We enjoyed a couple of sunny hours this afternoon at Bradgate Park. Ostensibly it was to get our granddaughter Ellie out for some sun and fresh air walking along, but I took along a MOL pheromone lure and the TG-6, because it would be mad not too. With so many ancient oaks, and a fourth consecutive day of sunshine, I fully expected a result with the lure and I was not wrong ....
Pammene giganteana, to MOL lure
What I wasn't expecting though was Tortricodes alternella also apparently coming to the lure. I was just exposing the lure in an open pot for ease, and at the first spot I had x2 fluttering about the trunk close to the pot. I could not exclude the possibility that I'd disturbed them whilst milling about the trunk. But at a second spot, another came to the pot but I watched this one fly in from some distance. So genuinely attracted to the lure, or just coincidentally day-flying.
Tortricodes alternella, to MOL lure?
I also found a fair few Luffia lapidella f. ferchaultella with the deep crevices of gnarly oaks, easier to find than get good photographs of. All on the shadier side of the trunks.
We enjoyed another couple of hours out walking today, over at Bradgate Park.
The car parks were all rammed, but I've been here more than enough times to
know that you can quickly and easily veer away from the main drag and enjoy
huge swathes of open vista with few others around. I'm sure if anyone could
watch the park from high up above and create a heat map, the main pathway
through the center, the car parks and the toilet/tea buildings would be
burning orange, whilst the rest would barely register. There was no agenda
other than fresh air and enjoying the massive ancient oaks. When we did head
nearer to the ruins and the main path, it was still easy enough to maintain
distance.
Some of these huge oaks are barely holding themselves together. Huge hollow centers, barkless and split trunks, and yet they continue to flourish and survive, their ancient status fully justified.
We briefly nipped over to nearby Swithland Reservoir before heading home,
mainly so I could enjoy the sound of a Wigeon flock and see a few ducks for a
change.
Today was one that was constrained, in that I needed to complete some work around the middle of the day. So this morning I nipped over to Huncote Embankment with the aim of trying to photograph Odonata, and then this afternoon I've been out to Bradgate Park with Nichola.
This morning was warm enough, with good sunny spells but always some brooding clouds in view that in the end came to nothing.
The main plan was to point the camera at damselflies, and specifically to try and photograph Small Red-eyed Damselfly. I have seen this species before, years ago not long after first colonisation. We dropped into the Bluewater Shopping Center on the way back from a twitch, quite probably the Pallid Harrier in August 2002 but memory has gone hazy. I've never looked for or knowingly seen one since then, despite their rapid and widespread colonisation. And today was no different as to be honest the conditions were not great - either bright sunshine causing fervent activity or a cloudy spell when everything settled out of view or range. I think I may have caught one, but the angle is terrible and it's far from totally convincing. I was also confused by the apparent presence of (Large) Red-eyed Damselfly which I thought would be well over by now, but apparently isn't.
I think these shots are Red-eyed Damselfly followed by Small Red-eyed Damselfly based on the terminal segments, but I'll try again on a better day.
Also a few Common Darters around, and plenty of Blue-tailed Damsleflies.
I also spotted by chance what I think may be the first Orange Ladybird larva I've seen.
Later in the afternoon, we headed to Bradgate Park. Despite the reasonable weather and being slap bang in the middle of summer, it was a lot quieter than I expected it might be. All the better. Nice views, plenty of deer - albeit distant - and a few birds and bits whilst we wandered about.
These deer really were a long way off, at least 100 meters, probably more.
A walk around the outer perimeter of the ruins brought some plants and a new fly ....
After this shot I managed to pot what was clearly a robber fly, and it's now pinned and works through quite simply to Machimus cingulatus - though you can't see all features here apart from leg colouration.
There is plenty of fruiting Deadly Nightshade here if you have anyone that you think would benefit from some herbal remedy ....
I spotted a Purple Hairstreak a long way up in an oak, and also some galls on Walnut caused by the mite Aceria erinea ....
The main avian interest though came from a range of juvs ....
Confident and fully independent Stonechat
Confident to the point of cocky Goldfinch in a feeding flock with other juvs
Pathetic begging Reed Bunting that had barely fledged - no tail, no flight
Click beetles are dull, brown, boring beetles ... like this one ...
Ampedus balteatus
This was a completely chance find at Bradgate Park yesterday, where we headed for some sunshine, a nice family picnic and a decent walk. I'll post some pictures from the park another day, and I'll stick with the beetles theme here. A couple from my garden moth trap, and another from the park.
Mealworm Beetle (Tenebrio molitor)
Curculio sp. (maybe C. venosus, but I need to check further)
Wasp Beetle
And just to prove it's not just moths that wear, this is the new-to-science Bald Weevil
