Moth Night Sat 27th

Cancelled
Due to the heavy rain & forecasted continuous through the night - It would be pointless tonight.
Sorry for any inconvenience!

Oh yes it's that time again - Arrivals still from 9.00pm onwards, but we may be able to start the lamp a little earlier now  .... see you there Saturday.

 

Don't forget the Torch!

Moth Night Summary - July 13th

FIRST OF ALL: A big thanks to the Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group for providing such fantastic mothing facilities and habitat creation and management - it is VERY much appreciated!

Another moth-friendly night with mild conditions and it was almost dead calm. Nine showed up for the moths which were a little slow to start with but by the night's end we had a record 80-90 species species. I hope Barry will let us know the final tally.

Obviously there were many stunning moths on show but none more so than a varied collection of superb green moths, notably: July Highflier, V Pug, Common Emerald and Large Emerald.

Perhaps the rarest on the night was this Golden-brown Tubic (Crassa unitella) which looks like being another Calderdale first. As can be often the case with micros emptied from the trap last thing, it's quite worn after sharing a small space with hundreds of other moths, flies and caddisflies. However, the remnants of reddish/brown scales, yellow head, very long palps and declining resting position  points to this species.

The adult flies from late June to August and sometimes comes to light It is associated with wooded areas because the larvae, late September to May, feed on fungus on and under dead bark.

Another new one for myself was this (worn) Hawthorn Cosmet (Blastodacna hellerella), also found in the trap at emptying time.

My favourite photo of the night's moths was this fresh looking Suspected with lovely warm rufous tones.

This tiny Wormwood Pug was a photo lifer for myself, I'm fairly confident with the ID but if anyone knows differently let me know.

This "worn" looking pug deserved closer scrutiny at home and turned out to be a Bordered Pug in very good nick. Another new one for myself.

We had small numbers of Dingy Shears and it was nice to photograph a nice specimen for a change.

This small un-moth-like moth added to our slowly growing list of Footmen, this being a Muslin Footman.

LEAF MINES FOUND:

Parornix anglicella

Stigmella salicis

Stigmella hybneralla

Great Egret from Saturday afternoon

Thanks to John Marsh for the use of his Images

Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve 2019 Orchid survey

Over the last 2 weeks Jen, Julie, Ian and I have been undertaking a survey of the orchids on the reserve. The areas surveyed were very similar to those that were surveyed last year but a couple of extra areas were added as we knew that these areas also had colonies of orchids. We counted the spikes (flowers) that could be seen. Identification of the species was difficult due to the tendency for plants to hybridise but it looked like virtually all the plants seen were common spotted or hybrids with a small handful of marsh orchids also being present. The total seen in 2019 was 200 compared to 138 counted last year.

Moth Night!

That time again - Arrivals from 9.00pm to 10.00pm this Saturday 13th July, bring a torch!

Big Butterfly Count

A great turn out toady with some 25 people involved throughout the day,,,,,!!!!! And many thanks to all who turned up..

Meadow Brown ....Abundant (100 +)
Ringlet ..................Abundant (100 +)
Small Skipper ,,,,,50  +
Large Skipper ..5
Small Tortoiseshell...2
Common Blue...3
Small Heath .....3
Red Admiral .....1
Painted Lady ...2
Comma ...3
Large White ...3
Green - veined White.....1
Gatekeeper....1

Yellow Shell x 2
Shaded Broad Bar x 1
5 -spot Burnet Moths ....Abundant
Cinnabar ...2

Brown Hawker
Broad Bodied Chaser
Banded Demoiselle
Large Red  Damselfly
Common Blue

Evening Nature and History walk Wednesday July 10th

Andy Eccles will be leading a History and Nature walk at Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve on Wednesday the 10th of July at 7:00 pm. 

Please meet at the Cabin. Toilets available.

Big Butterfly Count / Walk ,,,Sunday 7th July

This  Sunday 7th July there will be a HXSS walk around Cromwell Bottom ,  meet at the cabin 10.30 - 14.00...If the weather stays good we should see , Painted lady , Red Admiral , Ringlet , Meadow Brown , Small Copper , Comma , Small , large and green Veined Whites , Gatekeeper , Large and Small Skipper and if we are very Lucky Essex Skipper  a good selection of day flying moths and a few Dragonflies. We might even see some rare Clearwing moths..!!!!!

MOTH NIGHT SAT 29TH

This Saturday 29th June, Arrivals between 9-10pm, At the Cabin.

If it turns out to be as warm & sticky as the weatherman promises, we should get a really busy night.

 

Don't forget a torch!

It will be light when you arrive, but may be very dark when you leave!

