Roger and I joined a Moth
Group Trapping Session at Charnwood Lodge Nature Reserve. Three individuals had spent the night on site
and had put out fifteen traps around the reserve in the hope of trapping three
key species. Unfortunately the key
species failed to put in an appearance but there were plenty of moths in most
traps and I personally recorded 142 moths of forty-seven species, although
there were many more as I spent some of the time photographing any species that
were new for me and there were a small number of micros that were taken away
for specific identification.
The following were recorded:
Map-winged Swift [1]; Incurvaria oehlmanniella [1]; Nematopogon swammerdamella
[1]; Monopis laevigella [1]; Schreckensteinia festaliella [1]; Elachista
apicipunctella [1]; Denisia similella [1]; Esperia sulphurella [1]; Carpatolechia
proximella [1]; Neofaculta ericetella [1]; Notocelia cynosbatella [1]; Amblyptilia acanthadactyla
[1]; Teleiopsis diffinis [1]; Scalloped Hook-tip [1]; Poplar Hawkmoth [6];
Small Elephant Hawkmoth [1]; Maiden’s Blush [1]; Flame Carpet [4]; Silver-ground
Carpet [2]; Grey Pine Carpet [1]; Small Phoenix [2]; Common Marbled Carpet [1];
Green Carpet [8]; Common Pug [1]; Dwarf Pug [1]; Brown Silver-line [24];
Brimstone Moth [1]; Scalloped Hazel [5]; Peppered Moth [3]; Grey Birch [4];
Common White Wave [2]; Marbled Brown [13]; Lesser Swallow Prominent [1];
Coxcomb Prominent [3]; Buff-tip [1]; Pale Tussock [5]; Buff Ermine [1]; White
Ermine [4]; Muslin Moth [3]; Orange Footman [6]; The Spectacle [2]; Knot Grass
[1]; Brown Rustic [3]; Angle Shades [1]; Clouded-bordered Brindle [1];
Middle-barred Minor [1]; Hebrew Character [1]; Pale-shouldered Brocade [2];
Bright-line Brown-eye [1]; Broom Moth [5]; The Shears [1]; Shoulder-striped
Wainscot [5]; Flame Shoulder [8]; Ingrailed Clay [1]; Small Square-spot [3] and
Green Silver-lines [1].
There were a pair of Grey
Wagtails feeding young in the building and we had two Ravens as we were leaving
the site as well as hearing Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap. Another surprise was a Wall butterfly which
we saw close to the gate and although I know I have seen them in the past in
either Leicestershire or Rutland I have no record documented and so treated it
as a new species.
Grey Pine Carpet
Grey Birch
Grey Birch
Small Elephant Hawkmoth
Lesser Swallow Prominent
Coxcomb Prominent
Marbled Brown
Pale Tussock
The Shears
Broom Moth
Knot Grass
Green Silver-lines
As Blackbrook Reservoir is
pretty close to Charnwood Lodge we decided to call there in the hope of seeing
Mandarin before we set off to Rutland Water.
Having parked at the roadside
we walked down the track to the reservoir hearing both Blackcap and
Whitethroat. When we reached the bridge
Roger found a female Mandarin almost straight away but it soon disappeared and
we couldn’t find it again, or any others.
With little else on the water we walked back to the car hearing a
Nuthatch in the wooded area and seeing a Little Grebe on the small section of
the reservoir. When we got back to the
road we heard what we thought was a Whitethroat but it didn’t sound quite right
and it appeared to be singing from a conifer but we couldn’t see it. We spent some time trying to find it in the
tree but couldn’t see it when it suddenly flew up and cascaded down and was clearly
a Whitethroat.
We saw very little on route to
Rutland Water, although a Lapwing on a roundabout just of the A6 was a little
surprising and we did see a Buzzard near Tilton-n-the-Hill and two as we
approached Braunston.
We went to the north arm when
we arrived at Rutland Water but we found very little on note except for an
Osprey over the water and several Buzzards between the reservoir and beyond
Burley Wood. After driving to the
Egleton car park we set off to Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow where a the pair of
Shelduck were still escorting a brood of eight and the pair of Avocets were
still present. There was also a couple
of Redshank and another Shelduck on the main flash and a Little Egret dropped
in and three Hares provided some entertainment.
Hare
After some lunch we went to
the northern lagoons calling at sandpiper hide on lagoon four first. Erik and Ken had joined us and Erik picked up
a couple of Dunlin and a party of Ringed Plovers on island six and I noticed
another two waders on the far side of the island that turned out to be
Sanderling. During our stay in the hide
we also located a pair of Oystercatcher with a single chick, a Curlew and a
Redshank but there were very few terns, with just for Common being seen.
We eventually moved on to lagoon
three where I saw at least three Hobbies while Ken managed to see four. As usual at this time of the year the
wildfowl numbers are quite low but we did see a single drake Wigeon and six
drake Pochard and two Oystercatchers and a Little Egret dropped in.
Little Egret
Little Egret
Little Egret
Drake Wigeon
We eventually went back to the
centre but other than six Wigeon on lagoon one, we found nothing else of note and
called it a day a little earlier today after our early start and headed off
home.
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