An Elusive Damselfly

Yesterday and and the day before I went looking for a damselfly at Gibside.  The target was the willow emerald damselfly which has just started to occur in the North East.  I had planned to go last week with K but poor weather put us off, as it proved decisively as the only dragonfly I managed to see this weekend was a probable Southern Hawker.

However I did yesterday bump into a group of damselfly freaks who explained how the willow emerald lays its eggs in willow twigs.  When the tree grows a cavity develops allowing the larvae to drop into the water the following spring. The proof was readily available.

Willow scar

A further consolation was today getting a decent shot of a jay feeding on the grass avenue.  

Jay

Normally timid, this one is probably used to the regular passage of visitors and showed little inclination to take fright at passers-by.

At the Lily Pond, I headed for the limited sunny area on the far side where there were no damselflies but a number of bugs enjoying the warmth of rhododendron leaves.

Harlequin Ladybird

Spiked Shieldbug

There's been a lot of ladybirds around this year and I noticed a number of corpses at the tennis club on Friday, with the harlequins largely favouring Court 2.

I hadn't seen a spiked shieldbug before but I think the identification is correct.

A couple of plants also caught my attention;-

Horsetail?

Spindle?

At the moment I can only offer vague identification but both are new to me.

A Trip Out

On Sunday, I took a trip up to Holy Island mainly to meet V&A+E.  The idea was as much to have a relaxing day while keeping an eye out for birds. In the event it was a pleasant, sunny day, as much late summer as autumn and, with no wind to blow in the migrants, there wasn't too much around of interest.

The unfortunate thing was that we didn't see the birds that were of some interest.

Apparently there were a few redwing in the The Lonnen but we just found sparrows and robins.  More promising was a report of snow buntings around near the track that leads to the East side of the island, but all we saw was a wren.  It wasn't until near the end of the track that we found a couple of nice stonechats - before they flew off.

Stonechat

Stonechat flying off

An investigation of the pool near the hide found nothing but coots, mallards and a prominent grey heron.

Grey Heron

Meanwhile V had gone on ahead and did managed to spot an eider duck just of the rocks, which I however couldn't find on trying.

There were plenty of curlew in the fields nearer to the Village Centre and, after some perseverance, I did manage to get a shot of a nice lapwing.

Lapwing

A bird I spotted on a roof near the coach car park proved however to be a domestic pigeon.

Never mind, it was first and foremost a family occasion so we repaired to a cafe for coffee and cake, the latter attracting the local sparrows.

Sparrows and Cake

We did a last visit to the Vicar's Garden, largely to show V&A where it was. Here there was a twitcher looking over the wall who of course reported that a rarity had been seen nearby - an olive-backed pipit - and that the redwing had been visiting the garden.  Not of course while we were there but I did manage to snap a song thrush.  The only other bird I saw in the garden was a dunnock.

Song Thrush

As we had already eaten there was no need to visit the village chip shop, which was offering takeaway gorilla.

Gorilla

Driving back over the causeway, A spotted a merlin on one of the marker posts, but I missed it.

Today, which is the 21st, I noticed a bumblebee inspecting the first shoots on the garden mahonia.  I have seen on TV that buff-tailed bumblebees can survive the winter in the South of England by nectaring on mahonia.  Could it possibly happen here?

Have the Seasons Changed?

I stumbled on a post I wrote while still in Dumfries, celebrating the fact that I saw butterflies on the buddleia as late as 22nd September. At the time I scoffed inwardly, reckoning I'd easily beat that date as my goal each year now (have I ever achieved this??) was to see a butterfly on buddleia after the beginning of October.

In fact there was hardly any buddleia flowering in the garden by 22nd September this year and the last buddleia butterfly sighting must have been three or four days earlier. This came as a minor shock and I speculated that the long dry spell may have been responsible for all three bushes at the back deciding to shut up shop early.

Around the 22nd there were one or two painted ladies around but they passed on without stopping.  The only thing that did call in while I enjoyed the last of the sunshine was this common darter.

Common Darter on decking

Of course there are still a few butterflies around and, whilst checking a few possible ivy bee sites, I found a couple of red admiral guzzling ivy nectar on the Tyne between Bywell and Ovingham.

Red Admiral on Ivy

Turning my attention to garden birds a bit earlier in the year than usual I put out some extra feed. This drew an instant response from two male nuthatches until one of them fought the other off. No sign though of the willow warbler, which has presumably headed off to Africa. 

In the meanwhile I have been on a cultural visit to Berlin and as a change from cycling and targeted nature watching. Inevitably there were plenty of hooded crows. It always amazes me how common they are in big cities in Europe and how seldom anywhere here.

Garden Nuthatch

Berlin Hooded Crow

There were a few butterflies around, notably in Treptower Park.  Mainly they were all large and small whites, two pairs of the latter typically having sex right in front of me, and one or two speckled wood. I did start to wonder if the southern small white had reached Berlin yet (it has) but the only suspect was assaulted by another white and quickly flew off. However I did catch sight of one holly blue flying between trees.  Interestingly there were no nymphiladae to be seen and it struck me that I haven't seen a peacock anywhere for over a month.

There were a few bees but I saw nothing that wasn't either a honey bee or a buff-tailed bumblebee.

Insects on Ivy

Struggling for two weeks to finally shift a heavy cold and chest infection, I took a laborious bike ride to Corbridge with the plan of checking out the several bushes of ivy on the way back to the Tyne.  

In fact the areas where the ivy was actually flowering were still fairly scarce. South of Styford I did find one good crop that was popular with honey and bumblebees but no sign of any ivy bees, which I think could possibly be found in the area. One thing I did find was a rather large hoverfly which according to others is a pellucid hoverfly (genus volucella.)

