Just got back from Scotland, here's the report...
Osprey at Loch of Lowes....
26/06/09
A 2:30 am start saw team Hunter hitting the road to the news that Michael Jackson had died and this pretty much dominated the news for the next week.
The drive north was smooth and we were at Warton Crag by 6:30am for breakfast and Peregrines – 2 fledged youngsters and 1 adult performed well as we ate and had a massive grass fight on the verge in the car park. Here’s a youngster………..
The weather was already warm so a quick hop up to Arnside Knott and straight away we were seeing butterflies – the tally here was 5 Dark Green Fritillaries, 2 High Brown Fritillaries, 2 Frit sp, 7+ Graylings and 1 Painted Lady – good stuff!!
Grayling....
The temperature was now in the 20s so when we got to Meathop Moss the area was alive with Large Heaths!! Very active, though one gave itself up to the camera….
En route to Scaleby Moss we had several Northern Brown Argus, then after lunch wandered onto the moss. More Large Heaths here, but the stars were the 10 or so White-Faced Darters that were buzzing around the pools. 15 Crossbills flew over.
The evening was spent in Falkirk where the room I had booked wasn’t a family room, so Owen had to sleep on the floor on a duvet!!
27/06/09
Kieran’s first birthday!!!
Continuing the long drive north one of our stops was at the fantastic Loch of Lowes and it’s pair of Ospreys, showing well from the hides. 2 chicks were also seen. On the feeders were 20+ Siskins and a Red Squirrel.
Male Osprey.....
Arriving at Aviemore mid afternoon I booked on the evening wildlife hide session then spent some time at Blackpark – highlights here included Common Hawker, 7 Small White Orchids and lots of Heath Fragrant and Heath Spotted Orchids. A few Redpolls flew over.
Small White Orchid...
Just before settling into our mountain lodge for the week we quickly located a Northern Damselfly and a few Four-Spotted Chasers on a pool at Loch Garten.
After doing the food shopping in the evening, I headed out to the wildlife hide near Loch en Eileen and waited for the show to begin!!! During the next 3 hours I had point blank views of 3 Pine Martens feeding just outside the hide . 1 Wood mouse also made several appearances – a superb end to the day!!!!
Northern Damselfly.....
28/06/09
A Brown Hare started off the day as we drove north to Inverness to go swimming – a great morning with the family!! Lunch was spent on the Black Isle watching close Bottle-Nosed Dolphins just off shore with the assembled crowd. Owen was amazed by the views ( as were mummy and daddy!! ). Kieran was only interested in lunch!!
We had a drive down one of the nearby glens but had nothing of note apart from some stunning scenery.
After the kids went to bed I had a trip out into the Abernethy Forest….
‘Pool 2’ held 4+Northern Damselflies and 1 Emerald Damselfly. A Roe Deer crossed the road as I drove home.
Emerald Damselfly...
29/06/09
A day spent at the Landmark adventure centre in Carrbridge, but first we visited some sites on our way. In the forest we had a nice patch of Twinflowers and a few in bud Creeping Ladies’ Tresses.
Twinflower....
2 Crested Tits also showed well here. On the small dragonfly pool 3 White-Faced Darters were sunning on the broadwalk and 7+ Four spotted chasers were battling each other in the air – an amazing site!!
White-Faced Darter....
Team Hunter on the broadwalk....
Further north in a roadside field 10+ Northern Brown Argus gave me the runaround in the warm weather!!
A visit near Loch Garten in the evening produced 40 Lesser Twayblades ( 5 flowering ) and more dragonflies.
Lesser Twayblades - note the swollen ovaries.....
30/06/09
An early start saw us heading west to the shores of Loch Maree – after nothing to start with we had a stomp around Bridge of Grudie – Dragonfly mecca!!! In the next 1.5 hours we had 5 Northern Emeralds including a pair in tandem, 1 male Azure Hawker, 1 Four spotted chaser, 1 Highland Darter and a stunning Golden Ringed Dragonfly!! 2 Large Heaths also showed well here.
Golden-Ringed Dragonfly....
Highland Darter....
