Going for a Burton

Juvenile Willow Warbler - like those we saw today

Picture-Winged Fly - Celery Fly?
Great Crested Grebe with 2 of her 4 chicks

Damselfly

Gatekeeper

I wasn’t looking forward to a return visit to last week’s brand-new location which was very disappointing. There are lots of interesting habitats in the area, but most of these have been taken over by commercial fisheries, which generally aren’t too welcoming of groups interested in wildlife. I managed to find a different public footpath, which didn’t conflict with any anglers. It was a great deal more rewarding than last week’s public footpath, especially when we came across some ponds, which hadn’t been given over to commercial concerns. The best birds seen were a pair of Great Crested Grebes with 4 healthy, fairly young chicks (for this time in the year), a Kingfisher, and a pair of juvenile Willow Warblers; whilst several Reed Warblers chugged away in the background – it would be inaccurate to describe their noise as background music! The local Swallows and House Martins seem to have raised plenty of young so far this year, and there may be time for another brood. There were plenty of butterflies, including: Small Tortoiseshell, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper, Gatekeeper & all the whites. There were also plenty of odonata (whooo!) including what appeared to be skirmishing Emperor Dragonflies, mating Brown Hawkers, and at least 2 species of damselfly. A striking bright-green-eyed fly landed briefly on Phil’s arm. He gamely allowed me to photograph it, before it had chance to sink his fangs into his flesh – actually, it appeared to be quite harmless! Overall, a lot better than it promised to be!

Horny, Horny, Horny!

Longhorn Beetle

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Mullein Moth Caterpillar
Caterpillar's food plant - Dark Mullein

Comma

Hull City Supporter - Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar

Evening Primrose

Enchanter's Nightshade

Musk Mallow

Another new location, and the best of these special summer venues. It's great for butterflies, insects in general, and flora; and is probably excellent for birds in the spring. Even so, we heard plenty of Green Woodpeckers, Bullfinches, a Treecreeper; and saw 2 juvenile Blackcaps feeding on wild Raspberries. When I did a recce at this location last week there was this monster of a beetle on an umbellifer. I've never seen one before. We looked for it today, but the intermittent showers didn't help, and butterfly numbers were down since last Thursday. However, everyone agreed it was a venue with great potential. It looks like we'll be coming back here!

Rabbit Prominence

Linnet (c) 2009 Mick & Kath Sharpe

more photos at http://thefitter.blogspot.com/

All remaining photos (c) 2009 David Ware

Narrow-bordered 5-Spot Burnet Moth

Comma - notice chunk taken out of it - probably by a bird
Gatekeeper
Small Skipper
Carpet Moth

A return visit to last Wednesday's location in much better weather. The Green Woodpeckers, Red-legged Partridges, Kestrels, Yellowhammers, Goldfinches, Swallows, House Martins and Buzzards were all present and correct again. The Sand Martins were a new species for this location. However, one of the most stunning birds was the most brilliantly-coloured-chested Linnet any of us had previously observed. David stalked it to try & get a good photograph, but just as he was about to press the shutter it moved - twice! Although the bird depicted above by Mick & Kath Sharpe isn't quite as red as the bird we saw, it does give you a good idea of the beauty of this member of the finch family. The brighter weather really made the Butterflies put on a great display. Those we saw included: Marbled White 6, Gatekeeper 3, Comma 2, Small Tortoiseshell 15, Meadow Brown 31, Ringlet 41, Small White 6, Green-veined White 8, Large White 2, Small Skipper 23, Small Copper 20, Small Heath 11 & Painted Lady 1. David's tally of the bird species seen today was 22. Although the location is named after Rabbits, we failed to spot a single one!

