Bordeaux Day 1

Having reached Bordeaux in sunny weather, I noticed that it was far bigger and the River Garonne far wider than I had anticipated. 

My first cycle was to to the Réserve écologique des barails to the North of the city, where the bike proved its use in enabling me to find a large flower meadow relatively quickly.  First sightings were of a number of clouded yellow, this one just about to fly off:

Clouded Yellow

The clouded yellow was to prove one of the most sighted non-whites of the whole holiday and appeared again on my way back via the lake, this time providing a good view of the underwing:

Clouded Yellow (underwing)

The Barails site also produced two first sightings of the year with painted lady (several) and small copper:

Painted Lady

Small Copper

Neither species re-occurred during my stay. Notably almost everything was landing with wings closed, possibly due to the ever-rising temperature which touched 30C as the day drew on.

Thee was a frustration in that I also spotted a number of much smaller blue butterflies and a hyperactive day-flying moth that refused to settle - a theme that was to recur throughout the week.

The day should also have included a trip to the Parc du Majolan which was mysteriously closed, though I did catch sight of a male brimstone and the only peacock I was to see all week in the nearby woddland.

Also closed was a park and woodland area on the Western side of the lake.  And this is supposed to be the tourist season!

I ended up having a much-needed beer in the popular Darwin area of Bordeaux, which led to an interesting variation of thieving sparrow behaviour:

Thieving Sparrow

Bordeaux Day 0

 Paradoxically, my first day in Bordeaux actually started in Paris...

I had the time to spend an hour or so in the Parc Montsouris where my eye was drawn by this white which I thought might just have been a southern small white and initial checks seemed to confirm this, although Paris is well away from its normal territory.

It's true that the black forewing tip extends somewhat further than normal but this impression is probably accentuated by the unerect position of the wings.  Ultimately I concluded boringly in favour of small white female, summer brood

Small White

There was also a passing red admiral, surprisingly the only one sighted all the time I was in France. Incidentally not a single small tortoiseshell was seen on this holiday.

The lake was also home to a number of decent sized carp, one of which came quite close.

Common Carp

One of things I like about mainland Europe is that the carp do tend to cruise near the surface.  There was a massive one the day after, further out on the Lac de Bordeaux, skimming the surface with its tail fin, as if performing a shark imitation.

More Butterflies

Realising that, with a trip abroad forthcoming (watch this space) my opportunities were limited, I decided to make a concerted attempt to catch up with the dingy skipper this week.  My efforts took me back to Path Head Nature Reserve, The Spetchells and Weetslade Country Park and unfortunately remained unfulfilled.

Late morning at Path Head looked likely to produce nothing at all. I was actually on my way out when I finally caught up with five small heath, two common blue and a single speckled wood all pretty much in constant flight. 

Worn bumblebee

Later the same day at Spetchells, results were rather better.

The first thing that caught my attention was actually a bee.  My first impression was that it was a worn buff-tailed bumblebee.  it seemed to have some pollen underneath the abdomen so I wondered about another leafcutter but on balance it seems the first impression was correct.

The giveaway is the faded stripe on the thorax.

For a while I again didn't see butterflies and began to speculate why.  It strikes me that there isn't amount of bird's foot trefoil at the Eastern end of the area, where it used to be relatively easy to find common blues, burnet moths and of course dingy skipper.

At some parts it's apparent that bird's foot trefoil is being overwhelmed by cotoneaster spread, others look like they could do with some grazing but in some there was no clear reason.  There were at least a couple of nice orchids to look at:

Early Purple Orchid?

Common Spotted Orchid?

I've no idea if I've identified them correctly.

Anyway the result of my deliberations was that I headed further East, where there are more trees and bushes and somewhat surprisingly started to see things, in particular a number of ringlets.  While they settled long enough to get a decent look, they were too skittish to photograph - probably freshly emerged - and the same applied to pretty much everything else I saw. The butterfly tally this time was Ringlet nine, Common Blue five, Speckled Wood five, Small Heath one and Large Skipper one.

