Trip report Linford Lakes 16th June 2015

Members met at Linford Lakes, formerly known as Hanson Environmental Study Centre and a former location for indoor Society meetings, on a warm and sunny evening.

A number of routes lead to the three hides. The Near Hide offers viewing of nesting Sand Martins at a site intended for Kingfishers. The Woodland Hide offers viewing of bird feeders and a log pile for small mammals. There is more bird activity at this hide earlier in the day.

People chose their own routes, stopping at the hides as long as they wanted and no-one got lost. Things of most interest to me were damselflies, my first Marbled White butterfly of the year, a nymph of Roesel’s bush cricket, a red and black froghopper Cercopis vulnerata and a stinging nettle, unusual in having three, rather than two, leaves at each node on the stem.

A Blood Vein moth was seen and some members who walked back along the access road were rewarded with a sighting of a Barn Owl.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

All pictures provided by Paul Lund

Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata

Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata

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Nymph of Roesel’s Bush Cricket Metrioptera roeselii

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Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella

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Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens

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Marbled White Melanargea galathea

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Aberrant Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica