Fellside Fest.

Stonechat Harrisend. Pete Woodruff.

I found 7 Stonechat on Harrisend, on what turned out to be a bit of a fellside fest. The chats were seen as two pair and three male, I reckon possibly five breeding pairs on Harrisend now, but I'll be back for more clarity on this in the coming weeks. Also in a three hour spell on Harrisend, 9 Meadow Pipit, 5 Willow Warbler, 5 Raven, 4 Wren, a Buzzard and Kestrel.

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I never thought I'd have to wait until early May to find my first Wheatear of the year, not as a migrant on the coast, but on a fell in Bowland. Also 2 Cuckoo heard, one from a distance at the east end of Harrisend, the other as I returned to the motor, heard somewhere west in the Grizedale Valley area. Last year was a good year, when I found 9 Cuckoo, all in Bowland.  

A brief visit to Hawthornthwaite didn't seem to be going to serve much purpose in the time I was able to spend there, but I did find 2 male Stonechat, 2 Wheatear, and 2 Wren. There was 3 Sand Martin flying around Catshaw Grieve. I've no idea what these birds are doing here this year, there's no sign of any nesting activity here, nor at Cam Brow yet as I see it.

Williamson Park.

A little local interest at Williamson Park, where I found a Little Grebe on the old hospital reservoir at Fenham Carr. The grebe's were here last year, when they were seen as a family group of two adult and five young on 6 July. Also on the reservoir, a pair of Tufted Duck, seen as a first here.

Hawthorn Shield Bug. Pete Woodruff.

I found this Hawthorn Shieldbug on a bench in the woodland, difficult to separate from Birch Shieldbug in this image. The bug has something attached to its rear end which puzzles me. I couldn't make much out of it at the time, my best guess was a piece of grit off the track, but that somehow didn't seem feasible to me, and the pik isn't in focus and doesn't help.

And Finally....

I'm reliably informed of a pair of Mandarin Duck on the River Hindburn in Wray last week.

Butterflies....More Or Less!

There's a distinct possibility that fewer butterflies flew in British skies during the miserable summer of 2012 than ever before, leaving several species in danger of extinction from parts of the country when 300,000 fewer butterflies were recorded on the wing compared with 2011, and the way things are going 2013 is heading for more of the same.

Of 56 species of butterflies monitored last year 52 suffered declines including the High Brown Fritillary which was down 46%. This butterfly is now confined to a few sites in Britain including Arnside Knott which is where the video above was filmed. The Black Hairstreak is one of our most recently discovered butterflies and also one of the rarest, it has a very restricted distribution between Oxfordshire in the south-west and Cambridgeshire in the north-east, it suffered a staggering 98% decline.

Orange Tip Geoff Gradwell

Based on all this, its not difficult to believe, that having spent over 17 hours and covered areas over 15 miles on foot in the countryside over three average sunny and warm June days last week, I found just seven individual butterflies of seven species. At Barbondale I found just two of these, being a solitary Orange Tip and a Small Heath. 

Common Blue Warren Baker 

The following day between Conder Green and Cockersands I found another three species, being singles of Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, and Peacock, no other butterflies were see in the five hours I searched this area. On Friday to make up the seven species I found a single Speckled Wood and a Small Skipper.  

Washout 2012 was the worst year on record for UK butterflies....Welcome to the butterflies of 2013! 

On a lighter note....I've got the bug!

Hawthorn Shield Bug Laurence Counter

On last Tuesdays walk I took a closer look at a Hawthorn bush to discover a pretty smart Hawthorn Shield Bug on one of its leaves. Shield Bugs are also known as 'stink bugs' because of their ability to produce an acrid discharge. There are over 4,700 different species of these insects, many of which are vividly coloured, whilst this makes them stand out to potential predators, it is a stark visual warning that they contain unpalatable chemicals which is ejected as a foul-smelling liquid which usually deters a would be attacker.

I was really pleased to find my first Hawthorn Shield Bug, and thanks to Laurence Counter for allowing me to post his excellent image on Birds2blog. Also thanks to GG and WB for their respective butterfly photographs.