Bright Side of Spurn

Record shot of Curlew Sandpiper

Whimbrel
Swallow Fledgling
Stonechat

Garden Tiger

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Peppered Moth - melanistic variant

Brown-Tail Moths

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Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

Grasshopper

Grasshopper

No sign of the alleged Grey Phalarope in breeding plumage at Spurn today, but a beautifully marked Curlew Sandpiper at Chalk Bank at high tide almost made up for it. The high tide was fairly low, so it wasn't possible to get really close to the waders. The exception was a Whimbrel on the bad road. However, the butterflies and moths were an adequate compensation. The Garden Tigers have started to appear, but more of a surprise was a really dark beast on the VTS Tower - this seems to be a melanistic variant of the Peppered Moth. There were plenty of Brown Tail Moths around - those whose caterpillars caused all those problems earlier in the year. It was actually quite hot at Spurn - not something you can say every day!

Check Those Elms

All butterfly pictures on this post (c) 2009 Maurice Gordon

White-letter Hairstreak

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Elm leaf

For the next 2 weeks or so it's worth checking any local elm trees for a normally elusive species: the White-letter Hairstreak. If you have an elm which has grown from a sucker at the site of a previously fully-grown example, you may be able to find one at eye level - they do spend a lot of their time in the high canopy. If you're not sure which are elm trees an example of a typical mature leaf is given above. Look for the point where the leaf joins the stem - the leaf is asymmetrical - the sides of the leaf do not join the stem at the same point. Sometimes young leaves can look longer and thinner. A final clincher if you run your fingers over the leaf's surface it should feel rough because of the number of fine hairs - most other leaves feel smooth in comparison. For best results choose a sunny day with only light winds. This is something Maurice Gordon has done, and what follows are his own words from yesterday: This WLH discovered on a largish Elm near Raywell and Hessle Golf Club. I noticed the tree a few days ago so thought I would check it today. To my utter disbelief, what I thought was yet another Ringlet flying around then landed just above my head. Once I had established I wasn't hallucinating, I managed to pull the branch a bit lower with one hand and take some photos with the camera in the other hand. Just meant I couldn't compose as well as I would have liked, but I'm completely delighted to have found WLH locally! I then went to Willerby, as today seemed to be the day and with binoculars I did spot a WLH at the very very top of one of the elms. So, perhaps these have only just emerged as the only flutterings I have observed in the canopy over the past few days have turned out to be bees, Speckled Woods and on one occasion a Comma. I am also checking the oaks for Purple Hairstreaks which are meant to be so common, but nothing so far.

Hawk Revisited

Sparrowhawk - fledged,

but not leaving nest area

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Small Skipper on Field Scabious

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Had another look at yesterday's location. In sunnier weather there were more species on the wing: Common Blue, Small Skipper, Small Heath, Ringlet & Meadow Brown; but the small butterflies were flighty and difficult to photograph. However, in the early morning sunshine the Marbled Whites and Burnet Moths were still ideal subjects for macro wildlife photographers. Meanwhile, the backyard Sparrowhawk chick continues to grow its feathers, whilst still hanging around the nest. It appears to be the only chick.

World's Oldest Horse Race Location

Marbled White

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6-Spot Burnet Moth

Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon

Thing's didn't look too promising before the start of this term's final regular session. There were some very ominous clouds to the south-west of today's location, but luckily they kept away from us. At a first glance there weren't the clouds of butterflies one expects at this location at this time of year. However, on closer inspection there were many Marbled Whites, but instead of being highly mobile in bright, sunny weather, these were busy gathering nectar from Great Knapweed and other chalky grassland flowers. This behaviour probably allowed the best, static views any participant on the Friday pm session had ever enjoyed of this species. Also present: Ringlet, Meadow Brown, a Skipper (not seen by me), 6-Spot Burnet Moth and grasshoppers. Birds seen were: Green Woodpecker (good views), Yellowhammer, Kestrel, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Bullfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch & Chaffinch.

Spurn Hobby

Hobby

Good things do come to those who sit & wait. Anyone who has sat in Canal Scrape hide recently, and wondered where all the interesting birds are, should be blown away by these images. Mick & Kath Sharpe, West Yorkshire birders, were lucky enough to be in the hide when a Hobby alighted on a post right in front of the hide! They made the most of the opportunity to catch some fantastic snaps. You can see some more of their excellent Spurn images at:

http://thefitter.blogspot.com/