As promised in my last post, ‘Wildlife Afternoon on the Reserve’ this post focuses on the amazing water stick insect that we found last Sunday. The Water Stick Insect looks remarkably like its terrestrial namesake but they are not closely related. In fact that are closely related to another fascinating pond inhabitant the water scorpion. [...]
We had a fascinating wildlife afternoon at the Linklater last Sunday. Despite the changeable weather, from hot sun to heavy showers, there was still plenty to see and share with the Bank Holiday Sunday visitors. Adjacent to the reserve on the banks of the River Ouse a patient heron hunted for small fish, standing patiently [...]
Some fascinating views today of greater water boatman right in front of the underwater cam in the Leighside pond. There appeared to be two greater water boatman, also called backswimmers. On two occasions that I saw, one of the water boatman swam over and grabbed the other, this could have been an attempt at courtship. The [...]
We have been seeing a lot of adult dragonflies and damselflies on the reserve - especially around the pond and I have seen occasional sightings through the ditch cam. Damselflies and dragonflies belong to the same group of insects and share the same general features. There are several things you can look for to help you [...]
There are many types of flying insects that lay their eggs in ponds and other freshwater habitats. These include mosquitos, gnats and non-biting midges. The eggs hatch and develop into free swimming, some of which we discovered during our pond dipping sessions. In fact one midge larva actually became a flying adult in one of [...]
The beautiful and spectacular dragonflies and damselflies that add a splash of colour to our ponds and ditches in the summer spend most of their lives underwater as a dull brown or greenish nymphs (larva). Why do you think that the nymphs are such a dull colour? We have many damselfly nymphs during the RLL [...]
Many animals awaken from hibernation in March and so as we start April many of the animals are out and about. Newts, which have hibernated away from the ponds and ditches, will now be active. They will slowly make their way back to water, but its slow progress. On land newts look like lizards, but their movements are [...]
During a walk around the reserve yesterday I was surprised to see that a large dragonfly, possibly a faded southern hawker (it did not settle so not definite ID.) was actively flying back and forth near the Winterbourne stream. Adult dragonflies usually have a short life compared to their nymph that live beneath the surface of [...]
