It has been a long time since I published a post on the blog. Internet connection issues and a nice holiday kept me away from it but now I am back and it is great. The conservation team has been busy mainly doing practical work, maintaining the estate but that is not all. At the same time we got the chance to observe a great variety of wildlife. Birds are mostly finished with their job of raising young: most of the chicks have fledged and can feed themselves independently. Invertebrate life on the other hand is very much abundant. This is very much the time of emergence for aquatic invertebrates.
It is a great time to see a great diversity of Dragonflies and Damselflies around the reserve at the moment. It is easy to differentiate Damselflies to Dragonflies: the former rest on the vegetation with their wings along their body whereas the latter rest with their wings perpendicular to their body.
Large Red Damselflies and the rarer Small Red Damselflies can be seen on a walk along the boardwalk across Covert Coch. You could also be lucky and see an Emerald Damselfly exhibiting its wonderful metallic green abdomen.
Small Red Damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum)
Dragonflies are much bigger and thus can be more easily spotted. It is also a good time to see the Southern, Brown or Common Hawkers. Common Darters, Black-tailed Skimmers, Broad Bodied Chasers and Four-spotted chasers are the other Dragonfly species you may see nearby the many water bodies of the reserve.
Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)
Female Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)
Still in the insect world but in another Order, we have been moth trapping on the Foel part of the reserve with local and knowledgeable moth enthusiasts Ina and Tony. If you’d like to join them and discover more about moths at Ynys-hir, they will be at the visitor centre this Sunday (23rd August) from 9 till 11 am. Here is an idea of the beautiful creatures you may see at this event. The diversity at this time of the year is incredible. It is the right time to appreciate how colourful and delicate moths are.
Yellow-tail (Euproctis similis)
Black arches (Lymantria monacha)
Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria)
The biodiversity at Ynys-hir is stunning. It has been an incredible experience to witness the beauty of this site for six months as an RSPB intern. It is now however, time to leave for Lake Vyrnwy RSPB nature reserve for another six months of internship. This is thus a goodbye.