Matt & Emma’s Moth Box:
The Clouded Border by Emma & Matt's Moth Box.
Even the guys Moth Box was quiet this morning, but they did have their first Clouded Border moth of the year, a species I have yet to see this year.
Woolmer Pond, Bordon:
I found these Clouded Funnel Toadstools growing on this fallen bough of a tree within the woodland leading to the Pond.
And so to Woolmer Pond where the action began. The weather was still OK, with high cloud cover, but hardly any wind and looking to turn out to be a very warm afternoon. We parked up in the small Car Park, crossed the very busy main road and into the woods to join the perimeter footpath. There was such a variety of wildlife on show today and to write chapters on it would be futile and so, as mentioned earlier, I shall let the photos do the talking:
Above, Little Egrets by the Pond and below, a Gatekeeper butterfly sunning itself in the warm sunshine.
Above, a Tapered Drone Fly. This species of our larger Hoverfly is a common species, but rarely stays still unless sunning itself. Below, a Common Carder Bee nectaring on Perennial Sow Thistle flowers.
Above, a clump of Perennial Sow Thistle's. I like to thank Geoff for his knowledge of plants. Always good to have a Botanist in the ranks. Below, beautiful purple Bell Heather blooming by Woolmer Pond. What a gorgeous sight. I wonder what delights could be living within this?
There were always some interesting plants around the Pond and above, Evening Primrose adds a splash of yellow to the area.
In the southern half of the Pond, while walking along the track, we encountered a few bird species here. On the Pond itself, the water levels were getting lower as expected with the low rainfall we have had recently, however, there was a large number of both Canada and Grey Lag Geese resting on the muddy areas. At least two Little Grebes swam on the water and nearby, a Stonechat was heard and eventually seen on vegetation on the edge of the Pond.
A female Sparrowhawk caused a lot of commotion among the smaller birds within the neighbouring woodland and among them, were several Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers flitting about in the treetops and at least one Spotted Flycatcher among them. Both Nuthatch and Siskin were heard calling somewhere in the treetops, but no sighting of either sadly. Back over the Pond, a Red Kite sailed quietly over and then headed off north and a large gathering of Hirundines included not only Sand Martins and Swallows, but at least two Swifts. A small flock of 5 Common Crossbills flew overhead and a good count of 32 Lapwings were spooky by something and slowly flapped over the Pond only to settle again over in the northern section of the Pond.
Above, the gorgeous blue colouring of the Viper's Bugloss plant and below, the delicate pink flowers of Common Storksbill.
Above, Andy found this Scorpion Fly perched in a Bramble and below, six of the seven Little Egrets at the northern end of the Pond and a few Lapwing in the background.
Above, a juvenile Green Woodpecker put in an appearance and below, Geoff found this Hobby perched on a small stick on the Pond. There was a report of a Hobby here yesterday on the Hampshire Birds website and we had good views of the bird several times today.
Above, a Spear Thistle grows all by itself in the Cottage garden. All the Ragwort that used to grow here were now just sticks due to the fact that all the Cinnabar Moth caterpillars had eaten all the leaves and flowers. Below, Andy has a rest within the Cottage garden.
This is the Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly ( Xanthogramma peissequum) that we found in the Cottage garden.
As we made our way to the Cottage Garden, Geoff picked out a resting adult Hobby perched on a small stick on the Pond and a juvenile Green Woodpecker flew up to a tree nearby and eventually flew off southbound to another tree by the footpath. As we reached the Cottage garden, we had a rest and a drink and checked out the wildlife here. A small flock of Starlings flew up to a nearby Pine tree and a Hobby flew high overhead, showing well until it headed off north. A Red Kite then flew over and showed extremely well with the blue sky behind it. A Treecreeper, having heard a few earlier, showed briefly in a small tree within the garden and both Red Admirals and a Comma butterfly flew low over the garden.
Above, Starlings on the tall Pine within the Cottage garden and below, the Hobby sailed high overhead.
Above, this Red Kite sailed low over the trees and below, Geoff found this uncommon and tiny Lesser Centaury plants growing on the footpath within Woolmer Forest. The larger Common Centaury plant were more abundant.
Above, Bell Heather then turns into Common Heather and below, a male Common Blue Damselfly.
Damselflies were abundant along the footpath through Woolmer Forest including (above) this female Common Blue Damselfly. Below, we came across our first Grayling butterflies along the same path. We easily found double figures of this cryptic butterfly.
Above, Andy and Geoff within Woolmer Forest and below, we came across good numbers of Common Hawkers. This one was a female.
Above, Geoff identified this plant as a Coral Necklace; a plant of acidic soil and there were plenty around the area out by the heath.
Once we exited the Forest, we checked out the footpath by the heath and eventually took a break by resting in the shade of a tall pine. From here, a pair of calling Tree Pipits flew over and a female Marsh Harrier made an appearance as it sailed overhead and then headed off east over the Heath. A Common Buzzard was heard and then seen earlier as we were entering the Forest to add to our raptor total, but more was to come later in the afternoon. The temperature was now rising well into the 20’s centigrade as we then made our way back down through the Forest and then took a walk around the back of Woolmer Pond.
Above and below, both Andy and myself got our first ever sighting of a Sand Lizard. Yes, it is only a youngster, but it was found by Geoff as it ran past his feet and thankfully, stopped long enough a few times for a photo. This was the last thing we expected to see here, but as Geoff said, virtually all the UK amphibians are here at this huge site.
Above, a closer view of the Sand Lizard and below, the female Marsh Harrier sailing over our heads while we had lunch.
Above, another shot of the female Marsh Harrier and below, a Common Field Grasshopper. The latter species were so abundant that they flew everywhere when we walked up to the Heath.
Above and below, Black Darters that included a mating pair below. There were good numbers of these along the footpath on the northern side of the Pond as well as Common Blue Damselflies everywhere. We did see a very large blue Dragonfly briefly but we could not make our minds up whether it was a Keeled Skimmer or a Black-tailed Skimmer?
Above, mating Common Blue Damselflies and below, I found this Rush Veneer moth on the footpath and earlier, I found my first Barred Grass-moths of the year.
Geoff found this Wasp Spider by the footpath, my first one for many a year and below, while chatting to a local birder over on the northern side of the Pond. Geoff found a wader by the waters edge, which turned out to be a Green Sandpiper which was reported earlier in the day.
Above, my first Emerald Damselfly of the year.
Above, a pair of mating Emerald Damselflies.
A Hobby enjoying tucking into a recently caught dragonfly.
So, my last words today were that we had the most enjoyable day at this fantastic site. To be honest, we never expected to see such a variety of wildlife and it just goes to show that if you look hard enough, you will find something special. Hobbies, Sand Lizards, Graylings and Black Darters, the list goes on; but this has to go down as one of the best days here ever.
