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Wonderful Wildlife of 2014

We approach the end of the almighty year that was 2014. Whilst 2013 could be called “The Year of South African Wildlife” (albeit there were only four months there, but you know what I mean), 2014 was definitely a year of British wildlife for me.

Lepidoptera

The start of the year saw me quite interested in butterflies and moths, I knew perhaps a couple of species. As I write, I do believe it would be correct to call me obsessed with this wonderful group. I’ll start with the smaller group first, that which is familiar to more people – the butterflies. Out of 59 species, I’ve seen at least 31 – not bad for a beginner who could only just identify the most well-known species at the beginning of the year! I’ve gone on butterfly group walks, set out to see a specific species (Lulworth Skipper – a success btw), and submitted my sightings like a good citizen scientist. Below are a selection of my favourite photos from this year:

And now onto my favourites, the moths! (Though really, butterflies are basically just a group of moths, but that’s for another time). I’m not even sure how many species I’ve seen – a sign I think that I need to get better at recording in 2015! One thing’s for sure though, I’ve seen quite a few, more than I knew existed just a few years ago! I’ve seen tiny moths only a few millimetres long and incredibly large moths that look like birds. I’ve seen a variety of life cycles, I’ve seen day-flying ones, caught ones at night, seen common species, very rare species and many in between!

I’m not sure what my highlights would be, there are so many possibilities!

  • Spotting a Six-belted Clearwing before my keen-eyed fellow Lepidoptera enthusiast
  • Catching 61 December Moths in one night (in one trap!) – when I was only expecting a couple of moths at most
  • Finding the larvae of a micro-moth in its one known location in the British Isles
  • Seeing my first Hummingbird Hawk-Moth on my first day at Gilfach Reserve
  • Catching 5 Merveille Du Jour in only 3 nights of trapping
  • My interest in moths influencing friends and family
  • Finding clothing with a moth design on (naturally I bought them all!)
  • Generally improving my ID skills to the point that I know a number of species without having to look at a guide!

 

Birds

It would be acceptable to say that at the beginning of 2014, I knew how to identify pretty much just your basic garden birds and a couple of other species. I’d heard of a variety of species, but hadn’t pursued learning how to identify them, or ticking them off. That all changed when I arrived at the Chesil Beach Centre in Dorset – with large flocks of birds right in front of me, and a Bird Observatory practically just up the road, it was time to acquire some birding knowledge.

Again, it’s hard to pick highlights, and even when I’m thinking of the possibilities, most of them don’t have accompanying photographs!

Other Beasties

Due to my naivety, I haven’t actually kept a proper list of which other species I’ve seen this year, which is rather silly and a lesson I shall learn from for 2015! As it is, I do know that I saw a number of rather lovely and/or interesting creatures during 2014. I shan’t list them all, but you can see them below.

What of botany?

Suffice to say that my botanical knowledge does need improvement, but then again, it is better than your average layman, and decent for a beginner!

All in all, it’s been a pretty awesome year for me seeing and learning about wildlife – thank you to everyone who has been fantastic in helping me, I can’t even begin to list you all, but you know who you are.

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Shersby’s back, tell a friend

Well, that break turned out to be slightly longer than planned, but a lot has happened including a life-changing decision, a couple of holidays and more!

To start with, the BIG SCARY life-changing decision. As of the beginning of August, I was no longer a trainee with Dorset Wildlife Trust but on a Jobs Growth Wales position with Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (in mid-Wales). I am now the Assistant Environmental Engagement Officer at RWT!

To cut it short, I do the day-to-day running of the visitor centre at Gilfach Reserve (follow #GilfachReserve on Twitter for wildlife sightings and events!), have started doing some of the social media for the Trust (see my most recent Facebook post!) and will be assisting with events, activities and school groups. There is also the opportunity to do more surveying, which I am thrilled about – I’m already running a moth trap at the reserve and hope to assist others in the Trust with their survey work.

So backtracking to the end of my traineeship in Dorset – despite having a new job to prepare for (and all the preparation of moving house / finding somewhere to live / etc), I still had plenty to get on with. The biggest thing that was taking over my life was planning for the Big Wild Chesil Event, a celebration of Chesil’s wildlife and the work of Dorset Wildlife Trust. It was a fabulous day in the end (albeit slightly stressful since I was the organiser!), and I think my favourite bit was probably trying some Morris Dancing – I do believe there is a photo somewhere, but I won’t look too hard for it!

