Linacre 5th April 2025

 We've had a couple of weeks of warm, sunny weather, so, having a free afternoon, I popped down to Linacre to see if I could see the first butterflies of 2025. In three hours, and temperatures of 12 degrees, I spotted 16 butterflies of 5 species.

The first butterflies seen were Peacocks, and, in total, I recorded a minimum of 9 around the site. The next commonest species was Orange Tip, with 5 males and 2 females seen. Also seen were: Comma (1), Large White (1) and Green-veined White (1).

Peacock

Other insects seen were: Tawny Mining Bee (1 male), another Mining Bee sp (possibly Clarkson's), Broad-bordered Beefly (20+), Eristalis sp (hoverfly) and 4 species of Bumblebee; Common Carder, White-tailed, Buff-tailed and Red-tailed.

Flowers were also out in good numbers: Lesser Celandine, Bluebell, Wood Anenome, Coltsfoot, Dandelion, Daisies, Cowslip and Stitchwort. 

Last, but not least, the birds! I had 2 "Year ticks", with Swallow (134) (3 birds over the middle reservoir) and Blackcap (135) ( a minimum of 4 birds singing). Other birds were: Chiffchaff (9 singing), Buzzard (2 over), Sparrowhawk (1 displaying over the middle reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (5 birds; a pair each on the bottom and middle reservoirs, and 1 single bird on the top reservoir), Cormorant (1), Mallard (c.20), Mandarin (6), Tufted Duck (17), Lesser Black-backed Gull (c.30 flew over!) and Greylag Goose (4 birds on the middle reservoir).

Another "year tick" was Dipper (133) that was seen flying over the main road in Dronfield on 4/4!

Linacre Butterflies - 14th September 2024

 At this time of the year, whenever the sun comes out, I like to get down to Linacre to see if there are any insects about, just in case it's the last sightings I get this year! Yesterday was such a time, with lots of sun and temperatures of 20 degrees. I wasn't disappointed, with 8 species of butterfly seen, along with two dragonflies, a few bees, craneflies, hoverflies and a wasps' nest!

The butterfly species were: Red Admiral (5), Comma (2), Peacock (2), Speckled Wood (7), Large White (2), Green-veined White (3, including a pair attempting to mate) and, best of all, a Small Copper (my first record of the year!).

Small Copper

Small Copper (and friend)

Other species seen were: Migrant Hawker (2), Brown Hawker (1), Red-tailed and Common Carder Bumblebees, Eristalis hoverflies and 1 Marmalade Hoverfly. 

Whilst walking along the bank below the top reservoir, I came across a hole, approximately 1/2m deep, with several hundred wasps flying around it! I peeped in, very carefully (!) and could see the remains of a wasps' nest. I couldn't get a great photo, so I'm not sure if they were Common or German Wasps, but, whatever species, it was great to see. Presumably, the nest had been discovered and dug out by a Badger, or a Honey Buzzard (only joking!!).

Wasps' nest

Linacre - 31st August 2024

 Based on the year so far, this afternoon's walk around Linacre, was by far the best one for insects this summer. In total, I saw 7 different species of butterfly, along with 3 dragonfly species, 4 hoverfly species and a few other insects. In addition, I go my first Linacre Hobby since 2013!!

The butterflies seen were: Peacock (9), Red Admiral (5), Speckled Wood (5), Large White (1), Small White (4), Comma (2) and Meadow Brown (2).

The dragonfly species were: Migrant Hawker (2), Brown Hawker (2) and Common Darter (1).

Migrant Hawker

 

The hoverfly species were: Eristalis sp, Helophilus pendulus (1), Volucella pellucens a.k.a Great Pied Hoverfly and (1)Volucella inanis (1). Other insects seen included a Scorpion Fly, a 7-spot Ladybird and a Large Yellow Underwing. 

Volucella inanis

Birdwise, it was quite quiet, but the obvious highlight was a Hobby that was chasing a couple of Swallows! My last Linacre record of this species was way back in September 2013!! Other birds seen were: Canada Goose (20 on the top reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (4; 2 adults and 2 juveniles), Little Grebe (1), Swallow ( 4 in total), wheeting Chiffchaffs, Grey Heron (1), Tufted Duck,  Mallard and Mandarin Duck.

Linacre 8th July 2023 - a new species!!

I had news yesterday that the first Silver-washed Fritillaries and White-letter Hairstreaks of the year had been reported at Linacre (thanks  Pete). I set out this morning (6.15am - 9.15am) to see if I could spot either species. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite as good today (20 degrees, instead of 26 degrees yesterday), and the cloud cover was much higher, so I "dipped" on both species.

Luckily for me, however, I did manage to spot a new species of butterfly for Linacre - a female Dark Green Fritillary!! This species does seem to be on the increase in Derbyshire, and today's individual was spotted feeding on thistles in the hay meadow by the top reservoir.

