College Lake bug hunt

Bug Mad Girl and I spent a lovely afternoon at College Lake today, a nature reserve run by BBOWT (Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust). It's a great place for kids as it's beautifully maintained, full of very knowledgeable volunteers and staff and best of all they run all sorts of activities specifically aimed at children. Today we were there for a bug hunt.

We arrived half an hour early, so headed for the bird hide on the lake. There was a flock of very noisy Canada Geese just outside the hide. Then two lovely Mute Swans turned up.

We saw several Goldfinches in the trees around the lake and there were lots of Damselflies and a couple of large Dragonflies flying around. Bug Mad Girl took this great photo of a Damselfly, which we realized later had a deformed wing.

Then we headed up to the Barn, which has a large window that lets you sit and watch the birds feeding in the trees. We spent a very relaxing ten minutes watching lots of Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinches and Chaffinches.

Chaffinch

Chaffinches

Blue Tits and Great Tits

#100DaysOfNature Day20 - Greenfinch

Greenfinches

Then we headed off to the bug hunt. We found all sorts; slugs, snails, worms, grasshoppers, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, Small Blue butterflies, damselflies, ladybirds, capsid bugs, beetles and beetle larvae.

There was an enormous spider, that caused some people a bit of concern. Not BMG though - she would have gladly taken it home and loved it!



There was a bit of excitement when a Ground Beetle grabbed a millipede and started eating it. It then grabbed a beetle larvae and carried it around before starting to eat that too!

We also found loads of frogs, toads and a newt.

It was as much fun letting everything go and watching it all hop, fly, scurry and slide away, as it was finding it all in the first place!