David and I went out later
today as we waited to see whether or not the Red-necked Phalarope was reported
from Rutland Water and I was also suffering with a cold. With no reports of the phalarope we decided
to visit Merry’s Meadow, which is a Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust
reserve near Cottesmore in Rutland.
We parked off the road
adjacent to the footpath to the reserve and as we walked the 400 meters to the
reserve entrance a small party of Swift flew over and we saw a Whitethroat
displaying from the hedge alongside the path.
As we reached the style
leading into the first of the three fields of the reserve we heard and then saw
a Curlew in flight. The three fields
have been grazed by cattle and sheep or cut for hay for several decades and is
now one of the most important wildflower areas in the counties. The first field in particular has a distinct
ridge and furrow pattern and the ridges were covered in Green-winged Orchids,
which was our target species. The other
two fields are still flower rich but are not as favourable for the orchids. The first field was also rich in Meadow
Buttercup, Cowslip, Yellow Rattle and Pignut, whilst the other fields were much
reduced in these species with the exception of pignut. As we walked through the
western meadow a Cuckoo flew over and there were at least another two
Whitethroats singing.
Merry's Meadow
Green-winged Orchids
Green-winged Orchid
Pignut
Bugle
Cowslip
Having seen plenty of the
target species we walked back to the car seeing a Swallows and several House
Martins. We had also seen a Small Heath,
Orange Tip and Green-veined White butterflies and a Silver-ground Carpet moth
during our visit.
From Merry’s Meadow we headed
for Bloody Oaks Quarry, which is another quite small Leicestershire &
Rutland Wildlife Trust reserve. The
principal habitat is the species-rich limestone grassland, which is rare in the
two counties and consequently holds some interesting species.
After parking on the roadside
verge we entered the reserve and after a few minutes found a Grizzled Skipper
on the stony ground just inside the reserve.
A little further on we found a Dingy Skipper and eventually finished up
with two Grizzled and at least three Dingy Skippers and we also found my first
Common Blue of the year. We also found
three species of moth, a micro Anthophila fabriciana and two macros Common
Carpet and Burnet Companion and as we were leaving we had four Buzzards
overhead. One of the scarce plants found
on the site is Chalk Milkwort and we found a small cluster of these on the top
section of the quarry.
Dingy Skipper
Chalk Milkwort
Chalk Milkwort
We moved onto Ketton Quarry
next but the sunshine was less frequent during our visit and it gegan feeling a
little bit cooler. However we did find
four Brimstone, a Common Blue and a Peacock butterflies and also two moths
Pyrausta aurata and Common Carpet.
Another surprise was a Common Lizard that was sat on a rock obviously
enjoying the warmth of the occasional sunshine.
Pyrausta aurata
Peacock
Common Lizard
We called briefly at Eyebrook
Reservoir on our way home but it was pretty quiet with the best being five
Common Terns and a single Yellow Wagtail.
On route home we had a Red
Kite, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Muntjac and all before we reached Horninghold,
which is just a few miles from Eyebrook Reservoir.
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