BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND......................................................MEDITTERANEAN GULLS CONDER POOL PETE WOODRUFF

Sunday 3 July 2022

More Therapeutic Wanderings.

As I made my way to Birk Bank to check out the bog for dragonflies on Thursday, I was muttering to myself, this is a mistake I'm making. The plan was then to do a circuit, Ottergear Bridge-Cragg Wood-Littledale Road-Rigg Lane. But the weather was unsettled, not a day for a dragonfly hunt, and I soon found myself sheltering from a downpour under a tree, and by now feeling pretty miserable.... 


But things bucked up, the rain passed and in fact it turned out to be a good day. The dragons took too the wing, and over the next hour, I eventually had 6 Keeled Skimmer sightings all male, 2 Four-spotted Chaser, 2 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, and a Common Lizard. There was a ramp-up in excitement when I saw a family of 5 Stonechat, the first breeding record found at this precise location in 30 years Stonechat'ing on Clougha. 

Now I was off on the planned circuit to find along the way, 8 Mistle Thrush were milling around as I left the bog, as were a flock of 10 Meadow Pipit seen later. Others of note, Song Thrush, Willow Warbler, 4 Wren, 2 Blackbird, and a Great Tit.

When I arrived at Cragg Wood, I was quite chuffed to see a Golden-ringed Dragonfly flying across the ford on the River Conder. I heard Garden Warbler and one of 2 Blackcap seen in the area, also a single House Martin seen to enter a nest at Cragg Cottage, also 3 Chiffchaff heard on the circuit. Butterflies seen, up to 12 Meadow Brown, a Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell....Therapeutic wanderings, including excellent dragonfly results, and a brilliant Stonechat record.

Saturday 2 July.


Checking the canal at Garstang to follow-up an incident there three weeks ago - a little more on that in a future post - I found 2 Banded Demoiselleseveral Blue-tailed Damselfly, a Kingfisherand an interesting moth.

Ermine Moth. Pete Woodruff.

A moth of the family Yponomeutidae, of which there are several very similar, some of which require DNA analysis for positive ID. They are commonly known as small ermines, this one I can't go beyond calling an Ermine Moth.

Avocet Conder Pool 2 July. Ian Mitchell.

Not connected with any subjects in the post, but I'm grateful to Ian Mitchell for his header image of the Common Tern at Conder Pool, from where Ian informs me of 8 Avocet young seen yesterday, including two marked birds.

7 comments:

  1. More Golden rings. Getting a bit jealous now. Will have to go looking myself soon. Another quality list of birds seen. Take care.

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  2. Glad the day turned around for you after the downpour.

    Quite a varied list of wildlife seen. Liked the video of the damselflies, it sometimes takes some working out which body belongs to who when they get into these positions.

    Moth could be Bird-cherry Ermine but I wouldn't like to say, Buff Ermine and White Ermine I am OK with but micro moths I steer clear of there are so many.

    Thanks for the blog.

    Ian

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  3. Marc....The ratings of your jealousy will never reach the peak of mine towards your encounters on the Odonata scene.

    Ian....I checked the Bird, Orchard, Apple, Spindle, and Willow Ermines. Like you with the micro moths, I'm steering clear....Ermine Moth it is!

    Thanks to both and do Take Care, the 'C' numbers are exploding again.

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  4. Thats a list of sightings in one day that exceeds mine for a whole month, Pete!

    Like Marc, I too am jealous of your Golden Ringed sightings.

    I think that your mating damselfly clip is of Blue-tailed Damselfly rather than Common Blue - I was drawn by the two-tone pterostigma.

    Yep, that Covid thing is on the rise again.

    Stay safe - - - Richard

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  5. Think no more Richard....They are certainly a pair of Blue-tailed Damselflies, and there should have been a caption on the video to say so, I think it's called having a senior moment!

    Thanks Richard, hope you keep well.

    Pete.

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  6. Hi Pete Glad the day turned out well for you in the end. Currently at the in-laws in the deep south. Nicely timed for a heatwave so should have a few opportunities to catch up with some of the southern speciality butterflies. See you soon. PS: New pond finally being constructed at last! Steve

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  7. Thank you for looking in Steve, all the way from the deep south, from where I look forward to seeing your southern specialty butterflies. Good to hear the new pond is being constructed....Dragons galore in '23.

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