Lamberton and Burnmouth

On Sunday morning we took our annual trip up over the border to catch up on some scarce butterflies and moths.

On arrival at Lamberton Cliffs it was cool and breezy, so being a bit late in the season I didnt have much hope of seeing the Small Blues that inhabit the path edges here. Fortunately, down on the scree it was more sheltered and the butterflies were out in decent numbers. We had 20+ Small Heath, 7+ Common Blue, 13+ Small Blue, 2 Wall Brown, 2 Large Skipper and a few moths including our first Blackneck, an oddity here with most other records for this moth coming from south of Yorkshire. We flushed 9 Blackneck including a mating pair. Commoner lepids included Latticed Heath, Garden Grass Veneer, Silver Ground Carpet, Celypha lacunana and Timothy Tortrix all in good numbers plus 4 Chimney Sweepers.

Small Blue

Small Blue

Quaking Grass

Blackneck

Small Heath

Wild Strawberry

Large Skippers

From here we drove the short distance along to Partanhall scree cliffs where the masses of Red Valerian, Rock Rose and Salad Burnet were the home to 13+ Northern Brown Argus, 1 Painted Lady, 2 Common Blue, 2 Small Copper and 1 Small White. A tiny brown and white banded pyralid seems to be Pyrausta cingulata.

A good morning out, as it always is up here...

Northern Brown Argus

Common Blue

Common Footman caterpillar

Beauty and the Beast..

A trip out this morning to look for inverts after last nights deluge. Dragons were on our mind, but some butterflies will do nicely too, after all, there will be plenty of bleak fall conditions to look forward to in the autumn, so its time to make the most of the insects.

Willow Warbler

A couple of short wetland stops on route to a favoured woodland area, were also quiet, only giving us a good scattering of Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and a nice Fox doing the 'walk of shame'.

As you can imagine, a wooded area inland is bound to be quiet at this time of year so this Willow Warbler was the only bird to point a camera at. A few Jays glimpsed, plus Great spotted Woodpeckers and calling Buzzards did little to add to the interest.

In the lea of a south facing ride, lots of butterflies were making the most of the warm weather - 10+ Green veined Whites, 10+ Small Skipper, 6+ Meadow Brown, 6+ Ringlet, 4+ Speckled Wood, 4+ Common Blue, 1 Peacock and a 1 Small Copper all looked shining in the warm sunshine.

Common Blue

Small Copper

Some other invertebrates though are more difficult to id. A Wood Wasp or Horntail flew past but this little froghopper thing was new -

Cicadela viridis thanks to Peter and Dave...

One of the strangest things seen though was also the most fearsomely ugly critter I've seen for some time...

Tachina grossa.

This fly was nigh on an inch long, dwarfing bumblebees nearby. For sure you wouldn't want it in the car with you. Anyway, it is a parasite on large moth caterpillars, in particular the Oak Eggar but I bet up here its the Drinker that is the target. While taking pictures, we were targeted by Clegs and ticks...urgh!

Of the odonata, 2 hawker sp were seen that were likely to be Southern along with a few Common Blue damselflies.

Relieved to get back home in tact, this view was from our kitchen window, so excuse the photos...

The Buzzard had taken something quite large, a rabbit probably, and the Magpies were determined to get their share. The raptor was properly irritated by them, and scattered them like a Lion with vultures!