Last weekend I visited J&J in Drerbyshire and on the Sunday we took a visit to Carsington Water. I'd been there before but more on the look out for birds.
In spite of a little rain and a few overcast periods, there was little difficulty in finding butterflies, though my first positive sighting apart from hoverflies was actually a common blue damselfly.
Common Blue Damselfly
Meadow browns were all over the place but it was particularly pleasing to me that there were also a good few gatekeepers - surely the first time I've seen them in the UK since I was a youngster in Nottinghamshire.
Gatekeeper (underwing)
Gatekeeper (upper wing)
Confusion with meadow brown is possible but the gatekeeper has a double 'eye' spot on the underwing and clear orange colouring on the lower upper wing, which the meadow brown does not.
Almost as good was when J pointed out that there were small coppers. These have already been reported in the North East but especially good to get after a I messed up the first photo opportunity.
Small Copper
Small skippers were again numerous and we also saw two small tortoiseshell and a few commas and ringlets
Comma
Ringlet
The notable absentees today were common blue (again) and small heath.
We had a quick look at the lake but didn't see much of interest. I thought I spotted a little egret but it seems to be a juvenile.
Egret
After two hours we hadn't got very far and I spent an annoying twenty minutes trying to catch up with a very mobile sedge warbler, J's camera battery having given out. In the end I got half of it as it played hide 'n' seek in the bushes.
Last Wednesday I took the bike to St. Mary's at Whitley Bay where a few birds have been reported, notably whitethroat and sedge warbler. Although I've seen both before I fancied reacquainting myself.
Whitethroat was no problem at all as one was singing away merrily from a tree as soon as I got to Old Hartley.
There were a lot of sedge warblers around and they could be heard virtually anywhere but unfortunately i could only get shots of more whitethroats and a couple of reed buntings.
Reed Bunting
I have just started using the merlin app to identify bird song and it claimed it had heard an american duck called the Common Loon. You'd think that was an error however as the hardline twitchers would no doubt have tracked that one down.
L:ast time I mentioned not managing to capture a small nomad bee. Well this week I managed to get one in a bug box and could identify it as a Flavous Nomad Bee. Although it can be confused with Panzer's Nomad Bee - and this discussion came up last year - my inclination on the strength of photos was much in favour of the former. Unfortunately the photographic evidence has been accidentally deleted.
My recently installed bug hotel is now doing a strong trade with red mason bee guests.
Unfortunately they still keep falling into buckets of water and the last one came out so black, I at first didn't think it was a red mason at all. But as it tried back the colour slowly returned from the abdomen upwards until it finally flew away.
Very wet red mason bee
Today I had another brief sighting of a patchwork leafcutter bee sizing up a large leaf and recorded my first definite speckled wood butterfly of the year. Normally I would have seen 20 + by now.
Last Wednesday I took a slow ride along the Derwent and the Tyne, particularly looking out for any sites that might produce a common blue.
Again the horse meadow at Derwenthaugh produced a small skipper, which continually sat with wings closed but just open enough to allow identification. Although there is now plenty of bird's foot trefoil in the field, there were no common blues but the first ringlet I have seen this season landed nearby and a meadow brown flew past.
Not much turned up along the Tyne apart from a couple more ringlets until I parked the bike and headed up the western Spetchells as the sun started to come out. Here the mining bees were no longer active but there were still plenty of Gooden's Nomad bees around the nest holes, which I suppose makes perfect sense. A good number of red-tailed bumblebees were also to be seen.
Here there was less bird's foot trefoil than I suspected so it was a pleasant surprise when a male common blue (first of the year) flew straight past me shortly after I had disturbed a basking red admiral. As I made my way back along the track more appeared and I saw five in total - all males.
Common Blue
Not seen however were dingy skipper or any Burnett moths.
At home I've been wondering if any of the bumblebees I've seen were were white-tailed bumblebees but mostly concluding they weren't. This one might be so I've submitted it to i-record to see if they confirm it.
White-tailed Bumblebee?
It looks from the hairy legs that it is a male, which apparently makes identification more difficult. Garden bumblebees are still turning up occasionally too.
