A short 'Summery' !

 While it has been very much warm enough for me, the North Northumberland coast has not seen the roasting temperatures of the south and inland. On Saturday it did reach 28 degrees in the afternoon but has mainly been in the 21 - 25 degree range. We had a massive thunderstorm on Wednesday night that frightened Peggy half to death so we were up from 3am til 6am comforting her on the settee. The wind has been a touch irritating too, with SW 3 - 5 most of the time, but over all it has just been summery weather.

As I mentioned last time, one star this week was the garden arrival of Wool Carder Bees. These are rare in Northumberland with only a few records around Berwick and the Tyne Valley so these were not on my radar. In fact it was only from photos I took of a 'Leafcutter Bee' that made me cotton on to their presence.

To begin with a single male was photographed on Great Mullein chewing at the furry leaves. His yellow spotting on abdomen and legs was quite obvious in photos, a nice colourful little bee a bit like Hairy Footed Flower Bee.

After a few days I planted two new Stachys byzantina plants ( Lambs Ears, a Wool Carder favourite) . Before I had patted the soil down around them a male Wool Carder had taken them as his territory and was fighting off other bees. Since then both male and female bees have been present, females taking away 'cotton wool buds' of fluff away to nest holes out of the garden somewhere. 

They are a great addition to the garden fauna.

 

Wool Carder Bees in the garden.

 As if that nice surprise wasn't good enough, the warm weather had another stunning gift in store.

On Sunday morning the moth trap was particularly busy with micros, the over night minimum temperature being 17 degrees. I was being as diligent with them as I could not wanting any to escape as there was a good chance of a garden first in these conditions.

As I rolled back the covering towel to extract the last egg tray I was struck by a real shocker! Sat there was a proper Blackpool Illumination of a moth, a Scarlet Tiger! Wow, what a stunner and full Northumberland first too, for both VCs 67 and 68. Looks like the most Northerly UK record too.

When I looked back again, the egg tray was empty. The moth was flying circuits around the trap. Shaking in case it got away, I took the whole trap into the greehouse just in case it did get out where I could at least have another chance, As it happened the potting went well and I could relax.

I had only seen my first last year at Cley, Norfolk. In my post last June, I say, 'only found in the south' never expecting one in the garden a year later.

My friend Ian Fisher was keen to twitch the moth so I kept it until late afternoon then released it after a photo session. Iain Leach commented on Scottish Moths that they had also been recorded in Dumfries and Galloway and Carlisle in recent times, so I wouldnt take bets on us being blase about these in 5 years time. 

Unusual or extreme weather even far away can drop some interesting stuff in to the garden...

Scarlet Tiger

Red and Green...

 should never be seen, goes the old adage, indicating that the two colours may clash or indicate Christmas. In the natural world nothing clashes, there is no fashion, only beauty.

It was with this in mind, that on Sunday I was out alone, on to the Alnwick Moors towards Edlingham and Corby to look for Green Hairstreaks and hoping to get a better look at some Redstarts after fleeting glimpses last week.

It was a 50 / 50 day of success, with the Greens showing well, the Reds still not playing ball.

Starting off in a short stream gorge where 2 male Redstarts were singing on territory but despite waiting and watching leafless trees for an hour I still only managed very short glimpses of this upland stunner. I will try them again when by then the females might have them at a nest hole. Also here a Treecreeper took food into a long crack in an oak tree, and a nice male Grey Wagtail showed well in the sunshine.

Moschatel was still in flower while in the background Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff song filled the air.

Dreadful phone scoped shot of a Redstart. 

A short drive along the road, maybe a mile, where I stopped at one of our traditional Green Hairstreak Sites. Sadly the birch trees are now closing in but open places can still be found. Here, up to 6 Green Hairstreaks squabbled around bilberry clumps and as the air was quite cool they were easier to approach. While stalking the butterflies, a small single Bee attracted attention. Photos later confirmed that it was a lifer for me, Andrena lapponica Bilberry Mining Bee only discovered in Northumberland in 2020. Speckled Wood butterfly and Common Heath Moth flitted past while the years first Cuckoo was Cuckooing across the road. 5 Redpolls danced over head and several Willow Warblers sang in the scrub.

A grand Morning out.

Above - Bilberry Mining Bee showing its long jaws.

Green Hairstreaks, a tiny jewel of a butterfly.

 

The little things...

 Been a bit of a gap since my last post. This is probably because Ive been spending too long trying to identify insects and plants. When you area novice in such matters this can take time and the blog gets neglected. So by way of a catch up here we go...

I'm not really sure where to start. When birding I can be quite systematic in my approach, confident in my own abilities, but when looking at inverts etc, Im not even sure If I'm doing it right.

The last two weeks has been spent locally in an attempt not to break the bank on diesel.  

I may as well begin with the few birds of note. A visit to our local Nightjar spot on 15th June was good with 3 being seen very well and up to 12 birds calling in the area, the most I've had in one area, anywhere. The only problem on site was navigating windblown trees in the dark on the way back. What a plugging that was. In addition to the 'jars, we had a Spotted Flycatcher, 2 pairs of Tree Pipit, Crossbill and Tawny Owl.

