I don't like doing this but...

... it really is for a good cause!

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust recently launched the Roaches Footpath Appeal.  The aim is to raise £175,000 to restore footpaths over the next 3 years.  The Roaches receives thousands upon thousands of visitors every year and the footpaths are heavily worn and in need of repair.

Please donate what you can to this cause.  Improving the Roaches footpaths will not only benefit visitors, but wildlife will do well too.  The improved footpaths will help dramatically reduce the amount of erosion on the moorland habitat.

You can donate online now, its quick, easy and secure! - https://www.justgiving.com/roaches

Doxey delights

A quick visit this evening to Doxey Marshes to carry out the water level monitoring work produced a few nice birds.  A wood sandpiper was the on the Darling Pasture wader scrape along with a little ringed plover and at least 3 grasshopper warblers were present across the nature reserve giving periodic bursts of reeling song.

Lapwing numbers are also starting to build during their moult ahead of the winter.  Around 250 on the reserve at present, but last year's local wintering flock numbered around 1,000 so potentially plenty more to come!

Busy with badgers

This week I've been rather busy in a Staffordshire woodland carrying out work to vaccinate badgers against bTB.  Along with my colleague Lucy, we have successfully vaccinated 13 badgers this weekend at a site that must remain confidential.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to the volunteers who helped us carry out this work.  We'll be at it again soon at another location.

You can find out more about the work here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/node/3302

One of the vaccinated badgers being released

All of flutter

After the 'bumblebee show' yesterday being stolen by the butterflies, it was time for the butterflies to take centre stage today as I led a butterfly ID walk around Loynton Moss nature reserve near Woodseaves, as part of the Trust's Wild About Stafford project.

Find out more about the project here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/node/3522

Fourteen people made the visit in the warm sunshine and nine species were seen, including some fantastic brimstones.  The other species were ringlet, meadow brown, gatekeeper, peacock, small tortoiseshell, small white, small skipper and speckled wood.  The reserve is also home to essex skipper, purple hairstreak and white-letter hairstreak so its definitely worth making a visit if you haven't been before!

Find out more about the nature reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/loynton-moss

All of a buzz

It was yet another glorious sunny day in Staffordshire and no better weather to visit Highgate Common in the south of the county.  This Staffordshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve is home to hundred of insects, many of which are incredibly rare.  Insects were on today's agenda as we were undertaking the monthly bumblebee survey as part of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust monitoring scheme.

You can take part in the BBCT monitoring scheme too.  Find out more here - http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/surveys

Buff-tailed and red-tailed were the most common species of bumblebee found on the survey, but the show was stolen by the butterflies.  Hundreds, if not thousands adorn the whole nature reserve and today I was privileged enough to encounter my first white admiral and marbled white that I have seen in Staffordshire.  Other species seen included common blue, small heath, small skipper, essex skipper, peacock, small tortoiseshell, ringlet, gatekeeper, small white and meadow brown.

There were also several brown hawker dragonflies about along with common darter, common blue and azure blue damselflies, southern hawker and a four-spotted chaser on the main dragonfly pond.

If you've never been to the nature reserve before I'd highly recommend it!  Find out more here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/highgate-common

First visit to Brown Edge

Today I was out at Thorswood nature reserve near Stanton in North Staffordshire, certainly not the first time I've been there or even blogged about the fantastic reserve but this was a first.  The nature reserve is split into three land parcels; Thorswood, Blakelow and Brown Edge, the latter being today's destination.

Find out more about Thorswood nature reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/thorswood

Brown Edge is an area of heathland to the north west of the calcareous grassland of the main section of the nature reserve.  Its bizarre how two such contrasting habitats can be found in such close proximity.  The visit was part of the Trust's ongoing vegetation monitoring work looking at the condition of the heathland.  As well as looking at structure I was also on the hunt for heather beetles, or their larvae at least, as areas of dead heather showing signs of the beetle had been found.  Sure enough we found heather beetle larvae on a couple of plants, but as these are a native species found across the UK their presence isn't overly worrying.  Thanks to the monitoring work the Trust is undertaking we'll be able to keep a check on whether the beetles are becoming a cause for concern.

Heather beetle Lochmaea suturalis larvae

The heathland is grazed by a herd of cattle (not just this little one!) to keep in good condition

After Brown Edge we headed across the road to Blakelow, a different area of heathland within Thorswood nature reserve.  This area of heathland is very much a restoration project as the area has been over taken by scrub, bracken and bramble.  Over the last couple of years the Trust has used pigs to up root the bracken and bramble but in 2014 we've also used a horse drawn roller to bash the bracken.  A horse was used as the site is too difficult to access with a machinery.

The main highlight of the visit to Blakelow was the discovery of a family of redstart!  At least 3 birds were seen in a section of scrub along a dry stone wall.  Look carefully below at the terrible photo and you might just see one of the juveniles peering back at you.

I've kept saying "we" a few times in this post.  That's because my mate Jack Ward was along for the ride and was key at finding both heather beetle larvae and the redstarts!  As well as helping me on many occasions Jack also runs Alba Wildlife, a fantastic outlet and promotion for his film making skills.  Take a look at his work on the link below.  At present his work is regularly featuring on the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (WWT) weekly video blogs, which you can watch via his blog.

