Mothing at last!

Finally, a quaranteed dry, warm night when we were at home and able to moth trap. It was wonderful to see so many moths: 48 species including: Buff Arches, Elephant Hawk, True Lover's Knot, Buff Tip, Poplar Hawk, Pebble Prominent, Large Emerald and Garden Tiger. Oh and 161 Large Yellow Underwings.  (12/13th July.)

Elephant Hawk Moth.

Plain Golden Y.

Poplar Hawk Moth.

Large Emerald and Swallowtail Moths.

Scalloped Oak and Buff Arches.

Gold Spangle and Coxcomb Prominent.

Peppered Moth, Buff-tip, True Lover's Knot and Phoenix. 

Garden Tiger.

Number 200 plus one...

It was so hot last week, that sitting in a car with the aircon on was a pleasant prospect. 

Once again, we have been keeping a list of the birds species we have seen, in an attempt to see 200 within the year. For quite a while now we have been on 199 and while knowing  that we could easily see the 200th later in the year - maybe the Bearded Reedlings feeding on grit trays in the autumn or happening to stumble on a Redstart on one of our local walks, we decided to go down to Leighton Moss as there was a Lesser Yellow-legs that had been seen regularly over the last few days. 

So aircon on ..and down to Lancashire. We had good views of the Lesser Yellow-legs and also a single Bearded Reedling flying across the reed tops as well as a flying bittern. Job done!

Lesser Yellow-legs.

..and sat down (bottom right)...

..and stood up! (helpful for ID).

Avocets - always stunning.

Black-tailed Godwits - lovely and brown.

North Cumbrian Frogs

Headend Quarry can now be regarded as the last reliable site for Frog orchids in North Cumbria.  There were over 75 recorded in 1987, but numbers have dwindled. This year appears to have been a decent year for them and earlier in the week we found over 20 flowering spikes. Their position is very vulnerable to trampling and their numbers could be increased by better management of the site, as areas where they have been previously seen are now overgrown. Perhaps their position, where they are vulnerable to trampling, may be a blessing in disguise? 

The quarry grassland...

Searching for Frogs....

Sucess...and below...

View from the top....

...and in the evening. 

Smardale Butterflies

A lovely sunny day and 13 species of butterfly at Smardale: Speckled Wood, Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Northern Brown Argus, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Dark Green Fritillary, Large White, Green-veined White, Small Tortoiseshell, Ringlet and Small Heath.

The viaduct.

Speckled Wood.

Meadow Browns.

So nearly a good photo! When you only have time for a quick snap.....

Dark Green Fritillary.

Common Blue.

Common Blue.

Northern Brown Argus.

Northern Brown Argus.

Harebells.

Broad-leaved Helleborine.

Plenty of insects! 

Waitby Marsh Helleborines

Whilst being away, we may have missed some of our local wildlife highlights. The Fly Orchids at Waitby Greenriggs reserve were well over, but we did catch the Marsh Helleborines at their best - just! 

Some dramatic lighting..

The Fragrant Orchids are all coming out...

Meadow Brown Butterflies.

Common Blue Butterflies: male and female.

...and the Marsh Helleborines....

Common Spotted Orchids - with Ladybird! 

A bit of a pilgrimage

Seeing and finding certain plants in flower, as well as other things, marks time. Now the Bog Orchid isn't that spectacular and is tricky to find, so it was lovely to be able to find three flowering specimens locally. 

Needle in a haystack comes to mind!

Bog Orchid.

It was very nice to find that the site, despite the dry spring, was definitely damp! 

Greater Sundew, another nice find.

..and a quick stop off on the way home ..Bird's Nest Orchid.

Leafless and lacking chlorophyll...

Wedholme insects

Home and back to Wedholme. Somehow it's not quite so nice going out in rubbish weather at home!  But we got round Wedholme Flow in the dry and it was nice to see so many insects. The water level was also back up to what it should be.

Plenty of Lapwing circling round...

Dramatic light...

The three heathers: Cross-leaved Heath; Ling (bottom left) and Bell Heather (right).

The Cotton Grass is blown to the four winds.

White-beaked Sedge.

Small Skippers - except top right which is a Large Skipper.

Common Blue Damselfly and Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Red Admiral with Hoverfly.

The vaguely threatening Tachina Fly.

Hoverfly sp.

Black Darter.