More Mixed Fortunes.

On a trek around the Birk Bank area, on the one hand I find the Bilberry Bumblebee again, on the other it was another step in the direction of a disappointing and increasingly worrying visit to the bog for dragons.

My visit to the area started and ended at Birk Bank bog, a site of interest to Odonata enthusiasts, one of whom I hear had the same experience as me when he visited this week, and referred to the bog as 'dead'. In the long run, I'm hoping both of us are wrong, but the truth is we're looking toward the end of June and this prime site has little if anything on offer.

Azure Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

My records at Birk Bank bog read, 2 Azure Damselfly, and up to 6 Large Red Damselfly. The records also have to read, No Keeled Skimmer, Four-spotted Chaser, Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Common Darter or anything else.

Green Oak Tortrix. Pete Woodruff.

Some compensation came in the form of a single and immaculate Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, and a Green Oak Tortrix moth. Quite unbelievably, the fritillary was the only butterfly I saw on a sunny warm day towards end of June....Yes the only one!

Although I did notch up 3 Stonechat, also quite unbelievable that I otherwise saw just one Buzzard, 2 Meadow Pipit, a Siskin, and heard a Blackcap half-heartedly singing in the car park. That's seven birds in 5 hours....yes only seven!

Now The Best Bit.

Birds-foot Trefoil Birk Bank. Pete Woodruff.

I found the grand total of 5 Bilberry Bumblebee in this visit to Birk Bank, two amongst the patches of Birds-foot Trefoil, and three on Ottergear Bridge.

Not the easiest of creatures to capture on film, but this one did make life a little easier for me as it worked its way around the brambles and other plants.

Swifts Finally.

Two records brought to my attention. The first one prompted me to investigate, and resulted in up to 14 Swift seen just around the corner from our house in Bowerham, with one bird seen to leave a nest under the eaves. The second record was even more amazing, that of a number of Swift during the week, observed over the summit of Ingleborough.

At an elevation of 723m, Ingleborough is the second highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, and you have to ask yourself, why are a number of Swift over the summit of Ingleborough in mid-June!

The Header.

I took the photograph at Marshaw on 12 June, it is of a small number from two groups of up to 60 students in parties scattered along the length of the Marshaw Wyre between Marshaw and Trough Bridge.

This is an annual occurrence, and according to a leader of the group they are surveying in the name of Geography. I pointed out this should not be happening, giving the example that I was monitoring birds and had seen several pairs of Grey Wagtail, Common Sandpipers with young, and a pair of Dipper, all of which were breeding on the stream were the students were doing their surveys. I went on to suggest that the organising of this exercise should be made at a more appropriate time of year to avoid this unnecessary disturbance during the breeding season.

....And The Pied Flycatchers Tale.

I spent the traditional 5 hour on my trek around the Tower Lodge area and came away with a mix of good and bad feelings. 

But the day started out in good style, when 2 minutes after I arrived at Marshaw I picked up three birds in a line in flight which soon disappeared from view, but two returned over my head a minute later, then one of the two returned another minute later. A lot of 'cu-coo' calls heard throughout this several minutes spectacle which I regarded as some sort of dispute. This sighting resulted in my recording 5 Cuckoo on the day, but it has to be a possibility the two heard later were from the three seen earlier in the day though 1/2 mile away.

On the Marshaw Wyre, 6 Common Sandpiper seen, including two young having soon gained independence and able to fend for themselves.

According to my observations, probably three breeding pairs of Common Sandpiper here this year, also a decent count of 10 Grey Wagtail, and just the one Dipper. A Song Thrush was behind Tower Lodge, where 2 Siskin were noted.

One of the downside of things today was, there are No House Martin at Tower Lodge, though I'm aware that Swallows and House Martins didn't arrive back in the country in their normal numbers during May. So perhaps summer isn't here yet....Not too difficult to believe given the inclement weather.

I found my first 4 Spotted Flycatcher seen as 2 pairs, and the 6 Pied Flycatcher seen, which brings me to the bad feelings....

The Pied Flycatchers Tale.

On a day that was nothing like I expected or was forecast, by the time I left for Lancaster, I had spent the day here in cloud at little more than 11°C and no sunlight.

Although the 6 Pied Flycatcher I found where seen as three pairs within a distance of 80 metres, with two pairs frantically attending nests, and one male seen to take out an insect in flight, in itself an excellent sighting, but I think this area may have suffered the same fate as one in Cumbria.

I was in touch with John Callion a ringer of note in Cumbria. John has been dismayed at the high levels of mortality in some of the Pied Flycatcher nests. A few have had full broods dead, others part broods, sometimes just an individual. The persistent winds have been the result of reduced numbers of invertibrates available resulting in the high level of failure. I note ringers in Durham have had similar findings.

