My trusty steed in the small Gait Barrows car park.
In brief, I cycled roughly three kilometres to the small car park at Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve, then had a very slow wander, of roughly three kilometres, then pedalled home again.
Limestone pavement.
Since there’s not much more to say about this particular outing, a word about the tentative IDs. Although I’m still surrounded by field guides when I’m blogging (and am eagerly awaiting the release of the 4th edition of a UK hoverflies guide), much of my research these days is carried out online.
Hoverfly – possibly Syrphus ribesii.
Google Lens often gives me a good start point. Sometimes it seems fully confident and offers me numerous images of the same species along with a related search. At other times, frankly, it might as well throw up it’s notional hands and admit that it hasn’t got a scoobie – showing images of several different species, sometimes of a kind which aren’t even related.
To be fair, according to the National History Museum website, there are over 7000 species of wasp resident in the UK. A little confusion might be expected.
A Mining Bee?
Even in the case of hoverflies, where there are a relatively modest number of species (around 280 apparently), making an ID can be very difficult. For example, I’ve identified a couple of the hoverflies in this post as Syrphus ribesii, but apparently the species Syrphus vitripennis is almost identical, barring some very subtle differences.
Hoverfly – Helophilus trivittatus, I think.
This information comes from the excellent Nature Spot website. Nature Spot is about the wildlife of Leicestershire and Rutland, coincidentally where I grew up, but is often relevant to my more northerly current locale. If I could find something as comprehensive specific to Lancashire and Cumbria I would be thrilled.
Hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, the Common Drone Fly.
So, all of my identifications should be taken with an enormous pinch of salt. I’m well aware that I’m often going to be wrong, or simply clueless, but I’m learning all the time and I enjoy the detective work, even when it might lead to questionable conclusions.
Dragonfly – Common Darter.Dragonfly – Common Darter.Robber Fly?
According to this detailed presentation, the UK only has 29 species of Robber Fly, so maybe that’s an area in which I could make some progress? To be honest, at the moment I’m content to leave it at ‘Robber Fly’. Last summer, I watched one of these intercept and kill a micromoth; they are awesome predators.
Robber Fly?Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.Green Shieldbug.Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.A wasp, or a sawfly?Green Shield Bugs – an adult on the right and an earlier (final?) instar on the left.Dragonfly – Common Darter.Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.Another wasp or sawfly – I’m inclined to think wasp, due to the narrow connection between the thorax and the abdomen.Hoverfly – Melangyna umbellatarum
Many hoverflies are mostly black and yellow, but I do often see these small black and white hoverflies. I’m less successful and capturing them in photos though, so was happy to get this one.
A 14-spot Ladybird and a Drone Fly.Hoverfly – Helophilus pendulus.Butterfly – Red Admiral.Another Green Shieldbug.Common Carder Bee on Knapweed.A Crane Fly.Shieldbug – Troilus luridus, the Bronze Shieldbug.Robber Fly.Hoverfly – Eristalis Pertinax – The Tapered Drone Fly.Butterfly – Speckled Wood.Butterfly – Speckled Wood.Hoverfly – Helophilus pendulus.Eyebright.Late summer fungus.Butterfly – Red Admiral.Butterfly – Red Admiral.Hoverfly – Syrphus ribesii, potentially.Dark Red Helleborine leaves – no flowers, something had been munching on the plant.Dragonfly, Common Darter.Sedum.Butterfly, Speckled Wood.
Whilst these photos are all from the tail end of last summer, I’m happy to report that on Tuesday afternoon, the rain paused briefly in its recent onslaughts, and I was back at Gait Barrows, in glorious spring sunshine snapping photos of shieldbugs, butterflies and particularly abundant hoverflies. Marvellous.
After a fairly wet drive home and unpacking etc, I had a late mooch around home. Where to go? Lambert’s Meadow of course, via The Row and Bank Well before strolling back through the village.
Purple Loosestrife by Bank Well.Lambert’s Meadow.Wild Angelica.Drone Fly.Honey Bee.Turnip Sawfly, I think – note the orange thorax, abdomen and legs contrasted with black head and ‘shoulder pads’. It also has an obvious black front edge to its wings. Common Carder Bee.Marmalade Hoverfly.Hoverfly – possibly Helophilus trivittatus.Drone Fly.Social wasp and hoverfly – possibly Leucozona glaucia, a new species for me.Hoverfly – possibly Myathropa florea, the ‘Batman’ fly.Chrysolina polita.Chrysolina politaA very dark Drone Fly……possibly Eristalis Pertinax.Mamalade Hoverfly.Hoverfly, possibly Meliscaeva cinctella.Harvestman.Twirly seeds.
The light was very variable, but that didn’t stop me taking a huge glut of photos. The best was saved for last however, after I’d left the meadow and was walking around Silverdale Green…
Elmslack Lane – Castlebarrow – Eaves Wood – Hawes Water – Moss Lane – Trowbarrow Quarry – The Trough – Storrs Lane – Myer’s Allotment – The Row – Hagg Wood.
Flowering Nutmeg.
The light and shadow in this picture suggest sunshine, but this was taken late afternoon, after another day of mixed weather.
The Dale from by the Pepper Pot on Castlebarrow.
I was doing what I generally doing in those circumstances: making the most of a break in the weather, without straying too far from home in case it turned wet again.
Fungi in Eaves Wood.Fungi in Eaves Wood, possibly Amanita rubescens.Ruin in Eaves Wood.Hawes Water.The Old Summerhouse by Hawes Water.
I took lots of pictures of insects during the walk. Once again, I was only using my phone camera, I don’t remember why. In the poor light, the depth of field was low and I have a lot of sharp photos of flowers with blurred bees resting on them. Until I reached this Burdock plant near Hawes Water anyway.
