The last week has been a very busy one for the farm staff on the RSPB farm culminating in the sale of 1600 Ewes and Lambs on Friday. All livestock are farmed organically and consists of mainly Welsh Mountain and a small number of Speckled Face Sheep, which are used to graze the uplands around the reserve.
Sale in full swing (Photo by Gavin Chambers)
The auctioneers, Morris Marshall & Pool of Welshpool, come to the farm to sell the sheep. It is believed that Lake Vyrnwy is the only place in the UK where the auction takes place on the farm rather than at a local market.
As mentioned in previous blogs, autumn can be a great time to find something a little different and this weekend (19th) proved this point. A walk along the green trail to Rhiwargor Waterfall at the top end of the lake was seemingly very quiet with little bird activity until a flash of red flew in front of me while standing on the wooden bridge. It was clearly a Redstart species but the dark grey coloured body had alarm bells ringing…. It was a Black Redstart! There was a possible seen a few weeks ago but not relocated after a few searches so it may have been around a while.
Black Redstart at Rhiwargor Waterfall (Photo by Gavin Chambers)
Continuing along the green trail into the oak woodland there was a Chiffchaff singing, a few have been singing recently in the warmer weather, and a late tatty Purple Hairstreak was sunning itself near the tree tops. There was a lot of noisy birds around with Nuthatch being the loudest among mixed Tit flocks roaming the bushes.
Purple Hairstreak along Green Trail (Photo by Gavin Chambers)
With the warm conditions on Saturday I decided to walk along the Butterfly transect, not quite suitable for carrying out a survey but still good for hoverflies and dragonflies to be out and about. The first species found was one I had not seen on the reserve before, a female Southern Hawker, patrolling a stretch of woodland edge stopping briefly for a photograph! A Common Darter was also nice to see.
Southern Hawker (female) at Lake Vyrnwy (Photo by Gavin Chambers)
Invasive Plant of the Week
Himalayan Knotweed (Photo by Gavin Chambers)
With the removal of Himalayan Balsam nearly finished we felt we needed a new species to attack and the victim this week has been Himalayan Knotweed.
This plant is not only an invasive species, it is also a frustratingly difficult name to remember! We are used to talking about Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed but when you mix the two names together it boggles the brain. It has similar flowers to Japanese Knotweed and similar leaves and stem to Himalayan Balsam and hopefully not quite as invasive as these species.
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