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By now upwards of twenty-five members of the
Essex Field Club and friends had arrived,
and, under the very useful guidance of
Martin Gregory, we explored the reserve.
As well as the three dragon-flies already
mentioned, a further two species were
added to our list. These were the lovely
green 'emerald' damselfly, Lestes sponsa,
and the bright red darter dragon-fly
Sympetrum sanguineum. Both these species
are quite localised, requiring shallow
pools or ditches, with plenty of emergent
vegetation, so it was pleasing to note
their presence as breeding species on the
reserve.
The Backwarden also revealed to the party
some of its other riches - a slow worm,
and also a glimpse of a grass snake swimming
in one of the ponds. Butterflies were
well represented, with hedge brown, meadow
brown, green-veined white, small copper,
comma and, seen by one member of the party,
the speckled wood. Some field experience
was gained in distinguishing small and
Essex skippers, both of which were on the
wing. Finally, the butterfly highlight of
the day was some good views of the local
purple hairstreaks as they flitted round
the lower branches of the oaks by the car
park .
The morning's Orthoptera included the dark
bush cricket, the common field grasshopper,
the meadow grasshopper and the so-called
common groundhopper, a speciality of this
reserve. Hoverflies seen included
Syrphus balteatus, Syaphus ribesii, Mela-
nostoma mellinum, Syritta pipiens and
Eristalis nemorum.