Summer at Feckenham

Now that summer is well and truly with us the reserve is looking very good. 

Firstly the meadows have been mowed and bailed and these are soon to be taken away. We have the Galloway's back in the southern end and they will be moved around in the next week or so. Our Roving volunteers visited last week and spent the day mowing and raking off the western end of Middle Ley Close. 

Our Sedge Warblers are still singing in the reed bed as are the chiffchaff and whitethroat. On Sunday we had a pair of Cetti's warblers singing in the alders. 

  There have been some interesting insects about and these two longhorn beetles (Rutpela maculata) were spotted making the most of the sunny day. There are literally thousands of grasshoppers and coneheads in the un-cut meadows. 

This wolf spider was busy carrying her young around on her back; I counted around 50 babies on this one.

Butterfly numbers are quite good but the strong winds over the past weeks have meant that there have not been so many seen on the wing. We did, however, have our first marbled whites for many years. Apparently these are having a good year in general. 

Dragonfly and damselfly numbers are good and last week we saw our first emerald damselfly this year. I am hoping that white-legged are going to turn up in the next week or so. Black-tailed skimmer and emperor are also active around our ponds.

 Paul, Feckenham Wylde Moor