I also managed to fit in some adventuring before I left Dorset, with the result of seeing a wide variety of species – some of which I hadn’t seen before. Thanks to Sean Foote for doing most of the identification!

Holiday-wise, I went a minibreak to Anglesey with family. We went off to the Anglesey Show which was fantastic! I think the most thrilling bit was the Shetland Pony Grand National, there was so much drama! And it is possibly one of the cutest things I have ever seen! We also went to Newborough Beach where I may have annoyed my parents slightly by stopping to take photos of lots of invertebrates. However, by doing so, I also saw a red squirrel which they didn’t see! No photo though as it was very quick and off in the distance. NB: why was there a red squirrel at the beach? There’s also lots of woodland there!

So yes, quite a lot has occurred and it’s all been a bit mad! But then, that’s life and I’ve been enjoying it, and I’ve seen lots of beautiful wildlife.

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If a tree falls in the forest …

This week has seen a lot of office work again as I try to get everything sorted for summer, and my big event at the event of July. I was lamenting time spent indoors at the beginning of the week when walking back to my car, when a beautiful Small Tortoiseshell butterfly landed on the steps in front of me. What a stunning specimen!

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

I was let out of the office on Wednesday for some summer tree identification. After some theory and samples in the morning at DWT’s HQ, we headed out to Thorncombe Woods near Dorchester. It’s a nice mix of conifers, hazel coppice and sycamores. It was a lot of un, and I think I’m more confident with tree ID from their leaves, though I do need to practice – quite difficult at Chesil Beach!!

We saw some fab wildlife at Brooklands before we left, and some dragonflies / damselflies at a pond in Thorncombe.

On Thursday, I took the new Chesil / Lorton trainee (Yup, there’s a new one! She’s called Nadine and she’s cool), to Lorton Meadows so she could see the other spot where she would be working. It was a glorious day, though a tad breezy – there weren’t as many butterflies as I hoped. However, our butterfly / Odonata species list was still impressive: Red Admiral, Marbled White, Small Skipper, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Common Darter Dragonfly, Emperor Dragonfly, Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly and Blue-tailed Damselfly. Not bad for a quick walk! There may have been a couple of other species, but they didn’t stay still long enough to be photographed (I’m not good enough to ID most species in flight although I can do a couple now!).

My favourite photo from Lorton - an immature male Common Darter dragonfly, resting on the branch of an apple tree!

My favourite photo from Lorton – an immature male Common Darter dragonfly, resting on the branch of an apple tree!

A short (in comparison to other blog posts) but sweet blog post there about this week’s wildlife. In other news, my extra writing last week about the Ladybird app has since resulted in me being asked to become a tester for the new version of the app AND an Android tester for the Wildlife Trusts app (currently just available in Apple)!

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If I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost.

I came across the above quote when trying to decide on the post title (when tired, my brain can’t think of quotes so I resort to the internet). It’s by Van Gogh, and I’d say it is very true here. I love searching out new wildlife and / or new information, and to no longer do so would mean that I would no longer be me (and thus, I would be lost). The past week has been no exception – I’ve been to new places, seen new species and met new people, so safe to say that I’m still myself!

But before that, I managed to forget an important photo from last week’s blog post –  a rare photo of myself!

With a GBB Gull chick

With a GBB Gull chick

I was extremely excited about Tuesday’s adventure as we were out looking for dormice (also bats and veteran trees, but they’re not as cute and fluffy as dormice!). Unfortunately nobody told the dormice I was excited to meet them as we had a grand total of zero in the nestboxes. Oh well, I’ve met some before. We did see plenty of other interesting wildlife as we were on a lovely reserve called Kilwood Reserve.

After the woodland adventures, I was off another trip to Surrey. My last foray there saw me getting excited about damselflies, and rightly so because they’re stunning insects by anyone’s measurement. This trip also included some amazing wildlife – the damselflies again, but also some bees (always good to see), orchids and a new species of butterfly for me, what I believe is a Dark Green Fritilliary!

 

And of course, I cannot miss out one of the best wildlife sights of my visit – a dunnock nest hidden away within the vines on the farm!

