Warnham Moths & Birds

Oak Beauty - Warnham LNR

You might well think that as it is winter there would be very little by way of moth activity on the Reserves but this is not the case at all. Over the past couple of weeks you might have seen the odd moth start to appear in your headlights. These are almost certainly Dotted Border which is a dainty moth in the Geometridae family. The moth trap at Warnham has been pretty good with lots to look at considering the time of year.

Small Quaker - Warnham LNR

Common Quaker - Warnham LNR

Hebrew Character - Warnham LNR

As you will notice above many of the moths at this time of year are what everyone thinks of as 'boring brown moths' however this is for very good reason. At the time when the adults of these moths are on the wing there is very little by way of colour in our environment. The leaves are yet to come out and the habitat they frequent is mainly a brown, beige colourless one. So there would be little use being bright pink and green like an Elephant Hawkmoth as you would simply get eaten by a predator.

As the leaves come out and the flowers start to appear so do the more colourful moths which I will show you later in the year but for now, most of the moths we catch will be camouflage for the time of year so they are not boring moths at all but in fact very sensible moths!

Early Grey - Warnham LNR

Another interesting fact about our winter and early spring moths is that they adopt a very different approach to being eaten to that of our summer moths. You will be well versed in how active a summer moth can be around a light as they buzz around your living rooms and just how hard they can be to catch to release back outdoors. This is due to the warm ambient temperature that they have the energy to try and escape capture. In the winter it is quite the reverse due to the lower temperatures they simply play dead rather than try and flee to preserve energy.

Meanwhile Paul Shergold has been busy with the camera again around the Reserve and has managed to get some excellent photos. The Kestrel seems to have found a mate so fingers crossed we might have a new pair on site. The Teal have been seen displaying and finally I managed to see a pair mating in front of Tern Hide yesterday. The Mute Swan pair seem to be having issues with deciding exactly where they would like to nest and they now have two half built nests! Thanks to Paul for the excellent photos.

Kestrel - P. Shergold

Teal - P. Shergold

Mute Swan - P. Shergold

Chennelsbrook Castle - Bird Survey

Ectoedemia septembrella - J. Everitt

Ectoedemia septembrella - J. Everitt

JJE and JG carried out a bird survey at the Castle today which produced the following, we also found a micro-moth leaf mine called Ectoedemia septembrella which was on Perforate St John's-wort.

Magpie 4
Robin 1
Chaffinch 7
Carrion Crow 4
Jay 1
Wren 1
Woodpigeon 2
Goldfinch 6
Coal Tit 1
Great Tit 2
Blue Tit 6
Herring Gull 1
Black-headed Gull 1

Warnham LNR - Latest Sightings

Depressaria daucella - Warnham LNR

Depressaria daucella - Warnham LNR

Walking around the Reserve at the moment you may well notice that some of the flowers of Hemlock Water Dropwort appear to be stunted and closed up. This is actually caused by a micro moth called Depressaria daucella. If you look closely you can see that the caterpillar has made a small tunnel to hide in when predators are around.

Horsham Green Gym - D. Jessop

 This week has also seen Horsham Green Gym return to the Reserve to carry on the development of the scrapes viewable from the Sandpiper Hide. The above image is how the new section started, with the area marked out and the diggers all looking eager!

Scrape Digging - D. Jessop

 Soon enough the group had started to make headway and before long the scrape was starting to take shape. There are several of these to dig out this summer so hopefully each of them will hold water later in the year to attract wading birds. When digging out a scrape it is essential that the edges are not to steep to allow the water to gradually recede during dry weather.

Finished Scrape - D. Jessop

And after a hard mornings work and plenty of biscuits the first scrape is done. Well done to everyone who came along it looks brilliant. Hopefully the rain forecast this weekend will fill up the first pool nicely. If you would like to come along for the next Horsham Green Gym session at the scrape they are next here on Thursday 3rd July.

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