Brampton Wood - 29th July 2010

I'd been working in Braintree so while traveling back along the A14 a quick visit to Brampton Wood near Huntingdon was a no brainer. With the woods known for White Admiral, White-letter Hairstreak, Purple Hairstreak and probably the best site in the UK for Black Hairstreak (though I'd missed them by a few weeks as they fly at the end of June begining of July) I was hoping to add a new butterfly to my growing list but as happens when I'm out birding it wasn't to be. The weather was warm but white cloud dominated the sky so maybe I shouldn't have expected to much from this ancient woodland and again like my visit to Bishop Middleham Quarry I only covered a small amount of the area. Ringlet were absolutely everywhere and by far the most common species throughout my walk.

RINGLET SEEN THROUGHOUT THE WOODS

Meadow Brown were about in numbers as usual and the odd Peacock made an appearance along with Speckled Wood and Gatekeeper.

FEMALE GATEKEEPER

Both Small and Large Skippers made an appearance along with a single Common Blue

ABOVE SMALL SKIPPER BELOW LARGE SKIPPER

MALE COMMON BLUE

There was a number of dragonfly and damselfly in the area I walked most of which I couldn't identify or photograph due to them being in flight though I did see a male Empreror Dragonfly patrolling a small pond deep within the woods.

Bishop Middleham Quarry - 27th July 2010

I was working in the North East of England and decided to take my lunch brake at Bishop Middleham Quarry as I'd read that it was a good area to observe both buterflies and orchids.
Having now looked at the map the area seems to cover quite a large area which is why I missed the Northern Brown Argos which I'd hoped to see. The area I covered was around NZ329325 and I only managed a brief visit so more than likely missed quite a lot that can be seen in the area.

SMALL COPPER

MEADOW BROWN

BELOW SMALL SKIPPER

ABOVE SMALL WHITE BELOW GREEN-VEINED WHITE

Other butterflies included Peacock and Gatekeeper. Also in the area I came across 2 species of orchid, Common Spotted which I've seen at several sites including Stags lodge though the plants do have a slightly different shape here than the ones I have seen before. The other orchid I found was the Chalk Fragrant-Orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea)  the first time I have come across this orchid.

ABOVE COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID

ABOVE AND BELOW CHALK FRAGRANT-ORCHID

Brockholes Nature Reserve - 24th July 2010

Okay I thought I'd start the post with this juvenile Robin as I haven't posted much about birds lately on what started out as a birding blog and it looked kinda cute sat amongst the undergrowth. More about birds later, the reason for this trip down to Brockholes NR was again to try and see the White-letter Hairstreak. The sun had been out all morning but by the time I managed my visit it was still warm but the sun was behind a mass of white cloud so spotting one was going to be difficult. The caterpillar feeds exclusively on the leaves of elm and the butterfly feeds on the honeydew in the canopy of elms only occasionaly coming down to feed on brambles or thistles in the warmth of sunlight. On my walk up to the area they had previously been sighted I counted 20+ Meadow Browns amongst the grass as well as several Gatekeepers, Small Tortoiseshell and Green-veined White. As I approached the brambles several species were feeding and taking in the warmth and while l scanning through them a single White-letter Hairstreak flew from the bottom of the brambles and perched on a high branch.

ABOVE AND BELOW WHITE-LETTERED HAIRSTREAK

Other species on the Brambles including those already mentioned were Coma, Peackock and Small White.

ABOVE PEACOCK BELOW COMA

BELOW SMALL WHITE IN FLIGHT AND 2 GATEKEEPERS

Bill and Mike joined me but as Mike arived the White-letter Hairstreak flew back into the woods not to return on our visit.

Text had been coming through over the last few days about a Hobby that has been hunting around the M6 end of pool No1 so this was the next stop with the hope of seeing my first one of the year. Nick Green (who later spotted an Osprey breifly over the Ribble) and several other birders were watching the Hobby as it sat on the top of a lamp post. I managed a few record shots including a poor one in flight but it was just to far for my 300mm lens.

ABOVE HOBBY ON ITS REGULAR PERCH AND BELOW POOR FLIGHT SHOT

Once the Hobby flew off I spotted a female Common Darter which thankfully stayed around while both Mike and I photgraphed it.

TOP, MIDDLE AND BOTTOM FEMALE COMMON DARTER

A single Small Skipper few from under the undergrowth, the first I'd seen but not much different from the Large Skipper I photographed a few weeks ago here.

ABOVE AND BELOW SMALL SKIPPER

Brockholes Nature Reserve - 21st July 2010

We met Mike down at Brockholes at 18.30 with the hope of getting some photographs of a White-letter Hairstreak. The rain had abated and the sun began to shine (we live in the north west you know!) so we thought they might have made an appearance but even with the warm sun there were very few butterflies flying. We did manage Large White, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and a Peacock the first I've seen this year.

