Mersehead Recent Sightings 2nd -8th July
A male Siskin is occasionally popping by the bird feeders at the Visitor Centre and I’m sorry to say I missed the male Sparrowhawk taking a bird from the feeders earlier in the week. Sorry in both senses. Good numbers of Lapwings (approximately 60) are still out on the fields with smaller numbers of Curlew.
Photo credit: A.Hay
However, it’s the creepy crawlies which are out in abundance.
Green-veined Whites, Ringlets, Meadow browns and Common blues were all out taking advantage of the sun early in the week. Keep an eye on the verges and hedgerows for the first three of these but they shouldn’t be too hard to spot as they flit from one flower to another. The common blues were only seen on the sand dunes amongst the marram grass and if one hadn’t landed on a flower directly in front of me and closed its wings, I’d have struggled to identify it from the flash of blue that went past me.
Also spotted during a break in the rain were good numbers of cinnabar moth caterpillars munching away on their favourite food, ragwort.
While we didn’t get the larger moths, or many, in our moth trap earlier in the week, we did see four Brown-line Bright-eye and one Lunar Yellow Underwing. We’ll be trying again next week so will keep you updated of our discoveries.
While sweeping the hides today I spotted this little jumping spider (possibly a Zebra spider – but if you have any better idea’s please let us know) with a fly in its mouth. It must have just caught the fly as it was still wiggling, though not for long. Luckily it stayed still just long enough for me to get this photo.
Photo credit: T.Samuel-Smith
Tracey Samuel-Smith, Residential Volunteer