CRICKETS & DRAGONFLIES: SUNDAY 25th JULY 2010
We were blessed with yet another warm day and our highest attendance ever of forty five people. The main issue that arose was that due to the high number of people attending we did not have enough nets and magnifying glasses but fortunately everyone was prepared to share so that nobody missed out trying to catch either crickets or grasshoppers lurking in the longer grass around the edge of the park. Some of the children found it quite funny watching their parents attempt to recreate their mis-spent youth with not much success. Ranger Mark had already done a recky around the park a bit earlier and was confident we would be able to catch something.It was not long before one of the younger members of the party, who was more adept at using a net, caught a Roesels cricket. We continued to move long the path and quickly managed to capture both Meadow and Field grasshoppers, although some did manage to escape when trying to extract them from the net.
As with previous years we managed to catch sight of the brightly coloured Wasp spider, patiently waiting for its prey to get caught in its web.
It was pleasing to see there were a number of butterflies about, particularly the Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown. Whilst they are fairly common, the increase in numbers is a success for the development of the park. Both are fairly similar in colouring but the Gatekeeper is slightly smaller, more orange and having two white pupils on the eye spots unlike one on the Meadow Brown.
As we headed towards the lake we caught a few Conehead crickets. On reaching the edge Ranger Mark felt that due to fairly strong winds we may not see as many dragonflies/damsel flies as they preferred and were more active in calmer conditions. Sadly the prediction became true and only saw an individual black tailed skimmer. Also fleeting glimses of Common Blue and Blue Tailed damsel flies. After a while, despite some patience, we were not fortunate enough to see any more species and called it a day, heading back to the Pavilion for tea, orange juice and biscuits.
Paul Clarke