A packed MNA coach for our visit to Anglesey. Our first blustery location was Cors Erddreiniog the largest of the Anglesey fens. This extensive reserve is located between the small villages of Bryn Teg and Capel Coch and boasts NNR, SSSI, SAC and Ramsar status. This years corpse tally rose with dead Common Shrew Sorex araneus and Pygmy Shrew Sorex minutus.
Common Shrew
Large Skipper Ochlodes venata was the only butterfly but plenty of Dragonfly and Damselfly species with Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula including one female unusually holding it’s wings outstretched like an Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa, Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans, Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanaea and Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata.
Large Red Damselfly female
Hoverfly species included Heliophilus pendulus, Eristalis sp. Volucella bombylans var. plumata and Rhingia campestris.
Other interesting Insects included a Weevil Sitona sp. Ichneumon Wasp sp. Sawfly Tenthredo mesomelas and a Conopid Fly the larvae of Conopids are parasites on Hymenoptera, the female Conopid laying an egg in between the abdomen segments of their host.
Tenthedro mesomelas
Conopid Fly
It was the botanists who were really in their element though with Lesser Spearwort Ranunculus flammula, Tutsan Hypericum androsaemum, Red Campion Silene dioica, Ragged Robin Lychnis flos-cuculi, Greater Chickweed Stellaria neglecta, Cut-leaved Cranesbill Geranium dissectum, Bush Vetch Vicia sepium, Meadow Vetchling Lathyris pratensis, Birds-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus, Harsh Downy-rose Rosa tomentosa, Tormentil Potentilla erecta, Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria, Herb Bennet Geum urbanum, Round-leaved Sundew Drosera rotundifolia, Marsh Pennywort Hydrocotyle vulgaris, Common Milkwort Polygala vulgaris, Marsh Cinquefoil Potentilla palustris.
Marsh Cinquefoil
Bog Myrtle Myrica gale, Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris, Amphibious Bistort Persicaria amphibian, Bogbean Menyanthes trifoliate, Marsh Lousewort Pedicularis palustris, Red Bartsia Odontites vernus, Water Mint Mentha aquatica, Common Skullcap Scutellaria galericulata, Self Heal Prunella vulgaris, Common Butterwort Pinguicula vulgaris, Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa, Northern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella, Early Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata, Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsia, Common Valerian Valeriana officinalis, Marsh Valerian Valeriana dioica, Common Marsh Bedstraw Galium palustre, Marsh Thistle Cirsium palustre, Creeping Thistle Cirsium arvense, Common Water-Plantain Alisma plantago-aquatica and Lesser Water-plantain Baldellia ranunculoides.
Marsh Orchid