Tuesday 14th May

A fairly inactive spell ensued after my Cyprus holiday as I pursued various health issues and found how frequently health professionals contradict each others' advice.  The weather hasparrs also been quite chilly for the first ten days of May.

Specked Wood

Meanwhile sparrows have appeared far more frequently in the garden than last Spring and there have been fleeting appearances by a woodpecker, grey squirrel, greenfinch, orange tip and the first speckled wood and peacock of the season.

I got out for a lengthy group bike ride on the Waskerley Way on Sunday that was more fitness than nature orientated but did see lapwing and orange tip and again heard a few skylarks.

Yesterday I put my main plan for the month in force by ignoring the Naturewatch trip to the Derwent Reservoir and heading instead for Dipton Woods near Corbridge in pursuit of the Green Hairstreak. A navigational error took me first to the Dipton Mill Inn near Hexham and cost me a pint of beer to sort out as I sought local advice.

On finally reaching Dipton Wood, I began to think the odds were stacked against me as it's quite a large area.  However I eventually decided to stop just past the south western corner on the road to Slaley and walked back looking for a way into the wood.

A couple of "Private Land" signs hinting that intruders could be shot by rifle made me nostalgic for the no privacy law in Scotland before I happened on a public footpath heading east.  At first it didn't look promising as it led up by an area that had clearly been heavily deforested.  But as it got higher there were small bilberry plants nearby on either side, so I started to become more optimistic as bilberry is the food plant for green hairstreak caterpillars in Northern Britain.

Then at a clearing by a neglected stone wall there was a sunny area where the bilberry mixed with a heathery-type plant (note scientific description) and two green hairstreaks flattered along the path towards me and settled.  I felt really lucky to have hit such a hot spot by chance without knowing where I was going.

The hot spot

Green Hairstreak

I walked a fair way up the path and back down again.  Overall, I saw 35 green hairstreaks plus a couple each of speckled wood (photo earlier above) and green-veined white.  The hairstreaks seemd to be settling at least as much on the heather as the bilberry, but in areas where the sun was coming through fully and the bilberry was already well in flower or early fruit.  Several times couples engaged in circling behaviour and overall I had the impression it was effectively early season for them.

Two Green Hairstreaks

The other thing that was noticeable was that almost everywhere was overrun with ants and I encountered the biggest ant heap I have seen on the way back down!

Ant heap

Green hairstreak was a first sighting, so a very successful day.  Now I'll have to think what else to do this month...