Day and night

At this time of year the reserve is fantastic for insects both when the sun is out and when it sets.

For me, dragonflies and butterflies are the daytime highlights:

As you approach black pond on the heath you can hear the clash of wings as dozens of four-spotted chaser dragonflies enter aerial combat, each vying for the best waterside perches. The smaller zippier darters have also started to merge - look for the red and black ruddy darters.

4 spotted chaser by Chris Prince

Ruddy darter by Andy Jones

If you stop a while around Upperton's Pond - the main pond just outside the visitor centre with the beautiful carved benches - emperors are the kings and queens of the skies.  These large and powerful dragonflies patrol the ponds and the females can often be seen egg-laying.

Daintier, but still delightful are the demoiselles - metallic damselflies with stained glass wings.  We find both the beautiful and the banded demoiselles here:

Beautiful demoiselle by Chris Prince

Banded demoiselle by Chris Prince

Butterflies can also be seen enjoying the sunshine and the wildflowers with abundant meadow browns followed by a few ringlets, gatekeepers, large, small and Essex skippers.  We're looking up into the tops of the oak trees in search of purple hairstreaks.  From the ground they will appear as fluttering silvery shapes - if you are lucky enough to see one settle, open its wings and bask in the sun, you'll spot flashes of purple.  From 17 July we'll be taking part in the national Big Butterfly Count so do come along and follow our trail, pick up a survey sheet and get involved.

Small skipper by Russ Tofts

Hoverflies, beetles and bumblebees are also busy - the white umbellifer-type plants tend to be popular.  Volunteer Russ found this splendid longhorn beetle - Rutpela maculata (Strangalis maculata in some books) earlier in the week.

Whilst most insects seem to relish the sunshine, some of my favourites emerge as the sun is setting - moths.  On Friday night I set a moth trap so I would have some creatures to show our youth groups who were meeting the following day.  As I arrived early on Saturday morning and peered into the trap I saw an enormous amount of activity.  I proceeded to 'unpack' the moth trap, identifying and recording all of the species and potting some to keep in the fridge to show the children later on (don't worry they are all released unharmed in the evening, putting them in the fridge just 'chills them out').  Two and a half hours later (!) we'd reached 115 different species of moth (a record for me) including 6 different species of hawkmoth (the biggest and perhaps most glamorous of the moth families).  The catch included Nationally scarce B species the great oak beauty and several migrant species including the tiny festoon.

Our 'catch' included at least 15 of these spectacular elephant hawkmoths! 

I'm planning on putting a moth trap on tonight (Thursday) so if anyone would like to come and see what we've found and help 'unpack' the trap, I will be in from around 8.15 am on Friday. You are very welcome to come and help.

As well as the moths, an evening visit could reward you with sightings of some of the creatures who eat moths - bats and nightjars.  My favourite spot is on the southern side of the tumuli (also known as 'the clump') where you can sit on one of the benches as the light fades and look and listen out.  As well as the tiny pipistrelle bats we have regularly seen one or two of the larger serotine bats searching for food.  An evening searching for bats is greatly enhanced when you can use a bat detector - not only does it help you to track them down as the skies darken, but the frequency and rhythm of their calls helps to identify what type of bat they are - the serotine sounds like a tap dancer who can't quite get the rhythm right!

If you would like to try this out we have several evening events planned over the next couple of months - including our Big Wild Sleepout.  On all of our evening events we'll be looking at moths and searching for bats. Take a look at our events page and book your place by contacting the visitor centre on 01798 875851. Our shop also sells bat detectors so if you've been on one of our walks and now want to have a go yourself then come in and take a look.