Butterflies And Birds.

A nice day Thursday on which I decided to have a look for butterflies in Witherslack Wood.

Speckled Wood/Ringlet. Pete Woodruff. 

Though I took on no counting in a couple of hours in the wood, the highest was the Speckled Wood of which I probably saw up to forty. It was good to find the Ringlet followed with the next best number and I saw at least twenty of these with just one Small Skipper seen. 

But best of the day had to be a High Brown Fritillary which was an obliging individual allowing me to get to grips with the underwing to note a row of brown spots between the outer margin and the silver spangles which are missing in the Dark Green Fritillary. These two butterflies are difficult to tell apart void of good views of the underwing, so I can only suppose another ten seen in flight or distant were the same species, one thing for sure, none of them was a Silver-washed Fritillary as I found not a single one as a big disappointment. 

I get the impression this woodland is not noted for it's birdlife, but I heard a singing Blackcap and Chiffchaff, a Great-spotted Woodpecker seen flying away from me, and a Wren.

Whilst in the area I had earlier called in at Foulshaw Moss to see the Osprey, but to be honest should'nt have bothered as the haze had turned what I could see into a couple of shimmering anythings a mile away. The nest site give-away is the two huge webcams set up to give brilliant images on the internet, but I ended up much more impressed by the views of 2 distant Stonechat than I was of the Osprey.

Unable to resist I drove back to Conder Green and had to go to the west end of Conder Pool to see an adult and two young Common Tern at the back side of the island. I found just 6 Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank in the creeks, and noted 2 Greenfinch by the viewing platform. 

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock I saw 27 Black-tailed Godwit, these birds are really stunning in full breeding plumage, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and 8 Little Egret were my only other notes here.

Saturday 11 July.   

I'm informed of one of the young Conder Common Terns airborne in the early afternoon yesterday. I had seen this bird having a wing flapping exercise on Wednesday and had thoughts at the time that the bird might fledge before the week was out, presumably the advanced eldest of the three....Thanks for the text Andrew.  

Thanks to Simon Hawtin for the excellent Swallows header.

The HBF.

No birding....No birds to blog.

But I'm sincerely hoping to get out on Tuesday for the first time since last Thursday. I'm also sincerely hoping the current blanket of fog for the past two days will have lifted by the morning, it hasn't added to the chances of migration getting off the ground, though large numbers of Meadow Pipits have been recorded passing through various local visible migration watch-points today.

There are also the prospects of catching up with butterflies as the weeks progress further into summer and I'm looking forward to this, and there's excellent news of one of the UK's rarest butterflies having had the best year in a decade.

High Brown Fritillary. Copies Permitted.

The critically endangered High Brown Fritillary (HBF) had it's best year in 2014, it's best season since 2004 and an increase in number by more than 180% compared to 2013, attributed to the warm spring weather to add to some brilliant work co-ordinated by Butterfly Conservation to restore it's habitat.  

The striking orange and black HBF once bred in most large woods in England and Wales, but habitat loss of this beautiful creature resulted in worrying declines which raised fears that it could be heading toward extinction. The HBF is one of only two critically endangered butterfly species in the UK, now restricted to a handful of colonies, one of which is up here in the North West, and also South West England and one in Wales. There are ongoing conservation efforts to reverse the long term decline of this butterfly which still have a long way to go reach this important reversal for the High Brown Fritillary.

Lost In Cumbria!

Well I wasn't lost in Cumbria....but the day was.

BT and I had set off on Friday with the usual good intent, but the day never really took off. We headed out towards the now silent Dunald Mill Quarry at Over Kellet to check if a Sand Martin population - which we discovered a 'year or two' ago - was still active, to find the place as deserted by them as the quarry has been by humans since its closure. I've no idea whether or not this population was ever checked by anyone else, but enquiries were made at the time of discovery with the quarry management to establish if the birds were known to them, and also were the Sand Martins protected as breeding birds, a positive response was received in this regard.

Some info passed to me about Foulshaw Moss by someone closely connected with the area, was confirmed when up to four Osprey were seen through the heat haze, though six birds together briefly turned out to certainly include two 'corvids'. It was good to meet Harry and Arnold here and we put the birding world to right on one or two matters by which time half the day had already been lost. See you again soon H and A....hopefully.

Sand Leek. Pete Woodruff. 

Passing through Witherslack I noticed the Sand Leek by the roadside and quickly stepped out of the car to get a shot of it, I counted at least 30 spikes. John Leedal had shown me the Sand Leek here many years ago. Through Witherslack Woods the butterflies were certainly not playing ball during the two hours there, and several highly mobile individuals went unidentified, though we did manage the ID of one High Brown Fritillary, two Silver-washed Fritillary, and a single Ringlet....and the day had run away with us.

