Staying Local

On Sunday I had planned to cycle out to Parkhead on the Waskerley Way.  I was thinking that I hadn't seen a small copper since returning from Avignon and that seems to be a good area to look for them.  However the plan had to be abandoned as the Derwent Walk cycle track 14 is still closed. I could have sworn I'd seen a sign saying that it would only be closed until early July.

So another plan was called for and I decided to head in the opposite direction, effectively limiting my scope to revisiting a couple of gardens near the Tyne.

Comma

Cutting across to Blaydon, I hit the Keelman's Way westwards and quickly spotted a holly blue in the area of Blaydon Station. As it's a known site for small copper, I took a quick look around Ryton Meadows but, as elsewhere, the vegetation was so dry that the chances were minimal. In spite of one fleeting sighting of something brown, I doubled back and crossed Newburn Bridge to the local Community Garden.

Here the buddleia was producing the usual suspects - several painted ladies, red admiral, peacock and a good few comma.

As in my garden the other day however, the notable absentee was the small tortoiseshell.

People worry about the small tortoiseshell and for a while its decline was a bit of a mystery, but now ascribed to climate change, altered hibernation patterns and parasitic flies.

Moving on I took another look at the Calaminarian Grassland at Wylam to check - rather late in the year, or so I thought - the story that there might be harebells attracting the gold-tailed melitta.  In fact there were a good few harebells, if somewhat sparsely distributed, though I could not find any sort of bee activity on them.  One very small item was dismissed as a possible wasp.

Having expectedly also failed to find anything in the small Wylam Nature Reserve (more trees than flowers) I went up the hill to Bradley Gardens as the most likely of all to produce something interesting.

It wasn't long before, among the usual red admiral, peacock and plentiful painted ladies, I encountered another holly blue. 

Holly Blue

It wasn't long either before a few more turned up and by the end of the day I reckoned I saw about five including a late visitor in my own garden.  In fact a couple that flew past overhead looked very blue and I did wonder about common blue, however unlikely in a formal garden.

More of a surprise was the definite sighting of a couple of small copper, thereby achieving the original purpose of going out in the first place:

Small Copper

Neither would I have bet any money on a meadow brown turning up there. Mayne it's another statement about the arid nature of the grassland.

Meadow Brown

As ever the painted ladies were frequently posing on the ground.  The only other butterfly I caught on film was a rather battered green-veined white.

Painted Lady

Green-veined White

There were a few hoverflies around at both the gardens which i basically chose to ignore apart from one. Apparently it is a common tachinid.

Common Tachinid

Today I had a slightly strange sighting in the garden - a nuthatch scurrying over the path and stones picking up bits of food.  I didn't know they did that.  I have also positively identified a couple of small whites on the buddleia.  I wonder if I've been overlooking them?

Missed Targets

I've been dotting about a bit over the past few days, and so have a lot of the butterflies.

One thing I haven't done justice to is the number of times an early bumblebee has turned up in the garden.  They really have been quite frequent but I've tended to see them in the passing while doing other things.

Harebells

After returning from Avignon I took a run to Wylam to check the calaminarian grassland area for harebells as there is apparently a bee that can be seen on them.  Unfortunately there are two bees that are colloquially knows as 'harebell bee' and I couldn't remember which one it was supposed to be!

In any case there weren't too many harebells and they weren't fully out yet, so no bees. 

What there was a lot of was ringlets, the first I have seen this year. But they were absolutely refusing to settle anywhere and so I couldn't get a picture. Doubtless there will be more.  

There wasn't any sign of the blood bees/suspected red-girdled mining bees from the last time I was there, just a few mini miners investigating the remaining holes on one part of the path.

Then there was a trip to Nottingham to see the test match, so not about nature. However as I was getting ready to go there was a lone harlequin ladybird in the house and the place we stayed in offered an orange underwing moth in the kitchen.

Harlequin Ladybird

Orange Underwing

Having noted that grayling butterfly sightings have started on Teesside, I decided to take an early trip to Cambois yesterday, having missed seeing them there last year.

The weather conditions were not at all favourable - a strong wind and cloudy outlook - and there were no initial signs of any butterflies, just a couple of red-tailed bumblebees. What caught my attention more was the array of wild flowers in bloom, really quite a display.  A couple I particularly noted were common restharrow (lots of) and lady's bedstraw.

Common Restharrow

Lady's Bedstraw

The grayling didn't turn up but skirting around perimeter areas I did come across 17 meadow brown, three small skipper (one very challenged by the wind) and across the road near the school, six six-spot burnet moths, one species I certainly was not expecting.

So no great triumphs but a pleasant day out.