The recent run of gorgeous weather has brought forth some of the smallest stars of the reserve - beetles, bees and butterflies abound on the heath. Plant-wise the hogweed flowers still dominate but other white umbellifers are joining in now as the wild carrot and yarrow are coming into flower. It isn't just the rose chafer beetles that approve of umbellifers: they are a favourite of hoverflies and other flies also. The Mull is going through another purple patch; heather is just starting to bloom, the marsh orchids are fabulous and plentiful plus there are still some thistle heads in flower. Flitting amongst all this are several butterfly and moth species, including the common blue, meadow brown, small tortoiseshell and red admiral butterflies. Cinnabar and burnet moths are also seen regularly and as the ragwort is growing nicely, it can't be too long before the stripey yellow and black caterpillars of the cinnabar moth are draped all over the ragwort. With the warmer nights the moth trap has been yielding greater numbers and more species of moths but I'll leave Rob, our resident 'mothemagician', to report on that!
Last week was an epic time for watching the gannets - they were close in to the cliffs and busy swirling around hunting and diving. Knowing that ITV were due to come and film at the end of the week I was sure that they would be nowhere to be seen on the day. However, I was proved wrong and they performed beautifully for Paul the cameraman who could hardly tear himself away from them and filmed them on at least three separate occasions. The filming was for a Border TV programme 'Border Life' and we will let you know when it is to be shown.
Gannets over a boiling sea by kind permission of Sue Wolfe
We have been watching the cliffs very closely, especially those in range of our cliff cams. Our nearest and favourite nest of three shag chicks caused us to despair a few days ago when one of the chicks slipped out of the nest and hasn't been seen since. This morning there was only one chick left in the nest. The chicks are just about at fledging stage but normally they will hang around the nest area and continue to be fed by their parents for a few weeks. Elsewhere on the cliffs I have seen other comparable shag families with one parent attending to some of the chicks while the other parent is some distance off, looking after the other siblings. This doesn't seem to be the case for 'our' shag family unfortunately.
Turning to the other seabirds, few of these have chicks yet. While doing my nest counting, I have noticed one or two razorbill chicks but all the other main species (kittiwake, fulmar, guillemot) are still sitting tight and I've only been able to glimpse kittiwake eggs so far. Herring gull chicks are to be found dotted around the various seabird colonies - not really the sort of neighbour you want if you're a kittiwake or auk.
On the heath again and the reserve is positively fizzing with small birds. This morning the visitor centre roof had a line of linnets stretching from one end to the other; these were a mixture of parents and young - a lovely sight to be greeted by at the start of the day. Whitethroats, meadow pipits and stonechats are picking their way amongst the dense cover of hogweed. Most of these birds are on their second broods now and the whitethroats are singing again. Kestrel can be seen quite regularly hunting over the reserve for a small bird or rodent.
Finally, a visitor added another plant to our sightings board this afternoon - an adder's tongue fern. Not one I was familiar with but then every day is a school day. Today was literally a school day for me as I went to Belmont Primary School in Stranraer to collect some posters that the P5 children of Mrs Smith's class had done. These are lovely pieces of work about seabirds and will shortly grace the walls of the visitor centre; come and see them soon.
Adder's tongue fern
With the school holidays starting we are putting on some extra family activities and to celebrate our rather splendid mini-beasts, we have devised a new challenge for families visiting the reserve. Come and pick up a challenge sheet from the visitor centre, follow the trail, answer as many questions you can and then return to the visitor centre for a small prize and big praise!
Also don't forget that our twice weekly guided walks continue through the summer. Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting at 1pm from the visitor centre.
Hope to see you soon!