Round the reservoir and back via the Victoria Road bridge

On the reservoir banks there was a huge change in the obvious vegetation patterns. The lush mix of colour of a wide range of flowers in June has been replaced by a an almost complete cover of brown seeding grass, with dominating white Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, interspersed with a few plants of Bristly Oxtongue, Picris echioides. This is a view of the "Wild Carrot landscape" that clothed the whole of the top of the banks and the outer slopes.

On the internal banks themselves there was a bit more diversity with an apparent ecological zonation, of Common Fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica, then Mayweed, Matricaria, and finally Grass and Wild Carrot, Daucus carota. It is interesting to speculate on the mix of physical, biological and temporal factors that created this pattern.

There was one very smart male Common Blue Butterfly on the Eastern bank of the reservoir, with great colour on the upperwing, but I only caught the undersides with the camera. Still it looked very fresh, fairly newly emerged.

Gatekeepers galore!

Several Gatekeeper "faces":

The scales of a butterfly or moth are extremely varied in form and function. Some of course are upright and fringed, the better to release the scent pheromones, such as those found in the male "sex-brands" mentioned in previous blogs or in tufts in some other species, but some are developed into extremely long hairs, as seen on the body and in these patches on the wings in this Gatekeeper. This explains why where on the insect you see the hairs you get fewer coloured scales (whether genuine pigment colours or refractive colours), a feature that I had noticed previously but never stacked up properly to draw the correct conclusion. The function of hairs is presumably primarily insulation - but I wonder how the presence of the hairs affects other things such as flight, and specifically drag, for example.

This should be a male, as it has the wide dark marks in the middle of the forewings.

The hairs on the underwing often appear more vertically orientated away from the wing - is this gravity or not? It doesn't look like it. If it's a deliberate difference, then could it be for aerodynamic purposes?

This is a fairly typical upper forewing, and again I think this should be a male with a wide dark smudge as a sex-brand in the middle of the forewing!   It is nice to see the clear brown brand around the outer edge of the wing shared by both sexes, with a neat tiny fringe of hairs at the wing edge.

Very late at Dene Park

Far too late in the day, no camera, just a walk for Monty, maybe 35 minutes on site.

Only butterflies seen in the dank drear evening with thunderstorms threatening were one Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina, and One Green-veined White, Pieris napi.

The Green-veined White, may have been one of the first of the second brood, according to Thomas and Lewington.

The other insect tentatively identified was a Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina, in its brown winter colours - a bit early I would have thought, and its definitely not a confirmed ID.

Bourneside Meadow

The butterflies were superb at Bourneside Meadow today. It was particularly nice to see the Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas, although Warren also saw it today at Pittswood and at the Nursery of Ashes Lane, so I suspect it may be more widespread across the parish than I had realised.

I saw several male Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus, males but they were moving too quickly to be photographed. These must be early representatives of the second generation of this summer, which has started just this last week, after a break of about a fortnight from the first generation. Singles or pairs are regularly seen by Warren every summer, so this suggests adults of this species should also be fairly well spread across the parish. This butterfly forms reasonably discrete colonies measured in tens or hundreds, with individuals occasionally wandering some distance.

This species is most active in sunshine and is a frequent visitor to flowers. Males are the more active of the two sexes and set up territories which they patrol in search of females. The female is less conspicuous, spending most of her time nectaring, resting and egg-laying. When egg-laying, the female makes slow flights, low over the ground, searching out suitable foodplants on which to lay. When a suitable plant is located, a single egg is laid on the upperside of a young leaf (UK butterflies), which should be fairly clearly visible.

In dull weather this species roosts head down on a grass stem. As for similar species, such as the Brown Argus, this species roosts communally at night, with several individuals occasionally found roosting on the same grass stem.

The chrysalis is attended by ants, which may take it into their nests, feeding off the honeydew it may excrete.

One of the clues as where the Common Blue breed is going to be the location of the larval food plants. I checked some of the Birds-Foot Trefoil plants in the meadow and I thought most of them were Greater Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus, but at least some definitely looked like Common Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, as in the relatively hairless plant with (only 3) orange flowers below. Both are included in the fairly wide ranging list of trefoils and medicks that are used as larval foodplants, so this species of butterfly should do well on this particularly rich patch of wild flowers.

