Better Late than Never

Thanks to some breaks in the otherwise depressing July weather, there have been outbursts of increased activity, particularly amongst the butterflies - at last I'm tempted to say.

For it was just five days ago that the commas made their first appearance and sightings of red admiral, large and green-veined white and small tortoiseshell became more regular.  Promising additions were fleeting appearances by holly blue and humming bird hawk moth.

Comma

Large White

Around the same time a female woodpecker appeared on the peanuts, closely followed by a male and the latter has visited daily ever since. 

Female Woodpecker

Male Woodpecker

I did the Big Butterfly Count yesterday and red admiral came out in the lead with nine sightings in fifteen minutes.

On Friday I led the Prudhoe U3A Naturewatch visit to Chopwell East Field, a recently declared nature reserve, uncertain what we might see.

In the event, it was a lot. There were dozens of meadow brown and small skipper as well as a good few ringlets, green-veined white, speckled wood, red carpet and both five and six spot burnets as well as a small copper, small tortoiseshell, red admiral and peacock. We also managed to observe all four common species of bumblebee as well as a drone fly and a bumblebee hoverfly.

Birds were less in evidence but perhaps the most surprising sighting occurred on the way back to the car park at Chopwell Woods, when a jay, normally a shy bird, casually worked its way through the trees above our heads for nearly five minutes while we took photos of it.

Jay

New Species Seen

Last Saturday I took a chance on the weather improving for a trip to Campfield Marsh in Cumbria with my son and fiancee in the hope of seeing a marsh fritillary.

Unfortunately the sun refused to shine but it was still a pleasant walk in a wetland environment with some different flora and fauna.

For a while I thought the only sign of butterfly or moth would be a drinker moth caterpillar but on coming to a woodland edge I noticed a moth that I later saw a few times - an aptly named common wave.

Drinker Moth Caterpillar

Common Wave

Further into the wood I saw a couple of light-coloured bumblebees I didn't recognise visiting foxgloves.  It was frustrating trying to identify them but I think from video evidence they were moss carder bees.

Moss Carder Bee

There were also a few birds around, notably a little egret, a single speckled wood butterfly and a strange growth on a tree.

Still after marsh fritillaries we dropped in for a shorter walk at Finglandrigg Wood with no more success but I did see the first definite meadow brown of the summer on one of many common spotted orchids and another bee imitator, this time a bumblebee hoverfly... if I've got it right.

Meadow Brown

Bumblebee Hoverfly

Back at home the day after I spotted to spot a patchwok leafcutter bee, no great rarity but a first for me.

Patchwork Leafcutter Bee

The jay is still  appearing from time to time but is very shy and disappears as soon as I move around in the house.

Jay

As you can see, s/he's about to disappear again.

I thought that the baby woodpecker was now feeding independently but there was a recent visit yesterday when the parent bird obliged, I think with some reluctance.

Woodpeckers

This Tuesday another butterfly target went unachieved as, in spite of reasonable weather, I couldn't see any sign of the white letter hairstreak at Bywell Bridge but there were a couple more first seasonal spottings when I saw a small skipper by the Tyne as well as three ringlets.  The latter may have been fresh on the wing and weren't settling but I have seen a couple since.

Small Skipper