Win some, lose some

A minor furore of activity last Sunday, hoping to beat the declining weather.

I finally got to take a good look around the Cambois area for the grayling - but didn't see one!  The nearest I got was mistaking a meadow brown with a broader than usual white underwing patch as a possible.

Meadow Brown

This was disappointing as my two previous attempts were successful and so I found myself pondering the reasons.

In my head the best time for the grayling at Cambois is mid-July but I held off until August because the Butterfly Conservation website says that is when they are most on the wing.  But I noticed that most of the vegetation was dead and even meadow browns were scarce in comparison to my first visit, and there are news stories about Autumn arriving early because of the dry conditions...

Anyway there were a couple of minor consolations.  I visited a sunny overgrown bridge just past the plant hire company and found the first female common blue I have seen summer - which was also by far the tiniest one I've ever seen - as well as my first wall brown of the year.

Tiny Common Blue

Wall Brown

Afterwards I headed for the hills - the Havannah Three Hills Reserve near Hazlerigg to be precise. I wouldn't have done, having roundly criticised the deterioration of the area when I went last year.  However, there have been reports of a late dingy skipper and a silver-washed fritillary, which is almost non-existent this far North.

I started scouring the supposed butterfly hot spot, which has now been more or less completely overgrown by heather. Apart from a few whites and a red-tailed bumblebee, I did find one butterfly, a small heath.

Small Heath

However a more fortunate encounter was with another naturalist who reported seeing the dingy skipper, being chased around by male common blues in an area the other side of the rough path to the lake.

Obviously I took a look and did indeed come across said common blues (about 6 overall) and eventually the dingy skipper.  Seek and thou shalt find!

Common Blue

Dingy Skipper

The skipper struck me as being slightly small and rather more brown than ones I've seen before. But bearing the repeated trouble I had trying to see one earlier in the summer in mind, I was well satisfied.

Not knowing its exact location, I didn't realistically expect to see the fritillary, which was probably a bit of a one off.  However there was a nice surprise when I foraged around a bit on my way back to the main track:

Painted Lady

While there hasn't been a major irruption, there have been a few painted ladies around this summer and I still have hope that one may climb the 500' up to the buddleia in my garden.

Talking of which, butterfly sightings of previously mentioned species have continued in increased numbers.  Red admiral is still the most frequent and there has been one addition I was half expecting:

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

The tits continue to go nuts for the sunflower hearts I've been putting out and male and female bullfinches and nuthatches regularly visit the feeder as pairs.

Nuthatch

Lastly, I don't know what it is about the tailgate of my new car but pollinators seem to like it.  The latest visitor was a queen...

Buff-tailed Bumblebee Queen

It was obviously struggling, caught out by the disappearance of the sun on a cool day.  So I performed the old trick of bringing it in the house to warm up for forty minutes, after which it happily flew off.

Long Live The Small Tortoiseshell!

My recent sighting of the twenty plumed moth drew a bit of interest on social media, one commentator noting that he's only ever seen one before and not in the North East while another contradicted that there are many records of it in Northumberland.  Well, I'd certainly never seen one before.

During the recent partial heatwave, I've been taking the opportunity to check out some of the local gardens. An interesting find two weeks ago was Birkheads Secret Gardens near Sunniside.

There wasn't much sun on arrival, but I was assured the butterfly garden would have some sightings on offer. I wasn't so sure and thought I'd check out a couple of hoverflies and bees en route.

Common Drone Fly

White-tailed Bumblebee

For the Latin speakers the drone fly is Eristalis tenax according to a local expert.  I'm pretty sure about the white-tailed bumblebee.

For the other hoverfly spotted we're stuck with generalisations.  Apparently it belongs to the Syrphini tribe, otherwise known as common flower flies.

Common Flower Fly

Anyway on reaching the butterfly section, there were indeed a good number to be seen, and I found I was taking the sort of shots I had been hoping to get in my garden:

Red Admiral with Peacocks

Peacocks warming themselves

One noted absentee was small tortoiseshell.  As it hadn't been turning up at home either, I have been reflecting that it used to be far more common and seems to be in decline compared to other members of the Nymphalidae family.  The reasons for its demise are not fully clear but there may be some incidence of parasites and habitat loss.

Of more interest on the day was to learn from the lady in the wee shop that the County Recorder for Durham had spotted a brimstone in the Gardens, considerably further north than its known habitats.  It's not much on the wing just now but another visit later in the year seems obligatory.  

I was also struck by the number of flower meadows on the farm nearby.

Anyway six days later I was at Talkin Tarn for a catch-up with V&A.  We did a little walk but in more sombre weather only two butterflies were spotted, a small white and - you've guessed it - a small tortoiseshell!

Small Tortoiseshell

Another bit of useful learning was to find numerous clumps of devil's bit scabious and we wondered if the marsh fritillaries present elsewhere in Cumbria have discovered its existence.  It's their food plant.

