Welcome To Whitehall Rec Nature Blog

Introduction

 

14.5.2013

 Hello everyone, my name is Rod and I live in Chatterton Road. My passion is nature and I spend most of my time writing, photographing and thinking about our local wildlife.

We have a small pond in our wildlife patch which can attract a number of interesting creatures. Here is a dragonfly that I photographed a couple of years ago, but there are other creatures that regularly visit ponds and need preserving.

Libellula Depressa

Here is another image of a friendly face that we might see around our pond. The common frog breeds every two years in early spring (late February and March) and it does so by returning to the same pond in which it was spawned. This year was very good for breeding frogs and several were seen in Pope Road, hopping along the wet pavement during the late evening on their way back home.

Common Frog

Butterflies

Among the butterflies we can expect to find in our wildlife enclosure is the brown argus, which is about the size of a ten pence coin, so quite easy to overlook.

 

  Brown Argus

Moths

We are lucky to have lots of trees in the park where moths can breed. This is the lime hawkmoth - the green caterpillars live on the leaves of the lime tree and maturing in spring to burrow down among the soil at the base of the tree. Later, in early summer, the adult moth appears and climbs up the trunk, where its tightly folded wings inflate and dry allowing the moth to fly. The wings are beautifully marked, but can easily fool a bird into overlooking the tasty moth, simply because it looks just like another bunch of leaves.

Lime Hawkmoth pair, female above male below

Birds  

We are also lucky to have many birds nesting and feeding in the area, especially since there are so many trees and fully stocked gardens. Here is a favourite of mine, the nuthatch.

Nuthatch

If you want some more images and get some more information you can visit me at http://www.nature-photos.co.uk You can also respond through this blog with any images or information you might have about wildlife you have seen in and around the rec.

Nest Box Watch

We are lucky to have a number of nest boxes occupied around the park. They are decorated with painted images and are doing a great job in providing nesting places for our many Great Tits and Blue Tits. At the moment - early June, most of them have young birds that the adult birds are frantically feeding.