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.