Wildlife Survey on Dodder Fen, Paxton Pits

 On Saturday, we spent a couple of hours recording the birds, flowers, insects on the area of Paxton known as Dodder Fen as it supports a thriving colony of Greater Dodder - a parasitic plant that grows on nettles in wet places and is relatively rare. As you can see it, has a very large population of insects, particularly plant bugs and leaf hoppers. 

The other native species is Common Dodder  and its host is gorse and heather.  Dodder's  small seeds germinate in spring and a swollen, root-like organ emerges from the seed case and seeks out a suitable host. Once a host is found, Dodder attaches to it with a sucker and forms a haustorium (a structure that penetrates the host’s tissue and draws in nutrients). One amazing fact about dodder is its ability to “sniff out” its victims - dodder seedlings can detect volatile organic compounds emitted by nearby hosts. These allow it to choose the most nutritious hosts, maximizing its chances of survival. 

Paxton Flowers

A few flowers from a walk at Paxton Pits. We have a couple of Saturday public walks at the reserve (31st May/28th June) that involve the wild flowers that can be found growing there so a bit of homework on species (and practice photographing them, which is surprisingly difficult!).

Very Low Butterfly Numbers

 Today we were doing the monthly Butterfly and Dragonfly counts at Paxton Pits and I only saw single Speckled Wood and single Red Admiral. Damselflies and Demoiselles were more abundant and there were several Scarce Chasers, one Hairy, several Norfolk Hawkers and one Emperor on the wing. The weather was warm but strong breeze and mostly overcast. Smaller insects didn't mind the conditions - in fact it looked like it was very conducive to start the next generation for Leaf Weevils, Marsh Hoverflies, Scarlet Tigers and Harlequin Ladybirds!

Macro Practice at Paxton Pits

 Photographers are never satisfied with the weather - today was a bit to hot and breezy for our macrophotography session at Paxton Pits as the insects were sheltering from the sun or waving around on leaves. All the Damselfly species other than the Emeralds are now on the wing and we managed to find most species and also an obliging Hairy Dragonfly perched plus quite a few views in the air together with the occasional Green-eyed Hawker etc. Right at the end we came across a couple of unusual Shieldbugs - Eurydema ornata only appeared in the south of England in 1997 and seems to have abandoned its usual coastal preference.

ID Sheets for Paxton May Survey

 The wildlife survey this month was the meadow adjoining Cloudy Fen which for much of the Winter was completely flooded so interesting to see if this has made a difference to the flora/fauna. Certainly, we found a lot of marshland insects especially wetland-specific Hoverflies and lots of Damselflies.