Dunnock chicks

Dunnock chicks

Back in Dorset, the latter half of the week was a whirlwind of excitement. Beginning with a walk with my traineeship mentor, Emily Brown, on Chesil Beach and Hamm Beach to practice some wildflower ID.

Naturally, we also saw a variety of insects, as well as a juvenile Pied Wagtail (one of my favourite birds!)

My weekend kicked off in Swanage, where I got to camp on the seafront (practically on the beach itself) before assisting with the Wild About Swanage event. One of my morning assignments was to walk along the beach (sandy beach so I had to be barefoot!), handing out flyers to everyone. I tell you, that was arduous work!

Swanage beach - empty at dusk!

Swanage beach – empty at dusk!

 

The weekend continue with a joint event between the Dorset Branch of Butterfly Conservation and the Dorset Moth Group, running a moth trap up at Broadcroft Quarry. Again I got to camp (note to self: take an eyemask and earplugs when camping AND moth trapping! [light from the moth trap and noise from the generator!]), which was very exciting – even though I was only a mile or so from where I live. Many thanks to the groups for this event, it was brilliant! Special thanks to Nigel Spring for the barbeque and running the event, and to Sean Foote and Jack Oughton for doing most of the identification.

As expected, we caught a great variety of moths and I have to admit that I have probably forgotten the names of most of them by now!

There were many many Six-spot Burnet moths flying about as well, I actually found these two in the act!

Six-spot Burnet Moths

Six-spot Burnet Moths

In the morning, we headed out for a wildflower / butterfly walk which, again, saw me coming across new species of butterfly. (to myself, not to science) – Marbled White, Silver-studded Blue, Small Blue and Small Skipper.

And as I left Broadcroft Quarry, I saw this beautiful Kestrel hovering and hunting for its dinner.

Hovering Kestrel

Hovering Kestrel

NB: You may have noticed that I’ve been playing around with the presentation of photographs, feedback would be appreciated on which style(s) you like!

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Doing too much cool stuff, as usual!

The week began with a bang, or rather it began with squawking and chirping. I was invited out to the Portland Port breakwaters by Steve Hales who takes me birdringing. The Portland Port Authority and the local birdringers (including Steve) were going out there to ring the chicks of Great Black-backed Gulls (GBBG) – the adults of which are the really big and quite scary-looking gulls.

The chicks however are adorable – incredibly fluffy when young, and actually still quite cute as they get older. We could only ring chicks of certain ages, i.e. once they were big enough for the ring not to slip off, and before they got too big to put the (coloured) ring on. Two types of ring were involved – a metal ring and a coloured ring, both used for identification purposes as part of the British Trust for Ornithology‘s (BTO) ringing scheme.

My first ringed bird!

My first ringed bird!

The latter ring could only be put on the older of the chicks we were ringing, and we almost couldn’t put it on a couple of them (the method for putting coloured rings on is different than for metal rings, due to the material of the ring). In total, we ringed 28 GBBG chicks. We also ringed a couple of Herring Gull chicks with metal rings, as they were nesting nearby.

Putting a ring on

Putting a ring on

So what was the purpose of ringing? By assigning a numbered ring, and thus a specific identification, to each bird, we can keep track of where they are sighted. Through this we can learn more about the different aspects of the bird species – migration patterns, survival rates (both adults and fledgings) and other population information.

I’m very grateful to the birdringers and to the Portland Port Authority for allowing me to go on this trip, it was hugely enjoyable and one of the highlights of my time in Dorset so far.

We saw a range of ages, including chicks that were hatching on the day!

We saw a range of ages, including chicks that were hatching on the day!

Back at the Chesil Centre, I helped with a couple of school groups that we had in. First assisting with a low tide walk with 30-ish young primary school children, then leading a group myself of 15 children. I always love working with children as they are very enthusiastic about everything (hmm … does that sound rather like someone?), and I believe it is important to get children interested in wildlife whilst they’re young. Even if they don’t become scientists, they will hopefully retain an appreciation of wildlife and that we should conserve it.

My appreciation for wildlife was heightened during a trip on the Fleet Observer, this is a glass-bottomed boat which runs trips on the the Fleet. During this trip, we got great views of the underwater world, the Little Terns and even some hares (my highlight of the trip).

