Butterflies and bees

Having waited at base all yesterday for a scheduled delivery that never arrived, we were keen to spend some time outdoors this afternoon. We visited our 'usual' lockdown haunt and were pleased to see a couple of bees on the Ragwort. The male Red-tailed Bumblebee above was the first of its kind I had seen for some weeks. 

We looked hard in case there were any Cinnabar larvae, but there was no sign today of the distinctive stripy caterpillars.

We found a new track that ran between swathes of thistles and long grass, and looked ideal for insects.

I came across the name of this yellow daisy-like flower very recently, but find I have forgotten it. Please feel free to leave a comment if you know. (Update: 24 August. My thanks to Conehead54, who tells me it is Common Fleabane). 

All in all David counted the four Holly Blues, four Speckled Wood, forty-six Small Whites, one Red Admiral and one Comma... in addition to the butterfly you see in the photo above. I had thought it was a faded Gatekeeper and that its 'second' white spots had failed to show, but I'm pretty sure it is a Meadow Brown.  

Comma, underside

 You can see the white 'comma' quite clearly on the underwing of the butterfly above.

The same Comma

When we eventually found a Red Admiral, it was perching with its wings closed. I waited and waited, and in my haste to catch the moment when the wings opened, I cut off the antennae in my shot: what a shame. 

I believe I have mentioned before that the footpath passes beside a barley field. As you can see the grain is ripening well. Barley always reminds me of the west wind in the song by Sting.

We are halfway through a fascinating documentary by writer, naturalist and poet, Helen Macdonald, about urban wildlife around the M25. The diversity not only of species but also of habitat is astonishing in this very busy area that circumnavigates London. 

Our current 'exercise spot' here in Suffolk hardly bears any resemblance to the M25 and yet it is a place adjacent to the port of Felixstowe with goods trains, bulging with containers, bustling to and fro at frequent intervals. The port is in fact Britain’s busiest container port, and one of the largest in Europe.

Industry sandwiched between trees and hedges

Given how close the barley field footpath is to such a hub of heavy industry, we have been delighted to discover a healthy diversity of species over the last few weeks. Slightly to our surprise (given how few butterflies are showing in the garden right now), it was satisfying to find good numbers of butterflies on the wing this afternoon, but there are definitely signs that the season is changing...

Autumn Light at NT Wicken Fen

Many wildlife-lovers and poets would probably name autumn as their favourite season, and while I am not one of them, I love the bright colours and the intensity of the light that can be enjoyed at NT Wicken Fen in October (and yes, it was still late October when we visited).

We kept an eye out for a Kingfisher, but were not rewarded.

This was the view up the lode. 'Lode' is a late Middle English word for a watercourse, found frequently on the Fens, where it refers to an artificial waterway, usually for drainage. 

A moth larva was rapidly disappearing in the undergrowth at the edge of the reedbeds. 

I don't suppose we will see many more dragonflies now until 2018, but there is a wonderful dragonfly poem in a new book, Thaw, by Charles Bennett, Wicken Fen Poet in Residence, just out from Fair Acre Press.

I don't feel I have had a very good dragonfly-spotting season, but it may be more to do with location than climate issues.

It was lovely to see these Goldfinches out in force at the top of a bare tree.

I have taken so many photos like the one below over the years...

... but the windpump on the reserve always draws the eye.

On the butterfly front...

it was the Speckled Woods...



...who were stealing the show.

You can see the changing light...

I am wondering what work is being done on the Butterfly Walk, which is one of my favourite parts of the reserve - and a good place for Brimstones, 'Blues' and Brown Argus in spring and summer.

I love the little 'dragonfly' cottage...

Light was fading as we passed the fenman's cottage.

Time for a last windpump picture...

... and, of course, one of a sparrow, since this is one of the best places we know for watching (and hearing) these birds that were once so much of a part of our lives.

I took a last look at the watery reflections...

... before we headed for home.

Last Big Butterfly Count of the Season

There was a certain 'early autumn' feel as we set off on our final Big Butterfly Counts of 2018. It wasn't actually raining at that point, but it wasn't exactly sunny either. We decided to visit one of the two Local Nature Reserves near our home as previous visits have produced the Green and White-letter Hairstreak.

There were few white butterflies about; and the Holly Blues, often flitting around the ivy, came top in terms of numbers. We counted a couple of Speckled Woods, a Gatekeeper and a Meadow Brown. Where are all the usual Peacocks and Red Admirals, I wonder? There was no sign of a Comma on the blackberries, which seemed a bit unusual. Today's weather has, of course, to be factored in; but even so ...

Still, a fifteen minute count is a count whether or not a butterfly shows up, so we refused to be too disheartened. We have done more counts than ever this year, and I feel a certain sadness that the counting season for Butterfly Conservation is over. The results will be very interesting.

