Observations Of Nature Through The Seasons.

[ciel]

Random butterfly pics:

Small Heath 

White Admiral

Holly Blue      

[ciel]

Some photos from the dog walk today. 

I’m not sure about some of the IDs

Gentians with Euphorbia in the background 

Club-tailed dragonfly                                     

 

?Black-veined butterfly                                  

 

Fritillary butterfly, ?species                          

 

 

[mushymanrob]

22 hours ago, ciel said:

Some photos from the dog walk today. 

I’m not sure about some of the IDs

Gentians with Euphorbia in the background 

Club-tailed dragonfly                                     

 

?Black-veined butterfly                                  

 

Fritillary butterfly, ?species                          

 

 

the fritillary is i believe a 'dark green fratillary' ... very nice!

[knocker]

As I was watching these two a few yards away there was an adult with one very small chick and suddenly a Herring gull swooped for the chick but the parent went into a bit of a frenzy and fought it off. Quite impressive. Many do get predated by Herring gulls of course.

 

[Polar Maritime]

Blue Tit chick having a nap this morning after a feed..

 

[knocker]

Something I haven't seen for a while. The other morning all the swans started arriving until they were all gathered in one spot for a short while before dispersing again.

[knocker]

The cheeky chappy

[kar999]

Posting this here and in the Noctilucent Clouds thread as it's worthy of a double post. 

Amazing...

 

[ciel]

Watched these swans for a while yesterday evening and this morning.

A nice brood of six cygnets, near the Glasson canal dock at Conder Green, Lancaster.

 

There were no youngsters with these adults, but it was interesting to note that the lock itself appeared to serve as a useful territorial boundary between the two pair

There was also a Heron family nearby with one chick, but the parents conspired to keep their bairn quite hidden, while keeping  a watchful eye.

 

Reflections

Edited June 28, 2018 by Paul

[mushymanrob]

a first for my garden... this afternoon a visit from a white letter hairstreak butterfly

 

[ciel]

42 minutes ago, mushymanrob said:

a first for my garden... this afternoon a visit from a white letter hairstreak butterfly

 

 They are moving north, I understand.

I have one or two unidentified butterfly photos from recent holiday and think your capture may assist with one of them. Need to sort the photos though, but will post later.

[knocker]

Many young Starlings in the garden recently. tricky getting a decent photo of them all together as I don't have a good vantage point

[ciel]

 ? White-letter Hairstreak (SW France)

[Methuselah]

Perhaps it's a local thing but, apart from a solitary red admiral, back in May and a small white last week, I've hardly seen any butterflies at all, this year...Where are they all, hot sunshine usually brings them out in droves...?

[Snipper]

The thing I have noticed this year is the lack of Tree Bees. Over previous years they nested everywhere including a Blue tit box and a hedgehog house. This year nothing. Colder than usual winter?

[Methuselah]

55 minutes ago, Snipper said:

The thing I have noticed this year is the lack of Tree Bees. Over previous years they nested everywhere including a Blue tit box and a hedgehog house. This year nothing. Colder than usual winter?

You might have a point there, Snipper...Even more so when considering how mild the previous four winters were...?

[knocker]

[PeteG]

On 29/06/2018 at 08:23, Ed Stone said:

Perhaps it's a local thing but, apart from a solitary red admiral, back in May and a small white last week, I've hardly seen any butterflies at all, this year...Where are they all, hot sunshine usually brings them out in droves...?

The lavendar in both my front and back garden was covered in Red Admirals yesterday and there's at least a dozen on the one outside my lounge window at the moment. Not many other butterflies though - just the odd white around.

[knocker]

C'mon......give!

 

[knocker]

Aye, aye

[ciel]

@mushymanrob I think I may have misidentified the butterfly in the pic I posted above. On closer inspection, it looks like the related but more common Sloe Hairstreak, which not found in the UK.

[knocker]

I know it should be obvious but I'm struggling to ID this duck so any help would be appreciated

[ciel]

32 minutes ago, knocker said:

I know it should be obvious but I'm struggling to ID this duck so any help would be appreciated

Possibly a female Pochard.

[knocker]

12 minutes ago, ciel said:

Possibly a female Pochard.

Yes I think you are right regarding Polchard as now looking closer almost certainty the Common Polchard. Whether female or male I'm not sure but there were three of them and they stuck together.

[ciel]

7 minutes ago, knocker said:

Whether female or male I'm not sure but there were three of them and they stuck together.

Yes, could be a male in eclipse plumage - I forgot about the moult.