Butterflies and Buddleia

Winter in Redesdale last year started earlier, lasted longer and was more severe than most in recent memory. So when spring eventually stirred, I couldn't help but feel just a little relief.

Happily, the four buddleia bushes in my garden had survived the winter and were starting to produce new shoots. They were little more than rooted twigs, throw-aways from a neighbour's garden, when I had planted them five years before. But as time passed they matured, flowered beautifully in purple or white and, just as well-behaved buddleias should, attracted lots of butterflies (as described here in one of two pieces published in August, 2009)

Then one night, when the new growth was coming along nicely, the temperature plummeted to -12 and shrivelled it all. At first I thought the frost had killed the bushes entirely, but as spring moved on, they recovered and new growth returned, mainly from the base of each bush.

This said, they certainly flowered later than in previous years, and as a result were still attracting butterflies during the few mild days we enjoyed at the start of October. Here are two of those late visitors ...

Red Admiral (Vanessa atlanta)
Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Surfacing

It's almost three months since I wrote something for these pages. Now autumn has arrived and I'm nagged with the mixed feelings of regret, for opportunities missed during the lost months, and concern for what I'll find to fill these pages during the winter.

I'm not long returned from a short trip to Suffolk where I enjoyed visits to Constable Country and Sutton Hoo, so these might be good places to start.

Willy Lott's house and the 'flat ford' crossing
Flatford Cottage
Valley Farm
My first Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
At Sutton Hoo, the exhibition at the National Trust visitor centre was fascinating, not least the remarkable reproduction of the Saxon helmet unearthed at the site in 1939 ...


Following the woodland walk to the burial grounds, I found this perfect Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) ...


And this equally perfect Birch polypore (Piptoporus betulinus) ...


And in the hedgerows surrounding the beautiful farmhouse home of my young friends Kerry and Paul Baker, I found sufficient blackberries to make, on my return to Redesdale, a winter-long supply of blackberry and apple jam ...

Common Blue at Sidwood

There's been strong wind and quite a lot of rain in the valley recently so, taking advantage of the first fine day to dawn in the last two weeks, I had a drive to Sidwood this afternoon and added a new butterfly to my list, a Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).


Ringlets, Meadow Browns and Small Skippers were also flying.

Ringlet (Aphanotopus hyperantus)
Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
Sidwood - a peaceful place for a saunter

Green Hairstreaks at Sidwood

I had a wonderful walk at Sidwood today, looking for wild flowers and hoping to photograph an Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), one of my target butterfly species this spring. I'm increasingly perplexed as to how I am going to achieve this aim because they never seem to settle long enough to have their picture taken and I'm certainly not athletic enough to keep up with them as they flit about one way and another.

The woodland was certainly at its best as here, amongst the beech trees ...

And here, walking back along the road to the car park ...

Just beyond this stand of trees, the verges on either side of the road open up into wide stretches of rough grass dotted with young birch trees. It was here that I first noticed a number of tiny, dark-coloured butterflies and I stopped to take a closer look. They were flying and settling on the birch leaves, making them almost invisible. With a wingspan of only 25-30mm, I felt privileged to observe them let alone take this picture.

Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)
If I had gone out intending to look for Green Hairstreaks, and they were a delightful if unexpected surprise today, I might have had better luck with the Orange Tips.

Butterflies and Buddleia (2)

Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock feature in the second piece recording the butterflies in my garden last Saturday. If you would like to share details of a favourite butterfly habitat in Northumberland, and what might be seen there, I would very much like to hear from you.

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Peacock (Inachis io)

Both together on one flower

Butterflies and Buddleia (1)

It was warm and sunny in Redesdale on Saturday. I had intended to go out for the day to look for butterflies but they were visiting me in such large numbers that I couldn't resist the temptation and ventured no further than the garden.

Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and both Large and Small White butterflies were all in attendance and feeding on the buddleia bushes. The Red Admirals were not as frequent but I was delighted to photograph them for the first time.

Painted Ladies and Red Admiral feature here, with the Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell in the next of this two-part piece.

Both together on one flower
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Red Admiral underside
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Painted Lady underside

Butterflies at Bank's Pond

Banks pond has been a source of great pleasure, providing exceptional views of dragon and damselflies. Yesterday I found and photographed the Blue-tailed damsel fly I had been looking for and was more successful in my efforts to photograph the Common and Ruddy Darter dragonflies (more of both in forthcoming pieces).

I also kept an open-eye for butterflies and was not disappointed. Unfortunately, a fresh-looking Peacock escaped the camera but I did find a pair of Large White feeding on Common Knapweed. I think this is the male ...

Large White (Pieris brassicae)
And I photographed a Painted Lady for the first time ...

Painted Lady (Venessa cardui)
These Wall butterflies were a real bonus and a lifetime tick. The male (upper) was typically hyper-active, patrolling his territory, settling frequently if briefly on sunnier parts of the path we shared, before eventually coming upon his mate, if mate she was, in the path-side grass. He then head-butted her half a dozen times before pausing just long enough for them to have their picture taken.

Phil Gates has a fascinating piece on his Cabinet of Curiosities blog about Wall butterfly behaviour including the head-butting I observed.

