stone...

' Friday 1^st  Jess, Ian G., and I worked with Kate and Jon at Binn Green.  Today we finished digging out the foundations around the feeder and then put the remaining edging board in and placed an edging board across the end of the trench. We laid…

Take a look at this rather handsome looking hoverfly,  found at Binn Green last week - the white band across the abdomen and the black wing patches are really quite something ! 

It's Leucozona lucorum,  a common hoverfly throughout the UK,  not to be confused with the similar species Volucella pellucens.  And if you're wondering how you tell the difference between them Leucozona has an obvious yellow-orange scutellum 

Time for our round-up from our volunteer work-parties on what's been happening around Dove Stone in May.  Thanks to John for taking the time to put this together:

''We started by planting 300 trees in Lower Hollins plantation, above the larger of the two wildlife ponds that we created last year.  We planted Oak, Cherry, Ash and Alder and as we worked a large frog hopped down the hill and into a nearby brash…

Great to see Crossbills at Binn Green.  And really great views of them yesterday feeding on quite low Larch branches,  rather than in tops of these trees as seems to be more usual.   The male was looking particulary stunning.

A quick update on a couple of sightings today.  Crossbills have been seen up at Binn Green with the males looking particularly spectacular.  Over at Chew Brook we've had sightings of Tree Pipit.  At Dove Stone,  of course,  our main Pipit is the Meadow Pipit.  Also a Reed Bunting has been seen from the main trail.  The Peregrines are continuing to wow people - why not drop-in to our Peregrine watch at Ashway Gap for a closer…

Looks like a positive outcome for the Buzzard with the government u-turn on the proposed control of this bird of prey - for now. 

There's been plenty written and blogged about this elsewhere but just wanted to throw in two links to Mark Avery's blog www.markavery.info/blog and to John Armitage's blog www.birdingodyssey.blogspot.co.uk - worth reading for their opinions of Richard Benyon and for what's been…

Recent sightings from Dove Stone this week include three Crossbills up at Binn Green this morning as well as  a Spotted Flycatcher  seen up at Binn Green yesterday.  Regular sightings around the Binn Green feeders of Great Spotted Woodpecker,  Mistle Thrush,  Jays,  Goldfinches,  Greenfinches,  Treecreeper andCoal,  Great and Blue Tits.

Some of these birds can also be seen around the main reservoir trail where there have also…