done buzzin

This cold damp bumblebee was found this morning hanging by one foot from a scabious seed head, about to fall stuporose into the meadow grass below and be consumed by the many small predators there-in. Foraging bumblebees often run out of fuel like this especially first thing on colder mornings. In its dopey state it was easy enough to move the bee to a fresh flower head, where it quickly started feeding and refuelling to start another day's work.

Hard though it is to remember, these meadows were full of butterflies only a few months ago (see link). Below is an example of witches' broom, a gall of birch caused by a fungal infection

Meadow dogs

Hard though it is to believe it has been hot and sunny for almost two weeks now. This is the first spell of decent summer weather we have had since 2005. We spent this morning ambling through the meadows by the river Inny. There were hundreds of meadow browns and ringlets and I spent a long time trying to capture them on a photo to convey some idea of what our meadows are like now. This is the nearest I got (guest dog:- Meg from next door). Apart from one marbled white, a few small whites and some small skippers there were no other species of butterfly despite the warmth. However, at least a kingfisher appeared four times in quick succession, flying towards me and then up and away to give a flash of its brilliant orange breast plumage. The fish were biting, and so were the horse flies. There were several species of dragonfly and damsel fly. Always of course followed by the meadow dogs!

meadow life

for the first time this year the butterflies are stirring in the meadows. There were dozens of meadow browns (top) and skippers (middle) and the occasional ringlet (bottom), but no sign yet of the bigger and more colourful species, and no painted ladies.

meadowlands

the meadows are so impoverished around here we have had to plant our own.

a small skipper

There are several species of skipper butterflies but only two, the small and the large, are found locally. This is the small skipper, and the photo shows the characteristic orange colour of the under tips of the antennae. These are very lively butterflies which dart about (hence name) and which favour meadows of uncut grass. It is feeding on bird's foot trefoil although they prefer to feed on knapweed (as below) and thistles.

heath fritillary

at long last, a photo of a butterfly (a very tattered heath fritillary) on a butterfly orchid, it is a meadow icon. I am not sure why butterfly orchids are so named but I have never seen a butterfly on one before. There are a lot in the meadows this year. The butterflies were very docile after 48 hours of wind and rain which allowed some unusually close close ups. I have always liked the effect created by sunlight shining through the wings.

across the fields of ragged robin

it continues to rain, and the Inny meadows are wet and dreary although there was some bedraggled ragged robin.

meadow magic

The sun brought out the butterflies today, they must be getting desperate! The range and balance of wild flowers in Greenscombe (I am never quite sure whether this is spelt with one 'o' or two) meadows are always slightly different year to year. This year there are lots of ox eye daisies, and dozens of butterfly orchids (great and small). There are dozens of heath fritillaries, so it seems that they are now well established in this tiny spot.

The characteristic feature of the heath fritillary is a black spot in section S2 of the underneath of the fore-wing. This is not visible in the bottom photograph (typical!) but at least it shows a good view of the patterns underneath the wings.

some of my favourite things

marsh orchid, lesser butterfly orchid and heath spotted orchid, all out in Greenscombe meadows today.

more from the meadows

Spot taking a close look at some red bartsia, a semi parasite of grass. Maybe he has toothache (qv).The last flowers of the summer are coming out in a tangled profusion, including from the bottom up, water mint, birds foot trefoil, purple loosestrife, meadowsweet, and hogweed at the top

there was news this morning of a new initiative at Kew Millennium Seed Bank to generate seed of our native meadow plants (link). Nearly all of the plants mentioned grow locally except the harebell, although the ivy leaved harebell is found in local woods. The devil's-bit scabious is just beginning to flower (the violet flowers top left) in amongst the purple knapweed

meadowland

wrens flourish because there are so many insects in the meadows at this time of year. The knapweed is now the dominant flowering species locally. My eye caught this very pale bumble bee, it looks like a white tailed bumble bee but the other bands should be a brighter yellow so it may be another species.

beauty and the beast

a crab spider has caught a meadow brown and is hauling it up to the flower head. Not all is beauty and light in the meadows.

knap hand

although it is common, as this photograph shows, knapweed brings a blaze of brilliant purple colour to the meadows in late summer (a prize to anyone who can name every flower in this photo).


 PS .... prizes are always photos of Spot :-)

silver washed out

There were a lot of silver washed fritillaries out today in the sun. They seem to prefer meadows and grassland that lie next to woods. They are large and powerful fliers and are usually quite skittish, but the top photo is of a female who was prepared to pose for me with the sun shining through her wings. The male in the lower photograph is feeding on hemp agrimony instead of the preferred food of brambles which have almost finished flowering.