Perhaps because the Spring was quite cold this year, insect life has taken a long time to get going, but at last it now seems to be in full swing. Butterflies have gone from being almost completely absent to very much present on the roll call, with plenty of Speckled Woods, Ringlets, Meadow Browns and Red Admirals about. Very excitingly, just this morning a White Admiral was seen at the edge of School Common. This rather pleasing Speckled Wood was on one of our local footpaths.
In the last week or so I have been noticing lots of Gatekeepers along the hedgerows, while this splendid Tortoiseshell has been so far the only representative of its species to cross my path (also not on the Common however.)
The trouble with butterflies is that they often won’t stay still long enough for them to have their pictures taken, but on a recent visit to the excellent RSPB reserve at Strumpshaw fen this Gatekeeper did pause its fluttering long enough for a quick snap, showing its under-wing.
The other summer standby for spotting, when birds have gone into hiding, is the Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies); also at Strumpshaw was this obliging Broad-bodied Chaser, one of which we found on the Common a few weeks back.
We’ve had Hornet mimic Hoverflies on the Common previously, but this is one I saw on one of the nearby lanes. I trust it wasn’t the one that blundered into my house late one evening soon after; they’re very active and noisy, and not a little alarming (though harmless of course).
Hogweed is now in flower, and therefore the Hogweed ‘bonking’ beetles are swarming all over them. Think Love Island for beetles and you’ve got it!
The warm and slightly wetter weather lately has caused the Common’s vegetation to take off in spectacular fashion. Our current focus remains trying to prevent Himalayan Balsam from swamping the place, so today 13 of us turned up to rebuke the wretched stuff growing near the Lower Street car park. This particular area is quite hard to access, so Team Leader Margaret gave us stern warnings before we set off into the jungle. It’s important to dress to protect yourself from nettle stings; we were particularly impressed by the sensible but beautifully ironed boiler suit modelled by Louise. Wellies are essential too; sadly for Noel, his sprang a leak.
Careful selection of the right plant to pluck up is key; here Andrew illustrates the correct technique.
Due to the problems caused by the terrain, we were urged to work in pairs. Your correspondent and the aforementioned Andrew bravely opted to cross the Beck to deal with some of the hardest to reach and largest specimens. This one has grown tall enough to peer over the neighbours’ fence.
Once the allotted hour was up we reluctantly (ahem) dragged ourselves away. Now that the bigger plants are flowering, it’s important to try to stop them setting seed. There is unfortunately still plenty left to do, so there will need to be at least one more session.
Between us we put in another 13 hours work today: so far
this year we’ve collectively done 55.5 hours on Himalayan Balsam control alone!
Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:
Hi all.
A very heartfelt thankyou to the 13 volunteers who came
this morning to continue the never-ending battle with the balsam. It was
particularly challenging today as the bindweed, hop and stickyweed were
determined to block our path. It was very hard work so thank you all.
The good news is that I do think there was less balsam on
the main site than last year but not unfortunately across the Beck. With your
fantastic efforts we are managing to control it.
I would very much like to have yet another go in two
weeks’ time so hopefully see anyone who is willing then.
Margaret (on behalf of the team leaders).
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