The long walk

Cloudy with sunny spells and a light early rain shower, 22°, light to mod SW.

A walk out through the Lees, skirting Aston Tirrold on to Lollingdon and back to Cholsey. The farmland out by the Lees was very quiet just a few flocks of Rook and the odd Carrion Crow. A small flock of Reed Bunting at the far end of the long ditch.

A Common Redstart still present on the hill but not easy to see as it was sheltering on the leeward side of the Hawthorns at the top of the hill and was only visible when it dropped down to take an insect. Also good numbers of Chiffchaff in all areas (20+), nearly all roaming with Tit flocks.

Again a good passage of Hirundines with Swallow far outnumbering House Martin today.

A single Raven, Little Owl and Sparrowhawk seen.

Mammals: Roe Deer & Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral (9), Comma (1) and Speckled Wood.

Long-tailed Tit ↕

Reed Bunting
Common Darter
Robin's pin cushion,
also known as rose bedeguar gall, is an abnormal growth caused by a species of gall wasp (Diplolepis rosae). The adult wasp lays eggs in the buds or developing leaves during mid-summer period. The eggs hatch into small white larvae that secrete chemicals that cause the abnormal growth.

Instead of buds developing into normal shoots and leaves, they are converted into hard woody structures that have an outer covering of moss-like leaves, which are either reddish pink or yellowish green. The internal part of the gall contains a number of chambers in which the grubs develop. The galls are fully developed during August and the insects overwinter inside the galls as pupae. During the autumn the outer covering of moss-like leaves tends to decay and this leaves the hard woody centre exposed.

This insect is more frequently found on wild roses or sucker growth but it does also occur on some of the rose species grown in gardens. The feeding activities of the gall wasp grubs do not have any real adverse effect on the rose, apart from creating the galls.

Thank you to RHS for the info.

from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-long-walk.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2019 off to a reasonable start

Image
Overcast, 5°, light NNW. A Little Egret seen today on the way out to Lollingdon and appeared to drop down near Amwell Spring. The hill hosted around 100 Fieldfare and a flock of c50 Meadow Pipit for a time before moving off over the top. Several Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer around the hill and a single Corn Bunting . A small flock of c20 Pied Wagtail feeding out with the Sheep. A few more Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around the Lollingdon area, a Goldcrest , Grey Heron , Kestrel , a couple of Jay , 2 Bullfinch and several Starling amongst other species. A Brambling in a private garden. Per Alan Dawson. 2 Blackcap in TW’s garden and 2 Chiffchaff at CSW. The flock of c60 Golden Plover still around Cholsey Hill. Brambling (courtesy Alan Dawson) from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-off-to-reasonable-start.html
Read more

A Butterfly day

Image
Another sunny day, 24°, light E. A walk alongside the Bunk line from Church road to the bypass. Butterflies were the order of the day with literally hundreds of Meadow Brown on the wing today. They were everywhere. Another 8 Painted Lady seen with some looking very tatty after a presumably long flight and ageing. Best one of the day was a single Silver-washed Fritillary seen flying around a large garden before disappearing from view. Good numbers of Marbled White all along the route. Other species noted were: Small Skipper , Large Skipper , Large White , Small White , Green-veined White , Brimstone (1), Brown Argus (3), Common Blue (8), Red Admiral (6), Small Tortoiseshell (c20), Comma (3), Speckled Wood (2), Ringlet (12) and Small Heath (2). Some thistles were in flower on the edge of a bean field and these held the majority of Painted Lady , Small Tort and Marbled White . Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle (M&F), Large Red Damselfly and Southern Hawke...
Read more

Dormice and Hibernation

Image
A few weeks ago we had our quick dormice pre-hibernation checks to make sure they were all OK for the winter, and confirm how many kits we have bred over the summer. Good news!.. Both our pairs have had large litters of dormice, and so we have many babies to prepare for release next year. As part of the Common Dormouse Captive Breeders Groups (CDCBG) we, along with many other holders across the south, breed dormice as part of the studbook for release out in to the wild. Once out of hibernation next Spring they will all be collected up and released back in to the wild in collaboration with the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species (PTES). We do have two species of dormice in the UK. The native, calm, small and adorable hazel dormouse above. Below is the larger, bitey and much more erratic edible dormouse that was introduced to the UK. You can really see the size difference with both in the hand like this. Both species of dormice are entering, or have already started, to h...
Read more