Warden Steve Warrillow made us very welcome and invited us to the new warden's office to see what his moth traps had caught overnight.
Scalloped Oak moth - Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, 9th July 2017
Peppered moth - Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, 9th July 2017
Early Thorn moth - Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, 9th July 2017
We also saw Buff Arches and White Ermine moths, and a Sparrowhawk flying overhead, but the star of the show had to be the Poplar Hawk-moth.
Poplar Hawk-moth - Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, 9th July 2017
The star of the show was this Poplar Hawk-moth (on Steve's thumb)
We then headed out along the river to the far end of the reserve. Here, under the trees, Steve has placed up to 50 wooden boards to create living spaces for mammals and amphibians. We were encouraged to lift up these boards to see what lives beneath.
We found evidence of small mammals living under most of the boards, either Wood Mouse or Bank Vole, although we didn't see any this time. What we did see was lots of Toads, most of which were very dark, but at least one was very pale. Steve explained there can be lots of variation in the colouring of toads, and especially in Common Frogs too.
One of the dark Toads we found...
...and a pale Toad we found
Finally, we emerged into the the hot sunshine and headed to the pond for some pond-dipping.
Moorhens - Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, 9th July 2017
Two Moorhens were nesting on the pond, and hawking for small insect prey were two large Brown Hawker dragonflies. Around the reeds and irises at the pond edge were the much smaller Azure Damselflies.
Pond dipping
We managed to catch a wide variety of species, and learnt to identify many of them too. There were quite a small young Smooth Newts, some bigger than others. We also caught plenty of invertebrates: Greater and Lesser Water-boatmen, Hog Louse, Blood Worm, Flatworm, Water Mite, Pond Skaters, Leaches and Freshwater Snail.
Greater Water-boatman (aka Backswimmer)
Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, 9th July 2017
Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, 9th July 2017
Thank you to everyone who attended and made it such a fun event.