WFV, 3rd September 2024, Potteric Carr

We were reduced to a group of six following several cancellations. As we left the city the weather was cool & rather dull & this remained so when we arrived at 11:00.  It wasn’t long however before broken clouds & sunshine made an appearance.  

It took us two hours to reach our lunch destination, Duchess Hide. The earlier hides (Willow Pool & Beeston) were either out of action or didn’t look out onto water.  Volunteers were observed carrying out various works so progress is being made.

We took so long due to our investigation of the plants & insects we encountered. Common Fleabane was everywhere. Hoary Ragwort, Wild Carrot. Yellow-wort, Scabiouses & Clematis were just some of the others. Whilst Julia was turning over a leaf she came across a Vapourer Caterpillar on the underneath! We spent a goodly amount of time trying to obtain decent photos of that spectacular insect.  Then Alison found a Dock Bug which she kept on her finger till it had its photograph taken!   Other bugs identified were Hairy & Hawthorn Shieldbugs.

The warmth brought out a large number of insects, mainly hoverflies, wasps, bees & tiny things that made us feel itchy. On arriving back home I found I had been bitten multiple times incl twice on the face !!   I had used repellent but clearly not enough & not in all the relevant places!   

Dragonflies seen = Common Darters, Migrant Hawkers & a Southern Hawker. Butterflies & moths = Speckled Woods, Large, Small & GV Whites, Red Admiral, Argyresthia goedartella (this was tiny) & a Brown China-mark. The only birds to be seen on the lakes were ducks, gulls & Dabchick. The only wader species were Lapwing. Water levels are currently too high for most wader species.

After lunch (which incl Julia’s homemade Plum Cake) we kept to our plan of walking around Huxter Well Marsh. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the viewing screen we realised that we had less than an hour to complete the circuit. At the Visitor Centre the signs stated that the site car park closed at 16:00 so we knew we couldn’t risk overstaying our visit !  Sadly this meant we had to ignore the remaining hides in order to march briskly to the exit. This we managed with a couple of minutes to spare !  Thankfully the toilets were still open.

Our drivers were Kevin & Julia

John Gavaghan