On my visit to Bowland this week, I didn't experience any dead birds in nests like John did, but with the possibility of up to eight breeding pairs here this year, two pairs this time not previously seen, and no activity seen today through 15 nest boxes. I think this area may have suffered the same failure as those in Cumbria.

With all this negativity behind us, and as a self confessed Stonechat nerd, I found it heartening that JC has recently had four pairs of Stonechat, all with healthy full broods of five....Alleluia! 

The Header.

Although obligingly posed, it's a pity the Spotted Flycatcher was on barbed wire for some pictures....N'er mind, you can't win'em all! 

One For The Orchid Buff's....

....and a moth, a dragonfly, and some flycatchers.

I've had an interest in orchids for a few years now, especially any to be found in the Lancaster area, an interest that increased when I found the Bee Orchid here some years ago now with my good friend and mentor John Leedal. 

Bee Orchid. Pete Woodruff.

The Bee Orchid is seen as one of the best known and loved of its kind, its flowering is sporadic, which accounts for failures to find it at the same location year on year, and contributes to why I've not seen it for 4 years since June 2020.

But my visit here this time turned out to be a bit of a revelation when I found what I regarded to be a good count of Northern Marsh Orchid. 

Southern Marsh Orchid. Pete Woodruff.

I can't claim the record of orchids found at this site east of Lancaster to be the first, but I can certainly claim it to be the first record of up to 100 spikes of Southern Marsh Orchid here as opposed to any records in previous years of misidentified Northern Marsh Orchid. 

Southern Marsh Orchid Detail

This is the link to an end piece I wrote following the discussion that ensued on Wild Orchids of the UK website Orchids

Small China Mark.

Small China Mark. Pete Woodruff.

A nice Small China Mark on the canal towpath. Fairly common around still and slow-moving water, the larvae are semi-aquatic feeding on duckweed, and building floating cases from fragments of the food plant.

Emperor Dragonfly.

Emperor Dragonfly Birk Bank 6 June. Ian Mitchell.

The Emperor Dragonfly is referred to in The Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside Steve White and Philip H. Smith, as....'remains absent in the uplands'....though this reference was published in 2015, and I await a reply from Steve see if this is still the case with the species in 2024.

Pied Flycatcher.

I was grateful to AC for confirmation of up to 6 pairs of Pied Flycatcher in the Marshaw-Tower Lodge-Trough Bridge area, with five boxes taken, and a tree nesting pair as I had suggested a couple of weeks ago. On a trip into Bowland on Thursday, it's a pleasure for me to report on his behalf, evidence of possible breeding Spotted Flycatcher Tower Lodge area, and a pair of Redstart at both Marshaw and Abbeystead both with breeding evidence....Great Stuff AC. 

I was grateful to Ian Mitchell on three counts, 1) for forwarding me the record and image of a male Emperor Dragonfly at Birk Bank, 2) for info that the record of Bilberry Bumblebee at Birk Bank has been officially accepted, 3) for the excellent header image of the same Bilberry Bumblebee.

The Birk Bank Bombus.

I was struggling to make a decision on Friday, but my mind was instantly made up by a call from Ian Mitchell who told me about a find he'd made.

I was off hot foot to Birk Bank, to find an area gifted with a small carpet of Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, one of the food plants of the 2 Bilberry Bumblebee Bombus monticola I found, having foraged the Bilberry, then moving on to other food sources such as the bird's-foot-trefoils, thistles and heathers.

Large Red Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

A visit to Birk Bank bog produced at least 20 Large Red Damselfly with a few mating pairs seen. Any other dragons to be seen here will have to wait until my next visit, even though the conditions were good today, the season has yet to take off at this excellent acidic site....I'm increasingly getting worried here!

On a couple of hours wander I noted a relatively low number of up to 10 Willow Warbler, a Garden Warbler, Tree Pipit, 12 Meadow Pipit, and saw Raven and Buzzard over the ridge.

Common Lizard. Pete Woodruff.

Although I noted 4 species of bees, the insect count otherwise was poor, with just 2 Small Heath butterfly, a Little Emerald moth, and 2 Common Lizard on the boardwalk at the bog.

Forest Cuckoo Bee Bombus sylvestris. Pete Woodruff.

And Finally.

Green Tiger Beetle. Pete Woodruff. 

I was struggling for a header pik, but Ian Mitchell came to the rescue with his Hooded Crow found on the return journey back to Lancaster from Walney NR last week....Much appreciated Ian.