Dark Green Fritillary

Whilst there, I also spent some time in the field just beyond the top reservoir, where I spotted: Meadow Brown (c.10), Ringlet (c.5), Red Admiral (1), Large White (1), Small Skipper (3), Large Skipper (1), 2 Volucella pellucens (hoverfly) and a couple of 7-spot Ladybirds. 

Small Skipper

Large Skipper (patterned wings and hooked antennae)

Back on the top reservoir, the sun had come out again, and the number of damselflies had increased. Only two species were seen: Common Blue and Blue-tailed (first Linacre record of 2023), but both species were seen "in tandem", proving breeding. A Common Lizard was also seen by the top reservoir, but it was disturbed by 3 joggers (!!) before I could get a photo.

Blue-tailed Damselflies

Common Blue Damselfly

Hoverfly numbers were better today, with Volucella pellucens (2), a Sphaerophoria sp, Marmalade Hoverflies, and a Syrphus sp seen.

Last, and by no means least (!), were the birds. Waterbirds were: Mallard (147), Moorhen (19), Coot (24), Mandarin Duck (43), Tufted Duck (26), Grey Heron (1), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (13; 6 adults and 7 juveniles), Grey Wagtail (2; 1 adult and 1 juvenile), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1), Black-headed Gull (1 heard - an unusual July record), Little Grebe (1 adult heard), Buzzard (1), Chiffchaff (4 singing), Blackcap (3 birds seen and 3 heard),  Swallow (3), House Martin (3) and Swift (1 - my first Linacre record of 2023!!!).

Small Blue and Dingy Skipper - 20th May 2023

 After seeing details on social media earlier in the week, Jayne and I spent a couple of hours at Pleasley Pit searching for a colony of introduced Small Blue butterflies.

We arrived at the car park, and after walking just 200m, saw our first butterflies (they really are small!!), 3 males, one of which posed beautifully.

Small Blue (male)

We walked on to the area where previous sightings had come from, where we managed to watch both males and females, including this mating pair. At one point there were 11 on the ground together!!

Small Blues (male on the left, I think)

Whilst there, we also spotted several other species: Peacock (2), Comma (2), Orange Tip (1 male) Large White (2) and, best of all, a Dingy Skipper.

Dingy Skipper

White-letter and Purple Hairstreaks!!

It was 22 degrees again today, so Jayne ad I had a walk around Linacre this afternoon. The top reservoir was closed off as the boardwalk is being repaired, so we just walked around the bottom and the middle reservoirs.

At first it was overcast, but then the sun came out, and we managed to record some insects, including the butterflies in the title! Both these species were seen at about 3pm on the pathway leading down from the toilet block to the bottom reservoir. There were at least two White-letter Hairstreaks - a lifer for me, and one Purple Hairstreak. 

White-letter Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

Other insects seen were: Meadow Brown (6), Gatekeeper (6), Comma (5), Speckled Wood (3), Ringlet (3), Large White (1), Green-veined White (1), Common Blue Butterfly (1), Brown Hawker (3), Common Blue Damselfly (20+, including several pairs in tandem, Blue-tailed Damselfly (2 males), Cinnabar Moth (caterpillar), Mayfly sp (1), Great Pied Hoverfly - Volucella pellucens (2) and Yellow and Black Longhorn Beetle (3). 

It was quite quiet birdwise, but the highlight was the first Tufted Duck ducklings of the year. There were three broods of 2, 2 and 7. 

Tufted Duck

There were also 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the middle reservoir (13 adults, 1 juvenile - this year's bird, and 1 immature bird) and a juvenile Black-headed Gull.

The last sighting of note was a rodent - a Bank Vole I think, that was seen coming out of a hole under an oak tree by the main path - my first sighting here.

Bank Vole?

Linacre ringing - 8th September 2019

I didn't manage to get any ringing in at Linacre in July and August, but I was down there on Sunday with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group and what a session we had! In just over 4 hours we managed to catch and ring 81 birds of 15 species.

Birds caught were (new/retrap): Wren 1/0, Dunnock 4/0, Robin 1/0, Treecreeper 1/0, Whitethroat 1/0, Blackcap 6/0, Willow Warbler 2/0, Chiffchaff 2/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Blue Tit 26/1, Great Tit 23/3, Coal Tit 2/0, Nuthatch 2/0, Goldfinch 1/0 and Chaffinch 1/0. As is normal at this time of year, the vast majority of the birds caught today were juveniles, including 1 of the retrap Great Tits that had been ringed in one of the boxes at Linacre on 23th May this year. Other notable records were the juvenile Whitethroat, 2 young Willow Warblers, 6 juvenile Blackcaps and 2 juvenile Chiffchaffs.

