4th October 2025 - one windy day, Andy M spotted this Red-legged Partridge in his garden. Nothing so unusual about that perhaps, there are many around the LSA at the moment. However, this one was unusually close to the house - in fact these photos were taken through the window. Maybe it was confused by the wind, or was looking for shelter. Either way, it gave a lovely view of its striking plumage.
18th October 2025 - Carole McM found this rather lovely collection of fungi in her garden recently. It's always difficult to identify most fungi from a picture alone, but these could be Glistening Inkcap, also called Fairy Inkcap, a Coprinellus species that is common in the UK.
18th September 2025 - one hot sunny afternoon, Andy and Polly M noticed a very large number of beetle-like insects emerging up the fence from behind the lavender plants. Why remains unclear, but closer inspection showed these were similar in colour and patterning, but varied greatly in size. It turns out these are the various instars (or lifecycle stages) of Hairy Shield Bug (or Sloe Bug) nymphs - which start small and teardrop shaped, and gradually grow and moult into the large more typical Shield Bug shape, although all these are nymphs, or 'youngsters', with no adults being seen.
Interestingly, in amongst these were also a different type of oval fly-like insect - small in number and similar in colouration to the Shield Bugs, but clearly different. Whilst we are not sure what these are, it's possible these are some sort of predatory insect, such as an Assassin Bug species, which prey on many species, including Shield Bugs nymphs.
15th September 2025 - the Rivercare undertook their last sampling of the year, when rvier levels at the ford were still very low. The sample revealed a relatively low count, but a look back at previous years in September indicated this was fairly typical.
A few Olive larva were seen, as were a few Mayfly larva. Both Caseless and Cased Caddisfly larvae were found, as were quite a few small Gammarus (freshwater shrimp). Three Bullhead fish were found, and a few Angler's Curse larvae.
15th September 2025 - Suzan S reported seeing Hummingbird Hawkmoth in her garden on the LSA, and managed to get a nice photo.
