A full pond with added butterflies
Loynton Moss, a Staffordshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve near Woodseaves, is one of my favourite places to visit, primarily for butterflies. My personal best so far this Spring is 29 peacocks, 14 brimstone, 6 orange-tips, 4 small white and 2 green-veined white.
In terms of birds, I've regularly been seeing a pair of marsh tits in along The Slang where several blackcap have also set up territory. One of the ponds has been full of spawning toads and frogs and another has had two pairs of lapwing setting up territory nearby. Its not been a bad Spring at Loynton Moss.
Beetle bonanza
This Spring I've been aiming to get some monitoring in place for the mass of scarce and rare invertebrates at Highgate Common, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust's most southerly reserve. Whilst some taxa are extremely difficult to ID, some are easier. Birds, butterflies and bumblebees are already monitored on the reserve, and now thanks to a skilled volunteer, beetles have been added to the list.
On a site visit to set up the monitoring we came across many bloody-nosed beetles and my first ever oil beetles. We were fortunate enough to find 5 in a few square metres, including one female creating a burrow. Sadly the minotaur beetle evaded me, but that's one to head back for!
Bloody-nosed beetle (left) and oil beetle (right)
As if the day wasn't good enough, the cherry on the cake came in the form of 3, yes three, grass snakes swimming around the pond near Pool Car Park.
