Flowers at Barnack Hills and Holes

Although our RPS Nature Group found plenty to photograph at Barnack Hills and Holes yesterday, the dry conditions have had a very bad effect on the flora with very few orchids compared to other years (eg only one very small Man Orchid). The Pasque flowers were still putting on a good show with all different stages still present but the Early Purple Orchids were past their best. I resisted going on an invertebrate hunt and concentrated on flowers but there were lots of incidentals like the beetle on the Rock rose, the small spider on the orchid and the small Hymenopteran on the Pasque Flower.

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.

Royston Heath Flowers

 I was hoping to photograph lots of species at Royston to get some practise for this season's flowers but the dry (and sometimes unseasonably hot) weather has certainly inhibited growth and flowering. These were the only plants (other than small ground species and grasses) that I managed to photograph:- Yellow Thistle, Salad Burnet, Common Rock Rose and Yellow Mignonette

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.

Paxton Pits May Wildlife Survey

 Very enjoyable morning yesterday at Paxton Pits recording the flowers, birds, insects etc in the large meadow adjoining Cloudy Fen. All the Damselfly species were recorded (not all illustrated here!!) though Variable were the most common. Small Copper, Orange Tip and Common Blue Butterflies gave us some great photo opportunities though the Scorpion fly was my favourite capture. Not finished sorting and identifying all the invertebrates so will be a day or two before I post the completed sheets!!

Snail Survey 2 Paxton Pits

On Saturday, Richard kindly undertook a second survey of the snail species at Paxton Pits. We intended to do both aquatic and land species including slugs but the recent hot dry weather resulted in an absence of the latter. Here are a few from Sailing Lake area, Rory's Wood and West Scrub starting with a very obliging Caddis Fly larva that has made its case out of a great variety of snail shells. (All photographed at the time so natural light etc and some are only a few mm long!)