I also helped out with a school group up at Lorton Meadows, with one of my favourite activities – pond dipping! I consider this to be one of the best activities to do with children, as ponds are found everywhere (so what they learn will hopefully be remembered easier) and the underwater world is rather mysterious and amazing. We found a variety of creatures including efts (juvenile newts), water boatman and we also saw some dragonflies darting about. After pond dipping, they had a bug hunt in the grasses and caught some interesting insects.

Grasshopper or cricket? I've already forgotten how to differentiate!

Grasshopper or cricket? I’ve already forgotten how to differentiate!

The week finished off with a dash up to Shropshire for an ecology course. I am taking a few modules every year in ecology with the Lifelong Learning department of Aberystwyth University. Although I have a science degree, it is in a subject that I no longer want to pursue and I want to learn more ecology. So by taking these modules I can gain a wide variety of theory and practical knowledge, and even work towards a Certificate in Field / Conservation Ecology. This module was Ecology 1 – i.e. an introduction to the concepts involved in ecology including nutrient cycles, predator-prey relationships and food webs. Although I remember most of it from school, it was very useful to have it consolidated and drawn together.

The course location was at Karuna, a gorgeous family project in the Shropshire AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). With a passion for trees, permaculture and Insight Design, this is a fabulous example of how living off the land can be done. Whilst not fully self-sufficient, they’re pretty close and it was fascinating to learn from them during the tour. One of the course members described it as “an oasis of hope”, and I thoroughly agree and hope to return there!

Just a quick note about the course tutor – a brilliant ecologist called Dr Jan Martin who seems to be all-knowledgeable! I really enjoy reading her blog which discusses sustainability, and has a brilliant name; The Snail of Happiness.

I do apologise for the long blog post – I guess I must limit the amount of cool stuff that I do! I shall end with a nice photo of the seal that we saw at the Portland Port breakwater.

Seal at Portland Port breakwater

Seal at Portland Port breakwater

 

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A bit of everything (well, almost)

I know that every week I say, “Wow, what an amazing and full-on week I’ve had, and I’ve learnt so much!” It just seems to be the nature of this traineeship (and my spare time!) to just be jam-packed with cool wildlife stuff. Despite not being able to top the Short-Toed Eagle from last week, this week has seen a great variety of wildlife in a range of habitats.

It started off with a trip up to Lorton Meadows Nature Reserve, a gorgeous place on the edge of Weymouth. It’s full of interesting wildlife (including a nesting barn owl whose chicks you can watch on a webcam!), but the focus of this trip was the mysterious underwater world as the Chesil Beach Centre volunteers and I were there to do some pond dipping!

A damselfly nymph

A damselfly nymph, Lorton Meadows

Coming up from underwater, I headed over to Fontmell Down Reserve in the north of Dorset for the big staff field trip of Dorset Wildlife Trust. Again, a variety of wildlife but I was particularly interested by the range of wildflowers there. Naturally we also saw some animals, including my favourites – some moths!

A Yellow Shell moth

A Yellow Shell moth, Fontmell Down

It was great to be out on a new reserve to me, and with knowledgeable people. With so many conservation people in one place, there was always someone on hand to tell you what a species was – and why (i.e. it’s identification features).

A Bee Orchid, Fontmell Down

A Bee Orchid, Fontmell Down

An excursion to Somerset saw a couple of the trainees learning about bumblebees and how land managers, particularly farmers, can help them – and other pollinators – out. The focus was on field margins, excellent spots for planting wildflowers. Our case study was the Frogmary Green Farm which has made the room for wildflowers, and it had worked as we saw plenty of bumblebees. One species of note was the Tree Bumblebee, and I believe the photo below shows a melanistic Tree Bumblee (i.e. it’s abdomen is black rather than the normal orange).

Melanistic Tree Bumblebee? Somerset

Melanistic Tree Bumblebee? Somerset

The big event of the week was the Little Tern Fundraising Evening at the Chesil Beach Centre where we were raising money for the Little Terns of Chesil Beach. As the second rarest breeding seabird in the UK, and the only colony of Little Terns in the southwest, this population definitely needs help. Although numbers have gradually increased, support is still needed as the eggs and chicks are so vulnerable to predators.

