CallumMac

[essexbuzzard]

Nice work with the Duke of Burgundies, Calum.

A spring treat for sure, and I’m glad your colony is doing well up there.

[David M]

Great to see the N. Yorks Dukes, Callum, not to mention the mating Green Hairstreaks (only ever seen that twice!)

You sure get a good range of wildlife up there.

[CallumMac]

Thanks all. The GH pairing was very lucky, I was fully focussed on the Red Grouse when my partner spotted them and called me over!

You sure get a good range of wildlife up there.

I think what I've come to realise over the course of the lockdown restrictions is that while we get a good proportion of the southern fauna and flora (and a few specialities of our own!), we often have to work a little harder for them. So whilst some UKBers have been posting Dukes and all sorts during the most severe lockdown, we have had to wait for a little more freedom, in order to travel short to medium distances to find things.

[CallumMac]

Through one thing and another (mainly inclement weather!), butterflying outings have been relatively thin on the ground lately. However, a few good ones to report on from the last week or so!

11/06/2020 - Smardale Gill

On Thursday we took the day off work and drove over the A66 to meet my parents for a socially-distanced walk. At this time of year the reserve is mainly attractive for its many orchid species, which was just as well, since most of the day was cloudy with a brisk wind! Nonetheless, the sun came out for an hour or so in the late morning, and we were delighted to see several Northern Brown Arguses (some still pretty freshly emerged).

13/06/2020 - Crowle/Thorne Moors

On Saturday, with hot sun and light winds forecast, we made our first trip in weeks where the explicit target was a butterfly! Heading to the Humberhead Peatlands, we walked out into the reserve to the ride where, last year, I found large numbers of Large Heaths. And... hmmm! Several Large Skippers zipped about, a Speckled Wood patrolled up and down, and a Red Admiral sunned itself on a fence; but no sign at all of the main objective!

Walking on, we found absolutely masses of Peacock caterpillars (just consulted my copy of Life Cycles to confirm ), and a rather battered female Common Blue in the meadow outside the NNR base. But still no Large Heaths, even where the habitat looked excellent...

Having looped back around to the main ride from last year, we noticed a couple taking photos of *something* on the parallel ride - mere metres away on the other side of a ditch. Crossing the bridge to investigate, we discovered that this adjacent ride was absolutely awash with Large Heaths! Goodness knows why none of them had flown the five or so metres to the ride where I saw them last year... Anyway, several of them posed very nicely for us.

14/06/2020 - Kiplingcotes

On Sunday afternoon, with the weather still hot and windless, we decided upon Kiplingcotes (my favourite reserve) as our destination, with the possibility of Marbled Whites as a major draw (they are just getting going up here). As it turned out, the reserve is still a couple of weeks off its best - only a couple of fleeting sightings of MW (which can number in the hundreds here) and the majority of the Pyramidal Orchids were still in bud. We will return!

[Wurzel]

Those NBAs are very attractive Callum even with their muted livery A species I've yet to catch up with and the same goes for the Large Heaths Maybe next year

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Nice to see some of the 'northern' specialities on here, Callum. Smardale Gill is a site I have only visited once but one that I was very impressed with.

Maybe a Scotch Argus trip would be in order in a few weeks?

[Goldie M]

Hi! Callum, good to see the Northern BA and the Large Heath, Just wish I could get up to the Lakes, maybe next year! Goldie

[CallumMac]

Those NBAs are very attractive Callum even with their muted livery A species I've yet to catch up with and the same goes for the Large Heaths Maybe next year

They're lovely aren't they - despite the similarity, they always seem to me to be a deeper, more chocolatey brown. And anything that reminds me of chocolate gets a thumbs-up! Well, if you do make it up here next year to see some northern specialities I'd be happy to be your guide...

Smardale Gill is a site I have only visited once but one that I was very impressed with.

Smardale is lovely, as is the other end of the line (Waitby Greenrigg). Provided you're reasonably mobile it's quite possible to do both on the same day from the new Smardale car-park, which is quite centrally placed. A Scotch Argus trip is very much on the cards, especially as it should coincide with the flowering season of a few more orchids (Marsh Fragrant, Marsh Helleborine...)!

Hi! Callum, good to see the Northern BA and the Large Heath, Just wish I could get up to the Lakes, maybe next year! Goldie

Glad to bring them to your screen, Goldie. It's a strange year not being able to travel more than a day-trip's distance from home, isn't it! I've been saying "maybe next year" about quite a lot of things.

