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

Owlbeech Woods

Longhorn Beetle - Rhagium bifasciatum

Longhorn Beetle - Rhagium bifasciatum

Given the lovely warm weather we have been experiencing over the last week or so I was eager to get to the Middle Heath Enclosure at Owlbeech to have a look for a few invertebrates. I also wanted to do a count of the Green Tiger Beetles so I wandered up there this week. When I arrived I was surprised to see how much the water level in the top pond had dropped but soon enough I was finding a few Green Tiger Beetles when two of the stunning Longhorn Beetle Rhagium bifasciatum flew past and landed on an old pine stump.

The second of the heathland ponds which was dug by Horsham Green Gym is really starting to mature and has filled up nicely with water. The hope is that the large pond shown in previous blog posts and this smaller pond will attract plenty of insect life and eventually provide a good habitat for dragonflies as well as a drinking pool for Crossbills in the winter.

Whilst on the theme of Horsham Green Gym I must also add that they have recently taken on a large project in partnership with Horsham Town Community Project in re-vamping the Horsham Riverside Walk. As part of the project Green Gym have been installing a number of Oak benches at various points along the walk. Here is the latest of these which is on Forest Walk in Owlbeech Woods.

Warnham LNR - Latest Sightings

Egyptian Goose - Warnham LNR

The excitement on the bird front has returned to reality after the shock of the visiting Avocets and the drake Goldeneye over the past few weeks. Highlights in the last few days have been a pair of Egyptian Geese which have spent most of their time at Rookwood however have ventured every morning onto the Millpond. Today they were even checking out the revamped Tern Raft and were seen copulating!

Whitethroat - Warnham LNR

The last few days have also seen the arrival of a few passage migrants and scarce breeders. The Whitethroat above fits into the latter category and appears to have set up territory on Mill Meadow in the same place as last year. I suspect it is the same bird returning to breed in the same clump of brambles but only time will tell.

Common Sandpiper - Warnham LNR

The passage migrants I mentioned above have started to arrive in numbers. Three Common Sandpipers have been moving between the Millpond and Rookwood for the last five days. They are very skittish due to there not being much bare mud to feed on at present. We have also had a Hobby, Swallow, Willow Warbler and several Swifts seen in the past week.

Coot with young - Warnham LNR

On the breeding front most of the Grey Heron chicks have now fledged including one of the bird which has been on the live Heron Nest Cam. Another pair of Grey Wagtails are feeding young and there are a couple more broods of Mallards whizzing around. The first Coot babies have arrived, initially five but in true Coot fashion they have already managed to lose one! The first juvenile Magpie of the year was also noted in the car park this morning.

On the insect front things have really started to pick up especially the odonata interest. I have found several exuvia of Hairy Dragonfly though I am yet to see an adult but this is not the case with Large Red Damselfly and Azure Damselfly which are both now on the wing. Below are a few shots of the Large Red Damselflies which have been emerging from the garden pond.

Large Red Damselfly Emerging - Warnham LNR

Teneral Large Red Damselfly - Warnham LNR

Adult Large Red Damselfly - Warnham LNR

We have had the moth trap out too and numbers have been pretty low. There have been a few bits to keep us interested however and May Bugs (Cockchafers) seem to be having a very good year with counts of 15+ in the moth trap each night.

Muslin Moth - Warnham LNR

Coxcomb Prominent - Warnham LNR

May Bug (Cockchafer Beetle) - Warnham LNR