Saturday 25th July

Interesting follow up to last week's post in that I posted a photo of the leaf on the Dumfries and Galloway Wildlife and Birding Facebook group, a great forum where people are posting pictures of all sorts of things they have seen about the place - notably some fascinating insects recently.

Someone thought my leaf was an aspen rather than an alder, which did not quite tally with my observations of the trunk and structure.  Then there was another suggestion of black poplar and on consulting again the Book of Trees, that appears to be spot on.

Baby Swallows

A bit of a quiet week this week.  Mainly concentrated on improving my Chris Froome imitation during the Wednesday bike ride, but did manage to see half a dozen red kites between Dalbeattie and Haugh of Urr, flying low and very visible next to a field where a farmer was harvesting grass. What might they have been looking for?  Mice?  On the way to Crocketford there was also a single red
admiral.

On Friday went to visit the Housesteads roman fort.  The area was notable for its lack of birds, especially birds of prey but there were a couple of cute baby swallows above the shop entrance, waiting to be fed.

Wednesday 15th July

My knowledge of trees is pretty poor and I've been meaning to do something about it for some time.

So by way of a change, I took my Book of Trees along on today's bike ride (via Milton, Kirkgunzeon, Loch Arthur, New Abbey, Kirkconnel Flow) and set about identifying some of the broadleafs.  Thus I

Alder Leaf?

now know there are a lot of ash trees north of Kirkgunzeon and generally, plus a lot of oaks, hazels, sycamores and holly trees on the road past Kirkconnel Flow.

One tree near the cycle track in the town has confused me a bit.  I think it was an alder from the trunk and size but the leaves did not match the pictures in my book very well.

Of course there were also some goldfinches, a few yellowhammers near Kirkgunzeon and several ringlet butterflies. On the wilder bit of the run to New Abbey, there were also a couple of stonechats grinding away.  I haven't seen them there before.

A pleasant change from some of the frantic riding I've been doing. Who knows, maybe I will finally show some interest in wild flowers one day as well.

Thursday 10th July

Walked from Mossvale to Loch Stroan in search of birds of prey, as I've heard tales of a few sightings in this area.

The weather was more mixed than anticipated with one heavy rain shower and some drizzle, though this did not put off the ringlet butterflies who were again out in force. However it may have contributed to the lack of birds of prey taking the wing, apart from one red kite I disturbed from its roost, which gave a very good view of its underparts as it flew of squawking.  Apart from that, the most notable thing I had seen on turning back to the car was a grey wagtail perching in the conifers near the loch.  I didn't know they would do that.

Wheatear

But on the way back I noticed two birds of prey, heading over the moorland towards the forest.  The merlin is a bird I have a strange relationship with, full of half and questionable sightings, but from the
adept, speedy flight and the pointed wings, I would be fairly confident these two were indeed merlins. Too far away though to pick up more of the body colouring than a hint of dark brown.

Two or three minutes later, I noted some 'tek, tek' noises coming from a hawthorn, followed by some brief whistling notes. I got close enough to see the bird, but it took me a few minutes to decide it was a very pale looking male wheatear - the first I have come across this summer.  So pale in fact that there was only the merest suggestion of red on the breast, which doesn't show in this photo but I also managed to identify the tail pattern when it started to fly around a bit.

More Photographs From Provence

As promised three weeks ago, here are some more photos of birds and other wildlife from provence. Thanks to Cyndy Hutley for providing them. N.b. some are from her previous trips to the area.

As you can detect, Provence offers good opportunities to see things that are uncommon or rare in the UK, plus some others you wouldn't see at all.

Bee Eater Chamois Citril Finch False Ilex Hairstreak Golden Eagle Great Spotted Cuckoo Mountain Goats Red Backed shrike Scorpion Sphinx Oak Moth

Calendra Lark Chough Eagle Owl Glossy Ibis Great Sooty Satyr Lesser Kestrel Ortolan Bunting Rock Sparrow Wryneck

Saturday 4th July

Yesterday I decided to confront the apparent shortage of butterflies by cycling to the Mabie Forest butterfly walk in forecast sunny conditions.

The results were inconclusive as the sun proved intermittent.  There were certainly butterflies around, but not in the same numbers I would have expected on a really hot day.  There were a large number of big fritillaries flying strongly over the path and bracken.  From a past visit, I was confident they were dark green fritillaries but none would settle until I was on the point of leaving, when I was able to make a positive identification.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

I reckon I sighted 20 - 30 dark greens, making it the second most common butterfly on the reserve after the ever present ringlet.  Once again tangled with the issue of distinguishing small pearl-bordered fritillary from pearl-bordered, but the one I photographed is clearly a small as you might expect. Also present were usual suspects small heath, common blue, meadow brown and red admiral (first three this year).

As ever at Mabie did not for some reason notice much bird life apart from a jay but there were one or two moths around. From my limited knowledge, they may have been transparent burnet, carpet moth and one samll black and white effort I didn't get a good look at.

Wednesday 1st July

A not surprisingly unspectacular report after the ecitement of a fortnight ago.

Went on long bike ride to Dalry last Wednesday but did not pay attention to birdlife much as needed to keep time and somewhat birded out after my visit to Provence.  This was a pity in a way as there was clearly a good deal of activity.  Surprised to notice yellowhammers just North of Dumfries and a diving brown shadow over the moors may just have been a merlin.  Also observed a red kite getting mobbed by a crow.

River Aln

What was perhaps more telling was again the almost complete lack of butterflies on a day with periods of good sunshine.  All I saw was four small whites approaching Drumwhirn Forest.

The same was apparent on a walk up the River Aln in Northumberland on Tuesday.  This time the sun was consistent but there were only a couple of pairs of meadow brown and a fleeting skipper or fritillary.  We did at least manage to establish that the river holds some fish, as if the three herons we saw were not enough proof.  All web references suggest game fish only but we found a slow section between two weirs that looked very likely to contain coarse fish.

Back at home, there was a very large bumble bee in the front garden with a totally black body and a white tail.  I assumed it was a white-tailed bumble bee but cannot find any illustration to match it.