Linacre Butterflies - 18 species!!!

The weather forecast for this morning was dry and sunny (!!!), so I spent 5 hours (8.30am - 1.30pm) on site to see what I could see. As the title of today's blog shows, it was a very well spent few hours. The total of 18 species must be my best ever, and included four brilliant species: White-letter Hairstreak, Purple Hairstreak, Silver-washed Fritillary and Dark Green Fritillary. In addition, I recorded 2 new species for the site, an Emperor dragonfly and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth!

White-letter Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

Silver-washed Fritillary (female)

Silver-washed Fritillary (male)

The list of species seen is: Peacock (2), Red Admiral (7), Meadow Brown (c.20), Gatekeeper (7), Ringlet (1 very tatty individual), Small Copper (1 on the dam wall of the top reservoir), Small Tortoiseshell (3), Large White (5), Green-veined White (2), Speckled Wood (1), Comma (6), Holly Blue (1), Common Blue (1 in the ringing site), White-letter Hairstreak (1, by the bridge on the top reservoir, at 10.30am), Purple Hairstreak (1, in oaks by the bottom reservoir, at 12.45pm), Silver-washed Fritillary (3; 1 male and 2 females), Dark Green Fritillary (1 in the ringing site) and Small Skipper (c.5, in the field beyond the top reservoir).

 3 species of day-flying moth were also seen: Shaded Broad Bar (2), 6-spot Burnet Moth (1) and Hummingbird Hawkmoth (1 in the ringing site - a site first). 

4 species of Dragon/Damselfly were present: Brown Hawker (1, including 1 ovipositing in the bottom reservoir), Emperor Dragonfly ( 1 on the middle reservoir, a first site record for me), Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Brown Hawker (female)

Hoverflies seen were: Marmalade, Volucella pellucens , Myathropa florae and Eristalis sp.

Two species of ladybird were seen: 7-spot and Harlequin.

I think there might have been some birds around too (!), but I didn't do a full count. Instead here are a few of the "best": Swallow (6), House Martin (2), Canada Goose (2 on the top reservoir), Buzzard (2 adults), Stock Dove (1 by the muck heap by the main entrance), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult), Willow Warbler (1 very yellow juvenile bird by the top reservoir) and Chiffchaff (1 singing and lots of "wheeting").

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!!!).

Silver-washed Fritillaries at Linacre!

 Last year, I saw a photograph of a Silver-washed Fritillary that had been taken "near Linacre". Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any more details, so the record didn't go any further. Earlier this week (13th) I received a video of this species from one of the regular volunteers, taken on a field just beyond the boundary of the site. This morning, Jayne and I popped up to see if we could find the butterflies, and we did, with two males being seen.

Silver-washed Fritillary

The area where the Fritillaries were seen also had 10+ Meadow Browns, 3 Commas and  1 Gatekeeper.

Gatekeeper

After looking at these butterflies, we walked around the top and middle reservoirs, where we found 4 Tufted Duck ducklings and 2 juvenile Little Grebes (middle reservoir), along with 29 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (site record) and 2 Herring Gulls. Other insects seen include Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies and 3 Brown Hawker dragonflies (first of the year).We then walked down to the bottom reservoir to look for Purple and White-letter Hairstreaks. Although it was very warm (23 degrees), the area where we were looking wasn't quite in the sun enough, and we only managed to spot one White-letter high up in the trees.

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?