At the weekend I travelled South to visit Rutland Water with Jen and Joe on the Sunday.
The weather was disappointingly dull and only a small number of ringlets and meadow browns ventured from the extensive flower meadow as we wondered along to the osprey viewpoints on the South shore, plus the odd skipper and chimney sweeper moth.
Here we had good success however as a couple of ospreys showed well during the hour we were there, and a chick can be made out in some of the photos taken.
Osprey
There were a fair few reed buntings about as well as sedge warblers, which however I only managed to hear.
Reed Bunting
Moving between hides it warmed up a bit and butterflies gradually became more active. Mostly these were ringlets and meadow browns but there were about half a dozen skippers. Interestingly, they were mainly large skippers, which I'm not actually sure that I've seen nearer to home though records suggest they are common.
Ringlet
Large Skipper
It happened that the meadow brown I snapped was an already rather worn male. Or I assume that the white patches were signs of wear.
Meadow Brown
One or two more chimney sweeper moths appeared as well as a blue bug I couldn't hazard a guess at. Returning to the visitor centre I also discovered this silver ground carpet moth lurking in the undergrowth.
Silver Ground Carpet
After a pause for refreshments, we decided to check some of the lagoon areas on the Western shore and pretty much hit the jackpot at the Harrier Hide, where it was for some while possible to see little egret, great white egret and grey heron all fishing in the same area.
A particular bonus was the sighting of an Egyptian Goose, a first ever for me as it isn't present further North.
Great White Egret
Egyptian Goose
Next a marsh harrier duly jetted in and passed around either side of the hide before moving away behind the trees. Perhaps just as exciting was the foraging of an early-rising barn owl that was clearly hungry or had young and hunted extensively over the marshland, at one point carrying some prey in its talons.
Barn Owl hunting
At one point it flew in front of the hide so close you could see it giving us the eye.
Afterwards we briefly visited the 'photographic' hide where a goldfinch obligingly sat for well over five minutes.
Goldfinch
Not the most spectacular sighting of the day but an attractive bird that isn't always so easy to take pictures of.
All the time we were in the Harrier Hide, we could clearly hear a cuckoo calling in the distance, which interested me a good deal as I reckoned I'd heard one at home earlier in the week, but discounted it as being too late for a cuckoo. It was calling again today.
The search for birds continued, similar weather to Day 1 with slightly less wind again largely ruling out the possibility of butterflies and bees.
I did an old trick and drove the bike to Ken Dee marshes enabling me to forage further West. The first target was the Laurieston area where I have heard cuckoos a couple of times before. However my progress was quickly interrupted on the road over when I could clearly hear a cuckoo calling from a conifer spread in the middle distance.
Annoyingly again, I couldn't catch sight of it but stopped at the very next field where about three red kites were performing acrobatics. By the time I got off the bike, removed two layers of gloves and got the camera out they had moved on.
I was just about to do the same when the cuckoo flew right by the road, hotly pursued by two smaller birds - an impressive view. It settled in a small tree along the road but soon retired some distance away. I did not know that cuckoos get mobbed but I suppose it makes sense if the pipits etc have worked out what they are up to.
I rode on amongst a chorus of willow warblers and chaffinches and spent time in a certain area where a golden eagle is reported to pass by. Needless to say there was no sign, nor indeed of any other bird of prey which was a little surprising. There were just plenty of pipits and the odd skylark singing.
Things remained quiet until heading towards Girthon I heard exactly the same insistent chattering from a hawthorn bush as I encountered yesterday. This bird was even more invisible. I wondered about lesser whitethroat but it was only when I replayed the video I attempted that I realised it was a sedge warbler.
Must be a sedge warbler in there somewhere!
This was rather annoying as I have heard sedge warblers before and should have recognised it. Perhaps I eliminated it on the basis that there was no marshland nearby though on reflection there was a small stream as was the case the day before.
At this point I realised I was quite a way behind schedule and pedalled on at some speed for a late lunch at Kirkcudbright. This was a bit of a pity as I passed through some interesting territory and someone told me the day after he had seen grayling at Carrick. I wish I had known that in advance.
