On Sunday 31st May, Malcolm Storey led a field trip to the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust’s Dry Sandford nature reserve near Abingdon. The target species were solitary bees and wasps, which mine into the exposed sides of the former sand pit. A small ginger moth on Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil was later identified from photographs as Rannoch Looper – a new species for VC22 Berkshire. A web on a spindle bush contained the white caterpillars of the Spindle Ermine moth. A few Painted Lady butterflies were seen, stragglers from the mass invasion of the previous week. At the nearby Parsonage Moor reserve, rare fen flowers were found, including the insectivorous Common Butterwort, Marsh Lousewort, Marsh Valerian and Southern Marsh Orchid. A Cuckoo was heard calling nearby.
Dry Sandford Pit SU468995
Plants
Hart’s-tongue Fern Phyllitis scolopendrium
Marsh-marigold Caltha palustris
Barberry Berberis vulgaris
White Campion Silene latifolia
Red Campion Silene dioica
White x Red Campion hybrid Silene x hampeana
Bladder Campion Silene vulgaris
Amphibious Bistort Persicaria amphibia
White Bryony Bryonia dioica
Wild Mignonette Reseda lutea
Weld Reseda luteola
Red Currant Ribes rubrum
White Stonecrop Sedum album
Trailing Tormentil Potentilla anglica
Salad Burnet Sanguisorba minor
Narrow-leaved Vetch Vicia sativa ssp. nigra
Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus
Enchanter’s-nightshade Circaea lutetiana
Spindle Euonymus europaeus
Purging Buckthorn Rhamnus cathartica
Fairy Flax Linum catharticum
Hedgerow Crane’s-bill Geranium pyrenaicum
Himalayan Balsam Impatiens glandulifera
Rough Chervil Chaerophyllum temulum
Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris
Common Centaury Centaurium erythraea
Gypsywort Lycopus europaeus
Hedge Woundwort Stachys sylvatica
Common Toadflax Linaria vulgaris
Field Madder Sherardia arvensis
Ploughman’s-spikenard Inula conyzae
Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare
Woolly Thistle Cirsium eriophorum
Greater Knapweed Cirsium scabiosa
Mouse-ear-hawkweed Pilosella officinarum
Pendulous Sedge Carex pendula
Black Bog-rush Schoenus nigricans
Common Twayblade Listerata ovata
Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii
Early Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp. incarnata
Rust on spindle Melampsora epitea var. epitea (aecia)
Rust on Barberry: Puccinia graminis (aecia)
Insects
Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula
Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum
Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa
Red-headed Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis
A whirligig beetle
Viburnum Leaf Beetle Pyrrhalta viburni
Orange-tip
Brimstone
Common Blue
Painted Lady
Peacock
A web of Spindle Ermine caterpillars
Silver-ground Carpet
Rannoch Looper (a new record for VC22 Berkshire)
Pale Tussock
Straw Dot
Volucella bombylans
A solitary bee
Vertebrates
Tadpoles
Garden Warbler
Reed Warbler
Blackcap
Reed Bunting
The road between Dry Sandford Pit and Parsonage Moor
Dwarf Mallow Malva neglecta
Round-leaved Crane’s-bill Geranium rotundifolium
Parsonage Moor
Grass-of-Parnassus Parnassia palustris
Brooklime Veronica beccabunga
Marsh Lousewort Pedicularis palustris
Common Butterwort Pinguicula vulgaris
Marsh Valerian Valeriana dioica
Meadow Thistle Cirsium dissectum
Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa
Moths
Cream Wave
Birds
Buzzard
Cuckoo