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I also spotted (I think) a Brown Argus, Aricia agestis, picking it out from the Small/Essex Skippers as it fluttered past me, found where it had settled, and grabbed a very poor photo just to confirm the record of the colony. The wings are a good chocolate colour and there are good orange spots around the edge, with no blue dusting towards the body, so I do not think it is a Common Blue female. From the rather rounded wings and the full extent of the orange spots it is possibly a female rather than a male Brown Argus. As it seems quite fresh this might be one of the first of the second generation this year.



On one of the Hogweed heads there was a Crabronid wasp, Crabroninae. The wings lie flat across the abdomen. It is very likely to be an Ectemnius species. Sometimes you find Cerceris species in Philanthinae but these are quite easily distinguishable, by the unevenly ridged segments of the abdomen, the head shape, the yellow face and the overall jizz,  http://www.ispotnature.org/node/281557  and http://www.ispotnature.org/node/280405. The yellow proximal sections of the antennae suggest Ectemnius rather than the otherwise very similar Crabro, where the antennae are black overall.

Another confusion possibility is Mellinus arvensis, generally late in the season, and without the yellow on the bottom of the antennae, or the silver or gold hairs on the clypeus, and with more orange rather than yellow legs.

As to getting down to species, this is very difficult - useful notes from Ardea:

"For female ID you need to get a clear view of the shape of the clypeus (basically upper lip) which you can only see well from the underside of the head, against the light. The clypeal hairs obscure the shape from the front. WIth your photos, long Mesonotal hairs, golden clypeal hairs = either lapidaries, ruficornis (scarce), cavifrons and sexcinctus."

Dene Park

I was glad to see butterflies that I was fairly sure were Large Whites, Pieris brassicae (L.),  rather than Small Whites, Pieris rapae (L.),  today. I was even more convinced when I saw the photos in close-up. The dark blotches that I can see on the upperside of the wing are rather on the large side and the patch at the tip of the wing tracks down both edges of the wing from the tip. The impression of size also helps.

This will be one of the second brood, in which males and females are pretty indistinguishable when seen from the underside.

There was also a Peacock, beautifully coloured on both its hind and forewing underside:

Tudeley Woods

Plants were looking particularly good. This Spear Thistle, Cirsium vulgare, was attracting Bumble Bees in particular, and is a useful ecological component despite being classified as a noxious weed under the Weeds Act 1959. .

This is a close-up of the tubular flowers from the infloescence above, with pollen being pushed out of the tips. In at least one I think I can see a y-shaped stigma just protruding. The purity of the colours is just wonderful!

This next photo was taken just at the edge of the inflorsecence - I am unsure of the nature of the more tendril shaped structures.

Looking lower down the inflorescence, the slight cottony fibres covering the surface interspersed with the green bracts somewhat recurved and ending in yellow spines were fairly clear.

The stem is slightly cottony as well.

and the leaves are also notoriously spiny.

Queensdown Warren late in the day

Lots of Meadow Browns and Two Marbled White Butterflies between 4:30 and 7:30 this evening.

This is a Marbled White, Melanargia galathea. This is a female, recognisable by the yellowish tinge on the underside of the wings, the males are more monochrome black and white. There are only four functional legs in both males and females in the family of Brush-footed Butterflies, Nymphalidae, the Browns, subfamily Satyrinae, the front pair of legs being converted into a small pair of "brushes". Incidentally, the stem behind is an Agrimony, Agrimonia eupatorium, stem going to fruit, remarkably beautiful.

This is the peak month for this butterfly and they should be dropping their eggs over the potential grass larval food plants from around this weekend onwards. This is a typical pose for these butterflies in the afternoon, either on grasses or their nectar source flowers. In the morning they tend to rest with their wings spread to warm up, and for the rest of the day of course they are generally much more active. Unimproved tall grassland is their typical habitat, particularly chalk downland, but even small patches of verge with tall grass will sometimes support small colonies. The Marbled White is a strong flier and a good disperser, so should be fairly good at surviving in the patches of grassland still available on the North Downs, according to research in Belgium and Germany. However the more patches there are, the easier that survival should be.