Burdock.
I love Burdock for its great vigour and it’s punky purple flowers, but this one was thronged with pollinators, making it even more to my liking.
Busy Burdock.
It was the ginger bee here which I first tried to photograph, but, for some reason, none of the shots were sharp again.
Burdock fly and one or other species of White-tailed Bumblebee.Marmalade Hoverfly and White-tailed Bumblebee. Marmalade Hoverfly.White-tailed Bumblebee.Burdock Fly – Terellia tussilaginis.
The nymphs of these tiny, colourful flies live in galls on Burdock plants.
Path by Hawes Water.Hemp Agrimony.Deadly Nightshade bush.
Zooming in on this photo reveals that the belladonnas flowers have now been superseded by the highly poisonous shiny black berries.
Hawes Water.Gloucester Old Spot pigs at Hawes Villa.Meadow Vetchling.14 Spot Ladybird – Propylea quattuordecimpunctata.Broad-leaved Helleborines.
At this time of year I always try to fit in a visit to this spot on the track which leads into Trowbarrow Quarry where there are always a few flowering Broad-leaved Helleborines.
I kind of orchid, the flowers have muted colours, but I’m always pleased to see them.
Tree Bumblebee.Large Rose Sawfly.Trowbarrow Quarry.Carabiner Gate.The Trough.Narrow-leaved Hogweed.
This Hogweed, growing on the verge almost opposite the Leighton Moss visitor centre, seemed a little odd to me. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but wondered whether it was Giant Hogweed. It’s actually all wrong for that, but I now thinks it’s from a sub-species, Narrow-leaved Hogweed.
Dark-winged Fungus Gnats.
I was intrigued to read that the outer flowers in a spray of Hogweed blooms are zygomorphic, but have discovered that it just means, rather prosaically, that they have only one axis of bilateral symmetry. I think that might make me almost zygomorphic myself.
Narrow-leaved Hogweed.Narrow-leaved Hogweed. The narrow leaves. Tufted Vetch.Robin’s Pincushion Gall. Bistort. Common Carder Bee.Agrimony.Leighton Moss from Myer’s Allotment.Red-tailed Bumblebee.Parasol Mushrooms.
These mushrooms, growing in a group of perhaps a dozen in one of the clearings at Myer’s Allotment, qualify as the best find of the day.
Parasol Mushroomcap.
They were huge. At least a foot tall and almost as wide.
Parasol Mushrooms – notice the snakeskin stem.
Apparently they’re really good to eat, but I didn’t know that at the time, and anyway I’m a bit suspicious of large mushrooms – I’ve been unpleasantly surprised before.
The photos in this post are all from two walks around home from the first Saturday in July. The random musings are more recent.
Lambert’s Meadow.
I remember there was a bit of a fuss about a Slow Food movement a few years ago, wasn’t there? Started in Italy, apparently. I was thinking about this, because I was idly contemplating the concept of a Slow Walking movement. Although movement sounds a bit energetic in this context.
Lambert’s Meadow.
Apparently, there’s already a Slow Living campaign: “Slow living is a lifestyle which encourages a slower approach to aspects of everyday life, involving completing tasks at a leisurely pace.”
Spear Thistles.
Leisurely pace. Yup.
Monotasking.
If that.
Silver Y Moth.
I read somewhere that this year was a good one for butterflies. I can’t say it seemed that way particularly, from my perspective. I did see a lot of Silver Y moths though. They migrate here from the continent apparently. Overachievers.
A very faded Meadow Brown.
For various reasons, TBH has put a lot of effort into researching ADHD recently. Now and again, she gives me articles to read, or listen to. They usually make me chuckle with recognition.
Another very faded, and very hairy, Meadow Brown.
Whilst not a recognised symptom, apparently people with ADHD often display hyperfocus. “Hyperfocus is highly focused attention that lasts a long time. You concentrate on something so hard that you lose track of everything else going on around you.”
A faded bee – an Early Bumblebee?
The example given in the article TBH showed me yesterday was of a child continuing to read a book under a desk, which is me all over. I imagine slowly plodding around a field taking hundreds of photos of bugs, bees, flies, fleas and creepy-crawlies probably qualifies too.
Hoverfly – female Syrphus ribesii.
I realise that it can seem like half-the-world is busy self-diagnosing ADHD these days, but that’s okay isn’t it? We can all be neuro-diverse, we all have our little, or not so little, idiosyncrasies.
Fourteen-spot ladybird.Fourteen-spot ladybird.
Similar colouring to a Twenty-two-spot ladybird, but much bigger, and the spots are more rectangular and less round, and can merge together.
Common Spotted-orchid.Rutpela maculata – the Harlequin or Spotted Longhorn Beetle.
Apparently these longhorn beetles, in their larval stage, live on dead wood for three years – then they get a fortnight in the sun to mate. They’re certainly very striking. The black and yellow markings seem to be very variable. I’m fairly confident that I saw beetles of this species several times this summer at Lambert’s Meadow, but this was the only time that I managed to get clear photos.
One of the white-tailed species of Bumblebee.Silver-ground Carpet Moth.Seven-spot ladybird.I think that this is an Ichneumon wasp, very tentatively a male Ichneumon xanthorius, but since there are around 2500 species of these parasitoids in Britain, and I am the exact opposite of an expert, you should probably take that identification with a lorryload of salt.Bee on Marsh Thistles. Common Carder Bee?Hoverfly – male Xylota segnis. A new species to me.Green bottle fly.Figwort Sawfly.Figwort Sawfly.
