The Reserve in July
Written by Felicity Jackson
9 Aug 2016 at 03:23 AM
The 17th July, a warm day. The air is scented by the masses of creamy white, fragrant meadowsweet. Bramble is in full bloom, together with yellow melilot and meadow vetchling, blue-purple self-heal and tufted vetch. Red and white clover are in flower, and creeping thistle and pink greater willowherb, with here and there a patch of blue geranium. The bee orchids have virtually finished, but the Himalayan balsam flowers are, unfortunately, just getting started.
Not many birds are in evidence, but I can hear and see a family of whitethroats.
Bumblebees are around; plenty of red-tailed, some common carder bees and the occasional tree bumblebee. Honey bees feast on the meadowsweet. Of the butterflies, ringlets are the most common, but there are also skippers (large and small), a meadow brown, and some restless, unidentified whites. All in lower numbers than might be expected, as seems to be the case across the county. Day-flying moths - shaded broadbar and silver-Y - appear now and then. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of reddish-orange soldier beetles; they seem to be everywhere, singly or paired. At either end of the reserve, brown hawker dragonflies patrol.
Down in the grass are hundreds (again, probably thousands) of green leafhoppers, Cicadella viridis. Grasshoppers - nymphs of the lesser marsh species - are around in reasonable numbers, but quite localised. But are there any bush crickets? Sweeping the undergrowth, not too vigorously so as not to inflict much damage, reveals some small nymph bugs, including one red and black one (strangely, a blue shieldbug nymph), and tiny beetles - and at last I catch one small conehead nymph. Just the one, all afternoon, but it means they are still here. Which is good news
