Speckled Wood in Queens Wood

At lunchtime I left the office for a woodland wander through Queens Wood which is on the doorstep of the university campus. Whilst enjoying the bluebell views I caught sight of what I thought was a bee amongst the foliage (at the centreof the shot), but turned out to be my first  Speckled Wood of the year, yay!

Here's the area where I spotted them, a recently cleared West facing sunny spot in the woodland, it did catch my eye as a good location for potential butterflies, I love it when that happens. 

The clearance work is part of the University's ongoing woodland management programme, extensive thinning  has been carried out to get rid of diseased and non natives with some replanting to encourage the growth of native species. Felled wood has been retained and in some cases the tops of trees have been removed but left standing for woodpeckers. I heard a couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker and Chiffchaff, and saw Wren, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tail Tit, Magpie, Crow, Robin, Goldfinch, Wood Pigeon & Grey Squirrel.  

Kirkstall Creatures in St Stephens churchyard

Back to nearby St Stephen's churchyard in Kirkstall, amongst the headstones settled this Red Admiral, looking like it had seen better days. Despite extensive damage to both its hindwings and forewings it appeared to fly freely. 

Blue Tit fledglings bounced around in the Hawthorns overhead.

A couple of fresh looking Speckled Wood engaged in a series of aerial tussles, the victor returning to pride of place amongst a heap of what looks like Wood Pigeon feathers. 

A Song Thrush settled on the upright of a wooden bench, eyeing me from a distance, by the look of the bench its a popular birdy perch.

Breary Marsh

Up at Breary Marsh earlier today, Bluebells, Ferns and Greater Stitchwort were all in fine display, enjoying patches of intermittent sunlight prior to the thickening of the canopy.  We heard Warblers, Bullfinch, Chaffinch Robin and Blackbird in the trees, and saw Tufted Duck, Canada Geese, Moorhen and Grebe on Paul's Pond.

Greater Stitchwort appeared in patches around edges of the woodland.  Less abundant than those posted by Phil Gates (Cabinet of Curiosities) but equally eye catching.




Speckled Woods and Large Whites were the butterflies of the day. Although present in comparatively smaller numbers the former proved far more obliging than the latter.

Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds

A wander around the grounds of Lawnswood Cemetery on a sunny afternoon gave us a view of the first Red Admiral of the year. I was pleased with this one because I've previously seen them much later in the season. This one (one of two) proved to be pretty bold and a bit of a show off, and I'm happy to have captured the detail on the underwing.

Bringing new meaning to 'a butterfly on the wing'.

On our return to the same sunny spot the Red Admiral was still there, the sun had moved round by this point so it was sunning itself with open wings on a bed of crisp, golden oak leaves.

A metre or so from the Red Admiral we watched a Holly Blue (two in two days!) flit around the upper branches of a sun drenched holly tree, too restless and too far out of reach for a pic. Within closer viewing distance, we spotted 6 Peacock (Inachis io), along the route, this one showing a little damage to its hindwing.

We must have seen over 30 Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) butterflies throughout our wander, bathing in pools of light, and then spiralling high up into the canopies whenever a second butterfly invaded its patch.

Jays are a frequent sight, and today was no exception (10), other feathered inhabitants included Wren (5), Robin (4), Mistle Thrush (2), Wood Pigeon (12) Blackbird (6) Chaffinch (4) Great Spotted Woodpecker (1) Great Tit (10) Blue Tit (8) Long Tail Tit (2) Chiff Chaff (2) Magpie (7) Treecreeper (1) Crow (5).

Ending with a splash of colour, the pink blossom of Sargents Cherry (Prunus sargentii) enhanced by the backlit leaves of a Copper Beech in the background.



Beckett Park

Having been offline for a few weeks, I'm please to report that I'm back up and running and here's a few recent sightings from Beckett Park. Lots more fungi have started to appear on the grassland and in the woodland, here's a wee selection.

Grasses left unmown underneath the canopy of a Common Beech. 

This week I spotted 4 Speckled Wood butterflies on the woodland perimeter of Queens Wood and despite having only the little camera, managed to get near enough for a couple of pics.

On the way into work, near the train station I discovered this feather (pictured). The black ground colour and white spotted margins suggested a Great Spotted Woodpecker. After wandering around the web and I came across Michel Klemann's website Feathers, which is a really useful resource. Here's the link to the Great Spotted Woodpecker page. The first illustration, Example 1 Leftwing (primaries and secondaries), confirmed my initial guess and left me feeling pretty pleased with myself.