I’m hoping that the weevils and sawflies which live on Figwort, about which I was completely ignorant before this year, will become familiar sights now that I know where to look and what to expect. That has certainly happened with a wide variety of other species that I’ve become aware of over the years.
The little green bug here has hind legs reminiscent of a grasshopper or cricket – but it’s so small, no bigger than the tiny weevil, that it can’t be one of those can it? Except, I’ve discovered, that grasshoppers and crickets undergo five moults, becoming more like an adult at each stage, so maybe this is a small hopper.
Swirls of white, milk and dark…oh, no, it’s a White-lipped Snail.A wasp on unopened Figwort flowers.Figwort Weevil – very dapper markings.Figwort Weevil.Figwort Sawfly.Figwort Sawfly.
There were lots of Figwort Sawflies about. Plenty of Weevils too. Lots of damselflies also, but, for some reason, not many of my damselfly photos were very sharp.
Small White Butterfly.Mating Figwort Weevils.Great Willowherb flowers.Comma Butterfly.Red Admiral.Common Blue Damselfly – male.Yellow Flag Iris seed pods.A solitary bee – possibly a Mining Bee of some description.Hawes Water – wide angle.
I had five cameras with me on my walk. My Panasonic and the four in my phone. I didn’t use the selfie camera on this occasion. The other three are labelled as -7, x1 and x2. How come a zoom is a multiplication, which makes sense I suppose, but a wide angle is a subtraction? I’ve found myself using the -7 camera as lot. It’s not as powerful, in terms of the huge numbers of megapixels on offer – but I like the perspective it often gives.
Hagg Wood – Bottom’s Lane – Burtonwell Wood – Lambert’s Meadow – Bank Well – The Row – Gait Barrows – Hawes Water – Limestone Pavement – Hawes Water Summer House – Sixteen Buoys Field – Waterslack – Eaves Wood – Elmslack.
Common Spotted-orchid.
Mid-June and a rambling route which criss-crossed itself several times, and which, despite being a mere seven miles, took me over five hours to walk, probably because of the constant distractions – I took almost five hundred photos, almost all of insects of one sort or another.
Possibly an ichneumon wasp.
It felt at times as if the creepy-crawlies were putting on a show for my benefit. Having said that, I’m not sure that I’ve become more observant, but I’ve certainly become more aware that insects can have a close relationship with particular plants and that it’s often worth pausing to take a closer look.
Figwort Sawfly.
These Figwort Sawflies are a case in point. There were quite a few about at Lambert’s Meadow, always on or near to the Figworts which grow there and which is the food plant of the larvae of this species.
Figwort Sawfly.
I thought they were pretty striking and their bold colours seem to have lent themselves to photography on what was quite a dull day when some of my photographs, particularly of damselflies and hoverflies, for example, didn’t come out too well.
Figwort Sawfly.MatingFigwort Sawflies.
There were a few mating pairs about.
Mating Figwort Sawflies.
What struck me about the mating pairs was the extent to which they were constantly on the move, twisting and turning, occasionally flying short distances, all whilst still coupled together.
This pair…
Mating Figwort Sawflies.
…circled around this Figwort leaf before briefly taking to the wing and hopping over to an adjacent Meadowsweet flower…
Mating Figwort Sawflies.Mating Figwort Sawflies.
Then briefly touring that before heading back to the Figwort.
I’d been seeing photographs online of Figwort Weevils, tiny creatures (3mm long) which have a very striking grey pattern on them. Now that I was on the lookout, I realised that there were loads of them on our local Figworts. They’re a bit tiny for my camera…
Mating Figwort Weevils.Scorpion Fly, male.
I first encountered Scorpion Flies a few years ago, and I’m still always pleased to see them. There seemed to be plenty about on this day.
Peacock butterfly caterpillar.
There were far fewer Peacock caterpillars on the nettles by the Guelder Rose thicket. Whether they’d been eaten or had dispersed to pupate I don’t know. Perhaps a bit of both – I think this was the last time I saw them.
Peacock butterfly caterpillar.Peacock butterfly caterpillar.A sawfly or a wasp?Early Bumblebee.Common Carder Bee.Blue-tailled Damselfly.Nursery Web Spider.
The Nursery Web Spider carries her eggs around in a silken sac before weaving a nest for her babies. Hopeful males woo females by presenting them with a wrapped body of captured prey.
Gait Barrows – fields by Hawes Water Moss.Small Skipper Butterfly.Large Skipper Butterfly and an unidentified bee.Soldier Beetle and Meadow Brown Butterfly.Another unidentified insect.Ringlet Butterfly.A Leaf-cutter Bee I think.Red-tailed Bumblebee.Tephritis bardanae – a fruit fly whose larvae live in galls on Burdocks
I passed several large Burdock plants which were generally very busy with Aphids and attendant Ants, and also with these tiny flies. Trying to identify these lead me down an interesting wormhole: there are numerous species of small fruit flies which have elaborate and often very pretty patterns on their wings. Fascinating.
Large Skipper Butterfly.Large Skipper Butterfly.Common Carder Bee, I think.Oedemera lurida.Meadow Brown Butterfly.Hoverfly, possibly Syrphus ribesii.Ants on Burdock, farming Aphids.A mining bee.Deadly Nightshade.
Close to Hawes Water there were two large Belladonna shrubs. They were up a bank behind lots of other vegetation and so, perhaps fortunately, rather inaccesable.
Deadly Nightshade.
Needless to say, every part of the plant is extremely poisonous.
Deadly Nightshade.
Years ago, bushes grew, for a couple of summers, by the River Kent between White Creek and New Barns, but I haven’t seen any since.
I liked ‘quattordecimpunctata‘ which seems like much more of a name to conjure with than ‘fourteen spot’.