Take a look at Alba Wildlife here - http://albawildlife.com/about.html

Starting the week off nicely

This morning I headed out with Brewood Ringers to Belvide Reservoir to complete one of our regular ringing sessions.  The first net round started us well with 30+ birds including a juvenile kingfisher, the third to be caught at the reservoir this year.  Over the next couple of hours the total crept up to 60 birds.

Full details can be found here - http://www.brewoodringers.com/

A tale of two halves

Today was split day.  Firstly I headed to Cotton Dell, a SWT nature reserve not far from Alton Towers, to go in search of a scarce plant, dyer's greenweed.  Its one of those species that I've heard about but never really bothered to look for.  After wandering around some beautiful flower filled fields I came across the target.  Tick!  Sadly its not the most amazing species to showcase, but the grassland was also filled with betony and other wildflowers.

Find out more about the nature reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/cotton-dell

Afterwards I headed to a secret location not far from Stafford that is probably one of the best sites for dragonflies in the county.  Its no secret really, the site is Chartley Moss NNR and I'm fortunate enough to have a permit for the site from Natural England.  Home to white-faced darter, black darter and a host of other species I took my tally for the day to 11 when I included the southern hawker I saw earlier at Cotton Dell.

On show

This evening I helped run a ringing demonstration with Brewood Ringers for the Natural England volunteers at Aqualate Mere NNR as part of their annual summer party.  A nice catch of 21 birds made for a great addition to the evening.  Several reed and sedge warblers were caught, along with a couple of long-tailed tits and a marsh tit.

Also so present was a very very knackered small tortoiseshell.  I have no idea how the poor thing was still flying!

Brewood Ringers are on now Twitter and Facebook and you're always welcome to join us to see what we do.  Take a look at the website for more details - http://www.brewoodringers.com

Highgate's heathland

As part of the monitoring work I've been developing and beginning to implement across Staffordshire Wildlife Trust's nature reserves I'll also need to visit the reserves to work out the best approach.  Today was the turn of Highgate Common near Wombourne in the southern depths of the county.

Back in 2009 transects were set up to monitor the heathland and assess its condition.  A lot of metaphorical water has passed under the bridge and thus a lot has changed on the reserve, so today was about revisiting the transects to see how easy there are to locate and follow.

The heathland was buzzing with insects, especially bees and butterflies.  With ease I saw peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral, small skipper, essex skipper, meadow brown, ringlet, gatekeeper and a few whites.  Elsewhere on the reserve there are good numbers of marbled white and white admiral being seen too.  Purple hairstreak are also on the reserve so if you're stuck for something to do its certainly a great reserve!

Find out more details about the reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/highgate-common

Moths in Manchester

I've been up to see a mate, Kane Brides, in Manchester to have a catch up and run a moth trap at the same time.  The lucky devil is shortly off to carry out some bird monitoring work in Iceland.  Follow him on Twitter to see what he is up to with shags, fulmars, black guillemots and red-necked phalaropes! - @KaneBrides

Some nice species despite some drizzle threatening the plan.  Here are the selected few better photos.

A few flowery days

Over the last few weeks I've made a few visits to different nature reserve to see how the wildflowers are getting on.  It seems to be a mixed bag with some locations being under whelming compared to previous years and others being at their best.

Thorswood
Home to six species of orchid this grassland is one of my favourites.  A couple of years ago whilst visiting with my best mate, we discovered greater butterfly orchid which became the sixth species for the site.  Earlier this year I visited for early purple orchids.  The remaining four are southern marsh, common spotted, frog and common twayblade.

It was great to see the mountain pansies still in flower amongst the carpet of bird's foot trefoil.  Sadly I couldn't refind the greater butterfly orchid, although all the orchids up on the plateau appear stunted and less vigorous than usual, so it may still be hiding there waiting for me.

Find out more about the reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/thorswood

Weag's Barn

This grassland site is on the sides of the Manifold Valley not that far away from Thorswood.  I visited earlier this week to repeat the vegetation surveys that started back in 2001.  The main field is crossed with transects and quadrat samples are taken at regular intervals and all species recorded.  To help, I was joined by the legendary Val Riley from the Trust's Leek local group.

In the end we recorded 40 species including common spotted orchids as you can see from the photo.

Find out more about the reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/weags-barn

Brown End Quarry
This geological nature reserve is also a great place for plants and butterflies.  In previous years the grassland has danced with common blues whilst dingy skippers can also be found.  This time there were plenty of ringlets and a few meadow browns on the slightly cloudy afternoon following my work at Weag's Barn.  A southern hawker also 'stood guard' at the entrance to the reserve and was my first of the year.

On the 'plateau' grow many common spotted orchids, but until this visit I was completely oblivious to the fact that in amongst them are fragrant orchids, a much rarer species in Staffordshire!  Turns out that most of my colleagues knew they just never told me.  It was still a great surprise and a great species.

Find out more about the reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/brown-end-quarry

My final flowery experience to share sadly must remain a secret, although its probably not a complete secret.  One place (so far as we know) in Staffordshire is home to a colony of lesser butterfly orchids and I've been visiting for a couple of years to see how things are going.  On this visit I counted 18 flower spikes amongst the grassland with a few common twayblades for company.

So you see, Staffordshire has some fantastic flora if you know where to look!