Between Summer and Autumn

I did a couple of trips this week as meteorological summer came to an end.

On Bank Holiday Monday I revisited Wallington Hall Walled Garden and made an early common sighting - a common darter.  More interesting however was one of those bumblebees that just doesn't look right and was eventually confirmed as a field cuckoo bee.  It was also nice to catch up with a red-tailed bumblebee worker as one hasn't appeared for a while when I've been out.

Field Cuckoo Bee

Common Darter

Red-tailed Bumblebee

There wasn't quite as much around as last year, when the weather was noticeably better.

However, I did take the opportunity to check for ivy bees at Wylam Bridge on the way home.  At first sight it seemed quiet but on checking it became clear that they were there in force, probably over 100.

Ivy Bees

They were all males apparently so probably hadn't been out long.

On Friday, I was on a bee walk at Allenheads where heavy winds emphasised the change in the seasons though it at least remained reasonably warm. Here we saw over ten broken-belted bumblebees but my understanding of the species was rather shattered by the information that they don't always have an interruption to the upper yellow band on the abdomen.  Otherwise bee sightings were restricted to white-tailed bumblebees plus one buff-tailed bumblebee and several common carder bees (rather than the moss carder bee we'd hoped for).

There were also a coupe of sightings of the fox moth caterpillar and isolated butterflies including a single, very small common blue.

Broken-belted Bumblebee

Fox Moth caterpillar

Perhaps more exciting was that we (rather than I) discovered a couple of flowers that are known to be rare.  These were the autumn gentian and the grass of parnassus.

Autumn Gentian

Grass of Parnassus

It seems the latter is a Cumbrian emblem.

Meanwhile it has been business as usual in the garden but still with one or two surprises.

I found an interesting fly I am provisionally guessing to be tetanocera ferruginae (common buff snailkiller) and the hornet mimic hoverfly has turned up again on two successive days.

Tetanocera Ferruginae

Hornet Mimic Hoverfly

Then frustratingly yesterday I encountered a large, dark bumblebee but just could not get a decent shot of it.  From observation I think it might be a tree bumblebee queen.

Tree Bumblebee Queen?

Maybe another day...

Home and Away

Last weekend I visited V&A plus baby.  We took quite a long trip to the Loch of the Lowes which promised various interesting sightings including osprey, red squirrel and beaver but overall we were underwhelmed.  True enough the entry fee (!) for the two hides did give us a good view of an osprey nest but apparently the beavers are only around early and late when the centre is closed and none of the seven red squirrels resident showed up.

Osprey Chick

We took a bit of a wander and while the vegetation looked promising, there was an eerie lack of bird song once we were a hundred yards away from the car park.  The only thing of interest was a tiny scavenger crossing the road which turned out to be a vole and obligingly fed on the roadside verge for a while. 

Vole

I don't think I've seen a vole before.

We decided to move on and settled on Loch Leven RSPB Reserve which proved more interesting. Ironically, one of the first things we saw was an adult osprey hunting and I was quite pleased to get some in-shot flights at distance as well as a video:

Osprey

There was a large area of flower meadow that, although very parched as elsewhere, looked potentially attractive.  I was happy enough to find a lone small copper on heather near the footpath.

Small Copper

There were a lot of greylag geese in the fields by the lake but while the rest of us were taking a rest, A managed to spot three ruddy shelduck among them.  Unfortunately they proceeded to move behind some reeds and, late in the day, we must have spent another half hour or more trying to spot them.  All I managed to get was a blurry head and shoulders shot but it is clear enough for identification purposes.

Ruddy Shelduck

This wasn't a first sighting as there were some at Shibdon Pond just after I moved here.

On the way back out we noted some interesting flowers and came upon a cinnabar caterpillar as well as being greeted by some baby house martins nesting outside the visitors' shop.

Cinnebar Caterpillar

House Martins

The overall reflection was that Loch Leven would be well worth another visit earlier in the summer.

Back at home I've realised I haven't observed a garden bumblebee yet this year, and so decided perhaps belatedly to check out the bees in the garden more closely.  I haven't found one but have seen on at least three occasions a broken-Belted bumblebee.

Broken-belted Bumblebee

Really you'd expect to find them in the Pennine moorlands but this isn't the first summer they've visited the garden.

Otherwise the usual suspects have turned up regularly on the buddleia, record numbers of hummingbird hawk moth in particular. However another surprise was to see a speckled wood on it on two occasions.

Speckled Wood

Also seen on two occasions has been a willow warbler visiting the plum tree, but it has proved very adept at making a quick exit when its presence was noted.

Lastly, riding at fair speed along the Derwent Walk near Swalwell on Thursday I glanced right to see three or four ponies feeding at the edge of a field except that one was clearly - a zebra.

A Mixed Bag

Keen to take advantage of the supposed heatwave, I set out for Wallington Hall Gardens on Sunday.  In fact the weather was cloudy all day and en route I thought I might do better with bees than butterflies.

