White-faced darter

This is the white-faced darter (Leucorrhinia dubia), one of England's rarest resident dragonflies.  It is found at a few isolated sites in Shropshire and Cumbria and is also found in the Scottish Highlands.  I took these photos at Foulshaw Moss in South Cumbria which has a small population translocated from another site in North Cumbria a few years ago. White-faced darters rest in scrub and trees but I visited on a very windy day and could only find them on the boardwalks, where they presumably found more shelter.  The males have rather dramatic red and black colouring with a white face and, away from the boardwalks, they are superbly camouflaged.

The only females I saw were in mating wheels.  They are yellow and black, also with a white face.

These were the only two I could see away from the boardwalk but the bog and scrub is mainly inaccessible.

I expect I shall call in again one day to try for a few photos in a more natural setting.

A new arrival

This was a very lucky encounter (for me).  I was in the woods to pick up the trail cameras and came across a mother and fawn by chance, right by the path.  I had no camera except the iPhone.  The fawn had probably just been born and could barely stand.  It tottered into a bit of cover and the mother retreated, hoping to distract me.  I took the chance of a few photos before leaving them in peace.

It is an amazing defence strategy.  As the fawn can't walk and its mother can't easily defend it, it relies on its camouflage and lying completely still, hardly daring to breathe.  Newborn fawns also have no scent, helping them to evade predators.  This brief video shows how still it keeps (excuse my shaky hand).

An hour later the fawn hadn't moved and the mother was still close by.  A couple of hours later the fawn had gone, moved to a safer hiding place by its mother.

A walk round the pond - week 21

There is a new kid on the block this week.  I saw this young female broad-bodied chaser (Libellula depressa) in almost exactly the same spot as I first saw one last year.

A few minutes later there was second one

and then an immature male.  As he gets a bit older his abdomen will turn pale blue.  

The broad-bodied chasers were all hunting away from the water but the finding of immature chasers of both sexes two years in a row must mean they are breeding here.

There were also lots of four-spotted chasers this week.  They mate very briefly while flying at at high speed so it is very difficult to catch on camera.  The female then lays eggs immediately while the male circles overhead to ward off any other males while she is doing so.  I'll try to get some photos next week.

Most of the damselflies are large reds and common blues with a few azure and blue-tailed damselflies.

Here is a mating pair of blue-tailed damselflies, the female still showing some immature violet colouration.

This photo shows the comparison between a male common blue (ahead on the left) and a male azure (behind on the right).  They have almost exactly the same colour but different markings.

One thing I have yet to witness is the emergence of a dragonfly or damselfly - perhaps I should get up earlier in the morning.  And considering how many damselflies there are now I don't find many exuviae (the remains of the larval exoskeletons).  Here are a couple side by side.

A new butterfly for the year was this wall.  I only managed one quick photo as it was on the move all the time but it is quite common here so there will be other opportunities.

One butterfly I haven't seen here before is the dingy skipper.  This one looks a bit faded but it was good to see.  It is probably easily overlooked so I'll keep an eye out for more in future visits.

The Canada goslings still number eight and are growing in size and confidence.  An old chap from the village has been feeding them so they now rush across to greet me each time I arrive, even though I have no food for them.  I suppose if you are a goose all humans look alike.

The little grebes are shyer than before.  I could only see three chicks and one adult but, unlike the geese, they now tend to disappear into the reeds when they see me.

There are now lots of bird's foot trefoil flowers which is good news for all the butterflies and insects which like them.

Another new flower this week is this orchid.  Having looked it up I this it is probably a northern marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella).  I know from previous years that there will be many more in the coming weeks.  I haven't looked closely before to see if they are all the same species.

Mother Shipton

This moth is Callistege mi, otherwise known as Mother Shipton.  It is named after Ursula Southeil, or Old Mother Shipton, a famously ugly Yorkshire witch who lived 600 years ago.  The fore-wing markings resemble a witch's face.

This is an engraving of Old Mother Shipton.  Yorkshire witches these days are much better looking.

All in all it's just another bee in the wall

I made another trip to the Ox Hovel in Nether Heyford, Northants on a sunny but frosty early morning.  The bees were warming up before setting off for the day and the two old boys in the photo above are faded male hairy-footed flower bees (Anthophora plumipes).  All the females will have mated by now so there is nothing for these two to do in the remainder of their short lives except sip nectar and sit in the sun.  When I first saw them one was asleep on his back.

Most of the Anthophora bees I saw were females.  They were also waiting to warm up so I had the unusual opportunity of photographing them at rest (normally they whizz in and out too fast for me to focus).

Also warming up were several cuckoo bees, Melecta albifrons, the cleptoparasite of Anthophora plumipes.

I saw a few female red mason bees (Osmia bicornis).  The photos show well the two horns on the face used for building the mud walls between the cells in the nest hole.

Because I was expecting solitary bees this bee puzzled me for a moment.  It is a tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) so they also have a nest in the wall.

I posted a few Anthophora plumipes photos on the UK Bees, Wasps and Ants Facebook page recently and this lead to an amusing exchange, which went along the lines of:

We don't need no pollination,
We don't need no swarm control,
No dark Melecta in the mortar,
Keeper leave them bees alone,
Hey, Keeper, leave them bees alone,
All in all it's just another bee in the wall.

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The bilberry bumblebee

This is a bee I have been hoping to see for the past couple of years.  I eventually found one in Harwood Forest in Northumberland where I was doing my walk for the BTO Breeding Bird Survey.  It is a queen Bombus monticola, the bilberry bumblebee.  It is quite unmistakeable with its bright pink/orange tail.

Bombus monticola is found mainly in upland habitats but, despite its name, is not limited to bilberry.  This one was feeding on gorse.

I'll keep my eyes open on the next visit next month to look for more of these beautiful bees.