The Beetles

 A beetle influx last night at the light trap. This longhorn beetle sp was the highlight.

 Looked like four main species involved. About 20+ of the violet ground beetle looking one, 100+ of the small reddish one and singles of the other two in the photo above

 Swarms of these on 100 acre in the nettles

 Patches like this in the nettles across Jim's Bed and presumably elsewhere 

 The moth trap was quite lively with moths too- this Canary-shouldered Thorn is only the third record for the farmlands (New for me) 

 I think it's a male

 Still not worked out what this is- keep seeing the odd one of these- maybe the same one- getting more and more worn and more obscure

 Freyer's Pug?

 The sacrificial crop is developing on the east side of the north mound- corn flowers, corn marigolds, lindseed and mustards flowering up there. If all goes to plan this will provide a significant area of seed crop for winter feed for the wintering seed eaters. Its basically a gesture by Viridor and their evil mates to chuck down a bit of seed to appease the onslaught they are planning to carry out on the east side of the site- along Beddington Lane- see next pics.  

 Oak Field Beds- this area of wetland lies between the incinerator build site and Beddington Lane Industrial area. Under imminent threat from developers (been changing hands between Thames Water and speculative investors)- the council are even trying to de-designate it as MOL to enable developers.

 Part of it has already been destroyed to make way for a new road- despite there being an existing access road. Presumably the old road will be sold off with the Oak Field beds. Incidentally the Oaks (the name sake of the Oak Field Beds) were illegally felled in what the council described as the greatest Tree Preservation Order offence in the local authority history. The landowner claims that they just disappeared one weekend and he doesn't know anything about it. He has basically got away with it. He is even refusing to acknowledge a compulsory replacement notice- the council is so weak they won't even bother trying to prosecute. The criminality and corruption surrounding the whole development of the Beddington Farmlands Site of Importance for Nature Conservation is astounding and once again proves that the planning and political system does not protect nature and biodiversity against capitalist interests and requires fundamental reform. It also sends out a stark and frightening warning that we are heading into a capitalist dictatorship and democracy is slipping away under our noses with only minimal resistance. The dictatorship will of course ultimately be abused in the most horrific ways and history will once again repeat itself and punish generations who fail to defend their own freedom and resources.

 This Burnished Brass- the moth made of 'gold leaf' was present in the area that the capitalists are planning on destroying. The vegetation has become impenetrable here- ecologists cant get in to monitor it anymore either- which I presume is the reason they have fenced it off. Traditionally has been the staging site for up to 40 Green Sandpipers. Today I managed to walk a few meters into the area and flushed this burnished brass and up to 6 Mother of Pearls- the area holds precious vast biodiversity communities. The Capitalist do not give a flying fuck. They presumably want a warehouse in there to sell shit to people whose brains are unfortunately filled with shit. 

Willow Warbler- lest we forget the birds on a birding blog Sir Ian! A few lemon coloured juvs about. Pretty quiet on the bird migrant front today.