Birds, Beetles and Butterflies (and a bit more besides)

We are slipping into autumn. Despite the weather remaining warm, the signs are everywhere. Berries are ripening and birds are on the move. Over the last few days there have been between 500 and 1000 house martin over Ibsley Water, gathering before migrating south. On Ivy Lake numbers of winter wildfowl are starting to rise, at least 12 wigeon and 18 shoveler were there on Sunday and last week 3 pintail dropped in. In fact overall numbers of wildfowl are very high for the time of year, probably due to good weed growth.

Any visitor to Ibsley Water recently cannot have missed the large numbers of cormorant and heron. They are feeding on the huge numbers of small common carp, a fantastic spectacle, but a sign of problems ahead. Such large numbers of small carp will grow into a very large population of medium-sized fish which are likely to largely eliminate the weed and eventually most of the food for wildfowl.

Another very obvious feature at present is the lace-like leaves of the alders that have been eaten away to skeletons.

Alder leaf eaten away by alder leaf beetle - Bob Chapman

The alder leaf beetles that are responsible are a striking metallic blue and were considered as an extinct species in the UK until just a few years ago. However, their status has changed dramatically in the last few years and they are now not just present but super-abundant. They seem to be everywhere at the moment and almost every alder leaf has been eaten away and they have been eating hazel and even birch as well. Quite why they have undergone such an extreme change in fortunes is something of a mystery.

Alder leaf beetle Agelastica alni - Bob Chapman

We are now heading into autumn and the moth trap is starting to catch species typical of the season, perhaps none more so than the aptly named autumnal rustic.

Autumnal rustic - Bob Chapman

Another autumn favourite of mine is the intricately marked feathered gothic.

feathered gothic (male)

The males use their feathered antennae to test the air for female pheromones, in effect using them to smell.

The main butterfly on the wing at present is speckled wood and they are very abundant this year. They are one of the few species that you can see throughout the season, as they have a series of overlapping broods. Sometimes the first are on the wing before the end of March and they can still be flying in November.

speckled wood

Autumn is also the time to see fungi. Actually they are to be found all year but many species are most abundant at this time of the year. When we were working today we came across a bright yellow patch on a log near the Woodland Hide, but although many of the logs are covered in fungi, this was not a fungus, but a slime mould called troll butter.

troll butter slime mould

For those that like to venture up to the Lapwing Hide in the winter or spring, I have good news. The need to take the long way round or risk getting wet feet when the route through the reedbed floods will soon be a thing of the past as we are having a boardwalk constructed!