Sometimes here at Frampton it is the bigger creatures that get all the limelight. Rare birds always cause a stir, and the recent parade of sandpipers has certainly brought birdwatchers to us. But sometimes we find something a bit unusual on the smaller scale of things.
Last weekend, in the moth trap, we found this...
A rather small moth, you might not have looked twice at it. But this is a 'least carpet', a moth usually restricted to the south-east of England. So to find one up here is a little bit of a coup!
The day before, on our Friday pond dipping sessions there was an unusual fly hanging around. Rather large, it was walking everywhere, rather than flying. It looked odd, so I took a photo of it.
A quick tweet to people in the know, and it was confirmed as a 'flecked general' soldier fly. Very much at the edge of its range here in Lincolnshire. Again, a good spot!
Finally, during Tuesdays bug hunting someone found a really snazzy little beetle.
Looks lovely, doesn't it? Metallic green and red stripes. This is a rosemary beetle. Not actually native to the UK, it was accidentally introduced a few years ago and is a bit of a pest for people growing rosemary, lavendar and sage. But until now there has only been a dozen records or so in Lincolnshire. So again, an interesting spot.
Also a recent colonist of the UK, the small red-eyed damselfly had an impressive spread into the south-east of the UK a few years ago. But in recent years it has slowed down. So it was good to see some at the weekend in some of the drainage ditches. They still are not that common here in Lincolnshire.
(Photo by Steve Routledge)
It just shows that there can be all sorts of interesting things out there!
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.