The Butterfly appears to be spreading slowly North and has most likely recolonised most of Europe from different glacial refuges around the Mediterranean. North Africa and specifically the Maghreb may also have been involved. There are two sibling species, Melanargia galathea that is thought by some to have expanded back into Europe after the last glaciation from two separate refuges in Italy (Western population) and the Balkans (Eastern population) and Melanargia lachesis that is currently found only in Spain and Southern France. The species split itself may have occurred much earlier in the glacial/interglacial cycles, but the mutual interactions of the two species raise several interesting questions about competition, dispersal and evolution. It is interesting to note that the form known as ssp serena is distinguished as the form found in Britain, which derives from the Western population of Melanargia galathea and which must also be a founder effect at the time of the cutting of the land bridge.

The subspecies include serena in Britain, galathea in Europe and the South Urals, donsa in the Caucasus, satnia in the Caucasus major and minor, lucasi in North Arfrica, and tenebrosa.  However I know little about the rest of the species' populations spread across Asia as far east as Japan.

The high genetic diversity and the relatively strong differentiation of the four African populations sampled in a
comparatively limited area of the Atlas Mountains indicate that the most probable origin of the species Melanargia galathea is northern Africa, with its sibling species, M. lachesis, evolving in parallel in Iberia. Most probably, M. galathea colonised Europe first during the Eem (last before this one) interglacial, some 130 ky ago. Since M. lachesis must have existed on the Iberian peninsula during that period already, M. galathea should have reached Europe via Italy. The genetic differentiation to distinct groups in Europe most probably evolved during the following (most recent) Wu¨rm glacial period.

There is a lot of genetic diversity in Melanargia galathea, but this is well mixed within its habitat patches and amongst the wider populations, due to the species' movement ability. The genetic diversity may have arisen partly as founder effects of the small populations isolated in refugia at the time of previous, and in particular the last, glaciation. The species may now in theory require this continuing diversity and intermixing and may be vulnerable to further habitat isolation if the genetic diversity is consequently severely reduced.

The distribution on the chalk in Kent is primarily Eastern according to Thomas and Lewington, and admittedly these are the most Westerly ones that I have seen so far in this county. On the other hand I have seen them in good numbers at Oxford services, so its not all about latitude! Other observers in Kent have also seen numbers to the West, at Darland Banks, Borstal, Lullingstone and Cobham, so the distribution in Kent may have evened out a bit.

This on the other hand is a male, not so well focussed sadly, seen a few moments later on a Large Knapweed, Centaurea macrocephala, flower.

Red Fescue, Festuca rubra, is thought perhaps to be an essential larval food plant, and it picks up some toxins from a fungal infection of that plant, which are apparently carried through into the adult body. However the larvae do feed on a range of other grasses.

Castle Ward

A sunny hot day at Castle Ward, County Down, produced a very nice mix of wildlife, tourism and garden plants.

As far as the birds went, I got a few photos of what seemed to be a second calendar year female pied wagtail, Motacilla alba yarrellii, on the foreshore below the farm at Castle Ward, with its dark grey and somewhat blotchy back, leading gradually into the black cap and a blackish rump (the latter not visible in the first photo below). I remember clearly as a child seeing what I think now must have been individuals of the European race of this bird, Motacilla alba alba in its winter quarters in Africa, particularly on the watered lawns of the yacht club and the posher houses in my then home town of Dar-es-Salaam.

I was surprised to see how brown the primary feathers in this bird were. The outer greater coverts are also browner than the inner ones indicating the mixed age of these feathers. Browning may indicate wearing of the feathers. I wondered if it was a first summer bird, as described in several websites such as http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?print=1&a=2544  but this is said to be an unreliable characteristic after the spring, according to  http://www.digimages.info/bergri/Wagtails_MotacillaAlba&Yarrellii_DB32-4_2010.pdf.

Another option I investigated but quickly rejected, is that this is a juvenile bird, hatched this spring and moulting into its first year plumage. This bird just wouldn't fit as juvenile plumage. In addition this bird today is very similar to the bird photographed at Morfa on the 10th of April, so both are presumably first summer (2cy) birds.

This is a fairly easy bird to identify to subspecies because of the time of year. As it is summer this must I think be a residential 2cy female (?) bird of Motacilla alba yarrellii. Migrating birds of the European subspecies Motacilla alba alba are more difficult to separate in the autumn than the spring, but it is a bit too early for migrants, and the features do not seem to particularly match alba. Reference to this ID sheet is generally useful, file:///C:/Users/davidc/Downloads/THE-SEPARATION-OF-WHITE-AND-PIED-WAGTAILS%20(2).pdf.