Scorpion Fly.Female.Scorpion Fly.Female.Angular Solomon’s-seal.Grayling.A Robber Fly with prey. Possibly an Awl Robber Fly.
There always seem to be lots of tiny day-flying moths about. Usually, they’re briefly visible as they flit from one plant to another, then disappear as they land. This unfortunate moth was intercepted mid-flight however, but this small but ruthless predator.
Scorpion Fly.Male.Scorpion Fly.Speckled Wood Butterfly.An Orb Weaver with a very large damselfly meal.Oedemera lurida again?Another Leafcutter Bee, I think.Live music on the Institute Field to round off the day.
After a couple of years absence, the village Field Day was revived this summer. After years of helping to organise it, I’m no longer involved, but the new team seem to have done a superb job. In the evening, there was music on the field, with three singers, all of whom were very, very good – much better than you might expect at a village fete. All in all, a very enjoyable day.
The weekend after Whit week, and I was back at Thirlmere. This time I’d parked at Steel End where, despite road signs to the contrary, the road is still open, although it is closed beyond that. The reason I’d chosen to come this way, was that last summer, when I’d been gleefully ticking off Wainwrights with abandon, I walked the boggy central spine of the Lakes, from High Raise to Bleaberry Fell, but I’d missed Armboth Fell, which lies to the east of the central ridge. (I use the term ‘ridge’ very loosely here!). After a lengthy spell of very dry weather, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make that good. Ideally, I’d have been starting the walk from the next car park north, at Dobgill Bridge, but, as I say, the road was closed. So instead I needed to use the permission path along the lakeshore to get to my intended starting point.
Wythburn and Steel Fell.
What a happy accident that was, since this path was lovely, and absolutely stuffed with wildlife, so that the walk (and, by extension, this post too) became a bit of a hybrid between my hill walking and my slow, local walks where I stop every few steps to snap away with my camera. By the lake there were loads of birds: a Heron, Greylag and Canada Geese and lots of gulls. If I’d had a pair of binoculars with me, I’m might have been there for hours.
Common Sandpiper.
I think this might have been a juvenile sandpiper; it kept flying short distances ahead of me, so that I gradually gained on it, which strikes me as typical behaviour of a young bird. This sandpiper…
Common Sandpiper.
…was nearby and making quite a racket, so I took it to be a concerned parent. Of course, I could be completely wrong.
Grey Wagtail.Thirlmere.Foxgloves.Keeled Skimmer, female. My first.
The path was soon away from the reservoir shore and in the trees and I was chasing after moths and butterflies, not always with success. In particular, there were some fritillaries about which I did eventually manage to photograph, but only from a considerable distance, so that the photos are not sufficient for identification purposes. Fortunately, I would get better chances later in the day.
The brambles were flowering in profusion, and that seemed to attract a host of insects of various forms.
Large Skipper Butterfly.Hoverfly, Eristalis intricaria, male.
There were hosts of hoverflies and bees about, but they were extremely elusive, so whilst I have a lot of photographs, there’s only really this one which is up to scratch.
There were lots and lots of these about. They were constantly on the move, so I took loads of photographs, hoping that I would have at least one which was reasonably clear and sharp.
These flies with orange at the base of their wings were also quite ubiquitous, always on flowers.
Green-veined White Butterfly.Speckled Wood Butterfly.Felled forestry by Dob Gill.
Once I reached Dobgill Bridge, I turned uphill, away from Thirlmere, on a very familiar path which had changed beyond all recognition, since the forestry through which the path used to rise had largely been clear-felled.
Small Heath Butterfly.
Once the path entered the trees, it seemed clear that it isn’t used as heavily as it used to be (before the road was closed) and the trees were encroaching on the path.
Dob Gill.Dob Gill flowing out of Harrop Tarn.
Where Dob Gill leaves Harrop Tarn there were once again lots of fritillary butterflies about, which I chased to no avail, but there were also, without exaggeration, hundreds of Four-spotted Chaser Dragonflies about, with which I had a bit more success…
I think that this is a Caddis Fly. Closed related to lepidoptera, apparently, there are 196 species in the UK and Google Lens is not giving me much help in pinning this one down.
Bog Bean.
The Bog Bean had mostly finished flowering, so I had to content myself with a photo of this one, which was quite far out into the water.
Yellow Water-lily.Harrop Tarn.
I continued around the tarn a little way and then found a small path making a beeline for the shingle beach you can just about see on the extreme right of this photo.
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary Butterfly.
As I approached the tarn, I finally managed to get a photo of one of the butterflies which had been eluding me: a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Down by the tarn, there were lots more…
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries.
I was intending to swim, but first I was distracted by a profusion of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies which were about.
Large Red Damselfly.
When I eventually dragged myself away, the beach was perfect: it shelves steeply so that two strides and I was in. The sun shone; the water was cool, but not cold; there were constant splashes around me as fish (brown trout?) leapt from the water to take flies; dragonflies and damselflies skittered about just above the surface of the tarn. In short, it was idyllic, and I took a leisurely tour widdershins around the tarn.
Once out of the water, I was busy again taking no end of photos.
Brown trout fry?Brown trout fry?Four-spotted Chaser.Four-spotted Chaser, male.
There were both blue and red damselflies about, but predominantly red. It was hard to get photos, because they were constantly on the move, perhaps because they didn’t want to fall prey to the Four-spotted Chasers which were also abundant.
Mating pair of Large Red Damselflies.
Even the mating Large Red Damselflies, of which there were many, many pairs, kept flying about, with the male still grasping the female by the neck.
Mating pair of Large Red Damselflies.
On the right here, she is laying eggs, whilst he is still in flight, hovering, hence the blurred wings.