I still don’t have a decent photo of a Little Tern I’m afraid, so I’ve included a photo of Morgan Vaughan (the current Little Tern Officer) from the evening where he was getting excited about the eggs. You can follow Morgan on Twitter at @Morgan_Vaughan

Morgan talks about Little Tern eggs, Chesil Centre

Morgan talks about Little Tern eggs, Chesil Centre

The weekend began with a trip up to Barton Meadows Farm to learn about butterfly identification with the Dorset Branch of Butterfly Conservation. Although I knew a few species (e.g. Red Admiral / Peacock / Large Skipper), I wanted to know about the key identification features to look for when I see a butterfly. I can say that these are:

  • Family (e.g. Skippers or Blues)
  • Flight period
  • Habitat
  • Food plants
  • Behaviour
  • And last, but most obvious, patterning on wings

After a morning of theory, we put it into practice with a walk in the afternoon sun. We saw 16 butterfly species, as well as a number of moths (including Mother Shipton, Burnet Companion and Cinnabar), beetles and interesting wildflowers. A big thank you to Bill Shreeves and other members of the Dorset Branch for running the day – I know I learnt a lot and hope to get out there more often to get butterfly records!

Theory session. NB: the pinned butterflies are from an old collection donated to the Dorset Branch.

Theory session. NB: the pinned butterflies are from an old collection donated to the Dorset Branch.

Marsh Fritillary Butterfly, Barton Meadows Farm

Marsh Fritillary butterfly, Barton Meadows Farm

A female Large Skipper butterfly, Barton Meadows Farm

A female Large Skipper butterfly, Barton Meadows Farm

The evening saw me out birdringing, or should I say birdwatching! With the target species of Cuckoo and Nightjar, we had set up mist nets on the heathland of the Lulworth Ranges. We referring to Steve Hales, Luke Philips and I. One of each of the target species flew into the net, but both promptly flew out again! Very frustrating, but at least I saw both of them – and I saw / heard a number of other birds including Woodlark, Meadow Pipit and Swallows.

I'm new to wildflowers, but thought maybe a Spotted Heath orchid, Lulworth Ranges.

I’m new to wildflowers, but thought maybe a Spotted Heath orchid, Lulworth Ranges.

Therein is the end of this week’s roundup, though I will admit to missing some things out – roadside verges surveying, World Oceans Day at the Chesil Beach Centre, my personal moth trapping. But to cover everything would be too much!

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There’s a snake in my boot!

I lied, there wasn’t a snake in my boot this week … but snakes did feature, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use this quote from such an epic film (Toy Story in case you didn’t know, but you should know because Toy Story is amazing and everyone has seen it!).

Before the snakes, there were birds. Lots of birds. I was doing a BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) course at the Kingcombe Meadows Nature Reserve, and it was fab to go out into the countryside with someone who could identify all the birds we could see and hear. The latter is particularly difficult most of the time as although some birds are very distinctive in their call or song, there are many that sound fairly similar. Plus, many have a variety of calls or song, and some birds mimic other species (I’m looking at you Great Tit!).

Blackcap hiding behind branches

Blackcap hiding behind branches

All in all, there were: Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Chiff Chaff, Swallow, House Martin, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Wren, Goldcrest, Garden Warbler, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Treecreeper, Buzzard and Rook. Another walk after the course had finished saw me adding Greater-spotted Woodpecker, Yellowhammer and Bullfinch to the list.

Bullfinch

Bullfinch

I love this photo of a cheeky female House Sparrow in the chicken feed trough at Kingcombe

I love this photo of a cheeky female House Sparrow in the chicken feed trough at Kingcombe

Reptilian training took place on Upton Heath Nature Reserve with the traineeship manager, and smooth snake / sand lizard licence holder, Steve Davis. It was an epic day – Common Lizard, Sand Lizard, Slow Worm and Smooth Snake were seen, and we got to handle the latter! I was quite nervous because … well, it’s a snake! I was afraid it might bite  me, but I was also really nervous about stressing it out or dropping it. Luckily none of that happened, and instead we all marvelled over how cute they are!

Smooth snake, not too sure about having its photo taken!

Smooth snake, not too sure about having its photo taken!

