Friday 23 July 2021

Melting with the Wildlife

It’s been a week of coruscating heat, as anyone living in the UK must have realised.  On Wednesday the afternoon group met in the shady car park of Barlow Common.  Everything seemed fine, but then we reached the sun-kissed meadow.  The flowers were absolutely stunning again, but it was noticeable that the Lady’s Bedstraw had started to die back.  A whole stand of yellowish Wild Parsnip was something we failed to spot last week.  One welcome addition was an immature Woodpecker on the path in front of us.  Luckily, it stayed long enough for everyone to get a good view.  The birds were very similar to last week.

Immature Green Woodpecker
Ditto
Ditto
Immature Green Woodpecker (c) 2021 Mike Hind
Buzzard (c) Hugh Wood
Robin (c) 2021 Hugh Wood
Gatekeeper 
Large White on Teazle


On Thursday we travelled a fair distance to Brockadale, and a former stalwart of the sessions left Ripon to meet up with us.  Again the flora had died back slightly.  There was still some Rockrose, Gromwell and Kidney Vetch, but it was less plentiful than it was in June.  The Marbled Whites seem to have nearly come to the end of their season, but we did spot a couple of specimens.  Common Blues were not much more plentiful and the Small Heath seemed to have disappeared altogether.  The unusual flora was pointed out and each new butterfly species was identified.  We reached the woodland and before the river found a mass of wildflowers which included 3 Brimstones feeding on it, as well as Large and Green-veined White and a pristine Peacock.  There were some Banded Demoiselles here and even more under the Kestrel cliff.  We turned back because of the extreme heat, and just took it slowly on the way back.  This was probably the hottest ever day since Birding with Flowers started in 2003.

Moulting Nuthatch 
Banded Demoiselle
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Female Banded Demoiselle
Comma
Brimstone 
Ditto
Gatekeeper 
Large White
Grasshopper sp.
Clustered Bellflower
Peacock 
Underside
Wild Mignonette 
Amphibious Bistort
Burdock
Common Darter
Caterpillar 
White Bryony
Small Copper
Harebell
Reed in flower
Woundwort?
On Friday we made our final visit of the year to Wharram.  It was very overcast for the whole time, so I was worried we wouldn’t see any butterflies. However, I was to be pleasantly surprised.  Yellowhammers were still singing and Linnets called cheerfully as they passed overhead.  The best birds were found in a mixed tit flock on the way back which included a Marsh Tit and a large family of Long-tailed Tits.  There were a lot more Marbled White butterflies in the cloudy conditions at Wharram than in the bright sunshine of Brockadale.  
Marsh Tit
Hare
Hare
Hare
Woolly Thistle
Carline Thistle
Very few class participants seem to have twitched the local celebrity dubbed Albert Ross in some quarters, but one such is a Fri am stalwart.  He got some very good shots of the Albatross in flight above the Gannet colony and over the sea.
Black-Browed Albatross over Staple Newk (c) 2021 Dave Hill
Ditto
Black-Browed Albatross (c) 2021 Dave Hill
Gannet vs. Albatross (c) 2021 Dave Hill
Ditto
Linnet


Wednesday 21 July 2021

Hail Imperartor!

We had two earlier planned trips to see Purple Emperors but both of these had to be postponed because of thick cloud cover.  As it turned out the Purple Emperors were late emerging this year in comparison with the last few years, so this week may have been the perfect time after all.  Tuesday morning's butterfly special went very well, before the heat was forecast to become too bad.  We had three prolonged views of male Purple Emperors on the ground (collecting salts), as well as multiple airbourne sightings high at the tree tops.  We also saw Silver-Washed Fritillaries, White Admirals and Purple Hairstreaks, as well as many common species.   For the first time I was able to get the purple sheen visible on both wings at the same time - it's normally visible only on one wing!  The BBC have an interesting radio programme about searching for Purple Emperors, so I will try and link to that here
Purple Emperor- the first time I’ve managed to get purple sheen on both wings simultaneously 
The best Purple Emperor from Monday - it wouldn’t open its wings
The first good view of a Purple Emperor on Tuesday
From certain angles no purple is visible 
Purple Emperor (c) 2021 Paul Green
It’s even better to see a Purple Emperor on a natural surface 
Not so good when its high in a tree
Silver-Washed Fritillary (c) 2021 Paul Green.
taken when most of the group had left 
My favourite SWF from 2019
White Admiral (c) 2021 Paul Green
The underside from 2019
Purple Hairstreak taken on Monday
Ditto
Ditto 
Small Tortoiseshell 
Comma
Spotted Flycatcher
Cricket sp.
Giant Bellflower