Moth Night Results - June 1st

The night was more or less dead calm, warm and dry, consequently there were lots of moths on the wing with over 60 species recorded including 5 new ones for myself. There were the usual  aesthetically pleasing moths such as Peach Blossom, Buff-tip and Eyed Hawkmoth plus plenty to keep the micro moth enthusiasts happy.


The following are moths I took for ID or new ones to photograph during daylight.

There were at least four Sandy Carpets among the more common Flame Carpets and Silver Ground Carpets.

I took another small carpet species home in the hope it would finally open it's wings for ID, and when it did I was pretty surprised to find this gorgeous little Small Yellow Wave - another new one for myself.

There were two of these Bird's-nest Moths (Tinea trinotella) to light, I wonder which nest they used.

The latin name refers to the three spots of unequal size on the forewing.

Definitely a moth-er's moth this one, the tiny Daisy Bent-wing (Bucculatrix nigricomella) - the first adult Bucculatrix I've ever seen at a trap. A worn and tatty moth but the white eye-caps at the base of the antennae help narrow this species down. Food plant Ox-eye Daisy.

This Straw Conch (Cochylimorpha straminea) may be a first for Calderdale - unless somebody knows differently. Food plant Common Knapweed.

And the fifth new one was this rather attractive Brassy Tortrix (Eulia ministrana).

Mainly for Barry's list are the following that I took home to ID:

Argyresthia trifasciella

Caloptilia alchimiella

Crambus lathoniellus x 3 (not the rare grass moth I had originally thought it was!!!)

Cochylis nana

Mompha epilobiella x 2

Gypsonoma dealbana

Coleophora mayrella

PLUS two unidentified moths:

Anacampsis sp.

Elachista sp.

Also lots of micro Caddisflies to keep me on my toes!

Annual General Meeting 2019

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 2nd Annual General Meeting of 

Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group will be held at the Mulberry Suite, 

Brighouse Sixth Form College HD6 1AY at 7.30pm on Wednesday 5^th June 2019

The evening will include a talk by Peter Lau of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as well as an opportunity for a chat over some refreshments at the end of the meeting.

     

RASTRICK

BIG

LOCAL

2019

Please vote for project C

Wildlife, Woods and Water (Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group) in the Rastrick Big Local ballot this year.

If you live in Rastrick and have a postcode starting with HD6 3, or if the school you go to has a HD6 3 postcode, [Year Six and above] then you are eligible to vote.

Look out for your voting paper, or go to: https://rastrickbiglocal.co.uk/project-c-for-2019-wildlife-woods-and-water-cromwell-bottom-wildlife-group/

where you’ll find details of this and other projects.

We want to:

1. Improve the public footpath through Reins Wood and Strangstry Wood with better surfacing, steps and signage from Lillands Lane down to the railway crossing and into the nature reserve.
2. Work on the nature reserve to keep open water in the lagoon, conserving special habitats for plants and all sorts of wildlife, extend our wheelchair accessible footpaths and provide an additional viewing point across the reedbed.

Everybody will benefit – wildlife AND people.

Find our more on our blog: http://cromwellbottom.blogspot.com/

and finally….. thanks for your vote!

Moth night sat 1st

Trap should be running from 9.00pm approx. - Assuming it is not raining - See you there.

Nesting Boxes

Earlier this year the Thursday volunteers spent a few sessions getting the reserve's nest boxes ready for this year's breeding season. This involved taking down damaged boxes, repairing them and putting these and new boxes up. As we have something like 100 boxes located around the reserve we also took grid references of all the boxes so that we could relocate them all. The majority of the boxes are designed for blue tits and great tits but we also have robin, treecreeper, owl, and sparrow boxes along with a number of bat boxes.

For the last 8 days I have spent time with Steve Downing, who is a licensed bird ringer. He looked into some of the boxes and ringed chicks where appropriate. Unless you have a license, it is illegal to open nest boxes during the breeding season or to handle wild birds. The window of opportunity to ring small birds is quite small. The chicks must have most of their feathers developed but still be in the nest. This opportunity only lasts a few days. Last week we found around 65 boxes with approximately 90-95% occupied but none of the chicks were ready for ringing. Since then we have ringed approximately 80 chicks. The brood size varied from 7 to 11 chicks per nest,  With the good weather we have had in the last couple of weeks this shows an excellent return and bodes well for a very good breeding season for these small birds this year.

Hopefully we will manage to get a lot more chicks ringed in the coming weeks. Each of the rings has an individual identification number stamped on it along with a telephone number. Should anyone find a dead bird with a ring attached then they should make a note of this number and ring the telephone number. If there are any obvious clues as to the cause of death then this should be passed on. This allows the British Trust for Ornithology to gather information on how long birds live for, how far they move from their birthplace and causes of death so that scientists can see trends and develop strategies for improving survival rates.

