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...

More Inverts...

The weather was very pleasant this morning so we headed a little way inland between Alnwick and Rothbury to look for some insects. We started with Debdon wood to see the Small Pearl bordered Fritillaries. 12+ were on the wing and showing well. Also here were Latticed Heath and Red and Black Froghoppers in profusion. Several families of Crossbills flew over, a Jay was seen and a Cuckoo heard.

Small Pearl bordered Fritillaries

Latticed Heath

From here we decided to check some ponds in Corby Crags for odonata. The shelter of the pines meant there were a good range on the wing with 30+ Four spotted Chaser, 1 male Banded Demoiselle, 1 Hawker sp likely a Golden ringed Dragonfly but couldnt nail it. Its too early for the other hawkers found here, Large Red, Common Blue and Blue tailed Damsels. best of all was our first Northumberland male Broad bodied Chaser. A rare dragon up here but one we were hoping to find. Success!

 We also had 30+ Red necked Footman seemingly emerging on grass below the trees

Broad bodied Chaser, a male, on a new pond in the wood. 

Before I forget, yesterday Jane, Peggy and me took a trip to Holy Island for a walk. There is still always time for wildlife though and I was over the moon to bump into 4 plants of Henbane, a rare flower in the county.

Henbane

So, whilst there has not been much birding, there has been loads of interest to see and to look out for in the recent spell of fine weather. Lets hope the summer continues like this...

A late post...

At last, a blog post in July!

What afew weeks we have had with IT problems here. It all started in June when the broadband connection collapsed for  week, then our PC was blown by a storm making it unsuable for a week, then the broadband dropped again for another week. What a performance. The trials and tribulations of contacting BT to get things fixed were up there beside climbing the north west face of the Eiger, or swimming the channel!

So here is a short, mainly photographic post from a couple of weeks ago.

John and myself took an unscheduled trip over the border into Scotland for a change where we visited Gordon Moss, near the Black Adder ( yes really).

Here we wandered for a good way seeing a good few butterflies in the process.

Small Heath

Red Admiral

Ringlet

Small Tortoiseshell

Meadow Brown

Small Pearl bordered Fritillary

 

A big hoverfly - Volucella bombulans

Heath Spotted Orchid

 Our next stop was up on the coast at Burnmouth where we saw good numbers of Northern Brown Argus, at least 10+.

Northern Brown Argus