Devil's Bit Scabious

Last Sunday, I was back on the garden trail, initially visiting Whickham Hermitage Garden at Newburn which wasn't too impressive. Flanked by high trees on the South side, it was hard to see that it would get a lot of sunshine.

Although smaller, the Tyne Country Park Sensory Garden at Newburn was more productive, producing all three main whites, the main members of Nymphalidae including comma - and of course a couple of small tortoiseshell.  The only absentee was painted lady.

I again focused briefly on hoverflies and was struck by the pattern on this one:

Drone Fly

This is another drone fly, exact identity uncertain.

My last call was at Bradley Hall Gardens which was the largest and had the biggest variation of flora. 

Butterfly sightings were similar to those at Newburn and with similar numbers, but with four or five small tortoiseshells.

Small Tortoiseshell

... plus I think I may have caught a fleeting view of a holly blue, though I didn't see it long enough to be certain.

Typically of course the small tortoiseshell then started to turn up in my garden after an absence of several weeks during which I had occasionally wondered if the comma had effectively replaced it.

I did a couple of counts for the Big Butterfly Count  Over the two, the highest numbers were for large white and red admiral, followed by comma, peacock, small white and green-veined white - and just one small tortoiseshell.

Nevertheless it is still with us!

In the meanwhile...

Reed Bunting

I haven't done any major butterfly expeditions but I did do a recce of the Cambois area to check out possible sites for the grayling - more hopefully anon.

On the way by bike I noted a bird singing very tunefully from the top of a small tree and wasn't sure what it was.  It turned out to be male reed bunting but I've never heard them sing so beautifully.  Maybe like the dunnock it only happens at key times of the year.

It was just on reviewing the photo I could actually identify it.

The only other trip out was a quick visit to Marden Quarry as I happened to be in the area and had heard there had been some sightings of a night heron there.

Anyway I did a circuit of the lake and didn't see anything of note.  So I sat on a bench near the car park overlooking the lake for a rest.  After a while I looked from my phone to notice... a grey heron squatting behind some flowers on the island opposite.

Grey Heron

At distance I briefly thought I might have hit the jackpot due partly to the untypical hunched-up pose.  My sense is that this is also a young bird with its whitish appearance and streaked breast.

One great advantage of having buddleia rather unnaturally in pots at the front garden is that they regularly attract an early season small tortoiseshell.  It was again the case this year, the second butterfly to be seen on them.

Meanwhile the larger bushes at the back are out and have attracted peacocks and red admirals but not a single small tortoiseshell.  The time was when they would I'm sure have been the most numerous visitor but clearly they are in decline and have been for a long while.

On the other hand commas have often been in evidence as have all three species of white, although the weather has been inconsistent and some times were much more productive than others..  

Comma

But possibly the most interesting sighting was a single meadow brown - obviously a more than common species but not one I've ever seen on buddleia.

The whites have also been showing a great deal of interest in the garlic mustard, fluttering around it and other plants slowly and landing frequently.  I think they may be females attempting to oviposit.  This is an example of the sort of behaviour I mean.

Green-veined White

Lastly a pleasant surprise one morning was to open my garage and find that a tiny moth was completing a sleepover on my rear windscreen.

Plumed Moth

It's the first time I've ever spotted one.

A Good Year For Butterflies...

As far as I'm concerned, it's definitely a good year for butterflies.

I've had my eye on the developing nature reserve at Chopwell East Field.  Over the winter I noticed it was being grazed by highland cattle and wondered what the results would be this summer.  I eventually revisited last Tuesday to find another abundant supply of butterflies.

In the more Southern area the initial accent was actually on moths as around seven five-spot (I think) burnet moths were found nectaring on knapweed, with a similar number of shaded broad bars showing up as well.

Five-spot Burnet

Shaded Broadbar

Again the dominant species in terms of numbers were meadow brown (some already very worn) and small skipper but also seen were large white, green-veined white, comma. small copper, and small tortoiseshell.

Comma	Green-veined White
Meadow Brown (worn)	Small Copper
Small Skipper	Small Tortoiseshell

I took a little detour into a promising field the other path and noted similar activity.  But on the way back I stopped to photo what I suspected to be a white-tailed bumblebee when it was chased off by another small butterfly that turned out to be a white letter hairstreak.

White-tailed Bumblebee

White Letter Hairstreak

This was a considerable surprise as I have never heard of a white letter hairstreak being reported there and I do not believe there are any elm trees.  It is however clear that there have been more of them about this year.

To trump it all  I achieved a longstanding ambition the day after when i managed to get a couple of distant snaps of purple hairstreaks in the oaks by one of the viaducts at Hamsterley Mill.  Unfortunately they weren't in great condition.

Purple Hairstreak

Meanwhile the first butterfly has been sighted on the buddleia in the front garden.  It was a red admiral.