Another Garden First, The Speckled Wood Butterfly

I was delighted this morning to find another garden first in the form of a Speckled Wood butterfly. I wish I could say it was the one above (which was in Wicken Fen some time ago), but the butterfly was too quick for me today, and all I have as proof of its presence is the shaky record shot below. My hope, of course, is that more may follow.

In my haste I focused the camera on the leaf in the foreground. But never mind.

I think the plant is a tangled, rather unattractive species of wild Honeysuckle. We cut it back a bit each year as it tries to take over the decking. It is not as invasive, however, as the Mile-a-Minute (aka Russian Vine) which we inherited and are always trying to subdue!

I like to keep a reasonable amount of the Honeysuckle plant, though, because it seems to provide cover for the Ruby-tailed Wasps who usually make their home in or around one of the insect hotels. I have yet to see one of these wasps this year, but here are a couple of photos I took last summer...

Wicken Fen Nature Reserve ~ Common Lizards, Dragonflies, Butterflies and More

We were just finishing our lunch in the grassy Wicken Fen car park and picnic area (National Trust) on Saturday when David noticed that this grasshopper was also eating its midday meal. 

It was an indifferent day weatherwise, with rare bursts of sunshine in between grey cloud. I was surprised to see so many tiny Common Lizards - some smaller than my little finger - on the edge of the boardwalk. There must have been about thirty, but we weren't actually counting. I expect some had just been born. The photos that appear below were taken with a zoom lens. Common Lizards are protected here in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to kill, injure or sell them. 

 I only noticed these head markings (below) for the first time when I uploaded my photographs.

It looks as though the lizard below had lost the end part of its tail ...

This next lizard (below) had a long tail, but there was a particularly scaly patch or fracture plane towards the end where perhaps the tail had re-grown. I don't know whether this applies to all species of lizard, but when a lizard sheds part of its tail in a bid to escape a predator, the lost section moves about for a while, distracting the hunter, thereby giving the lizard time to escape. The ability to a shed (and re-grow) the tail is called 'autonomy'. Re-grown sections of tail have cartilage rather than bone and cannot be shed in the same way. The mere threat of predation can cause sufficient alarm in the creature to trigger tail loss. 

The lizard in the photo below clung to the edge of the boardwalk ... Once again, the photo was taken with my zoom lens.

Ticks on lizards are rarely seen with the naked eye, but they often show up in photographs. Unlike the lizards I have occasionally spotted on Dunwich Heath, where there are animals grazing nearby and swathes of heather and bracken, the Wicken Fen lizards in my photographs do not appear to have ticks.

Much to my delight in this year when I have seen few ladybirds, we noticed two native 7-spots ...

I have added these to the UK Ladybird Survey.

Unfortunately we also noticed this Harlequin ... The thumb is to give a rough sense of scale.

We thoroughly enjoyed the chance to learn about some of the butterflies on the reserve, thanks to the knowledge and enthusiasm of Alison, a NT volunteer who leads butterfly walks.

We failed to see any Skippers this time, but we noticed a few Small Tortoiseshells ...

 ... and quite a number of Common Blues. These are exquisite little creatures.

...

I was keen to photograph a male and female Common Blue together, but had difficulty knowing where to focus the camera ...

 We spotted a couple of Brown Argus ...

 ... and Speckled Woods.

We are now moving on to the insects that I find hard to identify with accuracy! Please leave a comment if you spot a mistake or can help with identification. There were good numbers of Hoverfly ...

I think the one above may be the Striped hoverfly (Syrphidae).

To be identified ... slightly different from the one above, perhaps a Sunfly?

The breezy conditions probably accounted for the fact that there were few dragonfly on the wing. However, we found a few in the more sheltered spots. Here is a (?young) Common Darter ...

... and another.

I think this may be a male Ruddy Darter ... There seems to be a red tinge to the pterostigma.

There were several spiders - my photos are as yet unidentified. Do let me know if you recognise these arachnids!

The creature below seems to be a Short-winged Conehead (Conocephalus dorsalis), which is a species of Bush Cricket.

The photo below shows the length of the antennae! 

I am guessing that this is Roesel's Bush Cricket from the yellow markings ...

There were plenty of House Sparrows around the visitors' centre, but we saw surprisingly few birds on this occasion. We even failed to see a Marsh Harrier. However, the abundant insect life made up for any shortcomings on the avian front.

You may feel miles from nowhere (and indeed the nearest hostelry is called the Five Miles From Anywhere No Hurry Inn), but you know for sure that you are on a nature reserve when you come across a reed with its own number! 

There was one last surprise in store when we got back to the car ... I particularly love the pattern made by the creature's shadow! 

Is this a Speckled Bush Cricket? I'm not sure ...