Male sand lizard soaking up some rays

Male sand lizard soaking up some rays

I also saw some lovely moths (naturally!) including the Common Heath moth of whom I saw both a male and a female! In addition, there were lots of lovely birds about – Stonechat, Linnet, Tree Pipit, Cuckoo and Dartford Warbler.

Common Heath moth (male)

Common Heath moth (male)

Common Heath moth (female)

Common Heath moth (female)

The second half of the week saw me back at the Chesil Beach Centre, but I was soon whisked away to do a quick search for a rare moth – the Least Owlet, whose only UK distribution is on Chesil Beach! We were looking for the larvae of this caterpillar, who are quite pedantic about their habitat, so it wasn’t too hard to find them once I got my eye into it.

The Least Owlet Moth larvae (just below the shell and leaf)

The Least Owlet Moth larvae (just below the shell and leaf)

Following this mini expedition, I headed out on another one – a wildflower walk on Chesil Beach with Angela Thomas, the assistant warden for the Fleet Nature Reserve. There are many flowers out on the beach, and they are stunning. A couple of of my favourites are Sea Campion (white) and Thrift (pink), and you can see why – it’s gorgeous!

Sea Campion and Thrift with the Chesil Centre in the background

Sea Campion and Thrift with the Chesil Centre in the background

Naturally we saw a variety of other wildlife out on the beach, from birds (Linnet, Skylark, Wheatear, Herring Gull, Little Tern), to beetles and moths (I’m finding that there are moths everywhere if you look for them!).

Wheatear

Wheatear

Yellow Belle moth

Yellow Belle moth

So a very packed week, and I’ve not even included everything – I’ve seen a number of other moths (Muslin, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Cinnabar and some micros whose names I can’t remember!), startled a hedgehog in the garden and seen a number of butterflies (they’re not as interesting as moths though).

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Signals and mi-newt details

I know that every blog post, I say how amazing the last week has been and how I’ve seen so many cool species. This week is no exception and what a week it has been! There has been so much awesome stuff happen that this blog post would be ridiculously long if I were to mention everything, or even half of it! So it shall be a very slimmed down affair.

It started off with a visit to one of my favourite Dorset places – Brownsea island! It was just a super quick visit, but I saw a bird that I love which is the Black-Headed Gull, as it was among the first birds I learnt to identify at Chesil and I think that it is generally quite cute.

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Crayfish training was rather surprising as there are more non-native species in the UK than I thought! However, the big baddy is the Signal Crayfish from America which is a really awful invasive species and our native White-clawed Crayfish is really suffering as a result.

White-clawed Crayfish (note the whiteness on the underside of its claw)

White-clawed Crayfish (note the whiteness on the underside of its claw)

It’s a combination of the American species acting as carriers for a disease that is fatal for our species, it is also bigger and breeds earlier, thus pushing out the native species. In addition, it’s practically impossible to remove the American species once it establishes itself in a river. Lastly, it is possible to spread the disease through human transmission – wellies and, I should think, leisure craft (e.g. kayaks).

It's me! For once, there were waders in my size and I jumped in. I didn't find any crayfish though.

It’s me! For once, there were waders in my size and I jumped in. I didn’t find any crayfish though.

From crayfish to amphibians, and even more awesomeness. After a theory session on ID on the different native and non-native species, we headed out to Powerstock Common Reserve and had a look for the species. We were particularly interested in Great Crested Newts (GCNs) as they’re a protected species and are also quite groovy animals. They’re relatively large, the largest of our newt species and the adults at unmistakable. The juveniles can have a bit of confusion with other species. SUPER COOL FACT: juvenile newts are called efts!

An eft! Not a great photo, but can you make out the gills at the back of the head? Unknown whether smooth or palmate newt species.

An eft! Not a great photo, but can you make out the gills at the back of the head?
Unknown whether smooth or palmate newt species.

ID features for GCNs include: size (up t0 16cm!), colouring (black on back, orange on belly), pattern on throat (spotted), feet (stripy!) and the male has a large crest with a distinct dip (this may only be during the breeding season though).

I enjoyed the amphibians training day so much that I’m considering doing a species/group profile post on newts! For now, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation have got a new ID guide in PDF format which can be downloaded for free.

Great Crested Newt male (note the large crest on his back). He is next to another newt species (much smaller!)

Great Crested Newt male (note the large crest on his back). He is next to another newt species (much smaller!)

