I managed four brief sightings in different wych elms around Bywell Bridge. One struck me as being too dark but the other three answered the broad description and probably were white-letter hairstreaks. The only trouble was I couldn't prove it as none of them settled and so could theoretically have been something else.
It was a similar story later in the week when I took advantage of a couple of partially summer evenings to look for purple hairstreaks in the tops of the oaks from the old railway bridges just past Hamsterley Mill. Although not around in the same numbers as my first visit last year, I was able to identify around 10 suspects flying around different trees, discounting a couple of others as moths. The greyish hue in flight makes me fairly certain on identification and in one case there was a momentary flash of light blue that I regard as conclusive but again none settled anywhere visited.
Spotting these species isn't an easy task. My conclusion based on this year's attempts is that the purple hairstreak is the easier option. My last visit to Bywell on Sunday produced nothing at all but one compensation was spotting this rather dozy looking young tawny owl on a brief woodland walk.
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| Tawny Owl |
Similarly the trips to Hamsterley revealed a jay and some rising trout viewed from above and, on the windier day, about a dozen red kites cruising around.
A week or so after they first bloomed, the buddlieae attracted their first butterfly, a green-veined white. Since then three small tortoiseshells have followed suit, but this one needed to warm up on the path first.
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| Small Tortoiseshell |
Woodpeckers have been visiting daily - a female and a juvenile - and a song thrush has been around a couple of times looking for worms. But by far the commonest small bird is the blue tit, which has clearly had an excellent breeding season.
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