Spurn Butterflies

We have just got back from a few days at the caravan at Spurn.

Given that its a little bit quiet on the birding front I went with the hope of seeing some of the ‘other’ wildlife that Spurn has to offer.

A quick unpack and then out in the warm (maybe hot) sunshine with the camera.

First it was a wander round Sykes Field and the inevitable encounter with a meadow brown-the first of a few. Then gatekeeper quickly followed by common blue. There were all 3 common white butterflies on the wing Large white was the least abundant but there were lots of green-veined white and small white.

A cracking find was a couple of wall browns (interestingly near a wall!). I have a particular soft spot for wall brown-it was a photograph taken with my ancient Nikon Coolpix of a wall brown butterfly that got me into wildlife photography 20 odd years ago.

A small orangey flutter had me checking for Essex skipper but of the few small skippers that were about, none had the diagnostic black antenna tips of Essex skipper (hopefully thats for another day).

From Sykes field I had a wander down Beacon Lane. High hedgerows both sides always give protection from the wind and it creates a type of microclimate of what seems like artificially high temperatures. Seemingly ideal for the butterflies. A buddleia in full bloom held red admiral and peacock. Further down there were a couple of nice commas and a single ringlet.

More of the same on the return visit but pleasingly there seemed to be lots of butterflies around, it harked back to bygone days…

On Sunday it was a stronger wind blowing from the south-west and a little less sunny. We planned to walk an extended version of The Triangle taking in Sykes Field, the coastal path from canal scrape to the warren and looping back up the road and joining the canal bank, finishing at Church Field.

I used Butterfly Conservations App to record what we found. despite the windy conditions it was pretty much more of the same- a brilliant total of 36 gatekeepers, 20 small whites and 17 green-veined whites making up the majority of the numbers.

The undoubted highlight of the day was a brimstone in Church Field. Not rare nationally but quite scarce at Spurn. Speckled Wood back at the caravan and a couple of common blues later in Sykes field added to the day tally giving a total number of species seen as 16.

There is something extremely heartwarming about having a walk in the countryside on a warm summers day and seeing things as they are supposed to be. Habitat being sensitively managed, no use of pesticides and lo and behold the wildlife is thriving-its not rocket science.

Our natural world is under massive pressure and no doubt there will be historical records from the Spurn area that indicate bigger numbers in times gone by. However the here an now offers a beacon of hope-the butterflies at Spurn are there to be enjoyed-treat yourself to a trip out, you wont be disappointed.

Brimstone

Comma

Comma

Green-veined white

Small skipper

Meadow brown

Wall

Wall

Red Admiral

Peacock

Painted lady

Painted lady

Large white

Small tortoiseshell

Small tortoiseshell being chased off by gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

Common blue

Common blue

Common blue

Cinnabar moth caterpillar

Big Butterfly Count

This weekend was the start of Butterfly Conservations Big Butterfly Count.

The idea being that you record however many butterflies you see in one place over 15 minutes.

We chose our back garden and overall, the results over the two days weren’t bad.

On the Saturday we recorded 2 holly blues, a small skipper, ringlet, small white, green veined white, small tortoiseshell and comma.

On the Sunday we had large white, small white, green veined white, small skipper, meadow brown, red admiral, and ringlet-10 species overall so not a bad return.

I also had two early trips to North Cave Wetlands. The purpose was to try and photograph purple hairstreak. I had 4 on the Saturday and only one in flight on the Sunday, however it was nice to be out and there were some good numbers. My list over both days was; purple hairstreak, red admiral, painted lady, small tortoiseshell, peacock, small skipper, Essex skipper, meadow brown, gatekeeper, ringlet, large white, small white, green-veined white, small copper and holly blue-15 species again not a bad return.

Some photos below.

Purple hairstreak- North Cave Wetlands

Purple hairstreak- North Cave Wetlands

Gatekeeper- North Cave Wetlands

Meadow brown- North Cave Wetlands

Holly blue - North Cave Wetlands

Essex skipper- North Cave Wetlands

Holly blue - North Cave Wetlands

Holly blue - North Cave Wetlands

Green-veined white-Garden

Small skipper-garden

Meadow brown - North Cave Wetlands

Six-spot burnet- North Cave Wetlands

Small skipper - North Cave Wetlands

Elephant hawk moth caterpillar

Solstice at Spurn

We had the most magical week at Spurn which coincided with the Summer Solstice-the longest day of the year and by heck it felt like it!

We arrived on the Monday and a quick trip to Easington we saw a few bee orchids whic were just starting tp look past their best. A quick look at the Red Valarian around the churchyard produced the intended target-hummingbird hawk moth. There were at least 3 but the position of the plants relative to ground level were far from ideal and as such the photos weren’t the best quality.

Bee Orchid

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

I spent some time trying to pjhotogtaph bats on the night without too much success. I didnt stay up late as we were planning on being on the beach for the sunrise. The alarm went off at 3.30am and we managed to rise at about 3.45.

Its just a different world at that time-plenty of light and the air was still. We were treat to a lovely view of a barn owl as we drove down towards the gate. Two deer cut a lovely silhouette against a richly colourful sky.

A combination of light cloud, low tide and wet sand made for a nice photo opportunity. We watched the sun rise at 4.30 and set off towards the point. We saw a single ringed plover and flyover little tern on the way down.

Solstice sunrise

Solstice sunrise

Garden Tiger Caterpillar

We got to the Point for around 5.45-highlights along the way were plenty of garden tiger moth caterpillars as well as a few nice wildflowers including sea-holly and pyramidal orchid.

The point was uneventful wildlife wise but millions of sand hoppers in the point dunes made for a curious spectacle.

We made our way back after a while and as we were walking past potato fields I spotted what I initially thought was a hare. After raising my binoculars, it became apparent that what we were looking at was in fact a fox cub.

It trotted towards us without a care in the world and made its way to the drinking tub placed for the cattle and sheep and took a drink without a care in the world, giving us some memorable views and was easily the highlight of the day.

We arrived back at the van by 9am and I spent the rest of yje morning catching up om lost sleep.

Later in the day I went looking for butterflies and dragonflies and had some limited success with four spotted chasers and an obliging small heath.

The evening cane round and we were treat to a lovely sunset. A barn owl hunted over the triangle as the sun dropped. Swallows and housemartins buzzed around overhead catching the last flies of the day and a hobby dashed through the triangle heading south at 10 to 10.

I made my way to ‘Wozza’s’ bench and watched the last of the suns rays disappear and the first bats of the night began their insect hunting forays taking over from where the swallows and housemartins left off.

There wasn’t a breath of wind, I reflected on what a day we had and agreed with myself that I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world.

The rest of the week was spent enjoying the sunshine, the butterflies and dragonflies and watching bats carrying out their fascinating ritual of dispersing from their roost. patrolling at high level and slowly descending until they were in touching distance in the near darkness.

As might be expected the birding is a little quiet at this time of year but I’ve added a few photos from the last couple of weeks.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Housemartin

Barn Owl

Hobby

Pipistrelle Sp bat

Pipistrelle Sp bat

Four spotted chaser

Four spotted chaser

Scorpion fly

Emperor dragonfly

Common darter

Black-tailed skimmer

Hover fly

Small heath

Red admiral

Ringlet

Small skipper

Small skipper

Large skipper

Peacock

Red admiral

Small tortoiseshell

Wasp Sp

Painted lady

Large white

Speckled wood

Common buzzard being mobbed by carrion crow