This morning Katherine and I caught a glimpse of a common lizard warming itself on our staff and volunteer picnic table. Katherine remarked that the lizards seem to be getting more use out of it than us at the moment, as we’ve been so busy here at Lakenheath! On closer inspection the lizard seemed to be using it as a nice surface on which to shed its skin. I didn’t get a photo of that particular lizard unfortunately but later I spotted another:
Photo credit: Ali Blaney – common lizard, watching me closely
This one had just come out of our workshop – it certainly is a reptile hot spot in this area! He allowed me a couple of photos before scuttling off into the long grass. With my eyes then drawn to the long grass I suddenly didn’t know where to look – there were insects everywhere! Common blue damselflies were busy flitting about, with four males chasing one female. A small tortoiseshell butterfly kept buzzing my head and cinnabar moth caterpillars were steadily munching through the small common ragwort plants in amongst the grass. My ears however were drawn to a very exciting noise – I could hear my first grasshopper of the year! Although I didn’t spot it, I decided it was a field grasshopper based on its song (or stridulation). The field grasshopper gives a short, dry, rasping chirp every two seconds or so. Crickets and grasshoppers are still high up on my list of ‘things to learn more about’ so expect more on these soon, I’ll be out hunting as much as possible! It just goes to show how much life you can fit into a small patch – this particular area features short and long grasses, nettles, a few flowering plants such as common ragwort, daisies and white dead-nettle and good open basking spots for our reptiles including small logs (and the picnic bench!) It really doesn’t take much work to give lots of nature a home in a small patch.
Moving out of the small patch and into the wider reserve, our bitterns seem to coincide their lazy days with our survey days in an attempt to catch us out. Alternatively of course, there are decent fish stocks near enough to their nest sites that they can spend some time simply walking to and from feeding sites. Either way, we’re persistent folk and were back out again this morning watching their every move, literally. It’s been surprisingly cold during our bittern surveys the past couple of weeks – you wouldn’t think we were in the middle of a heat wave when we're out there in our fleeces and windproof winter jackets. I’ve even had my woolly hat on! Things are starting to come together though the more we watch and we’re starting to pin down nests. No final total yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we do!