Leading Me a Dance

Above: Common Blue and forget-me-nots. Below, Cinnabar moth and rabbit dropping.

Lots of latrines at Edgeley Road.

I waited two hours in the wrong place this evening, then tried another spot and there was a vole straight away. It can be tricky deciding which colony to visit for the best results.

A Mixed Picture

 Edward German Drive vole

 White-faced darter and a female Stonechat,on Whixall Moss

 Wood Yard vole

  Droppings and a vole at Edgeley Road

Below: two more Edward German Drive voles, from different days.

I'm struggling to see voles in the usual places this year. The field signs are there, but actual sightings are proving tricky. There's been some sort of scum on the water this week right the way along the Staggs Brook, plus the growth of sewage fungus, so I'm hoping that's not impacted on the health of the wildlife. (Sewage fungus isn't caused by sewage, it just gets its name because it looks unpleasant.) Perhaps rain will help. On the plus side, there's more vole activity than I've ever seen on Edward German Drive.

Water vole populations do have a natural 'boom and bust' cycle, peaking and crashing every four years, so maybe this is just a normal fluctuation. I hope so.

You don't get a figure like mine without putting some serious effort in.

Hello to Y5 and Y6 Entomologists!

 My moth trap. The bulb at the top is a special one that's very bright. It stays on all night and the moths come to look. Then they snuggle down into the egg boxes below and stay there.

Here are the moths I caught on Friday May 18th:

Garden Carpet moth

Muslin moth

 Spectacles

 Shuttle-shaped Dart moth

 Heart and Dart moth

 A micro-moth, one of the Tortrix family

 Above and below: the Iron Prominent moth. It's called Prominent because its front legs

 stick out in front when it's resting.

And here's a male Emperor moth I saw on Whixall Moss.

And here are some moths I caught on Saturday 1st June:

Bee moth

 Brimstone

 Magpie

 Elephant Hawk moth

 Green Carpet moth

 Peppered moth

 Light Emerald

 Clouded Silver

Pale Tussock

'Griffiths Tool-Hire' Voles

 A Timber Yard vole.

 Above: baby vole, White Lion Meadow car park, and below, another Timber Yard vole.

The brook as it runs past the Timber Yard.

I was excited to find tat the stretch between Edward German Drive and Griffiths Tool Hire is also full of signs - burrows, trackways, feeding, and then an actual vole sighting. This area's been used as a passageway before but I've never seen is colonised as busily as it is this spring.

 Above: White Lion Meadow vole. Below, a shy Edgeley Road vole.

Great Tit.