Wed 3rd July 2019 - Adjacemt Lake House, Bathingbourne. GG # 792.

Terry's Photographs.

If you ever question why we go along to GG sessions......just look at the variety of wildlife that we see...!

Plume Moth.

Banded Demoiselle

 Beautiful Demoiselle (female)

Skipper butterfly.

Two Marbled Whites.

Blue-tailed Damselfly in the form “rufescens”' with the salmon pink thorax.

Meadow Grasshopper.

Peacock.

Harvestman Spider.

Mark's Photograph.

Thick-legged Flower Beetle.

It was a beautiful morning off the beaten track in the depths of the Island's countryside.  Bathingbourne is in the East Yar valley, a stream we've worked on before of course but mainly further south on higher ground. Now the Himalayan Balsam is less of an issue upstream we tackle the problem here. 

This session reminded us all that some of the richest biodiversity can be found on farmland where areas are left to nature on field margins and buffer zones, and with recent management to control thorn and bramble this area was so rich in butterflies, dragonflies and other insects. Sadly not a public footpath, but with Green Gym we get to experience such treats. However we did suffer in the blazing sun, in high temperatures, high pollen counts and one of our band had a close encounter with the stream, just a little bit too close.

Plenty of Balsam here to tackle and we kept busy the whole time.

Many thanks to Terry for the photographs, Mark for the editorial & photo and to Sue & Mark for identifying the species above.