Of these, only speckled wood and the large skipper was posing for the camera:

Large Skipper

For a moment I thought I'd hit on something really interesting when what appeared to be a brimstone was floating around the trees.  Again it was skittish, but when it did briefly settle I detected some wing markings that indicated it was a brimstone moth.  Moths also played a role on the way back as four or five small orange moths turned up and were eventually identified as yellow shell, which together with the previous one were first sightings for me.

Yellow Shell Moth

The day after at Weetslade, I again didn't see much in windy weather until I started foraging, when the dominant species proved to be the meadow brown.  This interested me as it was the first time I haven't seen them earlier in the summer than the ringlet, which I tend to associate more with July and August.

At Weetslade the scores were:  Meadow Brown 17, Large Skipper five, Common Blue four (including the first female I've seen this year), Small Heath one.

Meadow Brown

Female Common Blue

I think the common blue may have been ovipositing. Incidentally, all the meadow browns showing their upper wing were male. It's also interesting that no small skippers were seen over the three visits.

So still no dingy skipper then.  Although local sources suggest May and June is the best time for them, the Butterfly Conservation website states they are still on the wing in July - so there may still be hope.

Back in the garden the male bullfinch continues to appear.  It seems to be getting more confident, even feeding on the lawn, and a female is occasionally sighted.  A couple of goldfinches have also visited briefly - the first time in the seven years I've been here.

The only notable appearance by a butterfly was by a lone red admiral but I did think I might have spotted a first white-tailed bumblebee but on balance I am not entirely convinced.

Red Admiral

White-tailed Bumblebee

Urban Sightings and Fritillary Forage

Quite a bit has happened over the past week!

I've had my eye on a brownfield site near the Metro Centre that has a fair spread of bird's food trefoil. So I thought it might be a possible for Common Blue or Dingy Skipper and took a look last Friday.

Tramping through the brambles and various forms of litter I saw neither but what did turn up was three or four small heath - the first I have seen this year.  I checked back briefly the day after and they were still about.

Small Heath

Giving up the idea of more sightings I decided to try out a cycle route to the town centre I've never used. But a bit beyond Dunston on Teams Road I stopped to watch a red admiral I thought might be ovipositing on nettles.  Lo and behold what should then fly over the road side habitation but a common blue.  I saw about four of them and a brown butterfly that proved to be a large skipper - both first sightings for this year as well:

Common Blue

Large Skipper

It just shows that urban environments can too easily be overlooked.

One thing that I haven't seen since I moved to the North East has been any kind of fritillary.  So on Monday I decided to return to one of my old haunts - Mabie Forest near Dumfries to see if I could find any there.

It wasn't the most brilliant day with reduced temperatures and only intermittent sunshine so I was relieved when my first sighting came along - perhaps unsurprisingly another small blue,  There was four overall, as at Dunston all males.  And even better I actually managed to spot the first pearl-bordered fritillary before even reaching the known 'butterfly hotspot.'

Common Blue

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

This is the time of the year when pearl-bordered and small pearl-bordered fritillary flight seasons overlap and there are identification issues.  Several were only seen in flight making proper identification impossible but one among the ones I photographed and one seen in flight were heavily worn suggesting pearl-bordered, indicating they were definitely in preponderance.

There was however one possibility that I had overlooked and as a result initially misidentified:

Dark Green Fritillary

What surprised me here was that I associate them with late rather than early summer at Mabie.  However from a total of nine it may be they accounted for some of the ones flying past, notably those strong on the wing.

I was also surprised by the number of dragonflies that were about right at the beginning of June: Hopefully I've got them right.

Common Blue Damselfly

Emperor Dragonfly

There were also a couple of moths:

Brown Silverline

Cinnebar Moth

There were perhaps 10 of the brown silverline on the day.  The only other time I have seen cinnebar moths was I think at Dumfries station.

There were also a couple of mysteries which had me facebooking the experts:

Blotched-winged Whitebelt

Tibula Scripta

I have a separate photo that proves the white belt bit on the first one.  The other one is a cranefly, and craneflies are a notoriously tricky area.  The wings of tibula scripta are transparent in the photos I've seen so I suspect they may be giving an image of the background leaf.