On the whole the reverse was the case.  It was certainly warm enough, the winds were low and butterflies were out in abundance.

Particularly pleasurable was to see three painted ladies, to add to the one at Havannah the other week.

Painted Lady with Comma

Apart from commas, there were plenty of red admirals and small tortoiseshells, the former predominant on the several buddleia bushes, the latter more in other areas.  I don't recall having seen a peacock.

Other sightings were speckled wood and wall brown, the latter very briefly before being scared off, partly by a deranged young willow warbler that was going through the vegetation just a of couple yards away from me and appeared at times to be actually chasing the butterflies.

Deranged Willow Warbler

Not a well bird I suspect.

However it was the bees that produced the single business turn-up as I found several specimens of what I'm fairly certain were broken-belted bumblebees.

Broken-belted Bumblebee

Here's a second photo:

As a moorland species of Scotland and the Pennines, you'd have to ask what they were doing in a walled garden.  The yellow facial hair and legs are probably due to pollen.

The only other pollinators I noticed were honey bees, one with an orange tip to its tail and a plain-faced dronefly.

I decided to spend a good part of Bank Holiday Monday in the garden, just really to see if anything interesting would turn up. It was sunnier weather, but with a fair breeze most of the time.

Meanwhile I did a bit of counting of the most frequent butterflies.  Notably several commas turned up in the morning, but I did not see any after about 1.00 pm.  By contrast, small tortoiseshells were much more in evidence after about 3.30 pm.

Large whites, which have been very frequent this year, predominated but all three main variations of white were present.  On a very unscientific count, I reckoned that again the most numerous visitor, red admiral, outnumbered peacocks by a good bit over 10 - 1.  Perhaps it hasn't been a great year for peacocks.  My memory suggests that in past years, there have sometimes been more of them than red admirals.  Still no painted lady however.

As often on these occasions, a couple of things happened within a few minutes of each other.  An unfamiliar moth turned up on the buddleia.  It showed up orange in flight but looked a good deal different when settled.

New Moth

I assumed orange underwing but they don't settle with their wings tightly together.  A helpful suggestion on facebook is broad-bordered yellow underwing as orange underwing is in any case no longer on the wing in August.  Sure enough, internet photos show its colour is more orange than yellow.

Then up in the trees a blueish shape passed by.  It was a slightly less fleeting view than the one at Bradley Hall Gardens.  I'm pretty confident that it was the holly blue.

Meanwhile, the bullfinches kept sneaking up on the birdfeeders three or four yards in front of me.

Female Bullfinch

The male was rather more elusive.

In the evening I spent an hour or so at Marden Quarry hoping the night heron would turn up.  It didn't.  There were however a good number of gadwall to keep the mallards and coots company.

Gadwall

Even More Butterflies

A quick ride round the northern part of Chopwell Wood proved that my previous laments about the shortages of speckled wood do not signal its total demise, as I saw half a dozen of them within half an hour.

Perhaps more interesting since I don't recall spotting them there before was a healthy display of orchids along the slightly remote track I followed:

Orchids

Common Spotted Orchid

I'm not sure what kind they are but they reminded me that I'd seen a cracker a few days earlier at the Spetchells - a common spotted orchid I believe. 

However I digress...

Last Sunday I cycled to Weetslade Country Park, enticed by an article suggesting the presence of small copper and small skipper, and still anxious to see as many butterflies as possible. 

I arrived about lunchtime and settled near the top of the hill and saw nothing for forty five minutes apart from a single red-tailed bumble bee.  Then just before I moved on a single common blue appeared.

Moving around a bit I didn't find anything until right near the western exit I came across a triangle of grassy heathland, where things really started to happen.

Within an hour I totalled 25 ringlets, 12 male common blue, one of which sunbathed next to me repeatedly plus 5 of what I assumed at the time would be small skipper. On inspection of photographs however they were more likely large skippers - wasn't expecting that one!

Large Skipper

Small copper didn't appear - probably between broods - but a couple of girls said they had seen several small heath and I reckon I might have caught sight of one in flight but wasn't certain.

As at the Spetchells, I noticed a lack of bird's foot trefoil.  As there the main compensation seems to be an immense number of buttercups, which is what the skipper was nectaring on.

There were also a couple of speckled wood along the woodland edge and several on the cycle track through Ponteland, proving that rumours of its demise are indeed exaggerated.

Back at home the tits have finally realised that the caged peanut feeder is indeed for their benefit.

Plus there was a brief but noticeable reappearance of female red mason bees around the bug hotel.

One of them landed on my hand yesterday but more significant was the appearance of a broken-belted bumblebee worker on the plants nearest the house.  Unfortunately, my new wonder camera let me down, only managing hopelessly blurry shots, but I got a clear view and was pretty confident of what I saw.