North Cliffe Wood October sunshine

A visit to North Cliffe Wood in the warm sunshine. It was still and balmy on the south facing areas of the wood by the heath, so I mostly kept there. It was very quiet on the bird front, with little of note, but the insects more than compensated for it.

Dragonflies

I wasn't surprised by the abundant Common Darters, but I wasn't expecting a list of 5 Odonata on the wing. A very tattered male Southern Hawker was near the entrance of the heath, hunting, although it briefly landed on an oak.

Later, another male was actively searching for females on the pond, checking the shore, including the shaded areas. 

A bit later, I found a male Migrant Hawker basking on a post. 

There were a minimum of 4 male Black Darters (top shot and below), which I had never seen in this site. I end up having lunch by one of them. It keeps returning to the same log, which it shares with a common darter, and readjusting position each time it lands to catch the sun.

Male Black Darter.

Black Darter and Common Darter basking.

Black Darter.

When I visit the heathland pond, there are two Black Darters on attendance, which squabble occasionally. Unfortunately I see no females.

There are literally hundreds of Common Darters, individuals are basking on the path, on logs, on the trees, they are everywhere! I see 3 mating pairs and one ovipositing pair on the heathland pond.

Common Darters in copula.

A brightly coloured Common Darter.

I walk back and forth checking the posts, as it offers the maximum exposure for the the insects to the low sun. In the distance, I see a large damselfly, is it possible!? amazingly, it is a stunning female Willow Emerald! Possibly the first for the site and my first out of Hull in East Yorkshire. What are the chances? how many Willow Emeralds are flying over the county? It has a beautiful bronze sheen, particularly on the abdomen, presumably a fully mature female.

Close up of the Willow Emerald.

Beetles

Of note two carrion beetles, a stunning Nicrophorus vespilloides, which flies onto the path. It is very warm and doesn't like to be exposed, and it tries to hide on the grass very quickly, so I need to pot it briefly to take its photo.

I wish I had potted the Black Snail Beetle, Silpha atrata, which runs fast across the path. It is a common beetle in the reserve, which I find puzzling as snails are hard to come by there.

Butterflies

Just two species of butterfly on the wing.

A Comma basking on post.

And one of two Small Coppers on the ground.

A gallery of other interesting insects and other miscellany follows.

Noon Fly, Mesembrina meridiana

Puffball fungus. Not many fungi on the reserve other than the plentiful puffballs, despite the recent rains.

Wolf spider for ID.

Chorthippus parallelus.

Chorthippus brunneus

Field Digger Wasp, Mellinus arvensis.

Robber fly, Machimus atricapillus

And to finish up, as I count the darters in a stretch of fence, I notice a movement by a log, it is a young lizard, also the first one I see in the reserve.