It was a lovely day for our visit to Rushmere Country Park to take a closer look at the wildlife to be found around the park. We had plenty of YounGnats come to look at our Nature Table in the Rushmere Visitor Centre which this time included some live beetles and moths caught in a moth trap overnight. As usual the Mink was of great interest.

Some of the young herons had already fledged but there was still plenty of activity in the heronry to be spied upon using the spotting scopes. One young heron was even seen to make its maiden flight although we weren’t sure if it had been planned or not!

After a slow start, the bug hunters arrived at our marquee in the bottom meadow. They quickly set to work and found an impressive amount of wildlife.

• Ground Beetles of various sorts: Carabus problematicus  (Violet ground beetle), Abax parallelepipedus,  Nebria brevicollis, Pterosticus madidius (Black clock ground beetle) and Bembidion Sp.,
• Rove beetles: Philonthus plus larvae and Xantholinus
• Ladybirds: 14 spot, 16 spot and 24 spot
• Cuckoo bee and Red tailed bumble bee
• Wolf Spider
• Springtails
• Common Ground hopper
• Speckled bush cricket and Dark bush cricket
• Various Butterflies: Orange tip, Green veined white, Large White, Brimstone and Peacock caterpillars
• Longhorn Moth
• Lots of bugs: Leaf Hopper, Green shield Bug and Sloe/hairy Shield bug, Phyllobius (Weevil), Corizus hyoscyami, Stenodema laevegeta (Grass bug), Birch Bug, Nettle Bug and Nabids

Thanks to Julia and Erika for arranging a fabulous day for us, and to John Pitts our roving photographer. Why not come along to our next one and see what you can find?