Mersehead Recent Sightings 13th – 19th May
Last week's blog reflected on the lack of rain and with no rain falling since 16th April we certainly needed rain; the wetlands have been drying up and the natterjack pools losing water far too quickly. Well, we wanted rain and we got quite a lot this week, a total of 44.5mm to be exact. The wetlands have filled up so efficiently we are now in the position of having slightly too much water for this time of year! One particular robin has had the cunning idea of nesting in the workshop save from all the elements there are now four tiny faces peering out from amongst the nuts and bolts.
Location Location (Photo credit: R.Flavelle)
The third and final adult natterjack toad survey has been completed this week. This is an evening survey starting at dusk and finishing around midnight. On this last survey we recorded a total of 156 males and 16 females. Although the male count is slightly lower than the first two surveys this is still a significant increase on the number recorded last year. Whilst searching around "the lagoon" in the dark we could hear a loud pitch peep - a lapwing calling to its young telling them to hide and stay still. As we made our way around the pool we found two separate broods of lapwings. Every three days we search the breeding pools during the day looking for spawn strings. Unlike the males who are at the edge of the pools “singing” most nights, the female natterjack toads only approach the pools once a year to spawn therefore counting spawn strings can give a good estimate of the female population.
Male natterjack toad (Photo credit: R.Flavelle)
With the temperature dropping into single figures at night over the last couple of weeks the moth trap catches have been very low. This week however we found a variety of species; 1 brimstone, 1 cinnabar, 1 dark sword-grass, 3 common carpet, 12 small square-spot, 2 dark-barred twin-spot carpet, 1 small phoenix, 1 pale-shouldered brocade.
The weekly butterfly transect recorded 5 large white, 55 green-veined white, 6 orange-tip and 2 wall. It is the first time this year that we have recorded wall butterfly which is a high priority species for Butterfly Conservation and is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species. Found around coastal habitats as far north as southern Scotland, this species can be seen along the Solway and Ayrshire coastline. It is on the wing in May and June and again in August and September in greater numbers. The Wall is aptly named after its habit of basking on walls, rocks, and stony places. The delicately patterned light brown undersides provide good camouflage against a stony or sandy surface.
Celery-leaved buttercup (Photo credit: R.Flavelle)
There have been plenty of wildflowers added to the list in the last couple of weeks. Growing along the strandline sea milkwort overcomes the saltiness of its environment by storing fresh water in its fleshly green leaves. It is a pale green plant which usually grows in a thick spreading mat thereby further reducing water loss by evaporation. Common stork's-bill, bird's-foot and germander speedwell are giving the arable fields a shimmering purple effect. In the dune slack wild pansy and the tiny common cornsalad can be found. An alternative name for common cornsalad is lamb's lettuce as the leaves are at their greenest and crispest at the beginning of spring. Common bird's-foot trefoil and crosswort are adding a splash of yellow to the sand dunes. In the wet grassland celery-leaved buttercup is just starting to come through. Thrift and common scurvygrass are out on the merse whilst changing forget-me-not, common whitlow grass, black medic and dove's-foot cranesbill add a few more names to the ever expanding list.
Rowena Flavelle, Warden