Mating pair of Large Red Damselflies.Mating pair of Large Red Damselflies.
I have several more photos of mating pairs, so there is obviously a healthy population here.
Wolf spiders, female and male.Golden Ringed Dragonfly flying above Mosshause Gill.
There was one, or possibly two, Golden Ringed Dragonflies flying very quickly along Mosshause Gill, which flows into the tarn near to the shingle beach. It’s a large and spectacular dragonfly, but was moving to quickly for me to manage any photographs. Since the flights along the stream were regular and predictable, I decided to stand in the stream bed to try to capture an image of the dragonflies, and you can sort of see one in the photo above. I have better photos, here from a few years ago.
Tadpoles.
The path through the forest was hot work. When I reached open country, I turned sharp right, along the edge of the trees to head for Brown Rigg…
Brown Rigg.Tormentil.Blea Tarn Fell/Bell Crags.
Brown Rigg is one of those Birketts which take you off the beaten path and make Birkett bagging well worth while. From Brown Rigg there’s a fine view of a rocky little top called either Blea Tarn Fell according to Birkett, or Bell Crags in the Fellranger books by my name-sake Mark Richards.
Blea Tarn Fell from Brown Rigg.
Whatever the name, it’s a really handsome fell and another which it would be a shame to miss. First though, I had unfinished business…
Armboth Fell (in the shade).
Ordinarily, I think this route would be madness, but I was able to head down to Launchy Tarn and then climb from there on to Armboth Fell. I won’t say it was dry, but it was dry enough.
Small Heath Butterfly.Looking back to Brown Rigg.Red Deer hinds.Run away!
Years ago, I used to bivvy with friends in this area, above Harrop Tarn, and then explore the rather complex, boggy and empty terrain between there, Ullscarf and High Seat. I have a real soft-spot for this area, partly because it a great place to see Red Deer.
Another Four-spotted Chaser.
I was still seeing Four-spotted Chasers, wherever there was a bit of open water.
I had wondered about another dip, in Launchy Tarn, but it didn’t look deep enough, or particularly inviting.
Launchy Tarn.Wild Thyme.Armboth Fell.
This rocky little rib gives Armboth Fell a quite dramatic top, not at all in keeping with the rest of the hill. I did visit a couple of other nearby knolls, just in case they were higher!
High Tove.
From Armboth Fell, it’s a fairly short walk to High Tove. I think that’s about the most that can be said for High Tove.
Looking back to Armboth Fell, Helvellyn behind.High Seat.
The walk southward along the ridge was actually pleasant with little sign of the extreme boginess which usually presides here. I made sure to summit every little outcrop, since there are numerous Birketts this way.
Standing Crag, Ullscarf, Low Saddle, Blea Tarn.
I had been planning to include a swim in Blea Tarn, but it had clouded up, and I suspected that time was marching on. (My new phone arrived while I was out, so without a phone, I didn’t know the time. Quite odd – but in a pleasant way, since I had all the hours that June daylight affords to complete my walk.)
Blea Tarn Fell.From Blea Tarn Fell, looking down to Armboth Fell, Launchy Tarn and Brown Rigg.
Blea Tarn Fell and/or Bell Crags really is a cracker, with superb views, I can definitely recommend it.
High Seat and Armboth Fell.Very neat sheepfold.
From there I returned to Harrop tarn and then took the footpath down the edge of the forestry back to Dobgill Bridge, then back along the shore to my car. The path turned out to be very rocky and a bit awkward – I think I prefer the path I used on the way up. I did see these Butterwort by going that way…
Common Butterwort.Fly trap!
“Common butterwort is an insectivorous plant. Its bright yellow-green leaves excrete a sticky fluid that attracts unsuspecting insects; once trapped, the leaves slowly curl around their prey and digest it. The acidic bogs, fens and damp heaths that common butterwort lives in do not provide it with enough nutrients, so it has evolved this carnivorous way of life to supplement its diet.”
A terrific day, with lots of interest. Harrop tarn has shot to the top of my list of favourite places to swim and Blea Tarn Fell has firmly cemented its place in my affections. I can definitely see myself coming back this way in June next year: I fancy a wild camp in this neck of the woods.
No MapMyWalk stats or map, for obvious reasons, but here’s a map so that you can trace my route for yourself:
The Sunday after my Howgills walk, time for an easy day. Well, yes, up to a point.
It’s mine!
It began with a leisurely breakfast, whilst watching the birds enjoying their own morning repast on our feeders.
House Sparrow, male.
Then TBH and I walked a slightly modified version of our frequent Jenny Brown’s Point circuit, during which, for some reason, I took barely any photos at all.
Later, I strolled to Lambert’s Meadow…
Lambert’s Meadow.
For some entomological therapy. By the little stream which runs from Burton Well through the field, I spotted this bizarre creature…
Backswimmer – Notonecta maculata.
Usually we see them in the water, silvered by trapped air and upside down, so we never see them clearly. Those ungainly looking back legs are adapted for swimming, rather like the rear set of legs which some crabs have.
Ribwort Plantain.Sawfly – one of the Dolerus species, apparently.
I’m enjoying trying to get to grips with sawflies. They are so numerous and so varied. Poor photo this, but it was tiny. Rather dapper, I thought.
Hoverfly – Tropidia Scita, female. Something shiny photobombing at the top of the Meadowsweet leaf.
Much the same can be said for Hoverflies, although I suppose they are a bit more uniform. The distinguishing feature of this species, well the female of the species anyway, are the thickened hind tibia which also have a little triangular spur, not visible here.
Another tattered Peacock Butterfly.Guelder Rose.
The Guelder Rose was just about coming into flower.
