Moth Night August 30th 2014

The Bat and Moth night was blessed with good weather after the unsettled week earlier. 51 adults and children came along and met in the car park.

Robin talked about safety especially in the dark. He also spoke about bats - what they are and what they eat. The children already new a great deal about them anyway but were surprised by the number of insects pipistrelle bats can eat in one night - as many as 3,000!

The Bailey Bridge (aka Spider Bridge) was crossed to be visited later when dark to look for Daubenton's Bat (Myotis daubentonii). This bat dominated near the bridge. Bat detectors were put to good use. Torches were used to follow the bats flying low over the river.

The moth trap was well visited and several species were recorded.

Pictured in both lamplight and flash.

Bridge spider (Larinioides sclopetarius) on Spider Bridge. There are dozens of these and can be seen easily at night.

(Picture taken on a previous visit)

A Reminder

Bats and Moths
 Meet in Cromwell Bottom car park (Behind Cromwell House, off the A6025 Elland-Brighouse road HD6 2RG – look out for the brown road sign).at 19.30 to visit the moth trap and to see what else is flying around at night with bat detectors. Insect repellent recommended. Free event but donations to the Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group welcome

From the undergrowth

Not been on for awhile as my camera has been out of action , just a few from last week. Also had an hour at Fly Flats where there were at least 15 Wheatear .

Canda Geese flying over

Female Phesant hiding in the grass

Small Copper

Common Darter

ditto

Speckled Wood

5  Female Gooseander

Willow Warbler

Wheatear

ditto

ditto

ditto 

gwh

Saturday Night August 30th

Bats and Moths Night

Meet in Cromwell Bottom car park (Behind Cromwell House, off the A6025 Elland-Brighouse road HD6 2RG – look out for the brown road sign) at 19.30 to visit the moth trap and to see what else is flying  around at night. Insect repellent recommended. Free event but donations to the Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group welcome.

More events...   http://cromwellbottom.blogspot.co.uk/p/next-meetings.html

August at Cromwell Bottom

Woody Nightshade or Bittersweet
Solanum dulcamara

This plant is found in small numbers at Cromwell Bottom. The berries are bright red when ripe and are poisonous and very bitter to the taste.

            Solanum dulcamara  Flower

Woundwort  Stachys palustris

Marsh Woundwort  Stachys palustris
is also found close by. The leaves have been used as a wound healing herb and have a musky smell. They were often used to stem bleeding.

Work Party August 9th 2014

15 Volunteers met in the car park. Two teams were organised. One erected a fence along one of the paths, the others marked the route of the pipeline on the Top Meadow prior to mowing within the next two weeks.

The volunteers were: Alan, Allan, Am, Barry, Bruce, David, Graham, Joe, John, Mike, Paul, Robin, Shelagh, Steve & Will.

Some of the 15 volunteers

The hardest part is fixing the posts

30 metres were fixed

Some of the posts needed more encouragement

The almost finished fence

Saturday August 9th

There is a work party meeting at Cromwell Bottom this Saturday. We intend to organise more seating etc. Meet at 09:30 in the car park.

Bugs & Butterflies

I finally dusted off my macro lens to photograph some of the small critters in the undergrowth. I now remember why I don't use this lens a lot: macro photography is tough work!

If you can identify the species I'd be grateful. I'm a real beginner when it comes to insects and the like. 

5/8/14

Thanks for the replies and the identifications. They have been added to the images. 

Ringlet

Skipper

Fly

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar

Common Red Soldier Beetle

RicJ