The idea was to cycle back slowly to Laurieston from Ringford but a sudden shower sapped the enthusiasm and I did not pay much attention to the cuckoo calling north of Ringford, nor the one south of Laurieston.
After Laurieston I had warmed up a bit and was considering a quick run round the reserve at Ken Dee Marshes to check for peid flycatchers and wood warblers. But just past the spot where I saw the cuckoo that morning I stopped to inspect the undergrowth and spotted a cuckoo in a tree further along. I just managed to get a mediocre shot of it before it flew on further to a telegraph pole and started singing.
Before I could get a better shot peering through the trees it bolted up the valley, singing all the time, and made itself scarce. It was probably the same bird as earlier.
Cuckoo
Thus was a minor ambition achieved in the very last mile or so of the expedition. By the time I reached the car, it was too late for further escapades and I headed back to the B&B.
The week just gone has been very rewarding in terms of nature spotting.
On Wednesday I took advantage of being in Northumberland to make a late afternoon diversion to Cresswell Pond. Striking out along a path I erroneously thought would lead to the bird hide, I was soon seeing painted ladies and red admirals, together with a few speckled wood and a single ringlet, the first I have seen this summer.
Eventually finding the right way to the hide, the sightings continued and there was briefly half a dozen painted ladies visible at the same time. Maybe it's going to be a painted lady year?
Faded Lady
I noticed that one or two of them had much lighter colouring on the upper forewing and vaguely wondered about an obscure variation but I think in fact it was just the result of wear. They were all of a large size. In the end the totals were 25 painted ladies and 13 red admirals but zero peacocks.
Quite a lot of bird life was visible around the pond but the main thing that caught my eye was a couple of avocets preening themselves amongst a distant group of gulls. They have recently worked their way up the East coast and have been seen a few locations recently. I was also pleased to identify a few sedge warblers buzzing around the bushes as well as a few singing reed buntings.
Avocets (2) on left of sand bank
Walking back to the car along the dunes, I noticed that there were some static brown birds I couldn't readily
Linnet
decide on. It turned out they were female linnets as was confirmed when a male posed nicely on the fence at the end of the field.
Yestreday I decided to go along on the U3A walk to the Spetchells, hoping to see some common blues. There were a couple of bonuses when I saw a grey wagtail cycling to the meeting place and my first meadow brown of the year as we ambled along the banks of the river.
There were good numbers of ringlet but once up the chalk hills, it took a while before some common blues turned up on bank of scrub sloping down into the sunshine. There were also some small skippers, a couple more meadow browns and also a number of burnet moths.
Meadow Brown
Common Blue
Small Skipper
Here issues of identification started to creep in as the markings on the skipper were quite similar to that of a large skipper. I don't think anyone was clued in about the differences between the six spot and five spot burnet moths. I checked one at close quarters and to my eye it had four wing spots. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo that was clear enough to settle the matter.
We also found quite a nice cluster of spotted purple orchids. On the way back down speckled wood were about, including one couple that were mating.
There have been some interesting appearances on the bird feeders to be noted and recently we have had jackdaw and male woodpecker.
Furtive Jackdaw
Male Woodpecker
I think this pretty much completes the photo sequence of regular visitors apart from wood pigeon who I haven't bothered with and magpie who takes fright as soon as I reach for the camera.
Over the past weeks I have been out a few times and the accent has been on nature walks and botany. The only bike ride was last Thursday when I took a look around Gibside followed by a fairly chaotic attempt to cycle back home via Track 14 and Chopwell Woods.
For an estate Gibside has obvious potential and I did see my first willow warbler by the cycle track and the first of several plants I couldnt identify in Chopwell Woods, plus of course the inevitable grey squirrel.
On Friday I went on the Prudhoe U3A walk in Whittle Dene with no idea what to expect. It turns out the area is an ancestral forest and the botanical experts in the group could point out several specialised flowers and trees, notably wood avens, marsh marigold, spindle, wood anenome and opposite-leaved golden saxifrage. Frankly I was well out of my depth but absorbing at least some of this knowledge and appreciating the at times stunning scenery made for a rich experience.
