Letchmire Pastures, Allerton Bywater

On our first trip to Letchmire Pastures Local Nature Reserve a wetland and grassland site on a former coal area, we spotted a few firsts of the year, including our first dragonfly sighting. I have to admit that I'm out of practice but we think this is a female Four Spotted Chaser, broad tail,black tip & spots on wings. Below the same dragonfly a little closer.

In a South facing sloped patch of grassland I spotted my first Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) of the year (3 males), not such great pics so this one's just for reference.

And my first Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) of the year.

We also heard our first Cuckoo of the year and saw it briefly perched on a telegraph wire before it flew off into the woodland. Its shape was familiar to me as a result of having viewed cuckoo photos on blog postings, so thank you to everybody who has shared their cuckoo photos recently, its a great way to learn about unfamiliar species. Other bird sightings included Partridge, Lapwing, Jay, Swallow, Cormorant.

Jersey sightings - more butterflies

A few more butterfly sightings from our trip to Jersey, Wall Brown, Grayling, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper and Common Blue.

Rutland visit

This is the first chance Ive had to properly catch up with the blog since returning from our week away, which started with a couple of days in Rutland, Leicestershire followed by a few more days in Norfolk. This was a return visit to Ashgate Annex in Oakham, Rutland where we enjoyed yet another relaxing weekend in Isabel & David's lovely self catering luxury accomodation. Its such a great place to stay, ideal for exploring Rutland Water & the surrounding countryside. Here follows a few sightings from the Rutland portion of our trip.

Just after arriving I spotted this female Common Blue on the driveway feeding on Lavender flowers.  

Despite the overcast weather at times, we still enjoyed some great sightings. We dropped into Egleton reserve at Rutland Water Nature Reserve and watched this Kingfisher appear in a flash of blue, disappear and reappear once more where it sat for a good 5 minutes.

We sat it out in this hide during a downpour, where even the Hebridean sheep decided to congregate while the heavens opened. Apparently they were introduced to the reserve back in 2001 to help control coarse grasses around the edges of the water.

Through the binoculars we had a good view of the Ospreys, we watched as an adult consumed its share of a fish whilst sat atop platform on the left, before depositing it on the nest on the right for the juveniles to finish off.

During this visit we ventured to some new sites that we'd found via the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust website. One of the most interesting was Prior's Coppice, to quote the website "is an ancient ash-maple ash-wych elm woodland, probably a relic of the wildwood which covered all of Leicestershire and Rutland before prehistoric peoples started to clear it".

Here's a couple of pics of the wide rides that contain woodland marshy grassland surrounded by lush canopies, it was a treat to explore and well worth a visit.

On entering Priors Coppice we were amazed to see well over 50 Common Blues, I'm used to seeing them singly or maybe in two's if I'm lucky, so this was a rare treat for me. Here are a few favourites.

There were lots of dragonflies around and about, zipping above our heads following the rides, occasionally we spotted one or two resting on nearby vegetation, I think these two are immature Male Southern Hawkers, but I'm happy to be corrected.

There were plenty of Damselflies too, they really stood out against the foliage and stems, I think these are Common Blue Damselflies, single stripe on side of thorax, mushroomy mark on segment two.

Brockadale Nature Reserve

We headed out to Brockadale Nature Reserve, another Yorkshire Wildlife Reserve, with the hope of catching our first ever sighting of the Marbled White. Despite pretty continuous cloud cover we were rewarded with three seperate sightings of the distinctive black and white butterfly.  

Throughout the reserve Yellowhammers could be seen and heard from the treetops.

I caught sight of a Holly Blue on a Hawthorn but only managed this record shot.

Towards the end of our wander the sun popped out and so did this Common Blue. 

Bolton Percy Station...but not quite

Having decided to familiarise ourselves with more of the Yorkshire Wildlife reserves, we headed for Bolton Percy Station, about three miles from Tadcaster. Having subsequently checked out the reserve online I now realise that we didn't quite hit our target and ended up on the opposite side of the railway line to our intended destination. Doh! Nevertheless we enjoyed the wander and still managed some enjoyable sightings with a couple of firsts for the year.

The first of the firsts of the year, a Small Heath.

And to add a sense of scale, the Small Heath sharing a leafy perch with a fly.

Another first of the year, this Meadow Brown. The forewing colour orange and buff with a single strong black eyespot and the brown hindwing with smaller black spots.

A dainty Common Blue feeding on Bramble flowers and Purple Vetch.

A beautiful female Small Skipper

Fairburn Ings RSPB (1)

This weekend we paid a visit to Fairburn Ings RSPB. Immediately on joining the path leading to the visitors centre this butterfly settled for little more than a few seconds, just long enough to grab a quick pick and for me to thank her kindly. A female Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) methinks, with its hooked tip forewing, greenish white ground colour that is significantly more subdued than the vivid-yellow of the male.

We followed the path past the Kingfisher screen and up the slope where the bordering vegetation included patches of birds foot trefoil, thistles and vetch and which provided lucrative sightings. One of the delights was this brown butterfly, but on consulting the guides the brown upperwing and underwing marksings lead me to think this is a female Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

And here's a male Common Blue, 15 or so metres away from where I spotted the female not a great pic but good enough to illustrate the difference in upperwing colour between the sexes.

A field of ox eye daisy, buttercups and grasses near the spot where we spotted the Common Blues.

A couple of metres away, my first Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) of the year, the black mark on its upper forewing indicate a male, the mark are the glandular scent scales or androconia that produce an odour to attract females.

Thanks to Pete for confirming the ID of this one. A daytime flying moth, a Silver Y (Autographa gamma) with the distinctive Y on the upperside of the forewing, which feeding here on a clover flower.

Striking clumps of purple orchids grew at intervals between the path and the stream. Not knowing one orchid from another I won't even hazard a guess but I would guess that they're a popular source of nectar for the many insects in the area.

Kirkstall sightings 2

A few minutes walk away at Kirkstall Abbey this weekend I glimpsed a small blue butterfly in the terraced garden area overlooking the Abbey. Unfortunately it disappeared quickly & I wasn’t quite quick enough with my camera. So on Sunday we revisited the Abbey Gatehouse Cafe lured by chocolate brownies & the potential reappearance of the butterfly. Within a couple of minutes there it was daintily flitting above lavender flowers, it was a Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus.

Although its a widespread butterfly its only the second Ive seen this year (earlier in the year at Rutland Water) but this is a first on my home patch.

Interestingly Rodley Nature Reserve had no reported sighting last year & it was last recorded in August 2003.

The metallic blue sheen of the Common Blue is due to diffraction of sunlight by thousands of corrugated scales on the wings that absorb all colours of the spectrum excluding blue and not as a result of pigment.

The sheltered walled garden was favoured by Large Whites and bees, the plant of choice being a white flowering hebe in bloom.