More Butterflies

Realising that, with a trip abroad forthcoming (watch this space) my opportunities were limited, I decided to make a concerted attempt to catch up with the dingy skipper this week.  My efforts took me back to Path Head Nature Reserve, The Spetchells and Weetslade Country Park and unfortunately remained unfulfilled.

Late morning at Path Head looked likely to produce nothing at all. I was actually on my way out when I finally caught up with five small heath, two common blue and a single speckled wood all pretty much in constant flight. 

Worn bumblebee

Later the same day at Spetchells, results were rather better.

The first thing that caught my attention was actually a bee.  My first impression was that it was a worn buff-tailed bumblebee.  it seemed to have some pollen underneath the abdomen so I wondered about another leafcutter but on balance it seems the first impression was correct.

The giveaway is the faded stripe on the thorax.

For a while I again didn't see butterflies and began to speculate why.  It strikes me that there isn't amount of bird's foot trefoil at the Eastern end of the area, where it used to be relatively easy to find common blues, burnet moths and of course dingy skipper.

At some parts it's apparent that bird's foot trefoil is being overwhelmed by cotoneaster spread, others look like they could do with some grazing but in some there was no clear reason.  There were at least a couple of nice orchids to look at:

Early Purple Orchid?

Common Spotted Orchid?

I've no idea if I've identified them correctly.

Anyway the result of my deliberations was that I headed further East, where there are more trees and bushes and somewhat surprisingly started to see things, in particular a number of ringlets.  While they settled long enough to get a decent look, they were too skittish to photograph - probably freshly emerged - and the same applied to pretty much everything else I saw. The butterfly tally this time was Ringlet nine, Common Blue five, Speckled Wood five, Small Heath one and Large Skipper one.

Of these, only speckled wood and the large skipper was posing for the camera:

Large Skipper

For a moment I thought I'd hit on something really interesting when what appeared to be a brimstone was floating around the trees.  Again it was skittish, but when it did briefly settle I detected some wing markings that indicated it was a brimstone moth.  Moths also played a role on the way back as four or five small orange moths turned up and were eventually identified as yellow shell, which together with the previous one were first sightings for me.

Yellow Shell Moth

The day after at Weetslade, I again didn't see much in windy weather until I started foraging, when the dominant species proved to be the meadow brown.  This interested me as it was the first time I haven't seen them earlier in the summer than the ringlet, which I tend to associate more with July and August.

At Weetslade the scores were:  Meadow Brown 17, Large Skipper five, Common Blue four (including the first female I've seen this year), Small Heath one.

Meadow Brown

Female Common Blue

I think the common blue may have been ovipositing. Incidentally, all the meadow browns showing their upper wing were male. It's also interesting that no small skippers were seen over the three visits.

So still no dingy skipper then.  Although local sources suggest May and June is the best time for them, the Butterfly Conservation website states they are still on the wing in July - so there may still be hope.

Back in the garden the male bullfinch continues to appear.  It seems to be getting more confident, even feeding on the lawn, and a female is occasionally sighted.  A couple of goldfinches have also visited briefly - the first time in the seven years I've been here.

The only notable appearance by a butterfly was by a lone red admiral but I did think I might have spotted a first white-tailed bumblebee but on balance I am not entirely convinced.

Red Admiral

White-tailed Bumblebee

Call me a Liar would you?

It's often interesting how nature can make a fool out of you.

I'd hardly finished writing the last post complaining about the lack of butterflies in the garden when they gradually started turning up, first of all a few whites and then one by one the common members of the maligned Nymphalidae family.

Meanwhile I managed a couple of expeditions to catch up on other species.  First was a bike ride to the dunes at Cambois in search of grayling where I did manage to catch up with one rather battered individual almost as soon as I arrived.

Grayling

That however was it - any number of meadow brown, small skipper, burnet moths and after a bit of foraging, a couple of small whites and small tortoiseshells.  I rather thought I'd done better on my last visit, but on checking this was hardly the case.

Right at the end of July, I tried the Hamsterley viaducts for purple hairstreaks and over a two hour period saw eight - a rather sparse result and as ever they were flattering around the oaks and impossible to photograph.

A mission to Bywell Bridge the day after proved abortive as there was no sign of the white-letter hairstreak and to my surprise the elms were already beginning to turn brown.

Then on the 31st - a really hot day - the first small tortoiseshell appeared in the back garden and, perhaps even more exciting, a brimstone moth slept over in the large bedroom.

Brimstone Moth

A couple of days ago was when the Nymphalidae began to appear, as well as both large and small whites.

Small White	Large White
Small Tortoiseshell	Red Admiral
Peacock	Comma

I'm starting to see an awful lot of peacocks when the sun shines, perhaps not unconnected to the fact that a woman down the road in Rowlands Gill has been breeding them. 

Two I haven't seen to date are humming bird hawk moth and holly blue.  I'd like to think things have changed for the better but the weather remains patchy and unreliable.

An extra frisson of excitement was nearly provided what seemed to be an obscure ladybird on my car door handle.  In fact it was a variation of the invasive harlequin ladybird, which apparently can take a variety of different patterns and colours.  It was completely different to the one I once found in the summer house.

Harlequin Ladybird

So that's what I also thought it was this morning when a black ladybird with two red spots turned up while I was trimming the laurel hedge.  Unless of course it was a kidney-spot ladybird...  That was one photo I should have taken but didn't!