Sightings from 31/8/24

A new species for me on Moss Lane Pool around noon, an Emerald Damselfly resting on vegetation close enough to confirm ID

Also 3 Brown Hawker, double figures of Common Darter and a few Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Very few butterflies most numerous were Speckled Wood in the shady areas probably 10+
4 worn Meadow Brown and 2 Common Blue were the only others seen.

25/6/24 from 10,30 to Noon

5 Emperor dragonfly including an egg laying female.
2 Four-spotted Chaser.
50+ Common Blue and a few Blue-tailed damselflies.
The most abundant butterfly were Ringlet probably over 60 seen
c15 Meadow Brown.
2 Common Blue.
5 Small Heath.
5 Skippers only one identified, that was Large.
Didn't seen a white of any type.
Quite a few 5 Spot Burnet probably 200 plus but this is way down on last years numbers.
Also a Green Sawfly caught my eye as something different, flitting around in the long grass.

26/5/24 midday

A single Painted Lady seen in the same area as the one last week
Also 5 Small Heath and a couple of distant whites were the only butterflies seen in an hours visit.

19/5/24

A Painted Lady was seen sunning on a path early this morning. Seeing this one probably solves the identity of a butterfly flying past at high speed on Audenshaw Reservoirs yesterday morning, size and colour in flight matched.

25/6/23 from 6.30 to 8am

75+ Ringlet
20+ Meadow Brown
c15 Large Skipper
5 Small Skipper
1 Small Heath
2 Comma
1 Small Tortoiseshell
Still 100s of NB 5 Spot Burnet, there were 1000s last weekend
No Common Blues seen today but there were 50+ on 11th June with around 40 Small Heath on the same day.
2 Emperor and lots of Common Blue Damselflies also a small dark looking Dragonfly seen briefly on the mound.
There were 7 Four-spotted Chasers on the 14th and 4 Emperors on the 16th with 1 seen ovipositing.

The Spider pictured in the previous post is a Gorse Orbweb of the 'delta' form but apparently not a typical pattern, thanks to BAS for their help with this.

9/6/23 Some sightings since 25/5

29th May
11 Common Blue butterfly
4 Small Heath
2 Speckled Wood
2 Large White
1 Broad-bodied Chaser
1 Four-spotted Chaser
1 Emperor
Common Blue and Blue-tailed damselflies
Lots of Swollen-thighed Beetles
A Red-and-black Froghopper
Also an unidentified spider, photo attached. 18th June
8 Small Heath
8 Common Blue butterfly
1 Emperor
And a large black with orange legs Wasp, pimpla rufipes trying to lay an egg into a Burnet Moth Cocoon, seemed to be struggling to penetrate and resorted to chewing at the cocoon before trying again. There were plenty of caterpillars nearby so don't know why it didn't attack those instead.
If all the Burnet Moths emerge there are going to be thousands around in a few days time.

-- Edited by simon ghilks on Friday 9th of June 2023 03:02:46 PM

-- Edited by simon ghilks on Friday 9th of June 2023 03:03:32 PM

27/5/23 from noon for about an hour

Moss Lane Pool
2 Broad-bodied Chaser
2 Four-spotted Chaser
50+ Common Blue Damselfly

Butterflies still low numbers and variety
11 Small Heath
2 Large White
1 Speckled Wood
1 Small Tortoiseshell
A few smaller Whites seen at a distance

14/8/22 an hour from 9:30 this morning

Counted 54 Common Blue Butterflies, by far the most I have seen on here and good to see after a few lean years for them.
Not too many other butterflies, 6 Meadow Brown, 2 Gatekeeper, 3 Small Heath, 1 Speckled Wood and a few Large White.
Odonata
2 Emperor, 2 Brown Hawker, 6 Common Darter and double figures of Common Blue damselfly were on Moss Lane Pool.

7/6/2022

Fairly slow on the invert front up to now but picking up with plenty of various Bees around this morning.

Frustratingly saw what looked like a clear winged moth in flight but lost it when it landed, I didn't see it again.

Common Blue Butterflies seem to be in best numbers for quite a few years, at least 8 seen this morning on a fairly early visit.
Small Heath are doing better each year, I counted 10 on Saturday, a few were out early this morning.
There were a few Green-veined White on Saturday during a later visit up to 11am.
Also the odd Speckled Wood being seen.

The only odonata I've seen so far were all on 17 May and then only 3 or 4 Common Blue Damselflies.

Moss Lane Pool has 100s of toad tadpoles atm.

