A week of warmth, sun and plenty of wildlife.

Swallowtails have been showing particularly well this week with a noticeable emergence, the key areas to see them are currently are the nectar garden by reception and halfway along Lackford Run. The latter location appears to be the top spot this year with as many as six being seen all at the same location. This is possibly a mating location, where increased pheromones have been released by females encouraging more and more swallowtails all the time. The other star attraction this week has been a particularly showy water vole, which can be seen around the small pool by reception.

Other avian highlights have been four red kites circling the reserve on Friday morning, a bittern booming in front of Fen Hide, grasshopper warbler singing near the fen boardwalk, kingfishers at various locations, lots of reed and sedge warblers singing as well as chiffchaffs and willow warblers. Marsh harriers now have young mouths to feed so there is an increased number of food passes being seen, best viewed from Fen and Tower Hides.

This time of the year is when the invertebrates and mammals start to take over the sightings boards, the following damsel/dragonflies and butterflies have all been seen throughout the week.

banded demoiselle small copper
large red damselfly small tortoiseshell
azure damselfly peacock
blue-tailed damselfly holly blue
red-eyed damselfly painted lady
Norfolk hawker red admiral
four-spotted chaser swallowtail
scarce chaser green viened white
black-tailed skimmer large white
Emperor dragonfly small white

 

Of note from the above tables are the scarce chasers, which can be found along the riverbank, the first emperor dragonflies have taken to the wing late in the week and the skies are becoming seemingly filled with Norfolk hawkers!

The bee orchids should be coming out into flower over the next week, the common twayblades are already out in full flower and the southern marsh/common spotted orchids are also freshly out in the meadows along with many other great plants including ragged robin, marsh lousewort and more grass and sedge species than most can identify.

The paths are all in good condition and mostly open, the meadow is now fully open and ready for exploration.

I would expect the swallowtails to keep increasing throughout the next week, the peak may be reached at some point soon, but depends on weather conditions. The invertebrates are just getting started so there will be many more dragons, damsels and butterflies emerging over the next week. The birds will start to go a little quiet now, singing best in the early morning, but they are certainly still singing well if you get the chance to listen.