I went to Trench Wood this afternoon, for the first time this year – not really expecting to find very much, but on the remote off chance that it might be teeming with inverts. It wasn’t, but I did spot a couple of interesting creatures, the nicest of which was the tiny black weevil in tonight’s second photo. I hadn’t seen one before, but after doing some research I think it’s a female Birch Leaf Roller (Deporaus betulae). Moments after I took this she turned and marched towards me, and her flared and bristly snout made her look comically angry.
A lot of clearance work has gone on at Trench during the winter, broadening the rides and opening up some little glades. I hope that this will encourage the growth of flowering plants, which have been rather sparse there over the past couple of summers, and provide more food for the nectar and pollen feeders. It’s not all good news though: the ground is still extremely wet, and even the broad rides are almost impassable in places. I was determined to reach the pond to look for damselflies, and tried very hard, but in the end I had to admit defeat. I might have got through in wellingtons, though the mud was treacherously slippery, but there was no visible path for the last fifty metres, just a churned mass of mud and water, and I didn’t dare risk it in walking boots.
Deprived of the possibility of damsels at Trench, I went home via the Community Orchard at Cleeve Prior, to check out the rumour I’d heard that it has a decent pond. It turns out that there are actually two, though the water in one of them is a rather unappealing colour, and I think it might be polluted. The other is much better and looks as though it might have good Odonata potential, though there was nothing to be seen there today.
Back at home, after a cup of tea and a chat with R, I went off to examine our own little ponds. Again, I wasn’t really expecting to find anything, but to my surprise and delight the first Large Red Damselfly of the season was resting on the wooden surround of the patio pond. As you can see from her pale colouring she was quite new, though she can’t have emerged in this position so I knew she must have made her maiden flight already. Strangely though, when she decided that she’d had enough of being peered at and photographed, rather than flying away she walked across the board and over the edge, and hung by her claws from its under surface. I was a little worried about the potential enemies (spiders and ants being top of the list) that might find her if she tried to roost there for the night, but happily when I went to check on her again a couple of hours later, she’d gone.