27/7/21 Mid Afternoon

Butterflies
50+ Gatekeeper
25+ Meadow Brown
2 Ringlet
2 Unidentified Skipper
3 Speckled Wood
1 Peacock
20+ Whites
New species for me on here a Holly Blue was feeding on Coot/Moorhen faeces at Moss Lane Pool.

Odonata
5 Emperor, 4 at MLP, 1 flying across the mound
2 Brown Hawker
1 Banded Demoiselle at MLP briefly
Still a few Common and Blue-tailed Damselflies

Karen Foulkes wrote:

---

With Mike Chorley today

A good number of insects and some interesting flora.

Butterflies included 70+ Meadow Brown
c40 Ringlet
At least 20 Skippers with both Small and Large seen
3 Large White
Speckled Wood
c10 Small Heath
2 Small Tortoiseshell
2 Red Admiral
2 Five-spot Burnet
Cinnabar moth caterpillars on the Ragwort

Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies were distributed in good numbers around the mound, Sheldon Pool and Moss Lane Pools. Dragonflies were represented by Brown Hawker, Emperor and Four-spotted Chaser.

Soldier Beetles were high in number and impossible to count and at least four Seven-spot Ladybirds were present.

A toadlet was also near Sheldon Pool

A single Bee Orchid was on the mound but was well past its best and a more distant orchid could only be identified as either Marsh or Common Spotted Orchid.

---

Oops! We forgot the Gatekeepers

With Mike Chorley today

A good number of insects and some interesting flora.

Butterflies included 70+ Meadow Brown
c40 Ringlet
At least 20 Skippers with both Small and Large seen
3 Large White
Speckled Wood
c10 Small Heath
2 Small Tortoiseshell
2 Red Admiral
2 Five-spot Burnet
Cinnabar moth caterpillars on the Ragwort

Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies were distributed in good numbers around the mound, Sheldon Pool and Moss Lane Pools. Dragonflies were represented by Brown Hawker, Emperor and Four-spotted Chaser.

Soldier Beetles were high in number and impossible to count and at least four Seven-spot Ladybirds were present.

A toadlet was also near Sheldon Pool

A single Bee Orchid was on the mound but was well past its best and a more distant orchid could only be identified as either Marsh or Common Spotted Orchid.

9/7/21 Some sightings from around the mound over the last month.

Butterflies have been notably low in numbers so far, Ringlet have recently bucked this trend with probably 50+ today, the first were seen on 28/6.
c10 Meadow Brown today, first time in double figures today, usually the most abundant species at this time of year. First noted on 19/6.
Some other of todays sightings.
5 Small Tortoiseshell.
2 Small Heath, these have been seen on all recent visits with maximum of 8 on 2 occasions, seem to be doing well this year.
c10 Small Skipper, Large Skipper have been around since middle of June but non noted today.
Previous sightings of Speckled Wood, Comma, Large White, Small White and Common Blue, these have seen a dramatic decline in numbers over the last couple of years, they were the most abundant species in mid to late June, highest count this year was 3 on 23/6.
The 5 Spot Burnet Moths have also emerged in low numbers this year, thinly spread whereas previously there would be masses gathering on suitable flowers.

Odonata
First Dragonflies were 2 Emperor on 14/6, up to 4 males have been on Moss Lane pool regularly, ovipositing females seen 5 times with two there on one occasion. A Little Grebe was seen to take one of these females and consume it.
1 Broad Bodied Chaser on 19/6.
2 Four-spotted Chaser have been around MLP since 15/6.
1 very brief blue type Hawker remained un ID'd on 19/6.
2 female and 1 male Black-tailed Skimmer have been seen on different dates the first being on 23/6, the latest today.
Today 2 Brown Hawker were the first ones this year.
Damselflies are represented by Common Blue and Blue-tailed, out in decent numbers today, can be seen anywhere around the mound.

100s of Toadlets were seen getting ready to leave MLP on 19/6. Some stragglers remained until this week.
Also 1 deceased Common Shrew on 23/6.

9/6/21

Couple of visits from today and yesterday between 7 and 8:30am

Not much butterfly activity but notable increase this year in Small Heath, 7 seen yesterday 5 this morning.
Also an amazingly bright Common Blue seen yesterday.

Not seen any odonata this year other than a few Common Blue Damselflies last Tuesday afternoon.

Plenty of bumblebees on the emergent wild flowers, seem to be mainly White-tailed, did see a huge all black bee but it was off before I could get a better view of it.

