Small Tortoiseshells Appear

After bemoaning the lack of small tortoiseshells, I was obviously pleased when one turned up on Tuesday. 

Small Tortoiseshell

I didn't say so earlier but I did have a slight notion that the chances would be better at the end of summer and they have been appearing regularly since. Today there were three in the garden on two occasions - so the famine is over if not exactly a feast.

Butterfly appearances have generally hit the high spot over the last week. Some while ago I decided not to repeatedly take photos of the same species.  It would be nice to capture several together but so far they've been too widely spread on the buddleia.  I reckon the most frequent visitors have been red admiral and painted lady, the latter perhaps preferring to wait for the sun to warm up - unlike the single red admiral that turned up during the solar eclipse.

Red Admiral and Painted Lady

A holly blue was also seen again today.

Away from butterflies, I encountered a minor rarity earlier this week in the form of this hornet hoverfly.

These can grow up to two inches long and the photo doesn't do justice to the size.

Hornet Hoverfly

I thought it was too yellow for a bee on seeing it from a distance but it was fairly easy to work out it was a fly.  Fortunately I haven't seen any hornets.  

One bee did catch my interest today but I think it is probably just a dark buff-tailed bumblebee queen. Note the gingery tail band.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee Queen

For some reason, it made me reflect that I haven't recorded any garden bumblebees this year, perhaps dismissing them as buff-tailed.  I shall keep a more careful lookout - if it's not too late.

Staying Local

On Sunday I had planned to cycle out to Parkhead on the Waskerley Way.  I was thinking that I hadn't seen a small copper since returning from Avignon and that seems to be a good area to look for them.  However the plan had to be abandoned as the Derwent Walk cycle track 14 is still closed. I could have sworn I'd seen a sign saying that it would only be closed until early July.

So another plan was called for and I decided to head in the opposite direction, effectively limiting my scope to revisiting a couple of gardens near the Tyne.

Comma

Cutting across to Blaydon, I hit the Keelman's Way westwards and quickly spotted a holly blue in the area of Blaydon Station. As it's a known site for small copper, I took a quick look around Ryton Meadows but, as elsewhere, the vegetation was so dry that the chances were minimal. In spite of one fleeting sighting of something brown, I doubled back and crossed Newburn Bridge to the local Community Garden.

Here the buddleia was producing the usual suspects - several painted ladies, red admiral, peacock and a good few comma.

As in my garden the other day however, the notable absentee was the small tortoiseshell.

People worry about the small tortoiseshell and for a while its decline was a bit of a mystery, but now ascribed to climate change, altered hibernation patterns and parasitic flies.

Moving on I took another look at the Calaminarian Grassland at Wylam to check - rather late in the year, or so I thought - the story that there might be harebells attracting the gold-tailed melitta.  In fact there were a good few harebells, if somewhat sparsely distributed, though I could not find any sort of bee activity on them.  One very small item was dismissed as a possible wasp.

Having expectedly also failed to find anything in the small Wylam Nature Reserve (more trees than flowers) I went up the hill to Bradley Gardens as the most likely of all to produce something interesting.

It wasn't long before, among the usual red admiral, peacock and plentiful painted ladies, I encountered another holly blue. 

Holly Blue

It wasn't long either before a few more turned up and by the end of the day I reckoned I saw about five including a late visitor in my own garden.  In fact a couple that flew past overhead looked very blue and I did wonder about common blue, however unlikely in a formal garden.

More of a surprise was the definite sighting of a couple of small copper, thereby achieving the original purpose of going out in the first place:

Small Copper

Neither would I have bet any money on a meadow brown turning up there. Mayne it's another statement about the arid nature of the grassland.

Meadow Brown

As ever the painted ladies were frequently posing on the ground.  The only other butterfly I caught on film was a rather battered green-veined white.

Painted Lady

Green-veined White

There were a few hoverflies around at both the gardens which i basically chose to ignore apart from one. Apparently it is a common tachinid.

Common Tachinid

Today I had a slightly strange sighting in the garden - a nuthatch scurrying over the path and stones picking up bits of food.  I didn't know they did that.  I have also positively identified a couple of small whites on the buddleia.  I wonder if I've been overlooking them?

In The Garden

Following my own lead that gardens are the best place to be for insects this year, I've spent a fair bit of time in my own.

The best day so far was yesterday, when I made a rather hurried contribution to the Big Butterfly Count, recording totals of Red Admiral 7, Peacock 7, Large White 5, Painted Lady 10, Comma 2, Green-veined White 2, Holly Blue 2, Humming Bird Hawk Moth 2

I don't think I saw a small white but it was a bit chaotic.