Further information is available on  http://www.chog.org.uk/Ringing/Features/Autumn%20Wagtails%20Identification.htm  and  http://birdwatchidblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/autumn-white-wagtails-easy-id-shortcut.html

In this picture the mixed age of the greater coverts is even more obvious. The newer coverts show good broad white edges to the feathers, as yarrellii should. The bird is quite dark grey on the upper flank as well I think (does not seem to be just a shadow cast by the wing), another characteristic feature of yarrellii.

This is perhaps the best picture of the continuation of the black feathers into a blackish rump, yet another feature of yarrellii. Again I think the dark grey of the upper flank can be seen.

Further along the foreshore I came across a different bird that appeared to be a male bird just doing some early moulting - the fluffy down of the old body feathers is over the outside of the new feathers, but still the overall impression is of a very black coloured bird, a putative male. It cannot be a 1cy bird as I had first thought, because they are very much greyer.

In this picture you can also see how fluffy the breast is, and overall the bird is quite tatty. It is quite confusing because this is strictly too early for moulting.

Down on the shore, there were also Herons, Ardea cinerea, Black-headed Gulls, Chrioicephalus ridibundus scavening along the tide line and Common or Artic Terns, Stena sp., fishing out in the deeper waters along Strangford Lough. Later on in the woods, there was a Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla singing unseasonally and Jays, Garrulus glandarius, calling. Other birds included Blackbirds, Turdus merula, Songthrushes, Sparrows,  and Woodpigeons, .

The Black-headed Gulls were largely breeding adults with no signs yet of moulting to non-breeding plumage. These are two different birds, alike as two peas in a pod.

The Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, was too far away to see any detail.

At the Taggarts on Sketrick Island

While the post-wedding lunch went well, fuelled with Tom's work at the barbecues I was able to explore the island a bit along the two roads left and right from the causeway around half of the island's circumference.

Down at the high tide mark turning left as you come across the causeway I found a couple of plants of Lax-flowered Sea Lavender, Limonium humile, together with some plants of the much commoner plant Scurvy Grass, Cochlearia officinalis. Lax-flowered Sea lavender is frequent in Ireland, and also found in Scotland. As Common Sea Lavender, Limonium vulgare, is absent from Ireland, we don't have to worry about the complications of hybridisation, so we can be pretty sure we have the species as such. I could confirm rosettes of ascending leaves arising from a woody rootstock, each leaf with pinnate veins, and a tiny thorn at the tip (mucronate?).

The flower clusters were well separated along the stem, and I think I could also half-convince myself that the outer green bracts were slightly keeled on their outer surfaces (backs). Only one flower was sufficiently open to look down into its throat and confirm that the anthers were red-brown rather than yellow. However it was difficult to be sure that these leaves were narrower than those of Limonium vulgare without a clear side-by-side comparison. There was also a suggestion from a good website that the bracts at the stem branches should be red rather than green, but I didn't pick any of those.

This plant is also known to gardeners as Statice, and produces "everlasting" flowers. It is certainly a very attractive plant in the wild.

Next up was a single plant of what looked like Scots Lovage, Ligusticum scoticum. The leaflets seemed to be too long, but on the other hand, nothing else in the Carrot family looked to be a likely match, so that is my best bet. this is recorded in this area but is a plant of concern as its population is apparently declining. I could see linear bracts at both levels of the inflorescence, the fruit looked the right shape, and the leaflets were trifoliate and shiny.

Finally there were some small plants under the hedge of White Ramping-Fumitory, of Fumaria capreolata. The first thing to do was to measure the length of the flowers and ensure they were large enough to be this species. I could also confirm the reflexed flower stalks, and the white flowers, pinched together vertically, just before (?) the purple tips. The sepals were largely transparent, but once I understood that, it was very clear that they were ovoid structures pointing forward sitting vertically on either side of the flower. As there were no fruit it was not possible to comment on the fruit shape. This plant is said to be quite common in the Mediterranean region, but in the UK it is mainly in the S and W, and more commonly found near the coast.

Birds seen on the shoreline included Herring Gulls, Common Gulls, Larus canus, Black-headed Gulls, Oystercatchers, a Curlew, a Heron, a Cormorant (eating various prey caught by diving, including an eel), and "Comic Terns" fishing in the distance.