Bioblitz! Looking for bugs, plants and animals with Solway Wetlands Partnership

Bioblitz fun....what a great way to spend 24 hours! The idea of a bioblitz is to find as many different species as possible on a chosen site. I love everything about nature and every so I decided to go along and help at the bioblitz organised by Naomi Hewitt at the Solway Wetlands Partnership on the RSPB Campfield Marsh site. 

Four Spotted Chaser, Libellula quadrimaculata

The bioblitz ran for 24 hours from the evening of Friday 29th May through to the Saturday evening. During that time we tried to record as many different species as possible. Also on hand to help were people from Natural England and experts such as entomologists, lepidopterists, chiropterologists and herpetologists.....more commonly known as experts of insects, butterflies, bats and reptiles!! Please note any bugs collected were done so for identification purposes by experts and were released safely back to their homes.

Great Diving Water Beetle, Dytiscus marginalis

I went along on Friday evening and Saturday morning and even during that time we had recorded a lot of different species and there were a few first sightings for me, for example a water scorpion - very cool and newt eggs wrapped up in leaves - also very cool!

The idea of this blog is just simply to share some of my photos from the day, rather than writing too much. Enjoy.....

9 Spined Stickleback, Pungitius pungitius

Lesser Water Boatman, Corixa punctata

Common Frog tadpoles with legs and eyes!!
Rana temporaria

Water Scorpion, Nepidae Sp.

Dragonfly larvae

Great Pond Snails, Lymnaea stagnalis and another aquatic snail!

 

Great Diving Beetle, Dysticus circumflexus

Great Diving Beetle, Dysticus circumflexus

Eggs from a smooth or plamate newt - found in folded leaves

Cowslip, Primula veris

Wood Forget-Me-Not, Myosotis sylvatica

Red Campion, Silene dioica

Drinker Moth Caterpillar, Euthrix potatoria

Orange Tip Butterfly, showing underwings
Anthocharis cardamines

Camouflage - Orange tip butterfly against the cow parsley!!

Large Red Damselfly, Pyrrhosoma nymphula

Azure Damselfly, Coenagrion puella

Damselfly land!

Green Dock Beetle, Gastrophysa viridula

Dock Beetle Eggs

Common Toad, Bufo bufo

Pale Prominent Moth, Pterostoma palpina

Square Spot Moth, Paradarisa consonaria

So that is just a snippet of what we found out on our bioblitz and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in nature. The best thing about a bioblitz is the sharing of knowledge. When you get a group of nature geeks together it is amazing what you can learn from each other. The natural world never ceases to amaze me and there are so many cleaver and adaptable species out there. You only need to explore a small section of hedgerow and it is amazing what you can find. In fact, I may try my own little survey close to home....