The recent reduction in opening hours of the VC has resulted in poor old Badger becoming lonely. The consequence became known today when we were introduced to Badger’s new friend; a common lizard.

Edit – This common or viparous lizard is a good example of the variation in colour they exhibit. This green colour is not uncommon and results in many people mistakenly identifying them as sand lizards. However sand lizards are larger, have a differently shaped head and the green is much more vivid.

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The Country Park is very generously stocked with gorse, yet it is rare that one gets to see a Gorse Shieldbug. Their colouration is well-suited to the host plant, and the structural form of the plant makes it difficult to see an insect that is very slow-moving and sits deep within the forest of spines. Today’s combination of warm sunshine and strong, cool wind seemed a good combination of elements to find them basking in the furze. A hunt around the quarry proved fruitful with fourteen Gorse Shieldbugs in view. They are now just starting to change into their winter colouration, and hence have more brown appearing in place of the usual green elytra and pronotum. Gorse Shieldbugs are not restricted to gorse and may also be found on broom and other plants of the Leguminosae, but the dominance of gorse within the Country Park makes it the primary host.

Spurred on by the tantalising glimpse of a potential Blue Shieldbug in the old quarry on Wednesday, a return visit was made today with the intention of trying to find it again. Surprisingly the bug was found, this time it was deep within a clump of Wood Sage next to the seasonal pond. The view was better this time, albeit brief since they are fast-moving insects, and it was definitely a Blue Shieldbug. This is a notable first for the Country Park.

The Country Park can seem a large site when exploring its 852 acres, but sometimes there are unexpected delights to be found on the tiniest scale. Whilst searching the gorse around the quarry’s seasonal pond for Gorse Shieldbugs (which were found) a flash of metallic blue caught the eye. It was deep within the rosette of a very spiny thistle, and could only be approached through bramble, mud and water. Investigation proved worthwhile for it appeared to be a Blue Shieldbug, a notable first for the Country Park. Attempts to get a decent picture proved impossible, but there is sufficient detail to warrant further investigation: updates on the outcome will be forthcoming.

Some flowers and floating leaves have appeared on the  Water Crowfoot at Saxon Pond making my original identification wrong. It is now probably Brackish Water Crowfoot but may be Pond Water Crowfoot and without a seed I cannot be sure even after trying 3 different books.

The water level has risen a lot after this weeks rain, so we finished the job just in time. Still plenty of dragonflies, swallows and house martins today.

Walking home I saw a flock of around 50 goldfinches along the “Bon Jovi” path many of which were juveniles and a male peregrine and a raven having a ding dong above the Quarry.

I don’t ever remember seeing as many parasol mushrooms in one place before as I did yesterday in Warren Glen, large too, all eight inch plus where mature and others still in the button stage.

The yellow flowers of Bristly Ox-tongue outside the Visitor Centre are being frequented by two species of hoverfly of the same genus. One is common hereabouts, the other has not been recorded here before. Both are recognisable by the sharpness of the elongate black wing stigma. Dasysyrphus albostriatus is frequently seen and is recognisable by the white thoracic stripes that inform the name. Dasysyrphus tricinctus is noticeably darker and has a very uneven yellow stripe configuration on the abdomen.

I made another visit to Saxon Pond yesterday to attempt to identify a plant that had so far eluded me. I am now fairly certain that it is Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot .

The sunshine treated me to a wonderful display of darter dragonflies (15+), which this photo enabled me to identify as Ruddy Darters.I also saw Emperor dragonflies, Blue-tailed damselflies plus Small Tortoiseshell and Holly Blue butterflies.

Hoping for some sunshine on Thursday, so the rest of the group might see these amazing sights too.