Mersehead Recent Sightings 28th May – 3rd June
At Mersehead we use a Robinson trap to catch moths at night. The moths fly towards the light and spiral down towards the source of the light and are deflected into the box. Moths which fly into the trap are further contained by the eggboxes placed within and will snuggle up in the dark corners they provide.
The Mersehead moth trap by Roseanne Watt
The recent warm weather has really brought the moths out in force. A total of 17 species with 47 individuals were recorded in the Robinson trap on Wednesday morning. Poplar hawkmoth and elephant hawkmoth made very colourful additions. Other moths caught included cinnabar, white ermine, flame shoulder, common quaker and broken-barred carpet.
If you would like to find out more about moths, the next moth trapping event at Mersehead is being held at the BioBlitz (Saturday 18th June) by Dumfries & Galloway County Moth Recorder, Alison Robertson.
Elephant hawkmoth by Charlie McMurray
Summer at Mersehead is about getting out and finding as many wildflowers as possible. There are far too many on the list to name them all but here are a few.
In the middle of the track by Rowena Flavelle
The photo above shows germander speedwell, common bird’s-foot-trefoil and red clover. Common Bird's-foot-trefoil has many other common names including 'Butter and Eggs', 'Eggs and Bacon', and 'Hen and Chickens' which refer to the egg-yolk yellow flowers and reddish buds. Widespread and found in all kinds of grassy places from lawns to downlands, roadside verges to heathlands, common bird's-foot-trefoil can be seen flowering from May to September.
The wet grassland is currently covered in yellow made up of meadow buttercup, yellow iris and lesser spearwort (the first yellow rattle of the year was also spotted this week). The first few northern marsh orchid’s are peeking through the undergrowth too.
The woodland has started to turn a shade of pink as herb-robert and pink campion blanket either side of the footpath. Even the tiny little ‘weeds’ are a point of interest; pineapple weed does actually smell of pineapple! Black medic, thyme-leaved speedwell, marsh thistle, common stork’s bill, tufted vetch and dove’s-foot crane’s bill to name a few more but there are many more out there. Join the plant walk at the Bioblitz led by County Plant Recorder David Hawker and see if you can add some more names to the list.
Elsewhere around the reserve; an adult barn owl was seen carrying prey back to the Sulwath Garden this week and confirms the presence of barn owl chicks. A spotted flycatcher was seen during the Constant Effort Ringing survey on Wednesday morning. Visitors have reported back to the Visitor Centre sightings of garden warbler, lesser whitethroat and tree pipit this week. Four adventurous lapwing chicks made a dash across the road earlier this week as the adult encouraged them.
Crossing the road by Colin Bartholomew