At the visitor centre we had a walk around and saw 2 Common Hawkers, 1 Small Pearl Boarded Frit, Large Heath, 3 Golden Ringed Dragonflies and 2 small flocks of fly-over Crossbills, all set in amazing scenery!! This area has to be seen to be believed – truly stunning!!
On the way home, I searched a steep bank of a roadside loch in the searing sun – this was hard work, and after an emergency phone call I realized I was a little late for the main attraction of this site. However, not deterred I carried on searching and eventually located a Cruenta Early Marsh Orchid – leaves spotted on both sides and spotting on the bracts etc left me in this doubt of what I was looking at. Lots of Heath Spotted and Lesser Butterfly orchids were also present and 2 Large Heath buzzed past – I was a sweaty knackered heap when I finally made it back to the car!!!!
01/07/09
Pool 2 was an first stop and a Common Hawker was seen harassing a Small Pearl Boarded Frit and a Red Deer crossed the road. We had a lengthy walk in the forest, seeing 2 Crested Tits very well and this Toad on the path…
Pool 3 was still producing the goods with White-Faced Darters showing very well around the pool. 1 Large Heath and another Crested Tit completed the visit.. I showed Leigh a Lesser Twayblade, but don’t think she was that blown away by it!!!An amazing field on the B970 held 100s of orchids including Lesser Butterfly.
White-Faced Darter...
2 trips to Inverdurie fish farm allowed Owen to feed the fish, daddy to watch the Ospreys and mummy to have a sleep ( though coma would be a better description!! ).
A stamp around the Cairngorm car park was very pleasant and produced a couple of bee sp that I will have to check up on.
Another evening trip to Pool 3 gave me superb views of a Common Hawker and more Northern Damselflies at Pool 2.
Here's a close up of the segment 1 marking....
02/07/09
An early visit to the Northern Brown Argus site gave me better chances of photos after we had enjoyed a Dipper at Nethy Bridge. A few Red Squirrels were seen today.
Northen Brown Argus...
Heading south to Uath Lochans we had an excellent 1.5 hours here – highly recommended for dragonfly fans!! Just take the path that goes round the lochans – we had a very showy male Northern Emerald that buzzed just over head at times, 20+ Four Spotted Chasers, 2 Golden-Ringed Dragonflies, 1 Common Hawker and 3 Small Pearl Boarded Frits.
The rest of the day was spent at the Highland Wildlife path where the Wildcats were my highlight of the day……
In the evening this Creeping Ladies’ Tresses was starting to flower……..
03/07/09
North of our accommodation 2 Black Throated Divers were seen in perfect ligh conditions on a roadside loch. Pleased with this we headed cross country to Loch Ruthven for a smart summer plumaged Slavonian Grebe and then onto Loch Bran. Arriving at the Loch, I thought access was going to be tricky, so I parked in a passing space and crashed the family through the trees to view a small bay on the loch – leaving the site I drove a further few yards to turn around and found a picnic area and car park!! D’oH!!!
However, at our chosen spot we did get stunning views of 2 male Brilliant Emeralds, one male regularly hovering inches in front of my face as he patrolled his chosen edge of the loch – fantastic!! The drive along the single tracked road back to the A9 was exciting at times!!!
We spent the afternoon walking around (and in!!) Loch en Eileen and Loch Gamhna. 3 Crested Tits showed well, as did 2 Spotted Flycatchers and 1 Golden-Ringed Dragonfly. 40+ in bud Creeping Ladies’ Tresses were located during the walk.
Our last evening so another quick jaunt to Loch Garten produced the usual species.
04/07/09
The journey home – cool and cloudy en route meant I decided against the long detour to Ben Lawers and Mountain Ringlet and ended up at Loch of Lowes – the young Ospreys were wing exercising and this Grey Wagtail showed well from the hide.
A brief visit to Loch Leven produced Swallows nested in the toilets and a Ringlet in the car park………..
After a burger and chips we headed into Beverly park in Kirkcaldy where the rest of team Hunter staked out the play park whilst I had a look at 7 Rhondicila Common Spotted Orchids in a large colony of normal plants – brilliant!!
