Mixed Pickings 2

Last Sunday I was out on a walk in the Durisdeer Hills with V&A.

In reasonable weather there were quite a few butterflies around, the predominant species being the green-veined white.

Green-veined White

Even more predominant were large numbers of red kite, which have clearly spread from Loch Ken and a fair few buzzards.

We were really hoping to see a pair of hen harriers that appeared to have mated in the area and merlin, which are known to be present here too.  In fact we saw neither and speculated that the large number of other birds of prey may have discouraged the harriers.

There were however numerous other birds to see, notably meadow pipits as one would expect, wheatear and a few red-legged partridge - hardly surprising as they are bred widely as a gamebird. 

Wheatear

Red-legged Partridge

The wheatear looks to me like a young female. I also noticed that the pipit appears to have some sort of head or eye stripe, so that I briefly wondered about tree pipit but discounted the possibility.

Meadow Pipit

About two thirds of the way along the trail there was some cotton grass and a large expanse of bilberry and I started to wonder what else might be seen here.  However, the bilberry was only just coming into flower.

On the way back through this area, there was a chance sighting of a small heath butterfly, which pleased me considerably.  There was also a single bird's egg on the path - probably that of a dove or pigeon - which we decided to leave alone.

Small Heath

Towards the end a couple of moths appeared.  One I couldn't identify but the other appears to be a brown silverline.

Brown Silverline

A couple of days ago on the way to the doctor's, I did a reccy of Chopwell East Field, a recently declared reserve to see if it is suitable for a Naturewatch Walk.  

It actually proved quite promising.  Quite a lot of flora is springing up.  At one point there are signs of bird's foot trefoil establishing itself, though I suspect it may get overwhelmed by surrounding grasses.  A shetland pony staring at me from a neighbouring horses' field possibly was showing some interest in addressing this issue.

In an area described as wetland, which was actually pretty dry, I was lucky enough to come across one or two small copper butterflies.  Turning to retrace my steps a pair of linnets started singing from nearby trees and bushes.  It looks like they are both male.

Small Copper

Linnets

Meanwhile back in the garden, I've twice been visited by a pair of bullfinches, anxious to hoover up some seeds from the now over-abundant forget-me-nots.

Mr Bullfinch

Mrs Bullfinch

A bit rude of Mr Bullfinch to have his back turned on us.

There's no more news on the mystery black bee, but I did manage to capture this early bumblebee worker.

Early Bumblebee

No more signs of red mason or nomad bees, perhaps down to poorish weather.

On the "Is it a fly or is it a bee" debate, I think I may have missed out when I found a very small item wondering along the kitchen windowsill while cooking.  I didn't take it too seriously thinking it was probably a fly and only got a couple of poor images.

A pity as I think now that it may have been a wee furrow bee and it hung around for ages!

Up in The Highlands 1

 After several attempts, I managed to catch up with a male orange tip visiting the garden - actually a notably small specimen, suggesting it hasn't been feeding well.

Orange Tip

This may however be one of the last orange tips to visit as I have started clearing out the garlic mustard, which had become far too dominant and was starting to die off anyway.

Last weekend I was on a nature break in the Highlands with Alex and Vicki.  We started with a full day at a location known for eagles and managed a few sightings, though all were at considerable distance.  Not long after entering the valley I could see an obviously large bird from the car window and did get one good sighting through the binoculars, when I managed to track a bird across the heather and could make out its tail feathers.

The rest of the day we spent trying to work out whether distant flyers were eagles or buzzards, mostly the latter, some of which may also have been kestrels but mainly to my eye buzzards that managed to hover against the breeze.  I was a bit surprised to find that the commonest bird otherwise was house martin, swooping around in large numbers in the afternoon.  Oystercatchers and gulls were also present in good numbers, as well as occasional lapwing and curlew.

It was a reasonably summer day so I undertook a couple of forages in the gorse next to the river and was pleased to find a first sighting - the bilberry bumblebee.  There was also what I think to be a moss carder bee, rather than a common carder bee.  I reckoned I saw one in Cumbria last June, but didn't get close enough to confirm.

Bilberry Bumblebee

Moss Carder Bee?

A slight doubt on the latter is that gorse isn't listed as a favoured flower.

On the second day, we took advantage of the time of year to visit Loch Ruthven during the mating season of the slavonian grebe.  This is one of the few locations for slavonian grebe and we had instant success as it was the first bird we saw.  Several pairs were clearly visible from the hide, passing through the weed. Again there were a lot of house martins swooping over the water and I think some sand martins too.

Slavonian Grebe

Our afternoon walk around the area of Loch Garten was however a disappointment.  Hoping perhaps for crested tit or crossbill variations, all we saw was a couple of siskins and chaffinches, a couple more bilberry bumblebees and lots of pine trees as well as bilberry bushes that had barely started to flower.

Here the seasons probably played to our disadvantage as we learned later that crested tits and crossbills are a good deal harder to find in the nesting season.  Loch Garten itself is known for hosting birds of prey including osprey and goshawk but it seems you're better off viewing the webcam images rather than trying to see them live.

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...