Late morning, conditions generally cool, but with sunny intervals

Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper on the wing, but my favourite was a Latticed Heath Moth

Also lots of Soldier Beetles

Lots of insects and flora near Sheldon Pool

Plenty of Common Blue Damselflies over the pool and in the surrounding grass
A probable Banded Demoiselle flew over the tram track while I was waiting for my tram

I only managed to find Large White butterflies but plenty of bees and hoverflies around

A nice patch of White Campion on the corner near to the car park

Very hot today, I think it was too hot for a lot of the butterflies

Two Ringlet
15 Meadow Brown
2 Small Tortoiseshell
At least 30 Skippers on the wing, those I saw resting were predominantly Small Skippers
Lots of Five-spot Burnets

On Sheldon Pool there was an Emperor Dragonfly
Also lots of Common Blue Damselflies - too many to count as they were flying above the water in huge numbers
A Blue-tailed Damselfly was on the mound, although I suspect there were probably more on the pool
I also saw a green Lacewing

I was hoping to look for Grass Vetchling today, but I didn't get far enough out to the areas where I saw them last year.
I was particularly pleased though to find at least 34 stalks of Bee Orchid near Sheldon Pool

20/6/20 some sightings from this morning up until 8am and a late morning visit from last Wednesday

7 Ringlet seen this morning, only other sightings today were a Meadow Brown and a Large Skipper and the ongoing mass emergence of Five-spot Burnets.

Wednesday 17th
7 Small Tortoiseshell,
12 Meadow Brown
2 Large Skipper
1 Small Heath
3 Common Blue
also
2 Emperor Dragonfly
1 Four-spotted Chaser, immature
50+ Common Blue Damselfly

Also seen were 2 Weasel together and 100s of toadlets dispersing from one of the back pools.

29/5/20 Late post from an afternoon visit yesterday.

It will be interesting to see what the butterfly numbers will be like this year with the very wet and mild winter followed by this extremely dry and sunny spring. The area is free draining so the ground is bone dry with the result that the grasses and flowering shrubs are struggling to grow at the moment.

Not much about yesterday but looking at my past records I don't usually start recording insects until around the second week in June.

Butterflies seen
2 Small Heath
1 Small Skipper
4 Common Blue
3 Small White
1 Small Tortoiseshell

Odonata
1 Broad-bodied Chaser, imm.
probably 30+ Common Blue Damselfly
a few Blue-tailed Damselfly

17/9/19 Late afternoon on the mound

Butterflies
2 Painted Lady
1 Small Tortoiseshell
3 Speckled Wood
3 Common Blue
1 Small White
2 Large White
Odonata
1 Brown Hawker
1 Southern Hawker

8/9/19 some sightings from mid morning

5 Painted Lady
2 Small Tortoiseshell
c10 Large White
24 Common Blue
2 Speckled Wood

Odonata
3 Brown Hawker
2 Common Darter

A couple walking their dog told me they had photographed a Bee Orchid recently but description would indicate Man Orchid (mention of 2 arms and 2 legs). Interesting sighting either way.

26/8/19 from about noon

Butterflies
A few Meadow Brown, maybe 10+
2 or 3 each of Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral and Large White
By far the most abundant were the Common Blue, easily 50+

Odonata
7 Brown Hawker
1 Emperor
1 Southern Hawker
A few Common Darter
Double figures of Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselfly

23/7/19 Mid afternoon around the mound

Masses of butterflies
200+ Gatekeeper
100+ Meadow Brown
30+ Small Skipper
30+ Large White
5 Speckled Wood
2 Comma
4 Peacock
1 Red Admiral
1 Painted Lady
a few worn Ringlet

Odonata
4 Emperor
2 Brown Hawker
2 Four-spotted Chaser
1 Common Darter
1 female Banded Demoiselle
100s Common Blue Damselfly
a few Blue-tailed Damselfly

Huge numbers of insects seen this morning:-

Impressive numbers of Ringlet with numbers probably over 100. Incredible to think that it is only in recent years that these butterflies arrived on this site!
c10 Painted Lady
3 Small Heath
c50 Meadow Brown
20+ Common Blue
c15 Large Skipper
A few Small Skipper

5 Spot Burnet moths seemed to be hatching this morning with at least 200 seen

Odonata

2 Emperor
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Common Blue Damselfly

Seven-spot Ladybird

Toadlet

A couple of clumps of Grass Vetchling were a new plant for me for this site. At least 20 stalks seen

