It has been hot this week, good weather for dragonflies but almost too hot to walk around and watch them. Emperors were patrolling almost constantly, usually resting only briefly on the waterside reeds where they are difficult to see. I was lucky that these two paused in more accessible positions.
The second one had two damselflies in attendance - probably an azure and a common blue.
I had another go at some in-flight shots. These were the best I could manage.
This week I saw dozens of common darters including lots of mating pairs.
Darters oviposit in tandem with the female flicking the tip of her abdomen into the water. The male holds on to her until the deed is done so she doesn't run off with a rival.
Other mating pairs were common blue damselflies
and azure damselflies.
There were lots of butterflies enjoying the heat, mainly skippers, meadow browns and ringlets. A new sighting for the year was this small tortoiseshell.
Common blue butterflies old and new. The size difference is interesting but my guidebook gives a range of 29-36mm so perhaps these just illustrate the range.
I saw a grasshopper which looked a bit odd.
But it was only when it turned round that I could see it was missing a leg. It seemed to be able to jump OK but perhaps not very accurately.
It was time for my monthly bumblebee walk although it was perhaps a bit hot for them as there were fewer about. Almost all the bird's foot trefoil has gone and the knapweed isn't quite out so there were also few flowers for them. The red-tailed workers were very keen on this yellow flower which I think is ribbed melilot.
The rain in recent weeks has been good for nature generally but hasn't been great for insects. Fine weather over the past three days has encouraged much more activity. A new species this week was the emerald damselfly.
Another new finding was a single teneral female common darter
I also saw a single immature male broad-bodied chaser. I have still never seen a mature male here.
Several male emperors were on patrol but they were too busy to stop for a photo. The only one I saw at rest was right across the far side.
I also saw one female ovipositing, a bit too far away for my lens. I may be tempted to take the big lens next week.
There were four-spotted chasers a-plenty, enjoying the sunshine.
There were a lot more blue-tailed damselflies this week.
Large red damselflies were still around.
There were dozens of azure damselflies (this is a female)
and common blue damselflies.
The sunshine brought out lots of butterflies. There were still plenty of painted ladies, common blues and large skippers. New this week were meadow browns
and ringlets.
Some cinnabar moths now look a bit faded
but the five-spot burnets are fresh
Here's moth I don't think I have seen before. I had to look it up - it is a latticed heath (Chiasmia clathrata).
An insect I haven't noticed here before is a red and black froghopper, also known as a black and red froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata).
I definitely haven't seen this beauty before. It is a golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens). It is not rare although (until now) it has not been recorded on iRecord in Northumberland.
I found a pure white orchid. Having consulted the Natural History Museum's Orchid Identification Guide, my best guess is that it is white form of the common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).
I came across this little beast while I was looking for dragonflies but I was very taken with it and think it deserves a post of its own. After looking it up my best guess is that it is a male meadow grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus). If you can confirm this, or an alternative, please leave comment.
The season is progressing quickly. There has been a bit of rain in the past week but not enough to affect the water level in the ponds. The emperor still reigns as you can see from above, although I saw only one and he was resting more than usual. There are lots of darters and the common darters now outnumber the ruddy darters. Here is a male ruddy darter,
a male common darter,
a male black darter,
and a pair of common darters.
A couple of male common hawkers were flying but I have yet to see a female this year. I saw only one four-spotted chaser but it was a very old and battered specimen and was away from the water so I expect they are almost finished.
This week's damselflies were common blue,
emerald,
blue-tailed,
and azure. I hadn't seen any azure damselflies in the previous two weeks and assumed their season was over but then I saw this one having a snack in a Scots pine.
There are still lots of butterflies. The weather has been good for them but it has been so dry that it may not be good for their caterpillars. Amongst others I saw a male wall,
a female wall,
a speckled wood,
and a comma.
I was surprised to see this bumblebee. It is a male red-tailed cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus rupestris), a kleptoparasite of the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). I have never seen one up here before and didn't think they were found this far north, although it makes sense as the host species is very common here. As a cuckoo it doesn't make a nest but the B. rupestris female takes over an established B. lapidarius nest, kills the queen, and lays her own eggs, using the host workers to bring up her own young.
It was a good week for unusual insects. Grasshoppers have been singing (stridulating) in the grasses for weeks but are generally hard to see. And when I eventually found one it was pink! This one was happy for me to use the telephoto lens but moved off when I tried to creep up with the macro lens. I think it is probably an unusual colour form of the field grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus).
The little grebes now have only three chicks. I noticed last week that two were a lot smaller than the other three so I suspect the two smallest have not survived.
After the Canada geese left a couple of weeks ago I was hoping we would be spared more but this week a new pair has arrived. I am sure they are different, as they are very wary whereas the others would come begging for food. I fear these two may be laying claim to the site, hoping to breed here next year. With luck they were just passing through.