Wood Anenome
Wood Avens
I did however spot a lone small tortoiseshell and managed to identify the song of a small group of blackcaps that obligingly showed themselves shortly afterwards. My other observation was that there were no fish to be seen in the burn - hopefully not another sign of successful otter preservation. It was also good to learn that one of the plants we saw (garlic mustard) occurs in my new garden and is a food plant for the orange tip caterpillar.
On Saturday, my sister and I attended a supposed drop in at Gosforth Park Nature Reserve, except that the guy who was hosting it seemed a bit surprised that anyone turned up.
On the way to Hide 2 we had good views of at least one sparrowhawk moving through the trees, saw a couple of overflying waders (common sandpipers??) and heard what we thought to be a sedge warbler.
On the lake itself there wasn't too much happening but I enjoyed watching the antics of a couple of common terns performing acrobatics and swooping to (presumably) catch flies just above the water's surface. Amongst the commoner inhabitants (little grebe, black-headed gull, shoveler, canada goose, tufted duck) one greylag posed nicely right in front of the hide.
The peacocks and red admirals are visiting the garden in increasing numbers but I think I have only seen about four small tortoiseshells in total. So far there hasn't been a painted lady.
Realising that the butterfly season is coming to a close I went bike riding down to the Solway Coast
Wall Brown
at Port of Warren on Thursday, hoping that I might see something out of the usual without doing a major hike.
This wasn't to be but the wall butterfly was out in force, so it was pleasing to see one again after nearly a year.
Otherwise there was a couple of sedge warblers in the trees next to the beach and one bird with a yellow stripe on its side that must have been a goldfinch - except that somehow I didn't think it was.
I was sort of thinking a holly blue or grayling might turn up by chance but in a way it was good they didn't as I only had my mobile ohone with me.
Today I joined the local Butterfly Conservation group walk at Mossdale in very dark and threatening weather. Fortunately it brightened up and we got an hour or so of hazy sunshine, during which a surprising number of butterflies appeared.
There must have been over 50 peacocks, a good number of red admirals and a single painted lady on the way to the bridge over the Black Water of Dee, after which we spotted maybe 30 scotch argos until the weather closed in.
Painted Lady
Scotch Argos
I also got this photograph of a blue damselfly that I was rather pleased with, though apparently there are a few different kinds of blue damselfly and they are very hard to tell apart. This sort of knowledge is the result of going out with people with some expertise!
Damselfly
Having researched the matter, I believe this was a common blue damselfly.
After we got past the farm the track was unpassable except in wellingtons, so we turned back as the rain became heavy for a time. Afterwards there were still one or two butterflies around, including a painted lady, possibly the same one we saw on the way out.
Got out on a small fishing trip on Saturday, mainly to use up some of the bait from the earlier trips this month. I had intended to go to Lochfoot but the north bank has been rendered virtually inaccessible by extended heavy fencing. So I ended up legering from the north bank at Mill Loch.
At first it looked like it might be another blank as bites were not forthcoming for a while. Of course, as soon as I set up a second rod, the bites did start to come and I landed a perch, a roach and two more perch in a fairly short period around three to four o' clock. After that bites got shyer and harder to detect. I switched to corn on one rod, retaining red maggot on the other and got another three roach before packing up mid-evening. None of them were any size and there were no bream.
The catch before release
Another angler told me he had been catching good roach and six bream from the western stretch of the north bank, which seems to be the favoured stretch these days. However it is an awful long way from the road. I was exhausted enough after carting the gear as it was!
Yesterday, Vicki and I decided on another quick walk at Kingholm Quay. Once again it was quite productive and there were a couple of pleasant surprises.
It started quietly setting off towards Glencaple with a brief sighting of a female greenfinch and a couple of ringlet butterflies (first of the year) that flew around restlessly without ever settling plus a green-veined white (probable) doing exactly the same. There was also an extensive pink-flowering bush that may have been some sort of domestic escapee.
Another unidentified pink flower
We then spotted two or three birds behaving very furtively in a group of dog roses. I got enough of a view to reckon they might be sedge warblers, but it proved impossible despite several attempts to get any sort of a photo. Then Vicki used her phone to confirm the spotting and actually played the sedge warbler call a afew times, which immediately drew a considerable response from all around! So we unconsciously found a new means of identifying bird life.
