Warnham LNR Round-up

Warnham LNR at Dusk

On the wildlife front the moth trap has been really good, the mild weather and gentle winds (not quite so gentle lately) have produced ideal migrant weather...sadly we have caught very few migrants! Below are a few of the moths we have caught. Of note the Rush Veneer and the Gem are both migrant species which are seen annually on the Reserve.

Brick - Agrochola circellaris

The Gem - Orthonama obstipata

Chestnut - Conistra vaccinii



Rush Veneer - Nomophila noctuella

One the bird front Mike Ayling has now taken over doing the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) which has given us the data more easily so I hope to be able to put the totals of each count on the blog from now on. Mike's second WeBS count data can be seen below:

With all the wet weather of late it has been a challenge on most occasions that practial conservation work has been attempted. We started to strim one of the reedbeds, the next day it was underwater so we couldn't finish, so we tried to coppice the Willows the next day it was under water...you get the theme! Anyway the cloudy weather has given us the chance to witness some stunning sunsets over the Reserve.

Diaea dorsata

Diaea dorsata

Cyclosa conica

The spiders above were all found on the Reserve over the past week or so, the bottom species Cyclosa conica is very interesting in that it is often called the 'Trash-line Spider' as it uses its prey items to disguise its web, google it...it looks amazing, sadly this little lady only had a small web but I will check back in a couple of weeks and see if I can find her trap. Over the next few weeks I am also going to be putting in some effort to record some of the leaf-mining flies found on the reserves and some of the galls too so keep your eyes peeled for them. Late news there was also a good count of Teal this week with 44 counted on Monday morning.