North Cave Wetlands

We spent last Sunday morning (13th) at the Wetlands, the sun was out, mostly and it got pretty hot. First off was a cuppa and a bacon butty from The Little Butty Bus (we may have also got large chunks of cake too before we left!). 

It took us about 40 minutes to walk up Dryham Lane as lots of dragonflies were out and we got caught up taking photos! I've yet to confirm some of the ID's.

Azure Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Four Spotted Chaser

Not just dragonflies either

Furrow Orb-weaver

Long-jawed Spider

Rabbit

6 spot Burnett Moth caterpillar I think

The pesky Horseflies were in abundance including the giant one below and some deceptively pretty Twin-lobed Deerfly, one of those managed to bite my husbands arm, thankfully not badly. We had some pretty bad bites a couple of years ago so are quite wary of them!

The wildflowers were glorious and buzzing with all sorts of bees. We spotted a moth by one of the hides which I think is a Common Swift Moth. 

The whole time we were at the reserve we saw 5 butterflies - all different species but only 5 individual ones - Large Skipper, Speckled Wood, Small Copper, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell. I've noticed a distinct lack of butterflies all year so far.

Large Skipper

Speckled Wood

The reserve was full of birds, lots of noisy Black-headed Gulls, Avocets, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, a Common Tern, Sedge Warblers, Whitethroat to name a few.

Sedge Warbler with a damselfly

Oystercatcher

Black-headed Gulls

We watched this family of Long-tailed Tits for a while, they were constantly on the move through the hedge.

Along with several other birds that I couldn't quite get a photo of! Perhaps the Cettis Warbler that's around this part of the reserve?

Distant Whitethroat

A Longhorn Moth (Nemophora degeerella) near the reserve entrance

We left before lunch it was far too warm to be walking for me - I handle the heat less well these days and it was very humid! It pays to get up and out early!