Mothing Trip to Tag Meadow and North Loop

I had a very pleasant wander around Tag meadow in the morning and North Loop with Alan Pullan in the afternoon. Still a bit early for most species despite the warm, sunny weather. Just two species of butterflies were ID-ed and six moths, however three of those were nice finds.

Highlight for myself was my first ever Mother Shiptons, one in Tag meadow and one on North Loop. Their habit of being skittish and landing in dense vegetation made photography difficult. You can just see the old hag's face on the forewings.

Another interesting one was this Small Yellow Underwing. Despite being a macro moth it's quite tiny with a wingspan of c20mm and therefore easily overlooked and under-recorded.

There were quite a few of these Common Rollers (Ancylis badiana) about as would be expected.

The same goes for this Bordered Marble (Endothenia marginana).

Much scarcer was this Vetch loving Northern Crescent Piercer (Grapholita lunulana). It's often difficult to pick out amongst the more common Grapholita species.

Two of these very small Triple-stripe Piercers (Grapholita compositella) were disturbed from the low herbage but were too flighty (and small) for photographs so this is one I took last year.

Just four butterflies were seen all day: One Peacock, one Green-veined White and two unidentified whites.

Moth Night sat 18th

9.00pm start - at the cabins, unless we have heavy rain.

See you there.

MOTH NIGHT SAT 4TH MAY

Yes already it's time for a fantastic night out down Cromwell Bottom - practicing net swishing.

 

We should be getting a good selection on warm evenings from now on.

 

Arrival time - after 8.30pm, lamp start up will be towards 9.00pm.

 

See You there.

Are you interested in fungi?

this could be for you.....

click the link to our Facebook page to see details of a talk in Huddersfield on 29th April - sorry i can't make it work in this post!

Direct Link:  https://www.facebook.com/HudCafeSci/photos/gm.959404237783862/2151856111567435/?type=3&theater

Moth Night 20th April

Yes two weeks have passed & it's that time again. This Saturday is looking good weather-wise, it should be a warm night & we are anticipating the species on the night should be pretty good too.

 

See you there 8.30pm onwards

 

 

Watch your blossoms at night now - It will be one of very few food sources available.

Refreshments at the Cabin

Please note: The Cabin will be open for refreshments on Easter Sunday and Monday 21st and 22nd of April. Pop in for a cuppa and a slice of cake.

Thank You Brighouse Ladies!

Huge THANK YOU!!!

David [vice-chair] and Rosemary [treasurer]went along to Brighouse Ladies Circle recently to receive a cheque for £3150 - another boost to our plans for a viewing platform.
As Chair of BLC for the past year Hayley has been leading her members in some really ingenious fundraising. We're so grateful for all your efforts ladies and the money will be well spent! Hayley is also one of our very active volunteers at CBWG so we benefit from her time as well as her fundraising talents.

[PS - if you're interested in joining BLC have a look at their Facebook page - never a dull moment!]

TESCO Bags of Help

Thanks to all your little blue tokens we have been awarded £4000 from TESCO towards our project “A View for All”. You really pulled out the stops for us and we’re now refining our plans for a viewing area with easy access so that everyone can enjoy the fantastic atmosphere of the reedbed. We’ll probably start work after the birds’ breeding season is over.

Here's how the view looked today in the sunshine

This is the "before" photo -
wonder how the finished project will look?

In the meantime we’d love to hear from any nature loving wheelchair users out there – to make sure we’re doing our best for you to enjoy the reserve. The design of the viewing area isn’t finalised yet, so if you have any particular advice for us or you’d just like to know more about it we’d be grateful if you’d get in touch. Drop us an email, to newsfromcromwellbottom@gmail.com or leave a message on our Facebook page.

Or - of course - you can talk to any of the trustees/volunteers down at the cabin on Sundays.

Thank you!

Bird and Butterfly survey 11/04/2019

Great tit, goldfinch, great spotted woodpecker, common buzzard, carrion crow, grey heron, bullfinch, chiffchaff, robin, mallard, wren, meadow pipit, sparrowhawk, woodpigeon, cormorant, jay, blackbird, dunnock, moorhen, coot, blackcap, chaffinch, reed bunting, nuthatch, coal tit, long tailed tit, little grebe, Canada goose, kingfisher, greenfinch and grey wagtail.

There have also been sightings of shoveler and common sandpiper recently but they were not seen today.

A very good selection of butterflies were seen: orange tip, peacock, brimstone, comma, small tortoiseshell and speckled wood.

Short visit Stock Dove,Nuthatch,Jay,Bullfinch,Reed Bunting.

Moth Night Sat 6th

Yes it's time again - see you Sat night around 7,30-8,00pm.