Whitethroat (juvenile)

Chiffchaff (juvenile)

Other birds seen/heard were: Grey Heron (1 over), House Martin (9 over), Swallow (3 over), Tawny Owl (birds heard in the woods on arrival at 6am) and Meadow Pipit (2 over).

The sun was out, and the temperature rose to 15 degrees late morning, which brought out some late butterflies: 5 Red Admirals,  3 Painted Ladies, 4 Small Tortoiseshells, 1 Large White and 1 Small White and a Mother of Pearl moth.

Painted Lady

Linacre Insects

I spent a few hours at Linacre over the last few days and recorded the following insects: Southern Hawker (1), Brown Hawker (3, including 1 ovipositing female), Common Blue Damselfly (2 males) and Common Darter (2 tenerals on 30th - my first 2019 record).

Brown Hawker (female)

Common Darter

Butterflies seen were: Red Admiral (3), Painted Lady (1), Large White (1), Green-veined White (1), Common Blue Butterfly (2 males and 1 female), Wall Brown (1), Small Tortoiseshell (1), Peacock (2), Speckled Wood and Small Copper (3).

Small Copper

Fermyn Wood - 7th July 2019

Jayne and I had our first visit to this woodland site in Northamptonshire today to take part in a guided walk lead by the East Midland's Branch of Butterfly Conservation . The main species we were hoping to see was Purple Emperor, and we managed to see 1 flying past. Unfortunately, we didn't get one on the ground, so no photo this time. Still a very good butterfly to see, and a new one for us both.

The other species that we wanted to see was Silver-washed Fritillary, and this time we got great views and some super photos of both males and females.

Silver-washed Fritillary (male)

Silver-washed Fritillary (female)

Other species seen were: Ringlet (everywhere), Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Comma (2), Painted Lady (4), Meadow Brown, Red Admiral (1), Large White and Small White.

Linacre- 1st September 2017

The sun was out this morning, so I decided to have a few hours down at Linacre. There were 6 species of butterfly on the wing, 3 dragonflies and 1 damselfly species.

The butterflies seen were: Speckled Wood (5), Peacock (5), Red Admiral (2), Large White (1), Comma (1) and Small Copper (3, my first record of 2017).

Small Copper

Dragonflies and damselflies seen were: Common Dater (1, the first Linacre record of 2017), Brown Hawker (3), Southern Hawker (1) and Common Blue Damselfly. 2 species of hoverfly were also seen: Volucella pellucens (Great Pied Hoverfly) and Sericomyia silentis (only my second Linacre record, after 1 on 18th August 2016).

Sericomyia silentis

Birds seen around the site today were: Mallard (37), Tufted Duck 19; 18 adults and 1 duckling), Mandarin Duck (25), Great-crested Grebe (2 adults and 1 juvenile), Grey Heron (2), Grey Wagtail (1), Coot (3 adults), Moorhen (12; 6 adults and 6 juveniles), Cormorant (1), Common Buzzard (1), Swallow (c. 15) and Chiffchaff (3, including 1 singing).

Ringing and Walking

Today's title refers to the two things I have been doing today. The day started with my first ringing session since August with 3 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group, and continued with a lovely walk around Yorkshire Sculpture Park with Jayne.

The ringing session took place at the private site in Wingerworth. The temperature when we arrived at 6.30am was just 6 degrees, and it took a while for the birds to wake up, but, by 10am, when we packed up, we'd caught 54 birds of 11 species. Numbers were as follows (new/retrap): Dunnock 3/0, Robin 6/0, Goldcrest 4/0, Coal Tit 3/2, Blue Tit 14/1, Great Tit 9/0, Nuthatch 2/1, Chaffinch 6/0, Greenfinch 1/0, Goldfinch 1/0 and Bullfinch 1/0.

The sun had come out by the end of the session, and rose to a very nice 21 degrees by the afternoon. Jayne and I decided to drive up to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to pick up a picture and to have a walk around the lake. Birdwise, it was quite quiet, with just  the usual Jackdaws, Mallards, Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans,Canada and Greylag Geese seen around the water. We also heard a Kingfisher, and spotted a couple of Grey Wagtails flying around by the overflow from the bottom lake. Given the warm, sunny weather, we expected to see a few butterflies, and we were in luck with 1 Comma, 1 Large White, 1 male Brimstone and about 10 Speckled Woods seen. We also managed to see three species of dragonfly; 1 Common Darter, 2 Migrant Hawkers and a female Southern Hawker, that was ovipositing into  a piece of wood in the round pond by the centre.

Southern Hawker

Isle of Wight Butterflies - 31st July 2016

This morning Jayne and I spent a couple of hours at the National Trust's Afton Down reserve near Freshwater, on the Isle of Wight.

