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Today’s dragonfly survey turned up lots of interesting damsels and dragons busy making next year’s generation.
We also spotted a Red-veined Darter on the South Pools. It’s an uncommon species that comes across here from Europe. This seems to be a good year for them.
You can pick up your free copy of the Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve MAP from Portishead Library.
We have had many requests for a printed map so here it is! It shows suggested routes around the nature reserve and what you might see. So we hope you find it both useful and informative.
We would like to thank Portishead Raft Race who very kindly paid for the printing of the map.😁
Come and say hello to us at the Portishead Raft Race this Sunday. We will have our popular nature table plus a "match the song to the bird" game. This is a great way to learn to identify bird song. You can also pick up a copy of our new map leaflet . . . hot off the press. The printing costs were very kindly donated by the Portishead Raft Race 2019
The first Dragonfly survey of the year was done on the reserve on Thursday. Quite a few Damselflies about, but not many dragons yet!
Oh, and one strange looking Shield Bug! (possibly Verlusea rhombea). The Dragonfly is a Broad-bodied Chaser, the Damselflies are a Blue-tailed and an Azure.
The uplifting power of cranes?
This was the amazing sunrise that greeted me as I walked by the nature reserve. A flight of Canada Geese completed the picture.
There was a roebuck snoozing in the North Pool field while out on the salt marsh several curlews, many shelducks, a number of teal, a pair of oystercatchers, a duo of gadwalls and a common sandpiper was the icing on the cake.
It was so worth getting up early!
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Last Updated: May 22, 2019 by fpwnr
MAY – what to look out for
Listen out for cuckoos in May. Cuckoos fly all the way here from Africa and beyond to lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. Did you know it is only the male bird that calls “cuckoo”? A cuckoo was heard calling at Portbury Wharf early this May.
Along the hedgerows
Our resident hedgerow birds are well into nesting by May and many of our summer visitors have arrived to nest here too. These include Common Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, Reed and Sedge Warblers.
By the pools and on the estuary
House and sand martins, swallows and swifts will be swooping low feeding on insects. Also keep a look out, particularly on the estuary for whimbrels. Whimbrels are a wading bird very similar to curlews with long legs and a long curved beak.
Along the rhynes
This is a great place to look for dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies.
Category: what to look for
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