Pellucid Hoverfly

A little further on there was a south-facing bush with more bee action going on, plus a visit by a red admiral to nectar on the ivy flowers.

My attention was mainly drawn by a very large queen bumblebee with a decidedly brown tail.  I was trying to figure out which species of queen it was. The matter was resolved when it was sexually assaulted by what was clearly a buff-tailed male so that I once again found myself witnessing insect pornography.  The tussle went on quite a long time and, when I tried to move some leaves for a better view, spilled over onto my glove.

The Queen

The tussle...

...on my glove

After all this, I stopped off again at Wylam to see how the known ivy bees again.  The action was considerable:

Ivy Bees

A large area of ivy that hadn't flowered yet was also found near the Tyne East of Bywell.  This might be worth further investigation as ivy bees are known to favour river banks.

In the garden, space on the buddleia is becoming tight and painted lady and small tortoiseshell had to share the same bloom.

Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell

Between Summer and Autumn

I did a couple of trips this week as meteorological summer came to an end.

On Bank Holiday Monday I revisited Wallington Hall Walled Garden and made an early common sighting - a common darter.  More interesting however was one of those bumblebees that just doesn't look right and was eventually confirmed as a field cuckoo bee.  It was also nice to catch up with a red-tailed bumblebee worker as one hasn't appeared for a while when I've been out.

Field Cuckoo Bee

Common Darter

Red-tailed Bumblebee

There wasn't quite as much around as last year, when the weather was noticeably better.

However, I did take the opportunity to check for ivy bees at Wylam Bridge on the way home.  At first sight it seemed quiet but on checking it became clear that they were there in force, probably over 100.

Ivy Bees

They were all males apparently so probably hadn't been out long.

On Friday, I was on a bee walk at Allenheads where heavy winds emphasised the change in the seasons though it at least remained reasonably warm. Here we saw over ten broken-belted bumblebees but my understanding of the species was rather shattered by the information that they don't always have an interruption to the upper yellow band on the abdomen.  Otherwise bee sightings were restricted to white-tailed bumblebees plus one buff-tailed bumblebee and several common carder bees (rather than the moss carder bee we'd hoped for).

There were also a coupe of sightings of the fox moth caterpillar and isolated butterflies including a single, very small common blue.

Broken-belted Bumblebee

Fox Moth caterpillar

Perhaps more exciting was that we (rather than I) discovered a couple of flowers that are known to be rare.  These were the autumn gentian and the grass of parnassus.

Autumn Gentian

Grass of Parnassus

It seems the latter is a Cumbrian emblem.

Meanwhile it has been business as usual in the garden but still with one or two surprises.

I found an interesting fly I am provisionally guessing to be tetanocera ferruginae (common buff snailkiller) and the hornet mimic hoverfly has turned up again on two successive days.

Tetanocera Ferruginae

Hornet Mimic Hoverfly

Then frustratingly yesterday I encountered a large, dark bumblebee but just could not get a decent shot of it.  From observation I think it might be a tree bumblebee queen.

Tree Bumblebee Queen?

Maybe another day...

Home and Away

Last weekend I visited V&A plus baby.  We took quite a long trip to the Loch of the Lowes which promised various interesting sightings including osprey, red squirrel and beaver but overall we were underwhelmed.  True enough the entry fee (!) for the two hides did give us a good view of an osprey nest but apparently the beavers are only around early and late when the centre is closed and none of the seven red squirrels resident showed up.

Osprey Chick

We took a bit of a wander and while the vegetation looked promising, there was an eerie lack of bird song once we were a hundred yards away from the car park.  The only thing of interest was a tiny scavenger crossing the road which turned out to be a vole and obligingly fed on the roadside verge for a while. 

Vole

I don't think I've seen a vole before.

We decided to move on and settled on Loch Leven RSPB Reserve which proved more interesting. Ironically, one of the first things we saw was an adult osprey hunting and I was quite pleased to get some in-shot flights at distance as well as a video:

Osprey

There was a large area of flower meadow that, although very parched as elsewhere, looked potentially attractive.  I was happy enough to find a lone small copper on heather near the footpath.

Small Copper

There were a lot of greylag geese in the fields by the lake but while the rest of us were taking a rest, A managed to spot three ruddy shelduck among them.  Unfortunately they proceeded to move behind some reeds and, late in the day, we must have spent another half hour or more trying to spot them.  All I managed to get was a blurry head and shoulders shot but it is clear enough for identification purposes.

Ruddy Shelduck

This wasn't a first sighting as there were some at Shibdon Pond just after I moved here.

On the way back out we noted some interesting flowers and came upon a cinnabar caterpillar as well as being greeted by some baby house martins nesting outside the visitors' shop.

Cinnebar Caterpillar

House Martins

The overall reflection was that Loch Leven would be well worth another visit earlier in the summer.

Back at home I've realised I haven't observed a garden bumblebee yet this year, and so decided perhaps belatedly to check out the bees in the garden more closely.  I haven't found one but have seen on at least three occasions a broken-Belted bumblebee.

Broken-belted Bumblebee

Really you'd expect to find them in the Pennine moorlands but this isn't the first summer they've visited the garden.

Otherwise the usual suspects have turned up regularly on the buddleia, record numbers of hummingbird hawk moth in particular. However another surprise was to see a speckled wood on it on two occasions.

Speckled Wood

Also seen on two occasions has been a willow warbler visiting the plum tree, but it has proved very adept at making a quick exit when its presence was noted.

Lastly, riding at fair speed along the Derwent Walk near Swalwell on Thursday I glanced right to see three or four ponies feeding at the edge of a field except that one was clearly - a zebra.

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.