Mersehead Recent Sightings 7th - 13th April
The Natterjack Toads have emerged from hibernation! With mild temperatures at the beginning of the week we had high hopes that they might emerge and we weren’t disappointed! Natterjacks need a constant air temperature of 7 degrees or more overnight to come out, so with this being the case on Monday night, we headed out at dusk to try our luck. On our approach to one of the breeding pools we suddenly heard the distinctive rasping call (this can be heard from several kilometres away!). Excitement increasing in anticipation, we arrived at the first pool to be greeted by 10 calling males. Over the next two hours we visited all the pools to gauge the level of activity on the site; we estimated that there must have been over a hundred males out and about; a brilliant result and a really good early indication of a potentially great breeding season. With high temperatures predicted for next week, we hope to carry out our first official night time survey, we’ll report on next week’s blog to let you know how we got on.
Natterjack Toad. Photo credit: L. Blakely
We have also started looking for the Belted Beauty moth this week. This moth is rare in the UK, being present at only 2 sites in England, one in Wales and a few locations in Western Scotland such as the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, Mull, Colonsay and Iona. Last year we discovered a historical record from 2002 of this moth being present at Mersehead. The moth lives in coastal habitats, particularly favouring sand dunes where its larval food plants of Birds-foot trefoil and Kidney vetch are present. The adults emerge in late March through to April so our intention is to carry out a number of searches during April to give us the best possible chance of locating one. On Tuesday afternoon the sun came out and the weather seemed perfect so we headed down to the area where the moth was last reported to carry out our first search. The adults like to bask on fence posts and dry plant stems. Interestingly the female doesn’t have any wings so we were essentially looking for something that resembles a hairy, striped woodlouse! On this occasion we didn’t find anything but we’ll continue to carry out regular searches and will update with any news of our findings on our facebook page or the blog.
The Lapwing breeding season is off to a good start, with multiple nests being identified. Over the spring and summer we will follow their progress and ultimately find out how many chicks have fledged, fingers crossed that it will be a successful breeding season for them.
The Pink-footed Geese seem to be starting their journey home North, with multiple skeins seen throughout the week. We even had a group of 95 drop down and feed before heading off an hour or so later. Two Canada Geese have been present around the reserve for the last few weeks, being seen regularly out on the wetlands and in front of the visitor centre. On Monday a Peregrine flew over and around the visitor centre but was quickly seen off by a mob of angry Lapwing. The Little Egret’s have been sighted out on the wetlands throughout the week, with a peak count of 4 noted on Thursday. These were seen feeding with 3 Herons.
Along the hedgerow to Bruiach Hide and to the woodland belt Goldcrest are singing their rapid, high pitch song and bobbing from one branch to another with no concern given to anyone who may come closer to admire them. The woodlands have really come alive, with Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming, Chiffchaff singing and Rooks continuing to noisily gather nest material.
Despite winter now coming to a close there are still good numbers of Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler out on the wetlands as well as a few Shelduck and gulls including Lesser Black-Backed, Common and Great Black-Backed.
As the weather has warmed there has been a number of different invertebrates sighted. Drinker and Ruby Tiger moth caterpillars were seen basking on dried grass stems on Tuesday. The former overwinters as a caterpillar, continuing to feed and grow whilst in spring it changes to mainly feeding at night whilst basking in the sun on warm days in spring. The adult Drinker moth will be on the wing in July and August, flying at night to avoid predators such as birds. Another species that we found whilst carrying out the Belted Beauty survey was the 11 Spot Ladybird. This is a coastal specialist and is a relatively uncommon ladybird. A Peacock butterfly was also seen on the wing in the dunes.
Drinker moth caterpillar. Photo credit: L. Blakely
Ruby Tiger moth caterpillar. Photo credit: L.Blakely
11 Spot Ladybird
Lana Blakely, Assistant Warden