27/6/19 early afternoon around the mound

Butterflies
c20 Painted Lady
20+Common Blue
10+ Ringlet
5 Meadow Brown
4 Small Heath
20+ Large Skipper
A few Small Skipper
1 Comma
1 Red Admiral
1 Large White
1 Small White

Odonata
1 Emperor
1 Brown Hawker
1 unidentified Hawker type
Common Blue damselflies out in decent numbers

19/6/19 Midday

Butterflies
20+ Common Blue
2 Small Heath
1 Painted Lady
1 Small White
1 Large Skipper
1 Meadow Brown
also a couple of hundred 5 Spot Burnet, nowhere near as many as has been usual at this time in previous years.
Hundreds of Bumble Bees of a few species, mostly Red-tailed.
4 Common Blue and 2 Blue-tailed Damselflies

5/8/18 9:15 to 10:30am

Butterflies
2 Meadow Brown
2 Gatekeeper
5 Common Blue including a brown female
2 Small Copper having the most sustained squabble I have seen from 2 butterflies, carried on as I lost sight of them behind some trees.
2 Speckled Wood
10+ Large White

Only dragonfly seen was a Brown Hawker

Sun 8th July: 12.00 - 14.00

Butterflies pretty much as Simon's post - no Painted Lady but one Common Blue.

7/7/2018 8:15 to 9:15 this morning.

Gatekeepers out in numbers today, probably more than 50.
30+ Meadow Brown.
couple of Ringlet.
couple of Small Skipper.
Small Tortoiseshell.
A few Large White.
1 Painted Lady.

A few Dragonfly on Moss Lane Pool.
3 Emperor, (+1 roaming the mound).
A few what looked like darters but bright light and distance made ID difficult, usually Common here.

A couple of hours on the Moss this morning with Simon Ghilks

30+ Ringlet
30+ Meadow Brown
30+ Small Skipper
4 Common Blue
5+ Gatekeeper
Comma
Small Tortoiseshell
Odonata

3 Emperor
2+ 4 Spotted Chaser
Brown Hawker
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Several teneril probably Common Blue Damselflies

-- Edited by Karen Foulkes on Saturday 30th of June 2018 02:31:14 PM

11/6/2018 mid afternoon on the mound and back pools

5 Spot Burnet emerging in quite large numbers
Common Blue and Large Skipper were the most numerous butterfly, 10+ of each
3 Meadow Brown
2 Large White
3 Emperor Dragonfly
4 Broad-bodied Chaser
Small numbers of Common Blue Damselfly

17/9/2017 around midday

Only butterflies seen 1 Speckled Wood and 1 Red Admiral
Odonata
3 Brown Hawker
At least 3 pairs of Common Darter ovipositing another pair mating and a couple of singles
1 Blue-tailed Damselfly and a few blue type, not sure if time of year precludes a particular species but Common Blue is the default earlier in the year.

This afternoon

Sheldon Pool

2 Common Blue
2 Speckled Wood
5 Common Blue Damselflies

Mound area

5 Meadow Brown
Small Skipper very worn
12+ Common Blue, most immaculate and mainly males
3 Speckled Wood

Back Pools

Emperor
Brown Hawker
3 Common Darter

13/8/17 late morning

Most abundant butterfly was Gatekeeper 20+, a few Meadow Brown and a pristine Common Blue.
A couple of Brown Hawkers were on the mound but most dragonfly activity was on or around Moss Lane Pool
2 or 3 Brown Hawker,
2 Emperor,
2 or 3 blue type Hawker,
5 or 6 Common Darter
A few Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies

c40 Gatekeeper around Sheldon Pool
1 Emperor dragonfly
1 Brown Hawker
Numerous Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies
10 Meadow Brown

Around the mound area

c30 Gatekeeper
Brown Hawker
Black-tailed Skimmer on the back pool
Blue-tailed Damselflies
Soldier Beetles
7-spotted Ladybird
Small Skipper
Latticed Heath

Teasel
White Campion
Rosebay Willowherb
Great Willowherb

5/7/2017

Late afternoon circuit of the mound
Butterflies starting to appear in greater numbers
Double figure counts of Small Skipper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Common Blue.
A few Large Whites and 2 or 3 Small Heath and Large Skipper.
Still quite a few Burnet moths about but numbers slowly declining.
Lots of Common Blue and Blue-tailed damselflies
1 Black-tailed Skimmer resting on one of the large overflow pipes at Moss Lane pool.
2 or 3 Emperor Dragonfly around this pool, a female was seen laying a few days ago.
Many hundreds of bees on the abundant wildflowers, mostly Honey Bees, the sound of the combined buzzing almost drowned out the nearby traffic.