We spent the night in Berwick Upon Tweed before the final push home……….
05/07/09
Holy Island was just down the road so we searched the area around the Snook – lots of Northern Marsh Orchids and Marsh Helleborines, and around 20 Lindisfarne Helleborines were located in a flooded dune slack. A few Dark Green Frits were on the wing as well.
Marsh Helleborine...
Lindisfarne Helleborine....
'So you think Helleborines are attractive? Loser!!!!'
Heading south to Bishop Middleham we were greeted by the sight of several hundred Dark Red Helleborines in flower on the floor of a disused quarry – mind blowing!! and 2 Northern Brown Argus added some interest.
Dark Red Helleborine....
After a long slog along the Yorkshire coast we spent a pleasant hour at Bempton for the seabirds and their trademark smell!! A grasshopper warbler was reeling near the path – and then that was that – our holiday was over and we arrived home just after 7pm – totally awesome trip, fantastic weather and a big thanks to everyone who helped me with gen – Cheers!!!
With the orchid grapevine buzzing Team Hunter set off towards the Chilterns and the superb reserve of Aston Rowant - in just a short walk we had seen a few Greater Butterfly Orchids on their last legs and then carried on into the reserve. I let Owen hold my GPS and he was very keen, watching the arrow and the distance set changing as he walked around!!!
'Daddy, it's on zero' he said and we were at our first target - a superb Common Spotted Orchid Var Rhondicila - this variation is hyperchromic which means there is an excess of pigmentation. What a cracker!!!!......
Just a few meters away was a Bee Orchid Var Belgarum - another smart variation.....
7 normal Bee Orchids were also located as we searched for the main prize here - 2 Frog x Common Spotted hybrids!! Quite attractive and intermediate between the 2 parents....
Amongst the thousands of Common Spotted Orchids were a few Var Albas (albinos)....
On the way back I located 6 Frog Orchids, mostly just starting to flower. These were tiny! This plant has 2 of my fingers behind it for scale, and I'm no goalkeeper!!!.......
After all this excitement Team Hunter settled down to the serious business of lunch and enjoyed the numerous Red Kite fly pasts we had over the next hour - we must have seen 20 + birds during our visit and drive up and down the M40 - superb!!!!!
Heading home, we popped into Lullingstone Golf Course and on arrival at the orchid bank had 10+ Dark Green Fritillaies - mostly very active, but this one gave itself up to my trusty NV3!!!
Lots of Small Skippers, Ringlets and 1 Comma were also seen - another excellant trip!!!
13/06/09
After a morning digging etc in the garden, I joined Andy Lawson for a few hours in the Shoreham area. I was hoping on Lizard Orchid on Lullingstone Golfcourse, but there was no sign. Andy had a Dark Green Fritillary, but I missed this!! The Pyramidal Orchids looked smart though!!
On the way back to the car we came across a few Bee Orchids.........
Nearby we heard a Quail calling from a roadside field near Shoreham - excellant!! A great little trip out!!
14/06/09
With warm weather forecast, Team Hunter headed out into East Kent. Another visit to 2 Late Spider Orchid colonies simply confirmed it was another poor year at thie site.
I located around 30 plants. I was pleasantly distracted by 4+ Black-Veined Moths and Owen helped me track them across the downland - superb!!
A very worn Dingy Skipper also showed here.
Pleased with this we headed onto Parkgate Down in hot weather and little wind - there were loads of orchids to see - Monkey and Lady Orchids were going over, but the 1000s of Fragrant Orchids were spot-on, including a few var Alba....
1 Greater Butterfly Orchid was still in flower and several Musk Orchids were starting to come out, but as usual their small size made them tricky to see!!...
We finished up at Sandwich Bay where we were very impressed with the display of Southern Marsh Orchids and by a careful search I located a good candidate for Leopard Marsh Orchid. Check out the strong double loops on the labellum with no dashes etc outside these loops ( ruling out a hybrid origin )....
A few Lizard Orchids completed the trip, including this group on someone's front lawn!!!
Another great trip!!!
