Winmarleigh Moss.

Something of an adventure in the week on a visit to Winmarleigh Moss with Steve Graham.

For starters you have to find somewhere to park, as the Lancashire Wildlife Trust website says....'no parking near the site'....is a bit of an understatement I reckon. But we overcome the parking problem and set off for the adventure on to this huge 90 hectare site which has difficult access due to numerous drains and tussock vegetation requiring care to be taken over this the best lowland raised peat bog in the region. However, you can safely transect along the bank by Crawleys Dyke.

Raptors seen, 2 Buzzard, 2 Marsh Harrier, and a Kestrel. At least 4 Stonechat seen, with a pair behaving like they had hidden young, a few Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit, with a Willow Warbler in a small wooded area, and a Corn Bunting.

Five species of dragonfly were seen, with Four-spotted Chaser, Emperor Dragonfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, and Large Red Damselfly.

Steve's top target at Winmarleigh Moss was a butterfly species, but the visit was a disappointing one in this regard as we saw just 2 Large Heath, perhaps a tad too early, but 2 Large Skipper was a little compensation, and a Speckled Wood was the only other butterfly seen from just three species.

Butterfly Conservation.

Five butterflies seen on a hot sunny day at a 90 hectare site with perfect habitat in June, brings me to note....2024 was one of the worst years on record for UK butterflies. For the first time ever, more than half of our butterflies species are in long term decline, and notably with 85% of the population living in urban areas.

This causes Butterfly Conservation to ask....Will you help us to raise £20,000 to begin one our most ambitious Wild Spaces projects yet....Glasgow Wild Spaces   

Summary.

In my opinion, you would need to spend several hours at Winmarleigh Moss, and even then would only scratch the surface and probably miss finding lots of what's on offer here if you was going to do justice to it. Personally, after a couple of hours walking along Crawleys Dyke, and humping optics - binoculars, telescope, and tripod - weighing 6kg, was a bit much!

Pilling Lane Ends.

Calling in at Pilling Lane Ends, there was clear evidence of the decline of butterflies as mentioned earlier, when we saw just 5 Meadow Brown and a Common Blue, a little more encouraging was 5 Small Skipper....I think Steve might have done better than this!

But feelings were good when we saw a large number of spikes of Orchid. Steve sent photographs off to an expert in the field, to arrive at the ID of a mix of Southern Marsh Orchid and Northern/Hybrid Marsh Orchid.

White-tailed Bumblebee.

This White-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum was found lethargic on the garden bench, it spread its wings a couple of times but was unable to take off. I gave it sugar and water on a saucer to drink, but it remained motionless for a while and I feared it was dead. For an hour or more I kept checking regularly, but the next time it was gone. 

Flora & Fauna In Cumbria.

Well a little Flora and Fauna in Cumbria.

An enjoyable few hours yesterday, with visit's to Foulshaw Moss and Latterbarrow but sightings at both reserves were a little sparse to be honest....I think maybe I blinked too many times! 

The one Osprey seen in the nest at Foulshaw a mile away in the haze from the viewing platform was hardly riveting stuff. But a walk along the newly erected board-walk at the north end of the reserve, proved to be a good idea as it produced good views of a male Stonechat and four juvenile. Five Raven and a lone Swift were over, a Willow Warbler heard, with Long-tailed Tits and juvenile Coal/Great/Blue Tits were on the feeders, and bird sightings couldn't have been much more sparse than that.

Common Lizard. Pete Woodruff.

A few Common Lizard mostly scuttled below the board-walks as they were approached, but this one was a rather obliging individual. 

Immature Black Darter. Pete Woodruff.

Just two species of dragonfly noted, an immature Black Darter and a female Four-spotted Chaser, but an Odonata expert I spoke to assured me there would be thousands of dragonflies around in a couple of week time. With the exception of a few Large White, the only other three butterflies seen were a Large Heath, Gatekeeper, and Small Tortoiseshell. 

At Latterbarrow, 2 Chiffchaff, a singing male Blackcap, and a Bullfinch were all heard, a Green Woodpecker heard calling was then seen to fly across the reserve. Butterflies were, a few Meadow Brown, 4 Comma, a Ringlet, Red Admiral, and Small Skipper.  

Barred Straw. Pete Woodruff.

A Barred Straw moth with only a moderate result in photographing, was the only moth seen all day, identified by its unique resting posture with the forewings held extended.

A Change of Scenery.

Round-leaved Sundew Drosera rotundifolia. Pete Woodruff.

The change of scenery came from a visit to three mosses today when - with JB/BT - we visited Hale Moss on a day not at all appropriate for such a visit as it was cloudy and cool resulting in no butterflies or dragonflies to be seen. The few birds here were, a male Reed Bunting, a young Robin, with both Garden Warbler and Blackcap heard in song, and 4 House Martin and 2 Swift over.

At Halforth a 'few' Tree Sparrows, 2 Linnet, 4 Goldfinch, 5 Skylark, a good number of Sand Martin were hawking over the high tide, I presume these are birds from a colony somewhere in the Sampool area, and a Kestrel.

On to Foulshaw Moss where conditions were still not at all perfect for the chance of butterflies and dragonflies, though a 'few' Four-spotted Chasers were around the various pools and ditches, 4 Buzzard, a Kestrel, and a solitary Long-tailed Tit were the sum total of birds seen. Despite scanning the entire viewable area of the moss I can confidently claim there to be not a single Stonechat 'to be seen' here today, and probably more to the point no Stonechat at Foulshaw Moss this summer.

And lastly Meathop Moss which produced a Tree Pipit (probably a pair) a Buzzard, and a Raven over, the only butterfly seen were 2 Large Heath. The photograph at the head of the post is of the Sundew on this moss, a plant which is listed as one which should be protected, the pic is in no way a classic image of the plant but it's a record of my sighting.

And finally....

The Phaon Crescent, a stunning butterfly which you can find in Mike Watsons Diary HERE. The range of this beautiful creature is Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico to southern California, east through southern Texas and Florida to coastal South Carolina. It also strays to east Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Mikes latest post is an excellent account and photograph of his encounter with the Marmora's Warbler which is still singing its little head off in Gwent. Many thanks for the photograph of the Phaon Crescent Mike.