Four Northumberland Gardens

On Sunday there was a rare opportunity to see four secret gardens in Northumberland, all open to the public in aid of five local churches.

Each of the gardens was uniquely different; the most modern was at Stanton Fence, north of Morpeth. It was designed by Arabella Weir who won the award for Best Garden in Show at Chelsea in 1996. Between 1998 and 2005 she created a three-acre garden at Stanton Fence which is both beautiful in itself, such as here in the cottage garden ...


... and intimately in keeping with its rural setting such as here, where a path from the formal garden leads to surrounding meadows ...



Whalton Manor dates from the 17th century but was substantially altered by the architect Sir Edward Lutyens in 1908.

The south front of Whalton Manor
Lutyens, helped by Gertrude Jekyll, also created a beautiful three acre garden in the old walled garden which includes summer houses and herbaceous borders ...




Meldon Park, built by the Newcastle architect John Dobson in 1832, has superb views of the Wansbeck valley and is surrounded by parkland and woods. In the kitchen garden there was a wide range of fruit, vegetables, salad crops and many fine roses, all originally grown in the garden during the 1800's ...



The final garden at Garden Cottage, Bolam, was modern, artistic and filled with unusual plants ...

Garden Moths (2)

There was another interesting selection of moths in my garden last night. They included a Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita), a Clouded Bordered Brindle (Apamea crenata), a Coxcomb Prominent (Ptilodon capucina), a Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis), a Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata) and three Brimstone (Opisthograptis luteolata), all pictured in earlier garden moth pieces.

Moths new to the garden, or at least new to the trap, were ...

Swallow Prominent (Pheosia temula)
Peppered Moth (Biston betularia)
Clouded Border (Lomaspilis Marginata)
Bordered White (Bupalus piniaria)
Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta)
Dusky Brocade (Apamea remissa)
Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)
There was also this slightly damaged Silver Ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata) and two others, Pugs I think, which I've yet to identify ...

A Visitor in Ermine

Moth trapping and the weather this week seemed not to mix, so I was pleased yesterday that the forecast promised a dry night. Dry yes, but it was also surprisingly cold and the moths were in short supply, with only three visitors in the three hours the trap was active. I was particularly delighted with one, a White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda), which was one of my wish-list species ...



This Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata), pictured below in its holding pot, was quite a challenge to identify. At first sight it seems rather plain but when examined more closely, its subdued colouring disguises some interesting highlights ...


The third moth was another dark-form Coxcomb Prominent (Ptilodon capucina) ...


On reflection, at a time when my study of moths is new and my confidence in handling them is still growing, it was good to have a quiet evening with the trap.

Garden Moths (1)

Here are some of the other moths collected during my first night's trapping. Firstly two Daggers ...

Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi)
Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis)
This little beauty, a Small Magpie (Euprhypara hortulata), flew away as soon as it was released but, after a very short flight, settled conveniently on the wall beside my front door, allowing me a brief opportunity to take its picture ...


One of two Luna Thorns (Selenia lunularia) found in the trap, resting here in a typical posture, wings open and half raised with the forewings slightly curved ...


Next, two Prominants, the first a Coxcomb Prominent (Ptilodon capucina), a dark form I think, the second a Pebble Prominent (Notodonta ziczac), annoyingly tucking its forehead under the leaf just before it was pictured ...



This tiny Sallow Kitten (Furcula furcula) had a lot of attitude but managed to stay still for a moment in this wings-open pose. I understand this species is scarce in Northumberland.


Finally, an unidentified moth which I hope someone will be able to name. It was longer than the two daggers above. Thanks are due to Stewart Sexton who has identified this as a Clouded-bordered Brindle (Apamea crenata) ...

Moth Trapping in my Redesdale Garden

It's a great pleasure to report on my first night's moth trapping in my garden here at Curlew Corner in Redesdale.

I've thought long and hard about buying a moth trap and, in the end, the decision was taken entirely out of my hands thanks to the limitless generosity of my dear friend Harold Dobson who, when he read about the trap, offered to buy it for me as a joint birthday and Christmas present this year. It's certainly a precious and much appreciated gift.

The trap is a Gladiator made by Paul Batty of Sheffield (whose contact details are included in the link). I can thoroughly recommend Paul to you if you are thinking of buying a trap. His advice and customer support is second to none and the Gladiator is a small miracle of simplicity and inventive design. Here it is working in my garden last night, complete with its rain guard ...


And before I move on to the moths, one other person needs to be thanked. Stewart Sexton, the Boulmer Birder, has received and responded to all of my questions and concerns about moth trapping with great patience and his excellent advice and encouragement helped me decide to go ahead with this new interest.

The slogan for moth trappers could well be build it and they will come (with apologies to the writers of Field of Dreams for substituting 'He' with 'they'). That's all I had to do: plug the trap into a timer and leave it to switch itself off at 3.30am while I was asleep and dreaming about moths ... at least I should have been asleep but the child-like excitement of having already captured an Elephant Hawkmoth before I went to bed rather kept me awake. This was one of my wish-list species so you might imagine how excited I was ...

Elephant Hawkmoth (Deilephila elpenor)
Altogether I trapped about thirty different species, many of which were micro moths, or certainly very small macro moths, which I've not been able to identify. Here are three more of the macro moths trapped; more in the next post ...

Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum)
Brimstone (Opisthograptis luteolaria)
Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita)

Black Middens Flowers

I wandered up and down the quiet lane at Black Middens yesterday afternoon, between the Tarset Burn and Comb, looking for flowers and butterflies. Sadly the Orange Tip avoided me again, but only just; I did get very near to photographing one.

The flowers were more obliging even though it was rather breezy. This Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galobdolon) was a new-for-me species ...


And these are the best of the rest:

Water Avens (Geum rivale)
Cuckooflower or Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratensis)
Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea)
Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)
Crosswort (Cruciata laevipes)
A this past-its-best Bugle (Adjuga pertans)


As ever, if I have identified any of the flowers incorrectly, please do let me know.