Off today to look for Dragonflies and Butterflies at Rainham Marshes. A walk around the Tarn on the way to the station rewarded me with a fleeting view of Kingfisher.
The day at Rainham didn’t start well as almost as soon as I arrived it began to rain (not the best weather for seeing insects). I did seriously consider just calling it a day and going home but after I had lunch it did seem to be clearing up so I held on for a while and by 2pm it was bright sunshine.
A walk around the reserve rewarded with some great sightings of a number of Ruddy Darter, a couple of Common Darter and a few Azure and Blue-tailed damselflies.
8 species of butterfly were seen during my walk, although there was no sign of the Painted Lady which had been reported earlier. There were also a number of day flying moths including Mint Moth on the wing.
Also managed to see a water Vole sitting in the reeds. This is the first time for a number of years that I have managed to see this secretive creature in the wild.
photo by Nick Ford (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickpix2008/)
This was a great return in view of the lunchtime weather and the continuing winds which would have been difficult for dragonflies and Butterflies.
Day List
Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Eurasian Curlew [sp] (Numenius arquata)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Common Kingfisher [sp] (Alcedo atthis)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Eurasian Reed Warbler [sp] (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Large White (Pieris brassicae)
Small White (Artogeia rapae)
Green-veined White [sp] (Artogeia napi)
Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)
Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io)
Small Tortoiseshell [sp] (Aglais urticae)
Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album)
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)
Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)
Pete's Favourite Things 