The bonus was a lifer for Reece when I spotted a Barn Owl hunting on the River Ribble side of the compound. We continued our search for butterflies and Dragonflies around the bottom end of No1 pit when the Barn Owl made a re-appearance hunting over the east side before moving over the pit towards the Lancashire way. I managed a few distant record shots, the first I've taken of my favorite owl.

BARN OWL OVER NO 1 PIT AT BROCKHOLES NATURE RESERVE

We did manage to see a Brown Hawker hawking flies by the zebra crossing on the approach road to the reserve but as anyone who tried to photograph dragonflies in flight knows it is near impossible thus mine all hit the delete button!

Butterflies, Brockholes Nature Reserve - 18th July 2010

After getting the Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown mixed up in an earlier post (now corrected thanks to Bill Gregory) I decided to make the most of a brake in the rain this afternoon to try and photograph both species down at Brockholes Nature Reserve. The Gatekeeper flies between the end of June to the begining of September and can be found south of Cumbria in England and mainly coastal areas in Wales. The main distinguishing features between the two species is the Meadow Brown is a duller butterfly and the Gatekeeper has 2 white pupils in the eyespots of the forewings.

ABOVE GATEKEEPER BELOW MEADOW BROWN

NOTE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE EYESPOTS

The Meadow Brown has a longer flying season starting from the begining of June and going through to the end of September and can be found through out Britain below 300m.

TOP FEMALE GATEKEEPER BELOW MALE GATEKEEPER,

NOTE THE SEX BANDS ON THE FOREWING OF THE MALE

ABOVE A NEWLY EMERGED GATEKEEPER WITH ITS WINGS YET TO EXTEND

ABOVE A FEMALE MEADOW BROWN

There were several white butterflies flying but I only managed to photograph these Green-veined Whites the most common of all the whites. It can be found through out most of Britain and flies between the beginig of April and the end of September, being such a long flighing period it is one of the species of buterflies that has 2 broods.

ABOVE & BELOW GREEN-VEINED WHITE, NOTE THE GREEN VEINS

ON THE UNDERSIDE OF ITS WING THAT GIVES IT ITS NAME

Felixstowe Docks - 15th July 2010

I've been working down on Felixstowe docks all week and apart from Lesser-black Backed, Herring and the odd Black-headed Gull there was nothing much to see until Thursday. The docks was closed due to 60 mph+ winds and I found this Poplar Hawk Moth (Laothoe populi) sheltering in a tool box. As you can see it is well worn and Mike found it difficult to identify for me when I first emailed it to him but after passing on its wing span of approximately 80mm he soon responded with the correct identification. With the wind and sand being blown about I'm supprised it had made it in to the toolbox where it nearly ended up squashed if I had not moved it on to another sheltered spot. I'm not sure how longer it would survive but it had moved on the following morninig when I returned to the area. The Poplar Hawk Moth is the commonest of the UK Hawk Moths and can be found between May and July.

POPLAR HAWK MOTH (LAOTHOE POPULI)

White-faced Darter (Leucorrhinia dubia), Cumbria - 11th July 2010

This is the second time within a week I've visited this remote location in Cumbria to view this rare species of Dragonfly. On my first visit I only managed to see one in flight and was unable to obtain any photographs so with the weather being reported as fine in the area we headed back today. The White-faced Darter (Leucorrhinia dubia) is afforded protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 due to the fact there are only currently 5 breeding sites in England, 3 of them being in Cumbria. Its habitat is lowland peatbogs where it requires deep, acidic bog pools containing rafts of Sphagnum in which to breed. The pools must be free of fish as the nymphs are more active during the day and therefore susceptable to predation. 

ABOVE AND BELOW THE WHITE FACE CAN JUST BE MADE OUT

ABOVE THE WHITE FACE CAN CLEARLY BE SEEN BELOW WARMING UP IN THE SUN

On my second visit we saw 3 males but only after about an hour of searching a large area and the sun finally making an appearance. White-face Darters only fly in sunlight so can be very difficult to locate in dull weather where they tend to roost amongst the surrounding scrub (up to 50m away from the pools). On both visits another small dragonfly was in evidence but I was unable to photograph them to make a positive identification. Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) could be seen in large numbers as well as Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) and Common Blue (Enallagma cyathigerum) .

TOP FEMALE EMERALD, ABOVE MALE EMERALD BELOW BLUE-TAILED DEVOURING A CRANEFLY

The Large Heath (Coenonympha tullia) also inhabits the area in large numbers which is usual for this species though on my second visit I could only find one. The Large Heath found here is the sub-species Polydama which has less spots than the true form.

LARGE HEATH (FORM POLYDAMA)