Other butterflies seen were green-veined white and four speckled wood, which I mention because they were not much present in Dumfries and Galloway when I lived there.

On leaving the 'butterfly hotspot' I still hadn't spotted a small pearl-bordered fritillary and was beginning to speculate that, as the more common species, their development had been held back by the dry weather.

However, just over halfway back to the car park one turned up in a clearing where two paths meet:

Small Pearl-Bordered fritillary

A bit of luck always enters into it!

Meanwhile there has also been activity in the garden.

A few days ago I was very pleased to see a couple of goldfinches plundering the seed in one of my pots that has been invaded by forget-me-nots.  I've never seen them in the garden before.  Also the bullfinches continue to enjoy the sunflower hearts from the feeder.

Another near misidentification (which has been a bit of a theme lately) but I've also been getting visits from patchwork leafcutter bees of both genders.

Bullfinch

Patchwork Leafcutter Bee

Bumble Bees buzzing butterflies less so...

As the warm weather has slowly tailed off somewhat I have over the past eight days seen all the common species of bumblebee.

This was unsurprising as I started last Sunday with a bumblebee walk with K at Northumberland Park in North Shields.  Here we quickly accounted for buff-tailed bumblebee, early bumblebee, red-tailed bumblebee and common carder, but only one red admiral although there were various whites on flying duties

Early Bumblebee

Red Admiral

There was actually quite an impressive number of early bumblebees, the first I have seen this year.

Also noted were a male red-tailed bumblebee and a single beefly that I cam across while foraging.

We did a short bike ride to Ponteland on Tuesday which took in one or two sightings as we passed by - a single stoat, a tree bumblebee, various further flying whites and, pleasingly a single small tortoiseshell.  Good to know they are still around.

However all the bumblebee sightings were to be replicated more locally  over the past couple of days, mainly in my own garden - but with the eventual addition of garden bumblebee.

I've been struck this year by the big difference in size between male and female carder bees, the females seeming particularly large.

Female Carder Bee

There were some photographic difficulties with tree bumblebee and garden bumblebee though, in the former case because they weren't settling for more than a few seconds and in the latter because they spent most of their time buried in an aquilegia flower.  Eventually I got one in flight and captured the other in the bugbox.

Tree Bumblebee

Garden Bumblebee

I had to go a bit further afield to find another red-tailed bumblebee but found one not far from the Metro Centre of all places.  It was a female an here you can see the difference compared to the males seen at North Shields.

Red-tailed Bumblebee (m)

Red-tailed Bumblebee (f)

Butterflies have not been spotted recently, but I did find this tiny moth on my back patio door yesterday.

Unable to find an obvious match i went down the referral root and the best bet seems to be that it is a faded version of the yellow barred brindle.

Yellow-barred brindle

Events and Non-Events

Cycling along the Tyne for events in Newcastle, I've repeatedly noted a number of shelduck combing the mudflats in the area of Dunston Staithes, on either side of the water.

Shelduck

There was another pair further out.

I think I can safely say that the early broods of speckled wood are doing better than last year as they have appeared regularly when I've been out, not least in my garden.  Even more regular is still the orange tip including females.

Not for the first time I've noticed that the males this year are often small.

Speckled Wood

Orange Tip (female)

I've now had green-veined white and small white in the garden too.  Seeing the speckled wood often reminds how common they were in my first year here, in complete contrast to Dumfries and Galloway.

Last Friday, I reckoned red mason bees were starting to appear, got one photo and, sure enough, there was activity around the bug hotel to prove the point:

Red Mason Bee

More mysterious was the appearance of this hairy specimen with a white face.  Trapping it in the bug box didn't give me any better idea.  However the male red mason bee has a white face, which would suggest I haven't seen one before.

Red Mason Bee (m)

The obvious rival would be the European Orchard Bee, which has so far only been sighted in the South of England.

