Today was a nice mild day with blues skies and a bit of sunshine. Whilst walking through the bracken between the Lower Poolands heath and the Upper Terrace i suddenly spotted a male Emperor Moth patrolling. This kind of took me by surprise as it is the earliest date that I have seen one on the Common. I returned to my car to pick up my pheromone lure to see if any more responded and was joined by Mike W of Butterfly Conservation West Midlands Branch. After a short wait the lure attracted a single male (presumably the one I had seen earlier). Sadly it was to flighty for photos and never settled so, below is a ♂ Emperor that I photographed at the Common in a previous year.
Emperor (Saturnia pavonia) ♂
Also of note were 2 Ravens that were seen displaying and tumbling over the terrace embankment. Up until this Spring I had only recorded Raven twice at the Common and both times were just single birds flying over. Now I am seeing at least one most visits, so I can only assume that they are nesting somewhere not too distant from the reserve.
Raven (Corvus corax)
During my amble I also recorded my first site Dark-edged Bee-Fly of the year. They are interesting looking flies that resemble small bumblebees and have a long, straight proboscis that is uses to feed on nectar from spring flowers such as primroses.
Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major)
Saturday 30th March:
It was another mild, sunny day and it certainly brought out a few more inverts including one of my favourites, the Green Tiger Beetle. These stunning looking beetles are specialists of heathland, moorland, sandy grasslands and coastal dunes. The lowland heath habitats in within the Wyre Forest district (including Hartlebury Common) are ideal for them. They are voracious predators and feed on Ants, Spiders and caterpillars.
Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris)
During my visit I also recorded a couple more species of mining bee that were active: Ashy Mining Bee and Early Mining Bee. The latter is also known as Orange-tailed Mining Bee as it has an orange band on the tip of it's abdomen.
Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria)
Early Mining Bee (Andrena haemorrhoa)
Sunday 7th April:
I started my visit by walking down from the Wilden Top car park to the gate opposite Wilden Lane and back up. I was primarily looking out for Green Hairstreak butterflies as this is the location where, the past 3 years the first ones on the wing are usually seen. I wasn't in luck today although I did observe 2 Peacock butterflies and 2 queen Common Carder Bees.
Common Carder Bee (Bombus humilis)
I then undertook a walk around the upper terrace where active Bloody-nosed Beetles were a welcome addition to my site year list.
Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa)
It was also great to see and hear my first singing Willow Warbler of the year. Willow Warblers, like their close relative the Chiffchaff migrate back from sub-Saharan Africa (where they winter) to breed in the UK during the Summer months and every year Hartlebury Common holds a good number of them.
Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)
Shortly after photographing the Willow Warbler I bumped into fellow naturalist Gail H who had travelled up from near Malvern to visit Hartlebury Common to hopefully see Emperor Moth. After setting up the Pheromone lure it wasn't long before we were greeted by 2 ♂ Emperor Moths flitting about. As per usual they would check out the lure and fly off without really settling but at least it made Gail's trip to the site worthwhile.
We then wondered across to have a look at the Early Colletes nest site on the embankment where we a fair few were active despite the dull conditions including a mating pair.
Early Colletes (Colletes cunicularius)
After leaving Gail I ambled back to my car where I was in for one last treat as a Treecreeper landed on an Oak nearby and stayed still enough for a photo before proceeding upwards in an almost mouse-like fashion.
Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris)
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