Shortly thereafter I spotted a fascinating section of rough scrub. I was trying to follow a small flock of birds entering a tree when a redstart showed up in the binoculars as it settled in the undergrowth just in front. It didn't stay for long but long enough to identify it positively. I haven't seen one for a few years now.
On the way back there were more similar encounters with warblers and butterflies, including a couple of willow warblers. At one point a small brown butterfly settled that I expected to be a small copper. However it proved to be a skipper. On appearance I thought it might be a small or essex skipper but they are not common here and not yet officially on the wing, so I suppose that large skipper is the obvious answer. Frustratingly, no photograph was possible yet again but we did rather better with a single red admiral that was nectaring on flowers - the first of the year for me.
Red admiral
You can see how fresh it looks, so I think it must have hatched recently.
Yesterday took a trip to Ken Dee Marshes Reserve with my sister Hilary, and had some resonable luck in seeing one or two things that were new for her.
Having pursued a couple of bullfinches on the road to the reserve, we quickly saw some kites and two or three lapwings displaying, which again surprised me. But Hilary thinks they may have been trying to scare off intruders from an area where they had already nested.
Approaching a wooded area, there was a consistent grumbling from the bushes, which I was able to attribute to a sole sedge warbler, a bit of a bonus sighting but one she hadn't experienced.
Further along we agreed on a fleeting sighting of a female blackcap, which however we both saw, plus a few willow warblers, which were around at most places we sampled.
In the middle hide, a nuthatch quickly turned up on the left feeder before we concentrated on trying to identify some of the ducks on the loch, some of the mallards not for a while appearing very mallard-like at a distance. Then, to my delight a willow tit turned up a few times on the middle feeder, and I even managed a brief video of it (plus background music from a colony of black-headed gulls). This was only my second willow tit sighting and I don't think Hilary appreciated how seldom they are seen these days.
Next we visited the main area for pied flycatchers with the various nesting boxes and did manage to see four or five birds fleetingly, although it was a touch disappointing in that visits to the boxes were infrequent and we could not get very clear views of any individual birds.
In the furthest hide another nuthatch turned up on the feeder, followed by various tit visits including several more from willow tits, some long-tailed tits in the background and eventually a greater spotted woodpecker. Apparently there were some garden warblers around but we didn't find them. In the meantime we managed to pick out a shoveler on the loch and agreed that there had been one or two amongst the earlier mallards.
On the way home there were several more red kites, including one very good view of one perching in a tree. Hilary says they perch when they are starting to nest.
One feature of trips with her is definitely that four eyes are better than two. It makes you wonder how mch you miss when you are out alone.
Walk round Mill Loch to see some baby pied wagtails, very grey and fluffy and a female reed bunting. Stopped briefly near bowling green on Castle Loch and spotted a sedge warbler and briefly saw the silhouette of a bird that had the shape of a grasshopper warbler (couldn't confirm).
Bike ride from New Galloway to Barstobrick and a good one for wildlife. Investigated possible whitethroat hiding in small tree north of Mossdale that turned out to be a sedge warbler. Pipits heard but again not seen. Bullfinch north of Laurieston and two red deer plus a few orange tips further south.
Reed warbler on small tree on way back plus curlew and oystercatcher. Went via Ken Dee marshes and saw red kite and greylag goose on way over hills from Laurieston. Paused at seat where pied flycatcher boxes are and found that two were being used by them. Also sighted female blackcap on path, probable garden warbler and heard wood warbler calling in trees.
Arrived home to find nesting box used by sparrows all askew with no evidence of why. Parent birds are still visiting but no nestlings heard.
Went a bit astray on a walk at the RSPB reserve at north end of Loch Ken, mistaking the boundary for a footpath. Ended up in deep reeds and with major hay fever outburst.
The big compensation occurred on the approach path, when I got good close up views of two or three sedge warblers - not uncommon but a first for me.
It also rained and got wet feet as on the two previous trips this week. Decided this will be the last of my walks in this frankly awful summer.
