Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Slop Bog Guardians will be held on 5th August at Avon Country Park commencing 7.30pm. Visitors welcome.

Saturday, 4 July 2015

Nature Notes

The weather in June was similar to that of May, very mixed.

SIGHTINGS
Birds:   Buzzards, Carrion Crows, Jackdaws, Magpies, Jays, Feral/Wood Pigeons, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Chiff Chaffs, Willow Warbler, Song Thrush, Blackbirds, Robins, Wrens, Goldcrest, Dunnocks, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Stonechats, Siskins, Mallard Ducks, Grey Wagtail, Heron, Black-headed Gulls.
Mammals:   Pipistrelle Bats, Roe Deer, Grey Squirrels, Wood Mouse.
Butterflies/Moths:  Large White, Holly Blue, Silver-studded Blue, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Large Skipper, Green Hairstreak. Species of day flying moths.
Pond Life:   Pond Skaters, Back swimmers, Whirligig Beetles, Stickleback fish, White Water Lily.
Insects:   Hoverflies. Midges, Wasps, Bees, Funnel Spiders, Sheet Web Spiders.
Dragonfly/Damselfly:   Small Red, Banded Agrion, Broad bodied Chaser.
Reptiles:   Common Lizards, Female Adder.
Plants in flower:   Cut-leaved Geranium, Foxgloves, Bell Heather, Cross-leaved Heath, Dandelions, Cotton Grass, Bog Asphodel, Common Sundews.

During the last week of June, the colony of Silver-studded Blue butterflies were showing in large numbers. Resident Bullfinches were seen with this years young.

Nature Fact

Undergrowth habits:  Heather might look monotonous at first, covering the ground as far as the eye can see, but among the individual plants, each in its particular stage of growth, there are a variety of different types of micro-habitat.  The small, young plants flowering prolifically in an open community, allow Lizards to bask on the warm, dry surface of the ground and Grasshoppers to find places to lay their eggs in the soil.  Here too, Solitary Bees and Wasps can excavate their nesting chambers.  The Wasps furnish the chambers with insect larvae as fresh food for their own larvae, while the Bees lay in a store of honey and pollen.