A Good Year For Butterflies?

Last weekend I visited J&J in Drerbyshire and on the Sunday we took a visit to Carsington Water.  I'd been there before but more on the look out for birds.

In spite of a little rain and a few overcast periods, there was little difficulty in finding butterflies, though my first positive sighting apart from hoverflies was actually a common blue damselfly. 

Common Blue Damselfly

Meadow browns were all over the place but it was particularly pleasing to me that there were also a good few gatekeepers - surely the first time I've seen them in the UK since I was a youngster in Nottinghamshire.

Gatekeeper (underwing)

Gatekeeper (upper wing)

Confusion with meadow brown is possible but the gatekeeper has a double 'eye' spot on the underwing and clear orange colouring on the lower upper wing, which the meadow brown does not.

Almost as good was when J pointed out that there were small coppers.  These have already been reported in the North East but especially good to get after a I messed up the first photo opportunity.

Small Copper

Small skippers were again numerous and we also saw two small tortoiseshell and a few commas and ringlets

Comma

Ringlet

The notable absentees today were common blue (again) and small heath.

We had a quick look at the lake but didn't see much of interest.  I thought I spotted a little egret but it seems to be a juvenile.

Egret

After two hours we hadn't got very far and I spent an annoying twenty minutes trying to catch up with a very mobile sedge warbler, J's camera battery having given out.  In the end I got half of it as it played hide 'n' seek in the bushes.

Find the sedge warbler!

Small White and Green-veined White

There were some large whites at times too.

All in all, a very enjoyable visit

Hunting For Butterflies

A lot has been going on!..

About ten days ago I took a last trip to Pathhead Nature Reserve for a late attempt to find the dingy skipper.

It was unsuccessful although I did see large numbers of meadow brown, good numbers of small skipper plus a fair few small heath and a couple of (I think) six-spot burnet moths, most of which were to be duplicated in subsequent trips elsewhere.  A notable absentee was common blue and perhaps the strangest sighting was a common carder bee that was so heavily bleached by the sun that it was almost indistinguishable.

Small Heath

Common Carder (bleached)

In the preceding fortnight there had been several sightings of patchwork leafcutter bees and always on the same flower which I'm not able to name but it was an obvious favourite.

Patchwork Leafcutter Bee

This turned out to be the start of a good for finding butterflies...

Bordeaux Day 5

My original tour of the parks of Bordeaux ended with a brief visit to Jardin Botanique but I was tired by then and there was so much to see I decided to revisit it in detail.

By the Sunday of my stay, the temperature had sunk to a mere 29C and the morning proved cloudy.  The result was that few butterflies were to be seen but this was more than compensated for by the appearance of various other invertebrates.

It was still quite early when I came upon my first ever pantaloon bee, so-called because of the workers' massive pollen sacs. At first sight it's hard to make out the pollen sacs against the yellow background of the flower.

Common Pantaloon Bee

This species does occur in the UK but isn't present in the North. By chance I later saw another one near the hotel I was staying in at Belvedere.

Shortly afterwards I came across a form of narrow-winged damselfly.  There were plenty of ponds and as a result more common carp, this one looking particularly spooky.

Narrow-winged Damselfly

Spooky Carp

Narrow-winged damselfly is a genus rather than a species but closer identification may not be feasible. Also in the wee ponds were a large number of water snails that seemed to be drifting around pointlessly but presumably collecting algae or similar.

The Jardin Botanique is pretty massive and must have a massive gardener.  These are his wellies:

Wellies

Amongst the flowers again I found at least four bees on a single blue flower head.  One in particular caught my attention:

Seven-spined Wool Carder Bee

I knew enough to realise it was probably a wool carder bee but I owe the precise identification to a couple of experts on iNaturalist after I captured it in a bugbox.  Wool carder bees are so named because they gather their nesting material from furry plants.  They are seldom seen in the North East and this is not the most common European example as far as I can gather.

Lastly I couldn't resist this item and suspected straight away that it was actually a wasp.

Scoliid Wasp

Again scoliid is not a precise species as there are several varieties of the scolia family.  There is one UK example, the large hairy flower wasp, but this isn't it.

At this point I decided to turn my attention to more cultural affairs, namely the Wine and Music Festivals that were both taking place along the left bank of the Garonne before returning the hire bike.

There was a minor sequel in that the day after, before setting off to the train station on my way home, I took a quick walk around the Place des Fleurs by the hotel (not over many fleurs by the way) and found this furrow bee.

Furrow Bee

This has yet to be identified.  To me it looks similar to the great banded furrow bee that does occur in the UK but there are doubtless other possibilities. 

Overall...

In spite of several frustrations, Bordeaux provided a great few days of nature watching including species that I expected to see and many that I didn't.

And the cycle tracks, once away from the City Centre were great too.