 

The last training of the week with Dorset Wildlife Trust was on Odonata – i.e. dragonflies and damselflies, of which there are far more species than of the amphibians! Again, a theory session in the morning was followed by a practical afternoon with a visit to Winfrith Nature Reserve. We were netting damselflies for ID, but you shouldn’t net dragonflies, so we were relying on them to rest for a little while in order to look at their ID features (body shape, colour, wing spots and patterning are the main ones).

I do believe one of the favourites of the day was the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, whose specific ID features are the last segments on the abdomen (though we would call it the tail). Segment 8 is half blue and half black, whilst segment 9 is blue with a distinctive black line one it (of 10 segments along the abdomen [tail]). You should be able to see it relatively easily in the photo (I would suggest opening up the photo separately in order to zoom).

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (note the end segments of the abdomen [tail])

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (note the end segments of the abdomen [tail])

In addition to the lovely creatures that were the focus of the training days, there were so many other amazing species seen from a variety of groups including (but not limited to): Hobby, Grey Wagtail and Lapwing (birds), Green-veined White and Dingy Skipper (butterflies), Cream-spot (ladybird), Bugle, Green-winged Orchid and Yellow Archangel (flowers). I shall finish off this post with nice photos of some of the mentioned species.

Grey Wagtail flitting about whilst we were finding crayfish. Really amazing to watch it.

Grey Wagtail flitting about whilst we were finding crayfish. Really amazing to watch it.

Dingy Skipper Butterfly. Although less bright and flashy than other butterflies, it is still a beauty.

Dingy Skipper Butterfly. Although less bright and flashy than other butterflies, it is still a beauty.

Cream-spot Ladybird. A favourite of mine as it was one of the first ladybird species that I properly identified.

Cream-spot Ladybird. A favourite of mine as it was one of the first ladybird species that I properly identified.

Yellow Archangel - look at that patterning!

Yellow Archangel – look at that patterning!

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A number of new beasties

I gave myself the weekend off from blogging last weekend so there are two weeks to catch up on and it’s been a mixed lot! In the Lepidoptera world, I’ve caught some beautiful moths recently including a Powdered Quaker, Angle Shades and a Plume Moth.

Plume Moth, note the T-shaped wings

Plume Moth, note the T-shaped wings

I took the Angle Shades into work (moths are usually fairly happy to be in a bug pot for the day) to convert more people to the moth cause. Well, convert them into appreciating moths. It’s a fantastic example of how amazing moths can be – the way it holds its wings, the pattern, the colouring and the edges of its wing. And everyone was very impressed with it, although I shall continue improving peoples’ perceptions of moths of course (and other wildlife).

Angle Shades Moth - very distinctive!

Angle Shades Moth – very distinctive!

For the start of this week, my housemates and I did a lot of squealing as we found a slow worm in the garden!

Slow Worm

Slow Worm

Despite its name, it isn’t a worm. And despite its appearance, it isn’t a snake. It’s actually a lizard, albeit without the legs. Like other lizards, it is able to lose its tail and regrow it again. This is a neat little trick because if a predator catches its tail, it can just drop it and slither off into cover, and thus survive. The one that I saw in the garden did look like it might have had this occur and new growth was going back. However, I’ve not come across slow worms much so I’m not entirely sure about that.

Thursday saw the volunteers of the Chesil Centre heading up to the wonderful Portland Bird Observatory where the warden (Martin Cade) and assistant warden (Joe Stockwell) showed us how they do bird ringing up there.

Joe Stockwell (assistant warden) does some alfresco ringing

Joe Stockwell (assistant warden) does some alfresco ringing

Martin had also saved the moths from their moth traps (I believe they run four?!), which I was thrilled with – especially as two of them were new species to me, the Herald and the Red Sword-grass (the latter was caught over on the ‘mainland’ in Preston). I do believe that the volunteers are slowly being converted to appreciating moths, I’m sure my enthusiasm for them helps a lot.

Herald Moth - distinctive orange patches and edge of wings

Herald Moth – distinctive orange patches with white dots, and edges of wings

With the help of Sean Foote, I got two more Dorset species “ticked off” – a Little Ringed Plover and a Sanderling, both by the Chesil Centre with a larger group of Ringed Plover and Dunlin. The Little Ringed Plover does look a lot like a Ringed Plover (hence the name) but is quite a bit smaller (again, hence the name). It also has a distinctive yellow around its eye.