A walk from the Leisure Park to Ashton Moss tram stop this afternoon. Quite breezy and occasionally more humid conditions when the sun appeared

27 Ringlets counted in the rough grassy areas. Probably more present and the highest number I have seen yet on Ashton Moss. Likely to have been more present on the mound. It has been great to see the spread of these around the county over recent years.
Small Skipper
Large Skipper
3 Common Blue
5-spot Burnet moths again abundant
Common Blue Damselflies mostly resting
One Blue-tailed Damselfly seen later near the Sheldon Arms I also found the first Alder Leaf Beetles I have seen in Tameside on Ashton Moss today.

-- Edited by Karen Foulkes on Sunday 25th of June 2017 06:20:22 PM



-- Edited by Karen Foulkes on Sunday 25th of June 2017 09:51:33 PM

In the general area

5-spot Burnet moths were abundant
Common Blue Damselflies also abundant
20-30 Blue-tailed Damselflies present
A strange damsel-type with quite a lot of brightish yellow along the body
4 Meadow Brown
20-30 Common Blue
3-4 Large Skipper
Red Admiral

Sheldon Pool also had Water Boatmen, Pond Skater, a couple of snail species and Stickleback

5/9/16 mid afternoon

1 Brown Hawker
3 Darter spec.
1 blue type damselfly
2 Meadow Brown
20+ Speckled Wood
4 Common Blue
1 Large White

This afternoon, in less than ideal conditions

1 Meadow Brown
1 Brown Hawker

A large hatching of Craneflies seemed to have occurred with literally dozens of them present.

27/7/2016 mid afternoon visit
Butterflies counted
65 Gatekeeper
25 Meadow Brown
c14 Green-veined White
c10 Large White
9 Small Skipper
1 Ringlet
1 Small Tortoiseshell
1 Red Admiral
Dragonflies
2 Common Darter
2 either Broad-bodied Chaser or Black-tailed Skimmer
3 Brown Hawker
2 Common Hawker
Damselflies
Many 10s probably 100s of Common Blue
A few Blue-tailed

19/6/2016 mid morning

1000s of Burnet moth (all that were scrutinised were 5 spot) emerging, feeding and mating.
c15 Fairy Longhorn Moth (nemophora degeerella) nice looking moth with extraordinarily long antenna.
4 Small Skipper
4 Common Blue butterfly
2 Meadow Brown
many dozens of blue type damselfly coupling over Sheldon Pond

30/10/2015 around midday

On the Mound
1 Darter type Dragonfly
3 Red Admiral
100s of what appeared to be Crane Fly but were about half the size of a Daddy Longlegs

This afternoon

Common Darter
Large White
2 Speckled Wood

Friday 25th September 2015, 1.15 - 1.45pm

A quick wander around the Mound

3 Common Blue butterflies (2m, 1f)
1 Brown Hawker
1 Blue type Hawker
1 Silver-Y moth

29/8/2015 10 till 12
Still a few Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers about and good numbers of Common Blue, well into double figures.
A blue type Hawker, 1 Brown Hawker, a couple of red type Darter one of which I think may have been Ruddy as it appeared to have a narrowing to the abdomen. Also a few Common Blue Damselfly.
A turtle of some type was out sunning itself amongst the rushes on one of the ponds.

8/8/2015 8:00-9:15

Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers on the wing in large numbers early this morning.
Also 1 Red Admiral
couple of Skippers
2 Brown Hawkers.

Pretty poor for Dragonflies and Damselflies on here so far this summer.

12/7/2015 11:00 -13:00

Checking the Burnets seen last week the many hundreds still present appear to be Five-Spot.
2 Six-Spot Burnet picked out.
Dozens of Meadow Brown
20+ Small Skipper
1 Large Skipper
3 Common Blue
1 Gatekeeper
1 Small Tortoiseshell
Lots Common Blue Damselfly
Couple Blue-tailed Damselfly
1 Dragonfly resting in full view appeared to be a Black-tailed Skimmer. Another blue bodied Dragonfly flew past in a different area but was not ID'd to species.

Saturday 11th July 2015, 4.30pm

Moss Lane

Ringlet butterfly, continuing this species' march across GM
c20 Burnet moths, which didn't land to definitely ID, but more likely to be five, than six-spot, the latter not being common in GM
Weasel / Stoat crossed path

This afternoon

Meadow Brown
Damselfly - one teneril