26th July

The bird highlight of the week was confirmation that the Reed Warblers have nested in the Magic Garden. This represents the first confirmed breeding in the village since 1946!

The only other bird record of note was a Kingfisher on the Wiske. This shouldn’t really be news but this was only my second sighting of the year. I’m not clear what has happened But after a really strong recovery in numbers in recent years they seem to have become very scarce again.

Insects weren’t up to much either although there was a notable emergence of second-brood Peacock butterflies on the 24^th and I saw a dozen of these pristine insects along the railway footpath that evening… 

And this is (I think) a Ruby Tiger caterpillar seen the same day…

I also managed to add another couple of species to the village flower list. Bellflowers are obviously like buses, I saw my first last week and then two more turn up with both Harebell and Peach-leaved Bellflower seen this week.

And I also found this lovely Field Scabious…

I’ll finish with a brief excursion I took outside the parish to see my first Green-flowered Helleborine this afternoon. We found just a single plant, and a slightly battered one at that, in an area of old woodland but really nice to see what is a distinctly scarce flower in northern England.

20th July

I saw the first Purple Hairstreaks this week with six down the avenue of oaks along Greenhills Lane. I had 22 down here last year so I need to do another systematic count when the weather obliges.

One bonus of staring up at the top of trees is I picked up a superb Hobby passing over. This followed Hobby sightings at Thrintoft and over Ladyfield this week.

The only other bird record of note was what was only my second sighting of Red-legged Partridge this year…

One group that I keep meaning to get to know better are the hoverflies but they are a daunting prospect, these are some of the commoner and more straightforward ones…

Marmalade hoverfly, probably the commonest of them all

This is a Drone Fly, a good mimic of honeybees, and the rather distinctive one below is Long Hoverfly (imaginative!)...

I think this one is Eupeodes luniger, a common migrant...

and this is Pellucid Hoverfly, the largest British species...

My only interesting plant find this week was this Nettle-leaved Bellflower growing on a hedgebank down Warlaby Lane. A scarce plant here and the first record for the parish…

13th July

A week of mixed weather and few sightings of note but I added Small Skipper to my 2020 butterfly list…

In the same patch of grass and nettles there was this fresh Shaded Broad-bar moth...

And this slightly sinister mass of Peacock butterfly caterpillars…

In terms of dragonflies I missed yet another Broad-bodied Chaser in the village (fourth of the year) but I did see my first Southern hawkers.

Rarest find was this Wool Carder Bee (photographed by Chris Knight). A mainly southern species, this was the first record for the parish but also the first for north-west Yorkshire.

I’ll finish with this sighting outside the parish, Yorkshire (or Thistle) Broomrape. A rare plant now only known from a handful of UK sites and all of them in Yorkshire.

A really striking species which lacks leaves and chlorophyll and gains its nutrition by parasitizing thistles. With such a common host plant it seems strange that it isn’t much more widespread.

6th July

Living in an area of intensive agriculture you have to work hard for your fill of nature. In particular it has a very diminished flora so discovering  (thanks to Chris) this fantastic area of Kidney Vetch yesterday, less than a mile from home, was a real surprise (after all I’ve only lived here for thirty years!!).

A superb spot and interspersed with Zigzag Clover, Bird’s-foot Trefoil and knapweeds. 

Nearby I added a few more flowers to the parish list including Agrimony and Common Centaury…

The whole area also looked fantastic for insects so I walked there this evening in the late sun. Excellent numbers of Red Admirals and Small Tortoiseshells…

and the first of the new generation of Commas was on the wing but the pick of the sightings was this lovely Six-spot Burnet moth…

Not by any means a rare species (although more local in the north) but this was the first record for the village.