Wall butterflies (Lasiommata megera)

The Small Skipper

The countryside surrounding the Tarset Burn, if measured by memorable wildlife experiences, is now a firm favourite on my list of local places to visit. Last week's badger sighting must top the list but every visit has its own highlights with many first-timers for me or my camera.

A short walk at Sidwood on Thursday afternoon provided a glimpse of a tiny copper-coloured butterfly. Further views followed until, as my awareness of their jizz grew, they appeared be be all around me and I knew I was looking at Small Skippers.

Northumberland is largely coloured-in on their distribution map, although I understand that this northern expansion of their range has only taken place in recent years. Being small and flittish, they were quite a challenge to photograph but their settling on Common Knapweeds to feed made the job a little easier.

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
The typical Skipper posture with forewings swept back and hindwings held flat. Here, the proboscis is extended into the flower head.
I think this is a male, showing a more conspicuous sex band on the forewing, and the first two pictures above are of a female.
Other sightings included Painted Lady, Green-veined White, Ringlet and Meadow Brown butterflies.

An Unexpected Meeting

After my visit to Falstone Moss, I travelled home by Sidwood and Black Middens. I had seen a male Emerald Damselfly at Sidwood on an earlier visit and hoped to find it again and take a better picture. There was no sign of the male but a female put in an appearance and made a very fine study on the grass she settled on ...

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes Sponsa)
Black Middens, as you will know if you have been following my recent pieces, is just across the Tarset Burn from Sidwood. I travelled up the valley towards Comb, at the end of the metalled lane where the forestry tracks begin. Someone had told me I might expect to find dragonflies in one of the lane-side fields. As I approached the field, my attention was distracted by animal activity at the side of the lane ahead of me. And then, after a moment and walking down the lane towards me, was a young badger. It was about five in the afternoon.

I stopped, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. Perhaps I should have just taken its picture through the car windscreen and hoped for the best. I reached for my camera, however, and gently opened the car door. By this time the badger was sitting at the side of the lane, its head raised as if sniffing me out. On putting a first foot outside of the car, it disappeared into the undergrowth and down the bank towards the burn.

There were no dragonflies in the field but the sighting of the badger more than made up for their absence. Later, I stopped to photograph a Small Tortoiseshell, basking in the sun ...

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
And this Pied Wagtail, standing on a fence post, finished off a good afternoon.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

Sidwood

Sidwood is a large area of open-access woodland managed by the Forestry Commission and is part of the larger Kielder Forest. It is on the western side of the Tarset Burn, just over the water from the bastle at Black Middens, and can be reached by a walk through fields and a footbridge crossing the burn. Alternatively, a narrow lane from Redheugh, north of Greenhaugh, leads you directly to a small car park at Sidwood itself from where the whole area can be explored.

One of the attractions at Sidwood is a fine piece of mixed woodland running along-side the Tarset Burn which includes some ancient trees and ornamental species that remain from the old Sidwood estate.

The path through the burn-side woodland at Sidwood
Immediately beside the car park there was grassy a path leading away to what must have once been the ornamental pond on the old Sidwood estate. Here I watched Southern Hawker dragonflies beside a small stream and pictured one of them when it rested on a stinging nettle.

Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea)
The woodland walk was delightful, particularly the burn-side stretches, but it was finding large numbers of ringlets and meadow browns amongst the flowers on the verges of the lane leading back to the car park, that really made the day. After all the wet weather during the last week, they were taking full advantage of the bright, warm sunshine.

Ringlet (Aphantopus hypercantus)
Ringlet (Aphantopus hypercantus)
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)

Garden Butterflies

I have not seen many butterflies in my Redesdale garden this year. Not yet, at least. I expect that when the buddleia bushes flower there will be more. The garden list includes both Large and Small Whites, Orange Tip, Peacock, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral. All of the pictures here were taken in 2008.

Large White (Pieris brassicae)
Comma (Polygonia c-album)
Peacock (Inachis io)

Cottonshope Burn

The sykes and springs which feed the Cottonshope Burn are on the high ground near to the Roman road known as Dere Street and not far from the Roman fort at Chew Green, itself just on the English side of the border with Scotland and very near to the source of the River Coquet. A narrow road, starting at Cottonshopeburnfoot and climbing steadily, leads the traveller north, through part of the Forestry Commission's Byrness plantation and into a wide-valley wilderness grazed by Cheviot and Black-faced sheep.

I recently bought a revised edition of Francis Rose's The Wild Flower Key, and have been trying to master the mysteries of wild flower identification. I took some pictures in the valley of flowers I've not previously photographed: Self-heal I already knew and I used the keys in the book to identify two others. If I am wrong, please do let me know. All of the flower pictures were taken using my Nikkor 18-55mm lens and a 6 dioptre close-up lens.

Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris)
Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica)
Common Mouse-ear (Cerastium fontanum)
I found a male Ringlet amongst the long grass on the plantation edge ...

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
... And this Foxlove.

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Addendum, 6 July, 2009: Thanks to Phil Gates, a botanist at Durham University, who redirected my initial identification of a supposed Lesser Stitchwort to that of a Common Mose-ear (see above).