And finally, more butterflies we may not see in our area this summer....

 Cardinal Ana Minguez  

I'm pretty certain we won't be seeing the Cardinal, also known as the Mediterranean Fritillary, common in southern Europe, also N.Africa, eastern and central Asia. A very rare immigrant with only two records, the first in Cornwall August 1911, the second in Dorset  - also in August - 1969. Some suggestions are that this species is under-recorded, being mistaken for Silver-washed Fritillary. 

Clouded Yellow Ana Minguez 

The way things are heading, I'm not convinced we're going to see the Clouded Yellow....

Painted Lady Marc Heath  

....or the Painted Lady either this year up here in the north of England, though I hope I'm proved wrong on both counts.

Brilliant images from Ana and Marc....with my thanks.

Butterflies....More Or Less!

There's a distinct possibility that fewer butterflies flew in British skies during the miserable summer of 2012 than ever before, leaving several species in danger of extinction from parts of the country when 300,000 fewer butterflies were recorded on the wing compared with 2011, and the way things are going 2013 is heading for more of the same.

Of 56 species of butterflies monitored last year 52 suffered declines including the High Brown Fritillary which was down 46%. This butterfly is now confined to a few sites in Britain including Arnside Knott which is where the video above was filmed. The Black Hairstreak is one of our most recently discovered butterflies and also one of the rarest, it has a very restricted distribution between Oxfordshire in the south-west and Cambridgeshire in the north-east, it suffered a staggering 98% decline.

Orange Tip Geoff Gradwell

Based on all this, its not difficult to believe, that having spent over 17 hours and covered areas over 15 miles on foot in the countryside over three average sunny and warm June days last week, I found just seven individual butterflies of seven species. At Barbondale I found just two of these, being a solitary Orange Tip and a Small Heath. 

Common Blue Warren Baker 

The following day between Conder Green and Cockersands I found another three species, being singles of Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, and Peacock, no other butterflies were see in the five hours I searched this area. On Friday to make up the seven species I found a single Speckled Wood and a Small Skipper.  

Washout 2012 was the worst year on record for UK butterflies....Welcome to the butterflies of 2013! 

On a lighter note....I've got the bug!

Hawthorn Shield Bug Laurence Counter

On last Tuesdays walk I took a closer look at a Hawthorn bush to discover a pretty smart Hawthorn Shield Bug on one of its leaves. Shield Bugs are also known as 'stink bugs' because of their ability to produce an acrid discharge. There are over 4,700 different species of these insects, many of which are vividly coloured, whilst this makes them stand out to potential predators, it is a stark visual warning that they contain unpalatable chemicals which is ejected as a foul-smelling liquid which usually deters a would be attacker.

I was really pleased to find my first Hawthorn Shield Bug, and thanks to Laurence Counter for allowing me to post his excellent image on Birds2blog. Also thanks to GG and WB for their respective butterfly photographs.  

The Corn Bunting.

Corn Bunting. Phil Slade

The Corn Bunting (CB) has a feeble flight and with its legs dangling it doesn't suggest a strong flyer, yet the species has at one time or another managed to colonise the remotest fringes of Britain. The CB owes much throughout history to mans alteration to the environment, the spread of cereal agriculture across Europe and reaching Britain a few thousand years ago resulted in the clearing of vast areas of woodland creating open habitats suitable for the CB.

In the north of its range the CB is largely confined to arable farmland, in winter the bird feeds mainly on cereal stubble a habitat which has declined greatly over recent years. In Lancashire the CB was uncommon towards the end of the 19th century and Mitchell commented it was 'very locally distributed and seldom seen except where grain is grown'. Today the reason for the dramatic crash of the CB - and the Yellowhammer for that matter - is unquestionably down to intensification and changes in farming methods which include the switch to autumn sowing of cereals with the subsequent loss of seed-rich stubble in the winter, and replacement of hay by silage, food supplies have also been depleted by the use of herbicides, pesticides playing their part  in the dramatic fall of the CB.

The CB is often referred to by some as a 'dull bird'. I personally don't know of a single species of bird I'd ever refer to as 'dull', but I do know if I'd like to see the CB in our recording area in north Lancashire I'll need a good deal of luck on my side, and if I do it'll be a 'straggler'. In our area 52 years ago in 1959 the CB was a scarce and very local resident, by 1997 it was declared as possibly extinct, today it most certainly is. However, just outside the border on Tuesday 18 January I recorded up to 100 CB's on Union Lane. Areas in south-west Lancashire and the Fylde are where the CB has a healthy status, that of a common breeding bird.

By the way, this I found both news and interesting, and if you're local....  

High Brown Fritillary. Steven Cheshire

....did you know about Myers Allotment and the High Brown Fritillary