As some of you are aware, I volunteer one day a week at Worcestershire Biological Record Centre helping on the admin side of things. The WBRC is located at Lower Smite Farm next to the headquarters of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.
The Trust has managed and farmed LSF in a wildlife friendly manner for a number of years now and there is a variety of habitats for fauna and flora here. There are a number of walks around parts of the farm and it is really worth a visit at some point if you are a trust member on just interested in arable wildlife. LSF is especially good during the summer months for invertebrates and the ponds here home to a range of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies to you and I!).
Whilst on my lunch I decided to grab my bins and camera and go for a perambulation around part of the reserve. I headed across to the thistle field which just looked spot on for a passage Whinchat perched up. No such luck but I did however note 3 Meadow Pipits flying over heading SSW, a sign of autumn migration.
From the fields I headed over to the Orchard Pools. Here the dragonflies were performing well with 3 mating pairs of Common Darter seen egg-laying. 3 Ruddy Darters (2♂, 1♀) were recorded and one of which was obliging enough to land on the nearby bench and allow me to take some reasonable shots. Also present were 1 Brown Hawker and 2 Migrant Hawkers. The only damselfly species I noted were Blue-tailed Damselfly and Common Blue.
Butterflies recorded during the walk included 1 Holly Blue, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Speckled Woods and reasonable numbers of Meadow Brown.
For more information regarding Lower Smite Farm click on the below link:
http://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/reserves/lower-smite-farm
and for more info regarding the Trust click on:
http://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/
Ruddy Darter ♂
Common Darters (mating)
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I wish i had a reserve near enough to walk to Jase, much less disturbance then :-)
ReplyDeleteIt has been a while since I have walked around Lower Smite Farm, so good to see a post about it! Very nice Darter images Jason!
ReplyDeleteThe Ruddy Darter is a fiery looking beast.
ReplyDeleteI haven't succeeded in getting close enough to a dragonfly to photograph it for ages!
A good selection of species there Jason, I was trying to get a decent shot of a Brown Argus the other day, one half as good as your header would have been great.
ReplyDeleteWarren - same here mate. Just lucky I drive there to do my voluntary work once a week
ReplyDeletePam - Thanks. Smite has matured nicely over the years(thanks to good management) and has a lot to offer these days
Rob - These are the first decent shots I have managed to get of those Ruddy Darters! this year. They have led me a right run around on previous attempts.
Alan - Cheers much appreciated. Although this pohto is actually from 2011 as Brown Argus have not fared well on my patch this year