Clearly it is a painted lady year and it is currently being seen daily.

Painted Lady

Painted Lady (underwing)

I continue to find butterflies in compromising situations, which very much applies to two of the large whites in each others' clutches for more than ten minutes that I noticed.

Large Whites

It hasn't quite come out in the image but they had a strong yellowish sheen so that I first wondered if I'd uncovered a female brimstone.

An absentee from the party was however the small tortoiseshell, and I don't think I've seen one yet in the back garden at all.

I was however particularly chuffed to get a great video of one of the hummingbird hawk moths.  Unfortunately it was too big for blogger, so you'll have to look for my post on facebook today.

One minor disappointment was not being able to catch up with one of the holly blues, which again landed on the buddleia but didn't hang around.

Meanwhile my neighbours across the road think they are getting visited by a raven - and I think they may well be right.

Raven?

In fact the first shot I took showed a second beak behind the silhouette so maybe there's a pair...

The Dry Season

After my brief outing to Chopwell East Field, I decided to see if things were any better at the brownfield site I visited early in the year and saw dingy skipper.  If anything they were worse and all I could muster in 45 minutes was a single green-veined white, one shaded broad bar moth and a tatty looking female common blue:

Common Blue

Otherwise the bird's foot trefoil had all but vanished and grasshoppers and mini moths patrolled the large expanses of sunburnt vegetation.

I don't know why I have been catching up with so many amorous butterflies lately but a quick exploration of the surrounds at a nearby car park revealed a couple of large whites getting in the mood.

Large Whites

Taking a policy decision it might be better to visit formal gardens (which get watered by human-beings) I set off yesterday to Seaton Delaval Hall gardens.

Conditions weren't great with a strong wind and very brief glimpses of sunshine.  The main formal garden seemed to have more emphasis on symmetry and exotic appearance than on encouraging nature and bees were the main visitors.

I was however quite pleased to find another white-tailed bumblebee on the lavender and also turned up what may be a member of the globetail hoverfly group. 

White-tailed Bumblebee

Globetail Hoverfly?

I haven't yet seen a specific suggestion for the hoverfly that accounts for the yellow face.

When the sun flourished briefly, the few whites were joined by the occasional red admiral and one peacock appeared.

Red Admiral

Peacock

The buddleia is now out in the back garden and has today been visited by large and small white as well as peacock. red admiral and some fresh-looking commas, flying strongly.

Comma

Today a couple of holly blues flew over and one caused a slight surprise when it landed briefly on the buddleia.  Not knowing they did that, I momentarily mistook it for an undersized small white!

I've been bemoaning the lack of bees, partly the result of a clearout of dying and over-invasive plants.  However a new pink plant has appeared without my intervention and has proved popular with honey bees and early bumblebees.

Honey Bee

I checked the plant out and it appeared to be marjoram, which was duly confirmed by sampling one of the leaves.

Better Luck at Cambois

 First of all though I've been forgetting to take photos of what has been a very frequent visitor to the garden - the early bumblebee.  I've always thought I'd do it 'sooner or later' but finally did a week ago. 

Early Bumblebee

Numbers have definitely been up this year.  I'm not sure what plant it's on, possibly marjoram, but it's attracted a few others as well, including honey bee.

Another landmark this year has been the appearance of the first butterfly on the potted buddleia in the front garden - as ever a small tortoiseshell.

Small Tortoiseshell

It nearly didn't happen though as the first flowers were already dying off in the hot, dry conditions by the time it arrived.

Meanwhile my main trip was a revisit to Cambois Beach last Tuesday, hoping to have better luck than a couple of weeks ago.  Conditions were distinctly unpromising though, as there was no sun and temperatures were down to 18C in a Northerly breeze.

Of course there were nevertheless a good number of meadow brown, notably some females settling flirtily on the paths:

Female Meadow Brown

Following the undergrowth close to the railway track, I did get lucky when a grayling flew in and landed directly in front of me.  It was even more lucky that I accidently snapped it with wings open as it flew off.

Grayling

Grayling in flight

One further sighting some moments later may or may not have been the same one.

Otherwise there were repeat sightings of a few small skippers and burnet moths, plus some other moths that my tentative identification skills suggest were common but nevertheless nice to see:

Yellow Shell

Shaded Broad Bar

Silver Y

Yesterday I made a quick visit to Chopwell East Field to see how the nature reserve is progressing.  Frankly it was a bit of a shock to see how little vegetation had survived the conditions, and notably there was very little sign of bird's foot trefoil or field vetch making progress.