 Around our village a few bits and pieces have provided interest.

Our neighbours and landlord. Howick Hall.

The Mullein Moth is a rare species in Northumberland, but I have had a few records of breeding in the garden but only one adult seen. This year has been exceptional with caterpillars being found all over the region so I checked out a few likely looking plants and found three different broods of caterpillars. A good omen for a  chance of another adult in the future.

Mullein Moth caterpillars on the foodplant, Verbascum.

In the hall grounds some ornamental borders had  a few Lambs Ears ( Stachys) and Astrantia plants that were proving very attractive to a wide range of bees.

Some tiny bees on a flower the size of a pound coin. The bigger one is Davies Colletes and the tiny waspish one is a Lassioglossum sp.

This was a new one for me, Fork-tailed Flower Bee.

Vestal Cuckoo Bee

 

Davies Colletes has the catchy latin name of Colletes daviesanus. And no, that's not a typo...  of 

For a couple of weeks the small patch of Red Valerian in our drive has hosted one or two Hummingbird Hawk-moths on most days. I never tire of watching them.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth .

The same clump also had a Painted Lady on one date, the only one I've seen this summer.

One Sunday while we were inland we popped in to see the Small Pearl bordered Fritillaries near Debdon. This small site is good but getting more scrub cover that I fear will push the butterflies out. There were also some hoverflies to check out.

Sericomyia lappona

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries.

Volucella pallescens

Xylota segnis

I think that will do for now, I must get back posting again more regularly...

Inverts

 

A corner of the garden...

Just a few invertebrates from the weekend....all from the garden except the fly at the bottom that was on Alnwick Moor on Sunday.

Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis

One of the Cuckoo Bees either Bombus bohemicus or Bumbus vestalis ?

Buffish Mining Bee Andrea nigroaenea 

A male Tawny Mining Bee, the jazzy orange females wouldnt sit still.

Tachina ursina Fly.

Week 5.

This is getting to be as long as the kids summer holidays. Providing we are all keeping safe I am getting quite used to it too. The thing about COVID is that we don't really know if we are safe because it has an incubation period of two weeks, so God only knows what is in store for us in May.

The weather has been kind since March when all we seemed to get was rain and storms, now we have wall to wall sunshine. Living on the East coast means it is still quite cool in the breeze from the sea, but in sheltered spots its very nice.

I am really enjoying this garden watching. Usually when work beckons we never know what has gone on or over our small territory and even working from home often means we are stuck indoors for long periods but, for me, it means I am in the field at 4pm instead of 6.30pm and sprinkle in some lunch and tea breaks the area is nicely covered.

In the sunny weather the invertebrates have taken centre stage lately though there have been some good patch birds since my last outing on here.

New to the list include -

14th April - Peregrine 1 fine adult soaring over the field behind us flushing everything .
16th - Raven 1 low over the garden N, heading back to its nest site.
17th - Short eared Owl 1, a true quality patch bird here and only my 4th in 11 yrs. I was watching the back when everything lifted. I scanned and couldnt see anything then quite high up I put the glasses on a flapping circling bird that turned out to be the Owl. It continued to climb higher, almost into clouds before I lost it to the West. A bird obviously on return migration and a very acceptable addition here.
17th - Sand Martin 1, inevitable at some stage.
19th - Merlin 1 female. On Sunday a friend has two Avocets flying North over Boulmer. That means they were heading my way! I was out in the garden in no time but they must have hugged the shore and remained out of sight. As I viewed from my 'seawatching' spot, pandemonium broke out in the wood and I scanned up to see a close Merlin dash along the wood edge and out of sight. A patch year tick too.
19th - Mute Swan 1. The 'whoosh, whoosh' of wings attracted me to the distant swan as it flew low over the woods .
20th -  Whimbrel 3 flew N out the back calling as they went.

These take my LockdownGardenList up to 74 species including 6 species of raptor since 20th March.

 Still no Collared Dove or Mistle Thrush.

As for insects, I have been taking a keen interest in all, manner of creepy crawlies with a few new species for me and the garden...

Harpactea hombergi a tiny woodlouse spider look-a-like found in our bath, as you might expect. New to me.

Above -  Male and Female Hairy Footed Flower Bees. Find of the year in the garden surely, well after White tailed Eagle, but these tiny fairies are usually found south of Leeds and there are only a few Northumberland records, so I was over the moon with these.

This tiny bee on a shrub in our garden is Andrena haemorrhoa Orange tailed Mining Bee. New.

Holly Blue made a welcome return one day later than last year. Still rarer than Yellow browed Warbler here...

Vestal Cuckoo Bee Bombus vestalis was a good id lesson that I am pleased to have got right first time, confirmed by Steven Falk of the Bee Field Guide fame.

Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis on our gable.

Zebra Jumping Spider Salticus scenicus, not new to me, but new here the first in 11 yrs of this common spider.

What diversity we have in the house and garden if only we choose to look...