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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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!
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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:
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| 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.
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