Otherwise the main visitor has been a rather fat carder bee, so perhaps a queen though very intent on nectaring.

Last Sunday I set out full of confidence to Weetslade Country Park to visit an area where I had seen several butterflies last year and saw - precisely nothing.  The flowers in the target area were simply not out and although there was bird's food trefoil on the hills, it was sparse and not yet in full bloom.

So it was less confidence that I set off to revisit Path Head Nature Reserve, nominally targeting the dingy skipper but in retrospect, I think I achieved my goal.

At first it looked like another no show and I was already half way round before I saw any invertebrate at all.  Then I saw a tiny green thing with wings and antennae and so I thought maybe mini mining bees.

Mini Mining Bee and tiny green things

I wasn't sure and wondered if those on the left were wee wasps.  However a comment on facebook suggests they belong to the Oedemera species - basically flower beetles.  We live and learn!  The larger one on the right might be a common mini-miner but frankly identification of mini-miners is so dubious it's hardly worth the likes of me bothering.

Further round the track it livened up a bit as there were twenty plus sand martins flying around the wetland and visiting the wall constructed for them. They were whizzing around so fast that the camera couldn't cope, but I got a couple silhouetted against the wall at distance.

Sand Martins

A bit further along a white butterfly appeared and inconveniently settled partly obscured in a deep hollow, requiring another photographic chef d'oeuvre to identify it as a green-veined white.

Green-veined White

Then, chasing around unsuccessfully to catch up with the first two red-tailed bumblebees I've seen this month, I disturbed something sandy grey that flew across the path before becoming invisible..  Initially I dismissed it as probably a day-flying moth.  But when I later advanced on a clump of bird's foot trefoil to investigate a ladybird, something else grey flew up from behind the clump and I twigged that I might indeed have hit on two dingy skippers.

Tracking them in flight against the reclaimed brownfield site was however impossible.

And now a homely touch...  Last time I shopped for bird food I mistakenly bought sunflower seeds instead of suet pellets.  But on using them in a feeder I noticed that I was getting visits from a couple of furtive bullfinches.

Furtive Bullfinch

I'm now wondering whether I've seen them on feeders before. Probably not.

Oh and last of all, I found this fly in the dining room the other day, again in the never-seen-one-like-that-before category.  More consultation suggests that it is a footballer hoverfly and as far as I can see from what research I've done, that appears to be correct.

Footballer Hoverfly

What a great name! As I said, we live and learn.

Bees And Not-to-bes (cont.)

One or two more mysteries emerged when I decided to take an early trip to Dipton Woods, Corbridge to see if green hairstreaks were appearing in view of the bright weather.

Not like me to get overly interested in flowers but I lingered a bit over the wood sorrels near the start of the track and, even less likely, wanted to know what the fungus was I saw on a tree in the same area.

Wood Sorrel

Hoof Fungus

So apparently it was a hoof fungus, appropriately named.

Green hairstreaks were about though not in the large numbers I have sometimes seen there.  In total I saw eight.  I thought it might be because it was early in the year but a chap I bumped into a bloke reckoned the couple he saw had been on the wing a long time.  The ones I saw turned out to be a mixture.

Worn Green Hairstreak

Fresh Green Hairstreak

Incidentally, aforementioned bloke also told me he had seen a tree pipit.  I didn't.

It was also encouraging to see a further eight speckled wood, showing they are in my view doing better than last year.

Speckled Wood

Also spotted but very hard to photograph were what I took to be a number of bilberry mining bees.  I was fairly convinced of this but they were always hanging of the bottom of bilberry flowers and the state of my knees doesn't encourage crawling around in the dust to get the right camera angle.

However there was also the appearance (twice) of another mystery tricolour nomad bee that I did manage to capture, the underside being particularly interesting for the contrasting brownish colour.

Nomad

Nomad (underside)

Experts may tell us that these tricolour nomads are impossible to distinguish visually, but given the likely presence of bilberry mining bee, there must be a shouting chance that this is Panzer's nomad bee, which is thought to be its main predator.