May 2015
1st May 2015
The morning was spent at the SQ so that Dave and Brian could get some photos of adult Green Lizards. This project was very successful. Prior to that, I paid a solo visit to the site at 0745 to deliver 60 litres of water to Rock Bath 1. While I was on-site, I heard the trilling call of a Black Woodpecker, and the flute-like calls of some Golden Orioles. Neither species came into the site, unfortunately. A Serin was also heard close by. A new species of Longhorn Beetle was photographed, and this still requires identification.
2nd May 2015
A late afternoon visit with Dave and Brian, following our train trip to Szalajkaház
5th May 2015
A late afternoon visit .. well, two, actually, as I brought a total of 120 litres of water to Rock Bath 1. Butterflies NOT photographed, were: Orange Tip (male) and Wood White. A Nightingale sang during my visit. I saw 4 small Grass Snakes today: 3 in RB1 and the other basking on the rocky edge of The Bowl. It slid under the dry algal sheets as I approached. No newts were seen today. Oh ... I nearly forgot ..... one Green Tree Frog (Zöld levelibéka) called from the Reedbed just before I started to leave the site !
8th May 2015
Another late afternoon trip, including 2 water delivery trips, totaling 120 litres. No sign of toads, newts, or snakes in RB1 ... only tadpoles of various sizes. along with mayfly larvae, ramshorn snails, and a dragonfly larva of the Libellula genus. A Nightingale and Chiffchaff were heard, and Great Tits and a male Blackbird seen. The first appearance of the year by a Chequered Blue butterfly.
10th May 2015
A rather short morning visit provided much interest, including 4 species of Fritillary butterfly. The first Common Blue male of 2015 was also seen, as was the first male Reverdin's Blue. We brought another 60 litres of water to RB1, and some quite heavy rain showers fell towards the end of our visit. They would only 'water the plants' though ..... not enough to make pools in The Bowl, sadly.
11th May 2015
It was sunny for our afternoon visit, but also quite windy, which made photographing butterflies quite an adventure ! In addition, many were very active, and therefore, not all species were photographed. The escapees: Wood White, Clouded Yellow, Brimstone, and Dingy Skipper. Another 60 litres of water delivered, but we saw no toads, frogs, newts, or snakes in RB1 ... only the usual tadpoles (ebihalak)
13th May 2015
120 litres of water was delivered this afternoon, in 2 trips. The weather was hot and sunny, but also windy, which made butterfly photography rather difficult. Not too many butterfly species about today. A Clouded Yellow escaped the camera, as did a quite large brown butterfly ... a pity because I really couldn't identify it on the wing. A Grass Snake was frantically hunting tadpoles in RB1, and at one point, the tail of one he'd caught, covered his right eye! Also photographed today: the weird and wonderful Golden Egg Bug !
18th May 2015
Another 120 litres of water (2 trips) was delivered to Rock Bath 1, but I fear that I am gradually losing the battle. There are still some tadpoles in there, but I haven't seen any with legs, yet. If the current hot and sunny weather continues. I will not be able keep RB1 irrigated. 2 butterfly species escaped the camera today: Wood White, and Glanville Fritillary. 2 new moth species were recorded today, I believe.
22nd May 2015
We'd had about 24 hours of rain, some heavy, some light, so we decided to check if the SQ had benefitted. As we suspected, The Bowl didn't even have puddles, but at least the water level in Rock Bath 1 had not dropped since my last water-carrying mission. A few new species were recorded today: a spider, and maybe 2 or 3 moth species. A Gypsy Moth caterpillar dropped from a twig before it could be photographed. To get the photos of the back of the spider, I had to lie on MY back on the floor !
23rd May 2015
A short Saturday lunchtime visit in the quite heavy rain, to check how much water was flowing into the Small Quarry. Answer: some, but not enough to form pools in The Bowl, unfortunately.
25th May 2015
A lunchtime visit, during which we experienced a variety of weather conditions: from hot sunshine, to quite heavy rain showers. Photos missed during the study were: a Clouded Yellow butterfly, a 'quite large' Grass Snake that was coiled and basking in the reed bed (it saw me first, and went off like a rocket !), and a croaking Green Tree Frog among the reeds that could not be seen, let alone photographed!
26th May 2015
An afternoon study trip with a mixture of sunshine and cloud. One of the main photographic targets was the new bug species which was found on Viper's Bugloss yesterday. Well, I took the pix, but without a dedicated macro lens, the results are poor. Nevertheless, I have identified the species concerned!