Common Carder Bee.Crane Fly, male.Common Blue Damselfly, male.
There were damselflies everywhere and I took lots of pictures. I think that they were all, or at least mostly, Common Blue Damselflies.
Common Blue Damselfly, female, blue form.Kentish snail?
There were even more snails about than usual too. I’ve been identifying these brown snails, which I only ever see at Lambert’s Meadow, as Copse Snails, but I’m concerned that I’ve been getting that (and probably lots of other things too) completely wrong. The Copse Snail has a dark spiral line, whereas these have a pale, often white spiral line. That’s a feature of the Kentish Snail, which, confusingly, is not from Kent, but is an introduced species, and can be found in this area.
Kentish snail?Kentish snail?White-lipped Snail?
White-lipped and Brown-lipped snails can be confusing too. I tend to assume that the very yellow ones are White-lipped.
White-lipped Snail.
But then, I also assume that the more banded snails are Brown-lipped, but this one is banded, but White-lipped.
Banded snail.
On which basis, this could be either.
Brown-lipped snail.Roe Deer doe.Juvenile Robins.
When I finally dragged myself away from mooching around the meadow, I took the steep steps up to Bank Well, which is actually a pond. In the trees behind the pond I was delighted to encounter a family of Robins. The adult birds chirped furiously from distant branches, but the young weren’t very alert to the danger they were being warned about.
Juvenile Robin.Yellow Flag Iris.Plateumaris sericea.
This stunning beetle has larvae which feed on Bur-reeds, which I’ve seen growing in Bank Well.
Star of Bethlehem.
A little way along the Row I was taking a turn back towards home, when I bumped into TBH and A who were on their way to Hawes Water. A was home from Uni for a couple of days before heading off for summer adventures.
We were at home for a few days before heading off for our big summer trip. I guess we must have been busy, I didn’t get out much, but when the sun shone I did have a wander to Lambert’s Meadow, to see what I could see. Our trip, which I’ll hopefully get to soon, was to the USA. I didn’t take my camera, but I did take a ridiculous number of photos on my phone, so there’s a lengthy selection process ahead.
The photos from this short local wander can be a bit of a dress rehearsal then; I took three hundred, a nice round number, and about par for the course when I spend a bit of time at Lambert’s Meadow.
Male Migrant Hawker.
Of course, there’s a great deal of repetition; my first eleven shots that day were all of Migrant Hawkers; there were several on and around a thicket of brambles where I entered Burtonwell Wood from Silverdale Green. An easy decision in this case, just to crop the most likely looking pictures and then chose my favourite.
On the other hand, this Common Carder bee, on the same set of unripe blackberries, only posed for a single photo.
Common Carder Bee.
When I look at the photos which have come up to scratch, although I took quite a lot of photos of bumblebees, of various species, there’s a preponderance of Common Carder bees amongst the ones I’ve chosen. Admittedly, I am a bit biased in favour of Common Carders, for two reasons; firstly their lovely ginger colour, and then the fact that they are relatively easy to distinguish from other common species; but I think that there may be a bit more to it than that; I seem to have more luck getting sharpish images of Common Carders than of other bumblebees; I’m beginning to think that they may linger that little bit longer on flowers than other species.
The single shot I took of the disappearing rump of a Roe Deer in the woods was a bit disappointing, and so is not here, partly because I get much better opportunities to photograph deer in our garden. This tiny spider feasting on a fly, on the other hand, is included because I rarely manage to catch spiders with their prey, even though it was taken in the shade and isn’t especially sharp.
I’ve decided to keep the photos largely chronological, and not to group them thematically, and, for instance, put all of the hoverflies together, something I have done on occasion with previous similar posts.
Hoverfly – possibly Helophilus pendulus.
This particular hoverfly might be Helophilus pendulus. Sometimes called ‘the Footballer’ apparently, because of its bold markings. Rather lovely in my opinion. However, there are several very similar species, so I could be wrong. Helophilus means ‘marsh-lover’ which would fit well with this location.
I did put these two snails together, the better to compare and contrast their shells…
Garden Snail.
This first is definitely a Garden Snail, with its dark bands on its shell.
Copse Snail?
My best guess is that this is a copse snail; they are usually more mottled than this, although they do seem to be quite variable.
Small skipper.
There were lots and lots of butterflies about, which was rather wonderful, although at first I thought none of them would alight long enough for me to get any decent photos. However, if you hang around long enough, your chance eventually comes.
Honey bee on Common Knapweed.
This photo gets in because of the photo-bombing bug. I think the bug might be a Potato Capsid, but my confidence is even lower than usual.
Common Darter.
There were lots of dragonflies about too, but they were mostly airborne, and surprisingly difficult to spot when they landed.
Guelder Rose berries.Another Common Carder bee.Angelica, tall and stately.And very busy with a profusion of insects.Sicus ferrugineus.
With a bit of lazy internet research, I’ve unearthed two different ‘common’ names for these odd looking flies: Ferrugineus Bee-grabber and Thick-headed Fly. The photo in my Field Guide shows a mating pair and this pair, although they moved around the mint flower a lot, didn’t seem likely to be put-off. In fact when I wandered back around the meadow I spotted a pair, probably the same pair, still mating in much the same spot. The adults feed on nectar, but the larvae are endoparasites, over-wintering and pupating inside Bumblebees.
Sicus ferrugineusagain.
Ferruginous means either: ‘containing iron oxides or rust’, or ‘reddish brown, rust-coloured’; which seems appropriate. I’m guessing that ferrugineus is the latin spelling.
Female Common Blue and Hoverfly?Female Common Blue.
You’ll notice that a lot of the insects are on Mint flowers. Earlier in the year it would have been Marsh Thistles.
