28th May 2023

Interesting bird sightings were very scarce this week but I did get a new (sort of) ‘tick’ for the parish with a Bar-headed Goose flying over with a skein of Canadas…

More depressingly the Lapwing I saw today was my first in the village since March. Although I haven’t yet covered all the potential breeding sites I haven’t yet found any evidence of nesting in the parish this year.

Insects too seem to be in exceptional short supply, certainly the cold damp weather hasn’t helped but even the last two days of sun have not revealed anything like usual numbers. Nevertheless, it was nice to see my first Wall butterfly of the year…

And I also picked up my first Painted Lady this year…

Looking through the excellent Yorkshire butterflies and moth report which arrived this week,

it’s interesting to see how Gatekeeper has rapidly spread in Yorkshire. There was one record just the other side of the Wiske last year so hopefully It may not be too long until we add this species to the parish list.

Incidentally the strange male/female Orange Tip I found a couple of weeks ago…

is just that, a gynandromorph. A word I confess I had not heard of until this month. My insect is a mosaic gynandromorph, where the female and male characteristics are mixed together, but you can also get bilateral types where one half is female and one male!! The butterfly recorder described this as the best find in Yorkshire this year (mind you its only May!!)

Another striking insect sighting this week was this Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn beetle.

They used to be mainly confined to the midlands and east of England but this is another one that seems to be progressing north with climate change.

Yesterday I went on a ‘twitch’ with Frank to try and see a couple of new species for me. The first was the Sword-leaved Helleborine at one of its few northern sites, Talkin Tarn. This was surprisingly easy to find and what a beautiful orchid it is… 

The second target, Marsh Fritillary butterflies at Finglandrigg Wood, were not so compliant. Despite apparent reports of them earlier this week there were none to be found. Nice spot though and good to see the memorial to the great Derek Ratcliffe…