The Dead Duck!

Excuse the pun title, an American slang used politically in the mid 19 century and basically meaning useless....Rings true in the early 21st century, but politics and religion are barred on B2B.

My last two visits to Birk Bank have been almost useless, but truth is, there are never useless birding days, and Thursdays certainly wasn't one. 

Keeled Skimmer Birk Bank 13 July

I had to try for a video of the male Keeled Skimmer because it was the only dragonfly I saw on the day at Birk Bank or anywhere else, and was the only one seen on my previous visit there on 5 July. If this isn't related to the cloudy and breezy weather, then the hot dry conditions of late have had an impact on odonata....Nothing serious I hope!

Towards the end of the video, the Keeled Skimmer sharply lifts its head and opens its mouth....Quite a gape!

There was no sign of life when I went to Cragg Wood to find zilch on the River Conder. On my return to do a double check at the bog, I met Ian Mitchell who told me he had seen just the one male Keeled Skimmer I had found three hours earlier. In our conversation I told Ian I had found 2 Purple Hairstreak in the Oaks east of Ottergear Bridge. When we parted, Ian said he would take a look in the hope of finding a butterfly he had never seen before....There is evidence that he was successful with his brilliant header image of the Purple Hairstreak.

Common Carder Bee/Cuckoo Bee. Pete Woodruff.

At Birk Bank, a Common Carder Bee, and a faded male Cuckoo Bee which I am unable to identify to species.

Sundew Birk Bank 13 July. Pete Woodruff.

And on the bog, after finding Sundew there in August last year, I found more again on Thursday, this time two plants seen. This plant is noted to be in need of protection. 

Garden Hovers.

Some sunny weather brought hoverfly and a leaf cutter bee of interest into our garden, to keep me entertained and to photograph them with their elaborate scientific names.

Eupeodes corollae on California Poppy

Eupeodes latifasciatus on Chicory

Eristalis arbustorum on Shasta Daisy

Xanthogramma pedissequum on Willow

Eupeodes corollae (right) with Megachile centuncularis (leaf cutter bee) on Elecampane

Weather Permitting!

I've not had a days birding since Thursday 5 May, and it hurts for me to have to say that I'm in danger of suffering from a bout of depression. 

But hey....Wildlife always has something to interest, and one of a few events this week for me, was a couple of visits to check out the cemetery Nuthatch nesting in the Cypress tree. The video shows, first the female enters the nest hole, and doesn't emerge, the male then visits the hole, it doesn't appear to have food to offer the female, but something white shows at the nest hole, there's no exchange, and the object in the females bill disappears back into the hole with what appears to be a fecal sac....See for yourself. 

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Lancaster Swifts.

I saw my first 2 Swift yesterday 14 May high over our Bowerham garden. At least 8 Swift were in the Fairfield area where they breed annually, and I spotted 2 Swift from a moving car over Ashton Road.

Garstang House Martins.

To follow finding Tree Sparrows nesting on 9 April, there was another pleasant surprise for me at Garstang yesterday, when I found 6 House Martins with nests and one under construction, under the eaves of business property behind Booths in the town centre. 

Garden Bees.

Common Carder Bee in the garden performing acrobatic skills on Water Avens.

White-Tailed Bumblebee performing and briefly dangling from Aquilegia in the garden.

The next few days may see me avoiding any depression from lack of birding....Weather permitting.

Edit.

Not wanting to hide behind my errors....I was grateful to an admin at BWARS for the correction to the bottom video in the post, which I claimed to be White-Tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum which is how I have decided to leave it in the title above. It is in fact a Small Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum.

Birding On Your Doorstep....

....but first the Short-eared Owl.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the header image, which shows what looks like what can only be described as a twig protruding from the birds right armpit. I'd suggest this is the possible cause of the inability to fly any distance, and is the reason the owl has remained on Conder Pool for two months now, since it was first seen here on 27 February....I've seen no reports of sightings of the bird in the past few days.

A visit to Lancaster Cemetery was primarily for more evidence that the Nuthatch are breeding in the Cypress Tree. Eventually I got the confirmation, when a bird emerged from the nest hole as I was leaving the site. Earlier I had trained my camera on the tree, if only to get the recording of a bird in the area, with a song new to me. I was confused - nothing new there, as I'm easily confused - but hey, a fellow birder threw in his opinion, and we had a result. 

 

Sound On

....'Song of male Nuthatch a uniform series of loud notes, very variable in tempo, from drawn-out whistling notes slowly repeated, to very short notes rapidly repeated'....BWP

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On my next visit, more evidence of the breeding Nuthatch, when the bird came to the tree and went to the nest hole and appeared to feed a grub to the sitting female.

Other interest in the visit, up to 3 Chiffchaff and singing Blackcap heard, 4 Nuthatch, 2 Jay, and a Goldcrest. Butterflies, 8 Orange Tip, 3 Speckled Wood, and 2 Red Admiral.

Tree Wasp. Pete Woodruff.

Also in the cemetery, this 22cm queen Tree Wasp is common, but with the grand scientific name Dolichovespula sylvestris.

Common Carder-Bee.

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This Bumbus pascuorum seemed to take a liking to the garden insect hotel before flying off.

Common Tern.

Common Tern Conder Pool 24 April. Howard Stockdale.

A Common Tern returned to Conder Pool on Sunday morning, hopefully to breed successfully for the ninth year. It is the second April date for first arrival, quite amazingly on the same April day as last year. The previous six first dates have been in May, with the first Common Tern record for Conder Pool being on a late date in July 2014....

02 July 2014

22 May 2015

06 May 2016

08 May 2017 

07 May 2018

05 May 2019

02 May 2020

24 April 2021

24 April 2022

Darters On The Bog!

Another pleasant spell at Birk Bank bog. Nothing overwhelming, but with plenty of interest to keep me happy for a couple of hours, not least because I witnessed my first copulating Common Carder-Bee's on the boardwalk....A pity the bees were in shadow.

Common Carder Bees. Pete Woodruff.
 

As always, view the videos Full Screen. 

When I came across this pair, it took a while to work out what was going on, but enquiries confirmed what was pretty obvious to me....I'm grateful to Ben Hargreaves for his expertise help on this one.

There was much activity on the bog, with at least 20 Common Darter seen, including pairing and ovipositing.

Black Darter Immature Male. Pete Woodruff.

Also seen, up to 6 Black Darter were all black males with the exception of an immature male. The best and biggest surprise was a Golden-ringed Dragonfly, probably the last one of the year for me. I'm not aware of any September records in Lancashire for the species.

This Common Lizard was one of four I saw on my last visit here on 12 August.

The trek to Cragg Wood in the hope of finding Purple Hairstreak around the oaks along the way, and Golden-ringed Dragonfly on the River Conder, was the road to nowhere. But I did find a female and juvenile Stonechat, also a Buzzard overhead, with Chiffchaff and Coal Tit seen.  

I noted just thirteen butterflies in four hours, 6 Small Tortoiseshell, 4 Small Copper, 2 Speckled Wood, and a Peacock.

Some much appreciated quality and colour images for B2B. They were sent to me by Martin Jump and Ian Mitchell.

Brimstone. Martin Jump.

One of Martin's many extraordinary images, this one of the Brimstone butterfly coming in to land on Purple Loosestrife. 

Gold Spot. Ian Mitchell.

Fairly common throughout the whole of Britain, but takes nothing away from this attractive and colourful Gold Spot moth in Ian's trap recently.