So it was a similar pattern of some meadow brown, burnet moths and occasional small skipper.  Several of the bees seen were very faded, in one case unrecognisably so.  However one did catch my eye as I think this may be a white-tailed bumblebee.

White-tailed Bumblebee?

Also in good condition was the red-tailed bumblebee, offering a slightly better view of itself than is sometime the case.

Red-tailed Bumblebee

Some Hits and Some Misses - Part 2

On the Sunday we headed down to Finglandrigg Wood in Cumbria. 

This was the latest in a series of attempts we have made to see the marsh fritillary there and once again we missed out, mainly seeing more of the butterflies from yesterday.

Two of three times we got excited, only to find we had been deceived by other brown species, namely comma and painted lady. Once when I lagged behind the others all that remained at a bushy area was a peacock.

Comma

Peacock

Part of the delay was that I had come across a honey bee and realised with surprise that it was the first one I've seen this summer.  We later had a discussion about the lack of bees observed.

There was also a marshy area where I kept an eye open for the large heath, this time with no success at all.

We moved on to Campfield Marsh where the objectives were slightly different, as marsh harriers and an osprey nest had been reported.  This time we were successful with both as they were visible from the hide. After many attempts, I did eventually get a clear shot of the osprey with the chicks peering from the nest.  With the marsh harrier I was less lucky but managed to observe it through the binoculars several times.

Osprey and chicks

Marsh Harrier

Not much was seen on the nearby pool - some lapwings and a few greylag geese. Later on we observed some young willow warblers moving through the trees with parental supervision.

There were also quite a few dragonflies around but the only one that settled was this common darter:

Common Darter

An added bonus was a pair of roe deer that were feeding on a farmer's field:

Roe Deer

By the time we made our way back to the car it was early evening but it remained warm and the butterflies were coming out in force.  Here there were more meadow brown than ringlet, but also red admiral, small tortoiseshell and painted lady.

Small Tortoiseshell

Red Admiral

Painted Lady

In fact we must have seen going on for 20 painted ladies, confirming the impression that this may go down as a 'painted lady year.'

Some Hits and Some Misses - Part 1

Not for the first time, I've fallen rather behind with my nature record keeping. It's difficult keeping up with lots happening and the various distractions of the  World Cup, Wimbledon and the Tour de France.

Where to start?

Well I did do a couple of Large Heath surveys at Muckle Moss near Hadrian's Wall but the first on a windy day produced none and the second in slightly better conditions last Thursday only one definite and one suspected sighting. On the first occasion there was at least a possible sighting of the Manchester Treble Bar moth and there was a plump specimen of the oak eggar moth.

Oak Eggar Moth

It seems the season for Large Heath in the Hadrian's Wall area is pretty much over.  On the way back from the second trip, I made a bit of a detour to Bywell to see if I could find the white-letter hairstreak, only to discover that the tree where I saw it before was completely dead - presumably a victim of Dutch Elm Disease.

There was a similar disappointment a couple of days earlier when I took a bike ride to the Big Waters Reserve to see if the farmland nearby where the clouded yellow turned up was still under set-aside. It wasn't. At least on a fairly brief stay I managed to see two small skipper, a few dragonflies, a red admiral and two small tortoiseshell.

At the weekend I travelled West to link up with V&A and baby.  On the Saturday afternoon we went to Broughtonknowe Wood near Biggar, an impressive and large area of grassland.  I was quickly pleased to note a number of ringlet around. In fact there must have been over a hundred of them, considerably outnumbering meadow brown and all others.  The whites all proved to be green-veined white, a change from the mainly large whites I've been seeing at home.

Ringlet

Green-veined White

There were a couple of small skipper and a large number of burnet moths but bees were largely overshadowed by drone flies. Apart from a couple of azure damselflies, dragonflies weren't settling.

Azure Damselfly	Blotch-winged Hoverfly
Orange-spined Drone Fly	Furry Dronefly

In the evening we took a walk along the old railway line near Leadhills.  The objective here was a pair of hen harriers with chicks that had been observed by V&A as recently as last Thursday.

As it happened they weren't to be seen and we speculated that they may have left the area - perhaps wisely as this is a known shooting area.

So the main birds we saw perched on posts were a very distant buzzard and a juvenile wheatear.

Buzzard

Wheatear

Oh, and I did catch a view of a grey heron enjoying a scratch.

Heron