Drone-flies. Probably.
My best guess is that these are Drone-flies. They are excellent Honey bee mimics, but, as far as I know, don’t harm bees in any way, so good for them. More lazy research turned up this titbit:
“Recent research shows that the Drone-fly does not only mimic the Honeybee in look, but also in the way that it moves about, following the same flight patterns.”
I haven’t counted, but I’d be willing to bet that I took more photos of Meadow Browns than of anything else. There were a lot about. I resolved not to take any more photos of what is, after all, a very common and slightly dull species, at which point the local Meadow Brown community seemed to agree that they would disport themselves in front of my lens at every opportunity, in a ‘you know you want to’ sort of way, and my resolve kept crumbling.
Silver Y Moth.
Silver Y moths, on the other hand, seem to stay low in the grass and continually flap their wings, which must be very energy inefficient. Although they breed in the UK, they also migrate here (presumably from mainland Europe).
“The Silver Y migrates to the UK in massive numbers each year – sometimes, an estimated 220 million can reach our shores in spring!”
The scientific name is Autographa gamma which I rather like. And gamma, γ, is at least as good an approximation as y to the marking on the moth.
Female Common Blue Damselfly, green-form (I think).Rather tired Ringlet.
For a while I watched the dragonflies darting about overhead, trying to see where they went when they flew into the trees. Eventually, I did notice the perch of another Migrant Hawker, high overhead…
Migrant Hawker.Volucella pellucens.
Volucella pellucens – the Pellucid Fly, or the Pellucid Hoverfly, or the White-banded Drone-fly. Three ‘common’ names; I’ve used apostrophes because for a creature to have a ‘common’ name suggests it’s a regular topic of conversation in households up and down the country, which seems a bit unlikely, unfortunately.
“The fly is very fond of bramble blossoms”, according to my Field Guide.
“Its larvae live in the nests of social wasps and bumblebees, eating waste products and the bee larvae.“
This damselfly has me a bit confused; it has red eyes, but those beer pump handle markings (my Dragonfly field guide says ‘rockets’ – I think messers Smallshire and Swash need to get out more) suggest the blue-form of the female Common Blue Damselfly, so I’m going for that. This makes me think that I have probably misidentified damselflies in the past. What am I talking about? Of course I’ve misidentified damselflies – I’ve probably misidentified just about everything! All I hope for is that my percentage accuracy is gradually improving – I’ll settle for that.
Volucella pellucens– bucking the trend by feasting on Mint, instead of Bramble.Comma
Like the Silver Y, the Comma is named for a mark on its wings, but it’s on the underside so you can’t see it here.
Comma.
I took lots of photos of rather distant Commas and then this one landed pretty much at my feet, so close, in fact, that I needed to back up a little to get it in focus.
Green-veined White.
White butterflies don’t often rest long enough to be photographed. They are also very confusing – this could, to my non-expert-gaze, be a Small White, a female Orange-tip, or a Green-veined White. But the underwings reveal that it is a Green-veined White.
Green-veined White.Meadow Brown.Volucella pellucens, on mint again.
Brambles have a very long flowering season – maybe Pellucid Flies like to branch out when other favoured plants are available.
Hoverfly.
The sheer variety of Hoverflies is amazing, but also frustrating, because they are so hard to identify. This could be a Drone-fly, but it has dark patches on its wings. I’m edging towards Eristalis horticola but with my usual very low degree of confidence.
Green Bottle.Another Meadow Brown.Another female Common Blue Damselfly – not so heavily cropped – I liked the grass..Sicus ferrugineus– not perturbed by me, my camera or the presence of one of the White-tailed Bumblebees.Ichneumonwasp?
This creature led me a merry dance; it was constantly on the move, roving around the leaves and stems of a Guelder Rose bush, then flying off, disappearing from view, only to return seconds later. At first I thought it was a Sawfly, but it was very wasp-waisted so now I’m inclined to think it was an Ichneumon wasp.
Tentatively, it could be a male Ichneumon extensorius which has the bright yellow scutellum, black unbanded antennae and black and yellow legs and body. However, my online source says “hardly any British records exist for this species”, which is a bit off-putting.
Whatever it is, it kept me well-entertained for a few minutes.
Eugh! A slug! But even this slug, which was on an Angelica stem, has a rather striking striped rim to its foot.
Male Common Blue Damselfly.
When I spotted this creature, on a Figwort leaf, at first I thought I was seeing another of the yellow and black creatures I had seen before. It has a yellow scutellum, and substantially yellow legs. But – the antennae are orange, it lacks the narrow waist, and its abdomen is heavily striped. It was much more obliging than the previous creature, both in terms of posing for photos and in terms of being readily identified. It turns out this is a Figwort Sawfly.
“The larvae feed on Figwort plants and are usually seen in August and September. The adults are carnivores mainly, hunting small flies and other insects.”
Hmmmm – usually seen in August and September – I think I need to go and have a look at some Figworts.
Incidentally, I was hoping I would see some Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonflies, and usually look out for them in an area of tall plants – Great Willow-herb and Figwort – by the path which crosses the meadow. I didn’t see any, but in looking I noticed that the generally tall Figwort plants were much shorter and less numerous than usual. I suspect they were suffering due to our unusually hot and dry summer.
Male Common Blue Damselfly.Soldier Beetles – as usual making love not war.My ‘hunting ground’.Large Skipper. Not large. Notice the much more mottled wings than the Small Skipper at the start of this lengthy post.Large Skipper.Gatekeeper.
Blimey – I made it to the end! Well done if you did too. If my holiday posts take this long to put together, I will never catch up!
