It has been a very interesting week and the weather has not even been half of it! The water level on the reserve got pretty high, but we weren't worried, the road wasn't flooded and we've seen the water level marker in the Aird Meadow pond disappear before, and the centre has still remained high and dry. Touch wood...
Last night was the second of our Bat and Moth nights for this year, led by the brilliant Clyde Bat Group, who kept everyone thoroughly entertained. The rain stayed off for us mostly and we managed to get plenty of Soprano Pipistrelles. No Daubentons this year (water level was too high to go to our usual spots.)
This morning we came back to empty the moth trap, it looked like it would be a good evening when we left, warm, cloudy and drizzley (perfect moth trapping weather!). We were not disappointed, and got a good variety of moths in the trap. The complete list is as follows:
Large yellow underwing, lesser yellow underwing, copper underwing, lesser common/common rustic, crescent, double lobed, butterbur (?), small phoenix, rosy rustic, small square spot, iron prominent, small wainscot, common marbled carpet, flame shoulder and dark arches.
I spent my lunch break photographing butterflies on our buddleia bush, a spectacular sight including red admiral, painted lady, small tortoiseshell, peacock and large white butterflies. It has been great to see so many on the bush this year, let's hope they continue to thrive.
Peacock butterfly by Paula Baker, 2009
Then, after heading along the trails to investigate a query, I stopped by our woodland feeding station to see what was about and was amazed by the amount of bank voles I saw there. There must have been at least 5, all of them feeding at some point whilst the others ran in and out of their holes and hid in the bushes. It was fantastic to be able to get so close to them and I can now understand why we ended up with so many pictures of them in our photography competition this year!
However, the highlight of the week has to be the weasel vs magpie face-off that I witnessed this morning. On my way out to get the moth trap, I popped into the photography hide to alert the photographers that I was coming, and one of them pointed out that there was a weasel trying to get past a pair of magpies. What followed was hilarious, the weasel kept running out of the bushes and leaping into the air at the magpies, which then proceeded to chase the weasel back into the bush. This happened several times, each time the weasel appeared from a different spot in an attempt to out-wit the magpies. Finally, the weasel just went for it and shot past both magpies who looked as surprised as the rest of us did! Fantastic!