Jordans Mill is home to all sorts of wildlife, not all easy to see but worth looking for!
In the recent very hot weather the gardens and meadow have been full of insects; Butterflies, Moths, Dragonflies and other bugs have been seen including some which are quite unusual.
Several different large Dragonflies can often be seen hunting smaller insects on hot sunny days; Brown, Southern and Migrant Hawkers, Common Darters and Black-tailed Skimmers. The smaller Damselflies are very dainty and prefer the areas of rough cut grass, pale coloured White-legged Damselfly can sometimes be found in the meadow but can be quite hard to spot sitting in the grass.
Unlike Dragonflies they sit with the their wings folded, look for white females and very pale blue males amongst the more common blues.
The moth trap has been very full in the mornings after the warm nights; lots of Hawk Moths, a Scarlet Tiger moth and recently a rare Jersey Tiger. Both very colourful and sometimes active during the day, bright orange colours under their wings make them easy to spot.
Our meadows are full of Grasshoppers, they vary a lot in size and colour but are mostly quite small and either green and brown. Roesel’s Bush Crickets usually have short stubby wings making them flightless, a scarce long winged form was found in the grass near the bee hives.
Crickets are less common, a little bigger and can be identified by the long thin antennae on their heads.
Why not visit us to see what types of wildlife you can spot?! We're open Wednesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm. Don't forget to share your findings on social media and tag our pages!
Photo: White Legged Damselfly captured by Richard Webb.