Into June. A slightly longer local walk this time, to Hawes Water and the limestone pavements of Gait Barrows.
Peacock Butterfly on Bird’s-eye Primrose.Peacock Butterfly on Bird’s-eye Primrose.Bird’s-eye Primroses.Female Damselfly. I think one of the forms of Blue-tailed Damselfly, which come in several colours.And my best guess is that this is another form of the same, with its green thorax and lilac ninth segment of its abdomen. Even my field guide admits that female Blue-tailed Damselflies are ‘confusing’.Bird’s-eye Primroses and a bug, possibly Oedemera lurida. But equally, probably not.Common Blue Damselfly, male.Blue-tailed Damselfly, male.A gaggle of geese.A holey leaf. Guelder Rose I think.
I took a lot of photos of partially devoured leaves this spring; I was amazed by the extent to which they could be eaten and not collapse, whilst still remaining recognisably leaves. I never saw any creatures which were evidently munching on the foliage. Maybe it happens at night.
Scorpion Fly, male.Bird’s-eye Primrose again. With possibly Oedemera lurida again?Northern Marsh Orchid.Yellow Rattle.Germander Speedwell.Micro Moth on Yellow Rattle.
In the grassland at Gait Barrows these tiny moths hop about, making short flights around your feet, landing in the grass and apparently disappearing when they land. Close examination sometimes reveals that they have aligned their bodies with a blade of grass or a plant stem and are thus well-hidden. I was lucky, on this occasion, to get a better view.
I think that this might be a sawfly, but I’m not even confident of that, let alone what kind of sawfly.Angular Solomon’s Seal.Angular Solomon’s Seal.Bloody Crane’s-bill growing in a gryke.Lily-of-the-valley.
I met a couple who were holidaying in the area, mainly to see butterflies, but they were looking for the Lady’s-slipper Orchids. I took them to the spot where, for a while, they grew abundantly, but there was nothing there to show them. Such a shame. At least I know that they are growing more successfully elsewhere in the region, but I don’t know where. I think the consensus is that the spot where they were planted on the limestone was too dry.
Brown Silver-line Moth.Dark Red Helleborine, I think. Not yet flowering.Maidenhair Spleenwort.Lilies-of-the-valley.
The lack of Lady’s-slipper Orchids was in some way compensated by an abundance of Lily-of-the-valley. In my experience, although there are always lots of the spear-like leaves, flowers tend to be in short supply. This year there were lots. I must have timed my visit well.
Tired Painted Lady.Painted Ladies: they have Union Jacks on their faces.
This is from a couple of days later from a neighbour’s garden. We had an afternoon buffet and an evening barbecue to celebrate the jubilee. Being a fervent monarchist, obviously, I was full of enthusiasm for a party. Especially since the weather was so warm and summery. Well…I’m all for extra Bank Holidays. And get togethers with the neighbours, particularly if I’m excused from decorating as a result!
Dame’s Violet, Green Alkanet, Cow Parsley, Buttercups, Docks.
The next time I escaped from the woes joys of decorating, I managed a slightly longer walk. I think I wanted to visit this little scrap of verge where Elmslack Lane becomes Castle Bank and I knew I would find Dame’s Violet flowering.
From there I walked along Inman’s Lane along the bottom edge of Eaves Wood, then along the Row. Inevitably, I was heading for…
Lambert’s Meadow.Mating Crane flies. Possibly Tipula oleracea which is common and favours damp grasslands.
It’s quite easy to ignore Crane Flies, Daddy-Long-Legs; they’re common and plentiful, their larvae – leatherjackets – are a garden pest and I think some people are freaked out by their ridiculously long legs. But I thought the silvery-grey hue of this amorous pair, and the golden iridescence caught in the wings of the lower partner where very fetching.
Ichneumonid Wasp?
I think this is an Ichneumonid wasp. It could be a sawfly, a digger wasp or a spider-hunting wasp, but on balance I’m going for an Ichneumon. After that I’m struggling. Apparently, there are around 2500 British species. Identifying them requires a microscope and an expert. Most species are parasitoids, meaning that they lay their eggs in other species of insects, caterpillars and grubs, and the larvae will eat and eventually kill the host. From my limited reading, I get the impression that each species of wasp will specialise in preying on the caterpillar or larvae of one particular species.
Mating Chrysolina polita. Perhaps.
Some of the photos which follow are bound to look familiar, if you read my last post. Hardly surprising that if you walk in the same place just a couple of days apart, the bugs and beasties which are about and active are likely to be the same each time.
I’m reasonably confident that this Shield Bug is Troilus luridus. I’ve seen this given the common name ‘Bronze Shield Bug’ online, but my Field Guide gives another species that title, so I’ll stick with the latin name.
Green Shield Bug.
I took lots of photos of this Green Shield Bug and as a result was lucky enough to catch it in the act of taking wing…
Green Shield Bug.
You can see how the outer wings have adapted as a cover for the hind wings, so that when they’re on a leaf or a stem it’s hard to imagine that they even have wings.
Hoverfly.Variable Damselfly, female, I think.
Variable Damselflies are not listed in the handy booklet ‘An Atlas and Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of the Arnside and Silverdale AONB’, a publication whose long title completely belies its actual brevity. So, if this is a Variable Damselfly, which I think it is, the species must have fairly recently arrived in the area.
Green-veined White on Ragged Robin.Greenbottle.Another female Variable Damselfly on Guelder Rose.Chrysolina polita. I think.Dandelion Clock.Silver-ground Carpet Moth. White-lipped Snail.A very different White-lipped Snail.Brown-lipped Snail.Nettle leaf with rust fungus – Puccinia urticata?Later in the day, a double rainbow from our garden.
Beating The Bounds 