Big numbers

Ringlet and Common Blue...Widdrington tip

Speckled wood and Vipers Bugloss...Old brickworks, Stobswood

Wood Vetch...Stobswood

Welted Thistle

Two out of focus moths...Old brickworks, Stobswood

Yesterday after the rain I went to Stobswood and Widdrington tip and as I entered the tip the first butterfly was a Small Heath, the first in sixteen years in this area, Sixteen years ago Speckled woods and Ringlets were not found around here but there were 6 Speckled woods and over 200 Ringlets. There was also 12 Common blues, 2 Large Skippers, 22 Meadow browns and a Painted Lady. Quite a few Moths kicked out of the grass but the two above I don't know what they are. Keeping up the big numbers I counted over 3100 Common Spotted Orchids within the confines of the old tip and this didn't include the many hybrids. At the brickworks I counted a record number of Viper's Bugloss with 940 plants. lots of birds around with 6 Sedge Warblers singing, 4 Buzzards (family group) and Redpolls with young were the best of the bunch. I could bore you further with the myriad species of grasses in flower at the moment.

Aultgowrie

Been offline for a couple of weeks, last week we were getting some building work done so the computer was taken upstairs out of the way of the dust and the week before this we had a pleasant stay in Aultgowrie, Easter Ross just off the Inverness to Ullapool road on the banks of the river Orrin.

Falls of Orrin...Aultgowrie

Ben Wyvis from Clash Wood

Hoof Fungus...Aultgowrie

Dwarf Cornel...An Cabar

Slow Worm in Clash Wood

Breezy and cold on top of Ben Wyvis

The weather was breezy but dry to begin with then but by the back end of the week it became uncomfortably warm and humid with temps reaching a high of 27. I tend to watch the ground more often than looking up to the sky these days so I was able to add a significant number of plants to my list as well as some fungi usually only found North of the border.
I saw plenty of the usual wildlife expected from this area but the highlight for me was coming across some clumps of Dwarf Cornel (Cornus suecica) on the steep slopes of An cabar on the way up Ben Wyvis. A plant that only occasionally flowers, the flowers are clustered in the centre and surrounded by four creamy bracts (not petals).

Plants and stuff

Red Campion...Highford Bridge

Sulphur polypore...Abbey woods

Brooklime...Highford

Sanicle...Abbey woods

Fox and Cubs...Stobswood

I forget the name of this on a nettle and the above was on Willow

Zig-zag Clover...Widdrington tip

Snooth Hawksbeard...Stobswood

Just a quick post of a few outings over the past week. Just above the Highford bridge tons of stone and gravel were deposited following the flood in 2008 creating large islands. These are beginning to be colonised with some interesting plants. I'm still going to Stobswood and Widdrington every week as there is always something to find. I got an e-mail from the county recorder to say that the Dusky Cranesbill at Stobswood is the first county record since 1976. The micro moth was taken at Felton lane where there were Garden Warblers singing all over the place plus a reeling Grasshopper warbler here. Sparrowhawk and Buzzard were taking prey to ther nests here but some of the scrub area is very overgrown. There is still a Grasshopper warbler reeling near Howburn wood at Morpeth.



Dusky Cranesbill

Flogging the the patch pays dividends now and again. I was counting the Northern marsh Orchids at Widdrington tip, 1218 spikes when I did a circuit around Stobswood and at the Northern end of the old brickworks just below the railway embankment were Dusky Cranesbill (Geranium phaeum) and Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium caerulum) in all their elegant glory. I know they are naturalised plants but two beautiful additions to the plant list.

Dusky Cranesbill

Jacob's Ladder

Lots of other stuff with Small Copper, Wall Brown and Speckled Wood numbering 10+ each, Red legged and Grey Partridge and a variety of Warblers including a few Garden and Sedge.

Stobswood

Northern marsh Orchid

Guelder Rose

New shoots of broad-leaved Helleborine

The tip area near Stobswood is transfomed form a bleak dreary landscape in Winter to a lush and more colourful aspect in Spring. I counted more than 300 spikes of Northern marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella) on the Southerly sheltered area alone. Guelder Rose (Viburnun opulus) in older times was known as the Swamp Elder because of the damp habitats it is found in . It thrives along the permanently wet ditches along the sides of the old Stobswood pit heap. The name comes from Guelderland in Holland where a wild and unusual form of the tree is known as the Snowball tree due to the white tight clusters of sterile flowers. There are two types of flowers produced on the same head. The outer flowers which are sterile, attract insects into the inner fertile flowers in the centre of the flowering head. Along the footpath through the conifer plantations there were many new shoots of Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactus helleborine).

A good day for butterflies with Small Copper, Orange tip and usual Whites, Red Admirals and Speckled wood (at least 8) and a fine Red Squirrel in the tall Alders at the Western end of the tip.

Plant Twitch

Spring Squill (Scilla verna)

Thrift (Armeria maritima)

Purple Milk vetch (Astragalus danicus)

With directions from Stewart I was at Cullernose point on Wednesday looking for Spring Squill. It has a Western distribution but this is its most Southerly station on the East coast. Also here were Purple Milk Vetch which has quite a healthy population along the Northumbrian dunes. 

Ulgham

Large Bittercress

Sweet Cicely

Sanicle

Common Dog Violet

Orange Tip on Large Bittercress

Hard Shield Fern (underside, fresh)

Wasp sp chewing wood

Boggy area covered in Marsh Marigold

Today was my turn as a volunteer at Ulgham meadows and wood LNR. It was warm and sunny and lots of common plants in flower. One of my favourite waterside plants is Large Bittercress and it is at its best right now. An Orange tip was on one flower and sat long enough to allow me to take a few shots. Also pictured above are a few of the many plants to be found in the woods and meadows at the moment. On the bird front the best were Whitethroat, Kingfisher and a female Redstart.