Warnham LNR - Weekly roundup

Fungus Weevil - Platystomos albinus

This week on the Reserve has been pretty busy with the new cafe opening which is now called The Harvest Mouse Cafe as well as lots of wildlife to see. The best find of the week was a first for any of our reserves and was found by complete chance. Whilst surveying the nest boxes with two of the volunteers I closed the gate only to see a small beetle on the back of the gate. I knew it was a good find but couldn't put my finger on the name of the little chap. It is in fact the Fungus Weevil Platystomos albinus and is classed as Nationally Scarce B meaning it is found in between 16 and 100 10km squares in Britain.

Fungus Weevil - Platystomos albinus

There was also another beetle which managed to attract my attention this week as it flew around the courtyard outside my office. It eventually landed right outside the cafe door and allowed a few photos to be taken and it turned out to be another Longhorn Beetle this time Rhagium mordax.

Longhorn Beetle - Rhagium mordax

Many of the usual breeding birds have finally turned up at Warnham LNR now and we have daily visits from the town centres Swift population as well as many fledgling Grey Heron's now busily learning to fish. The nest of Great-spotted Woodpeckers are getting louder by the day and can't be far off leaving the nest hole now.

It looks like the Mute Swan's have failed this year for some unknown reason as both the parents have been 'swanning' around the lake over the past few days. The two pairs Great Crested Grebes are still incubating and the Common Tern's finally seem to be getting down to business. The surprise of the week on the bird front came in the form of a pair of rather unseasonal Pochard which spent the day feeding in front of the Tern Hide.

Pochard - Warnham LNR