Little Ringed Plover, photo by Sean Foote.

Little Ringed Plover, photo by Sean Foote.

My Saturday afternoon was filled with a hunt for otters – unfortunately I didn’t find any (though there may be one nearby) but I did have a nice time outside in the (mostly) sunshine. I did come across an interesting bee as well, who as identified as an Ashy Mining Bee by @Bex_Cartwright. Fun fact: there are around 250 species of bee in the UK, 24 of the 250 are bumblebee species, 1 is a honeybee species and the remaining are solitary bees (like the Ashy Mining Bee). Pretty amazing stuff – 250!!!!

Unknown insect

Ashy Mining Bee

Apologies for the last couple of blog posts in terms of the quality of the photos – my camera is in for repair and I’m having to rely on my phone. Saying that though, they are pretty decent photos for a phone! Technology is pretty amazing!

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Wear Sunscreen

An interesting week full of different things – events, exploration and of course some moths. With a moth trap on loan from a friend, and permission to set it out in the garden, I’ve been hoping for some interesting moths. A plume moth was nearby but didn’t deign to enter the trap, but that was ok because there was a hedgehog in the garden! I haven’t seen in a hedgehog in so long, so I was super excited. The hedgehog was less impressed and buried its head in the grass in order to ignore me.

Hedgehog!

Hedgehog!

On Thursday came a real test for me, my first event at Chesil that I organized and led. It was a Wildlife Trackers day, with the children working out which animals had visited the centre and left clues behind. It was great fun, with everyone becoming detectives, considering the evidence and solving the mystery.

My creative-on-a-budget-side came up and I made an otter holt which I am incredibly proud of! Namely because my creative side normally hides away from me and I have to poke it out with a stick.

Otter clues - spraint and footprints, with a holt to peek into as well

Otter clues – spraint and footprints, with a holt to peek into as well

Thursday also saw a bit of an exploration around Portland Bill as a friend was visiting. Whilst I already knew that Dorset / Portland is an amazing county, this little adventure reminded me of that. Look at these views!

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Stunning!

Fab lighthouse

Fab lighthouse

Later in the week, I joined in at a BioBlitz in Wareham. Now if you’ve not heard of a BioBlitz before, no worries, the premise is: IDENTIFY EVERYTHING! Luckily, the organisers enlist experts to cover most of, if not all of, the groups. This time round, the main experts were in plants which was useful for Sarah, another trainee, who is trying to improve her plant ID skills!

A confused Sarah

A confused Sarah

A Common Carder Bee (one of 20+ species of bumblebee!)

A Common Carder Bee (one of 20+ species of bumblebee!)

For me, the invertebrate expert arrived later, so I used social media and apps to help with the identification of caterpillars and ladybirds. It was actually really fun doing it this way and it helped me in learning how to use the apps for future reference.

We didn't have a caterpillar book but Twitter saved the day. A Scarlet Tiger Moth caterpillar.

We didn’t have a caterpillar book but Twitter saved the day! A Scarlet Tiger Moth caterpillar.

I caught a new moth on Saturday night, one that I’ve never come across before! A good learning opportunity. I browsed my moth ID book, but had trouble locating it there so crossed over to Twitter to browse the #teammoth to see if anyone had caught something similar. And sure enough, someone had! It was a male Shuttle-shaped Dart Moth. Quite a common species, so not extremely exciting, but good enough for a learner!

Shuttle-shaped Dart Moth

Shuttle-shaped Dart Moth

The week finished off in style – marshalling for the Walk For Wildlife Event, a fundraising event for Dorset Wildlife Trust. It was a truely difficult day that I had to fight my way through. Imagine this, sitting in the sunshine all day, at a local pub! How I managed it I do not know.

All kidding aside, there was a bad side to this – I’d forgotten my suntan lotion and got a horribly red face. Complete with a white eye mask due to my sunglasses. Such a great look (she says as she hides indoors!).

I shall end with this nice photo of a hoverfly who chilled at my pub table for a while, and a reminder to wear sunscreen because (a) red is not a good look and (b) to go without is very unhealthy for the skin.

A bee!

What a cutie

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