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.

Bittersweet In Bowland.

With with an e-mail from AC of 10 male and 2 female Keeled Skimmer at Birk Bank on Tuesday, and my finding Golden-ringed Dragonflies without much effort at three locations already, I'm fast becoming confident of a good Odonata year, in particular the GRD's.

My day on the fringe of Bowland was a bittersweet affair on Monday. Beginning with the 'sweet', on 29 April I found a pair of Redstart prospecting a tree hole near to Holme Wood, but despite two subsequent visits on 19/27 May, I had no sign of the birds. But on my return there on Monday, I found one possibly two Redstart, one a juvenile, the second, a glimpse of movement around the trees, I failed to establish female/juvenile, but good to know they bred there after all, but not in the Ash I had seen them at on 29 April.

Common Blue Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

I found a Common Blue Damselfly at Grisedale Brook, and it didn't take long for me to find 3 Golden-ringed Dragonflies, watched a Wren feeding a begging young on the brook, and noted an Ashy Mining Bee.

Of 3 Willow Warbler singing within 50 metres of each other, this one was atop of the same bush it was when I saw it here on 27 May, when it escaped the talons of a Sparrowhawk that dived into the gorse, I had thought it had met its end, thankfully I was wrong.

The 'bitter' came with a visit to Harrisend, where I was disappointed to find just 3 Stonechat, being two male, and one escaping ID behind the tall bracken. A Raven and a large number of Carrion Crow including c.80 up into the air over the ridge. At least 10 Meadow Pipit seen, 2 Reed Bunting one a singing male, 3 Willow Warbler, 4 Linnet, a Goldfinch, Blackbird, 3 Swallow over, and a Kestrel.

Bombus vestalis Pete Woodruff.

Butterflies and bees seen on Harrisend, 17 Small Heath and a Red Admiral. Also the second of two Cuckoo Bumblebees I've recently found, this one is the largest of British cuckoo species, the Vestal Cuckoo-Bee.

Lancaster Orchids.

I counted 180 spikes of Common Spotted Orchid, and 14 spikes of Northern Marsh Orchid on Langthwaite Road Monday evening.

Stunning header image of the equally stunning male Stonechat on Hawthornthwaite Fell, probably the same bird I recently caught on video. Thanks Martin.