Afton Down

We went to see if we could catch up with some butterflies, including one that I've never seen before, Small Blue. As soon as we arrived, we spotted the first "blues" of the day, the Chalkhill Blue. There were dozens of these butterflies flying around, all over the hillside, including many mating pairs.

Chalkhill Blue (male)

Chalkhill Blue (female)

Chalkhill Blue (mating pair)

Along with these butterflies, we also spotted 1 Small Blue, a female that was egg laying on Kidney Vetch (thanks Jayne!), 3 Dark Green Fritillaries, 1 Marbled White, dozens of Meadow Browns, 10+ Gatekeepers, 2 Large Whites, 2 Red Admirals and a three species of day-flying moths; 6-spot Burnet,Yellow Shell and Silver Y.

Small Blue (egg laying)

Small Blue

We also walked down to Compton Chine, where we had another couple of 6-spot Burnets, dozens more "blues", and  a single Small Copper. All in all, a very good few hours!

Linacre WeBS - Birds, Butterflies, Damsels and Dragons

This weekend was the time to carry out this month's WeBS count at Linacre, so I was down there at 7am with Luke. We recorded  the usual species, including a good number of youngsters. Numbers were as follows: Mallard (68, including 1 brood of 5 ducklings), Tufted Duck (26, including 1 brood of 5), Mandarin Duck (19, including 8 ducklings), Moorhen (2, 1 adult and 1 juvenile), Coot (9, 5 adults and 2 broods of 3 and 2 chicks), Grey Heron (3), Grey Wagtail (5) and Great-crested Grebe (6, 2 adults and 4 juveniles). Unfortunately, no sign of the Shag, which was last reported on 19th July, but I'm sure someone will find it again soon.

Juvenile Great-crested Grebe

The weather for this morning's walk was super, being warm (16 degrees) and sunny on arrival, and rising to 20 degrees by the time we left. As a result, there was a great deal of insect activity around the site with 4 species of butterfly, 4 species of moth seen along with several bumblebees, 2 species of damselfly and 1 species of dragonfly. The butterflies were: Small Tortoiseshell (2), Large White (3), Meadow Brown (20+) and Small Skipper (1).

Small Tortoiseshell

Moths seen were: Large Yellow Underwing (1), Silver Y (2), Brown China Mark (1) and caterpillars of Cinnabar Moth.

Cinnabar Moth caterpillars

Damselflies seen were: Common Blue (10+) and Blue-tailed (1 male). The Common Blues were the most numerous, and included males, one pair "in tandem" and at least 2 "teneral" or newly emerged individuals, lacking the colour of the mature damselflies.

Teneral Common Blue Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly "in tandem"

The dragonfly species seen was a single adult Brown Hawker, and this exuvia, also possibly a Brown Hawker, that was found floating in the water of the top reservoir.

Dragonfly exuvia

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Now that I'm back in Derbyshire, I thought I'd have a day exploring the moorlands, looking, in particular, for a very attractive dragonfly species - the Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

The Golden-ringed Dragonfly, or Cordulegaster boltonii, is the only member of this family of dragonfly to live in Britain and it prefers to live on areas of high land in acidic rivers and streams. As a result, the larvae can take up to 5 years to develop into this stunning adult.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly (male)

The individual I saw today was a male, and it was patrolling a small section of the Bar Brook on Big Moor. I saw a female "ovipositing" in this area back in 2011. See here for details. See details on the British Dragonfly Society's website here for details of this species. 

Other dragon and damselflies seen in the area were: Large Red Damselfly, Emerald Damselfly, Common Hawker (2 males) and Common Darter.

Whilst looking for the dragonfly, I spotted several other insects, including Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper, Green-veined and Large White butterflies. 

Male and female Gatekeepers

Birds were thin on the ground, but 2 Common Buzzards were seen, along with a couple of Meadow Pipits and a Yellowhammer. 

I also came across a Water Vole, and its latrine.

Water Vole

Water Vole's latrine

Cornish Butterflies and Moths

Whilst here in Cornwall I've been looking at the butterflies as well as the bird life. In total I've recorded a total of 12 species of butterfly and 3 species of moth.

The most common species, and those recorded in the garden of our cottage in Sandplace, near Looe (see here), were Peacock, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral, Large White and Green-veined White. A couple of Silver-washed Fritillaries were also seen on a couple of occasions feeding on the buddlehia in the garden.

Silver-washed Fritillary 

Away from the garden, we visited Whitsand Bay, near Torpoint, where we also spotted Common Blue, Holly Blue, Small Copper, Painted Lady, and  a fly-by Clouded Yellow!!

Common Blue Butterfly

Holly Blue (male, with damaged wing)

Small Copper

The three moth species seen were Silver Y, feeding on the buddlehia in the garden, a Drinker moth and a Buff Footman. The last 2 species got into the cottage one night, and are both  new species for me.

Drinker Moth

Buff Footman