[CallumMac]

20/06/2020 - North York Moors

On Saturday, we set off for the Moors early, with a series of site visits planned that should have brought new orchids, odonates and butterflies for the year. In the end it didn't pan out that way. I know there are others on the forum whose interests are broader than solely butterflies - perhaps they can comment on the following:

We are experiencing (at least in Yorkshire) an extremely early year for butterflies, with many species on the wing two or three weeks ahead of schedule (presumably driven by the very sunny May); but an average or even late year for many other groups (including wildflowers and dragonflies; presumably delayed by the very dry May).

Our first site was Tranmire Bog, usually good for two upland dragonfly species (Keeled Skimmer and Golden-ringed Dragonfly) and Large Heath. Today, though, it was being swept by a surprisingly cold southerly, and we saw nothing at all! So we quickly moved on to Fen Bog - another site for all three species, plus fritillaries galore and Heath Spotted Orchids.

Our first out-and-back, through the valley floor, revealed the lateness of the season for non-butterflies - I couldn't even locate rosettes where the Heath Spotted Orchids are, having previously found them in full flower just 10 days later. No dragonflies were present either. On the butterfly front, a single Common Blue saved us from a complete bust!

We returned up to follow the path along the side of the valley, with a few Small Heaths skipping around but nothing that credibly resembled a Large Heath. One of the "Small Heaths" suddenly appeared much brighter than the others, and following it, it morphed into our first Small Pearl of the year! I am taken aback every single year by how diddy this species can be. We spent a good 10 minutes taking photos, but it didn't really want to pose and eventually flew off downslope.

The rest of our walk around the bog revealed nothing else - a single immature Keeled Skimmer zipped away from the path. As we returned to the car, some hypercharged fritillaries were dashing about in the usual area - clearly Dark Greens based on size, but no chance of a photo!

We drove on, aiming for a lunch-break at Ellerburn Bank. Here, again, we were surprised - a site that is usually cloaked in orchids by this time of summer showed barely a few Common Spotted, with no sign at all of Northern Marsh. A snippet of overheard conversation revealed that the nearby population of Pugsley's Marsh Orchid were also not in flower yet - well, that saved us a fruitless trip since it was going to be our next stop! We sat and had lunch, and as we were finishing, spotted a Dark Green Fritillary behaving much more amenably, darting between flowers and regularly stopping to drink. It proved to be very skittish but I managed some photos with my telephoto lens.

Walking back to the car again, we found another couple of Dark Greens, this time nectaring on a patch of Marsh Thistles.

With the Pugsley's site ruled out, our final planned stop was at Forge Valley Woods, where I had just learned it was possible to find Beautiful Demoiselles (a species I had previously believed to be a southern speciality!). A short walk upstream along the valley bottom was very pleasant, and eventually yielded sightings of several females of this lovely damselfly and a single male. Unfortunately they insisted upon perching on the opposite bank, so close-ups were impossible!

We'll have to return in a couple of weeks to find the missing dragonflies and orchids. A very strange year!

[Wurzel]

Lovely set of shot Callum Interesting to see the Small Pearls still in good nick at this stage - they were out at Bentley about 6 weeks ago

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

...We are experiencing (at least in Yorkshire) an extremely early year for butterflies, with many species on the wing two or three weeks ahead of schedule (presumably driven by the very sunny May); but an average or even late year for many other groups (including wildflowers and dragonflies; presumably delayed by the very dry May)....

Yes. That is definitely what I am seeing too, Callum. In the early days of the warm spring, the plants kept pace with the butterflies (e.g. cuckoo flower), however they then started gasping for water and this has retarded them in my opinion.

The Marsh Fritillaries near me have long gone, but the ragged robin is still in flower; usually both emerge and die back at roughly the same time.

With every passing year, what was once considered 'strange' appears to be becoming more 'normal'.

I wonder what next year will have in store for us?

[Neil Freeman]

20/06/2020 - North York Moors

We are experiencing (at least in Yorkshire) an extremely early year for butterflies, with many species on the wing two or three weeks ahead of schedule (presumably driven by the very sunny May); but an average or even late year for many other groups (including wildflowers and dragonflies; presumably delayed by the very dry May).

Similar here in the midlands Callum. I think the thing with some of the plants is that some of them are possibly influenced as much by the lengthening daylight hours as by temperature. Timings have certainly seemed to be all over the place with some of the groups this year.

Cheers,

Neil.