Cuttle Pool NR and Garden Moths

Last Thursday afternoon we decided to visit a Warwickshire Wildlife Trust reserve that we hadn't been to before. The site was only given to the Trust in 2012 and prior to that it had been used for gravel extraction until 1975 and then some small scale landfill.

The reserve is situated mid-way between Knowle and Temple Balsall and there are a variety of habitats within the small (4.25 hectare) area - semi-improved woodland, wetland, areas of grassland, pools, a brook and wet flushes.

195 vascular plants have been recorded and here's a few photos of some I saw

Self Heal

Bird's Foot Trefoil? - forgot to check the leaves!

Creeping Cinquefoil (plus Heath Speedwell, Parsley Piert and Thyme-leaved Sandwort)

Lots of Dog Roses flowering in the hedgerows

Scarlet Pimpernel - such a pretty, often overlooked flower. Other names for this species include "Poor Man's Weather Glass", "Shepherd's Sundial", "Wink-a-peep", "John-go-to-bed-at-noon" based on the plant's habit of opening at seven o'clock in the morning and closing at 2. Its petals also close when rain is on the approach. Apparently anyone holding one of the flower's gains second sight!

Cinquefoil, Clover, Speedwell and Pimpernel

Various habitat improvements are in progress - paths are being established and scrub encroachment tackled. The wet flushes will be managed along with the silted up ponds to improve habitats for invertebrates. At present around 764 invertebrate species occur here, 12 of which are nationally scarce and 7 regionally important.

Had a peek under this refugia -

but there was only an ant nest!

Scorpion Fly

I'm still trying to identify this species.

Cinnabar moth - rubbish photo (very heavily cropped) as soon as I got close it immediately took flight.

There were quite a few Ringlets around the reserve and an unidentified blue butterfly too far away to even guess which species. There were quite a few blue damselflies around too but again I couldn't get close enough to identify any.

On the way home we stopped off at Barston Ford

Garden Moths

Finally, I'm trapping more moth species. So a few photos of recent moths.

First of all, a couple of the smaller or "micro" moths. I really do need to start getting to grips with these if I am to stand any chance of reaching 365 species seen in the garden this year (update on that challenge hopefully later next week).

Crambus pascuella

Juniper Webber

Buff Ermine

Bright-line Brown-eye

Flame

Willow Beauty

Not 100% sure of this one - think its probably a freshly emerged Willow Beauty again (its not large enough for Great Oak Beauty)

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (I don't usually start trapping these this early in the year).

Small Magpie

Heart and Dart

Dagger aggregate - there a couple of Dagger species that can only be separated by genitalia dissection which I have no intention of ever doing!

And a so-far unidentified weevil lurking in one of the egg boxes. My file of unidentified species from the garden and elsewhere just gets larger and larger - very hard sometimes to find time for identification especially when just one or two species can take me hours of trawling through books and websites.

Maxstoke Castle, Emperor Moth caterpillar update, A Spitfire flypast and a Ringlet

We went along to Maxstoke Castle last weekend - there is just the one Open Day a year. The weather wasn't very good - it rained on and off throughout the visit - any smudgy marks on the photos are a result of raindrops on the lens!!

Maxstoke Castle is a fortified manor house or castle built around 1345 by Sir William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon - who also built the nearby Maxstoke Prior. One hundred years later the castle was partially re-modelled by the Earl of Stafford. At the end of the sixteenth century it became the property of Sir Thomas Dilke and, apart from short periods of time, the castle has remained in the hands of the Dilke (later Fetherston-Dilke) family who still live there today.

The castle is made of red sandstone and today there remains a restored medieval gatehouse, curtain wall and angle towers.

Richard III visited the castle in 1485 on his way north to Nottingham and subsquently on to his death at the Battle of Bosworth.

The Courtyard Garden

We had a look round the inside of the house (no photos allowed) but you can tour the Banqueting Hall, the Oak Drawing Room (with its rather mysterious and ornately carved Whispering Door) and the Library.

We then walked around the outside of the house following the moat walk - roses were clambering all over the walls.

Valerian and Ivy-leaved Toadflax had managed to grow in cracks between the building stones.

At this stage we visited the refreshment tent where last year we had the most delicious cake - but horrors of horrors they had sold out!!! If we go next year we'll go a lot earlier!!

So onwards to the pleasure gardens

There is a lovely meadow and woodland walk with lots of wildflowers flourishing.

Ox-eye Daisies

Is this a Handkerchief Tree?

Views of the castle and moat

Ice House

Glade of Foxgloves

A vegetable garden, tennis court and more herbaceous borders were our last port of call.

Anyone for tennis?

Close by was this wonderful "white" border - could just imagine relaxing here with a Pimms after a game of tennis!!

Herbaceous Border

Astrantia again - just love this plant. I managed to buy one from Coughton Court but they only had the dark pink variety available and I must admit I do like this creamy white/pinky colour.

The Emperor Moth caterpillars are now 5 weeks old and requiring about 5 top-ups of bramble/hawthorn leaves a day. In fact, I have come to the conclusion they never stop munching not even to sleep. I have to admit I will be a little relieved when they pupate which could be any day now. Note their nice new cage!!! Although really there are that many of them I should have bought two!

Last night we went along to Birmingham International Airport as a Spitfire which had been displaying at the nearby Belfry Hotel and Golf course was due to make a brief flypast.

We went a walk along a public footpath near a place called Castle Hills (not far from the Shadowbrook Meadows reserve I visited recently) where you can get a good view of the runway.

The spitfire was due to fly along the runway in a north to south direction i.e. towards us but lo and behold it flew from south to north and I just managed to get this record shot - not helped by shooting into the sun!!!

And here it is again disappearing rapidly from view.

Just as we were leaving I spotted my first Ringlet butterfly of the year in a hedgerow.