Ive heard a Woodpecker a few times in the vicinity of St Stephen's churchyard & the opposite side of the road between the old alloments and the railway track, so I'm going to pay a little more attention as its only a minute or so from home.  

Even closer to home, last night, from the doorstep, we watched a bat fly above the back gardens at approx. 7.30pm. Having attended a couple of bat walks at Rodley Nature Reserve I'm pretty confident it was a Pipistrelle, and its the first time Ive seen it this year. If I kept such a thing as a list of garden sightings I'd stick it at the top of my list.

St Chads lunchtime wander

Having seen little sunshine for the past few days I took the opportunity to meander down to St Chad's Churchyard at lunchtime. Having reviewed my pics it appears the wander was made up from a palette of greens and golds. Speckled Wood's greeted me at the entrance to the churchyard, three of them taking turns to challenge each other for prime position on sun splashed nettle and bramble leaves.



On the return walk these tall flowering grasses caught my eye.

St Chads

A few sightings from today's lunchtime wander to St Chad's Churchyard, Headingley. A handful of Speckled Wood butterflies favour a patch of sun soaked brambles and nettles located at the entrance to the churchyard making for regular sightings.





In the churchyard itself I noticed this little moth, although not the sharpest of shots I was glad to come away with a couple of pics for ID purposes. At first I thought it might be a Small Yellow Underwing (Panemeria tenebrata) but it looks suspiciously like the moth that Dean recently posted on DDD which is a Mint Moth (Pyrausta aurata). If anybody can help it'd be most appreciated.

And from the spring/summer range, Buttercup with feather boa, floral chic darling, it'll be all the rage in Primarni before you know it.

I also enjoyed an unexpected lunchtime sighting of an adult fox on the border of the churchyard that backs onto neighbouring gardens. My immediate reaction was that somebody had let their dog loose to wander around a working area of the churchyard, so I tutted and rolled my eyes, only to realise that it wasn't a dog at all and with that realisation came the disappearance of the fox, not something I was expecting to see but all the more reason for a regular visits.

Beckett Park Lunchtime Woodland Wander

Yesterday lunchtime the earlier blue skies and sunshine had become slightly overcast so I opted for a nearby woodland walk. Almost immediately I heard the calls of a Nuthatch, as it scoured the nooks and crannies of a tree stump. Blue Tits and Long Tailed Tit zipped around the treetops above and a Robin perched nearby.

With fleeting glimpses of sunshine I headed towards a clearing, hoping for better light and the vague possibility of some butterfly action. Listening to what might have been a Bullfinch I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. It winded its way in my direction and landed nearby, a familiar woodland friend the Speckled Wood, this one identifiable due to two diagonal scars on its upper left forewing.




A second Speckled Wood strayed into its territory and the two set off on a duel, disappearing into the woodland. Moments afterwards the original butterfly returned to settle in almost the same spot presumably content with its victory.

As it flew away again I looked up to see a Blue Tit watching me from above.

On my return another Speckled Wood flew past me shoulder to settle on the right of the path, a notably different Speckled Wood with a more saturated ground colour and much bolder markings.

As I turned and stood I heard a call to my and caught a glimpse of a Treecreeper in the process of working its way up a trunk, another satisfying lunchtime wander.

Kirkstall and Adel findings

First port of call today was Weetwood Police Station, not as a result of any wrong-doing but to check out the carpets of Anmone nemorosa in the car park, the masses of beautiful pink tinged petals reach skywards on delicate stems, casting star shaped shadows on the foliage below. The shape and colour reminds me of a Clematis montana flower.

Then over to Adel Churchyard, full of daffodils in bloom, thinking it might be a good spot to spy butterflies the only sightings were two white species on the wing, and they never ever seem to rest. A couple of Song Thrush were feeding, this one had its mouthful while the other continued to pull worms from the grassed paths. Elsewhere we spotted a Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Long Tailed Tit, Blackbird and a female Mallard.

Venturing on, we spotted 8 Lapwing, one with 3 chicks, 7 Curlew, a Kestrel, a Hare, an inconspicuous Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Red Kites and a Skylark that obligingly provided the soundtrack to our wanderings.

We headed home ready for a cup of tea and a Betty's Fat Rascal. On reaching the doorstep something caught my eye, a Speckled Wood butterfly landed on the yellow leaves of Choisya ternata, Mexican Orange Blossom. A wonderful characteristic of a Speckled Wood is that they'll perch and pause just long enough to get a couple of pics and it kindly presented me with my first garden butterfly ID of the year.