Summer 2

Butterflies, feathered friends . . . and some “fur” for a change.

Saturday 27th June, 2015

Butterflies

In April I started compiling a list of first sightings of butterflies - and then I got bored and forgot to keep it updated because there were very few butterflies around in the glen.  But this week was more interesting so I scrolled through the old posts and updated my list.  Up to the end of last week I had seen the following butterflies:

Peacock . . . . . . . . . . . 4 April - garden

Comma . . . . . . . . . . . 9 April - garden

Small tortoiseshell . . 18 April - garden

Green veined white . 29 April - garden

Orange tip (male) . . . 7 May - garden

small heath . . . . . . . . 9 June - Langness

small copper . . . . . . .  9 June - Langness

This week I added three more.  On Sunday I saw a butterfly down by the gate.   It was very active.  I just got a blurred impression of an orangy colour as it flew past.  It only settled once briefly and I didn’t get a good view of it apart from black and white on the tip of the forewing - which narrowed it down to a red admiral or painted lady.  I got another brief sighting the next day and on Tuesday it finally settled on the white centranthus behind the house.  It turned out to be a rather weather-beaten red admiral.

I came across the Manx Butterfly Conservation Facebook page while browsing the other day and found out a new fact - new for me, anyway.  The Red Admiral is not considered to be fully resident on the Island.  It is listed as a migrant with some possibly overwintering.  Our first red admiral stayed in the garden for another day or two and hasn’t been seen since.

On Tuesday we saw our first speckled woods of the year in Skyhill plantation.  They were in all the same places that we saw them last year.

The first one we came across was near the path above the planting of broadleaf trees.  It was sunbathing on a fern leaf.  Then another speckled wood approached and they went spiralling up into the trees.  According to a paper by  N. B. DAVIES that I found on the internet, this is common territorial behaviour exhibited by speckled wood males.  He writes in the introduction “Speckled Woods spiral flight.   Males competed for territories, spots of sunlight on the ground layer of woodland, which were the best places for finding females. At any one time only 60% of the males had territories; the remainder patrolled for females up in the tree canopy. Males continually flew down from the canopy and rapidly took over vacant sunspots. However, if the sunspot was already occupied, then the intruder was always driven back by the owner. Experiments showed that this was true even if the owner had been in occupation for only a few seconds. The rule for settling contests was thus `resident wins, intruder retreats'. Experiments showed that escalated contests only occurred when both contestants `thought' they were the resident.”

In a small clearing near the top of the path we saw another pair spiralling and then one in sole possession of his “sunspot” a few yards further on.  I took a photo but got an even better one of another speckled wood on the way home.

We have since seen speckled woods in Brookdale and there was at least one in the garden this afternoon.

This morning we saw two meadow browns in Brookdale.  The first one escaped while I was fiddling with the camera. I took a photo of the second one after wading through some brambles but I needn’t have bothered because I got a better photo, the first sighting of a meadow brown in our garden, after we returned home.

We saw a small heath up in Brookdale too.  If it hadn’t been for the orange on the forewing, it would have been perfectly camouflaged on the stoney track.

Birds

On Monday Tim saw a blackcap (aka northern nightingale) again in the shrubs outside our living room window.  This is the second time we have seen one in this part of the garden.  I wonder whether they have a nest on the far side of our hedge.  There is a very overgrown area in that part of our neighbour’s garden with a fallen tree, young ash trees and rampant brambles . . .  a paradise for birds.  Our neighbour is planning to put his house on the market soon and mentioned getting contractors in to sort out the garden.  I hope the garden improvements don’t take place until after the nesting season.  

I think a pair blackbirds may also have had a nest in that area because they spent quite a lot of time there.  I even saw one fledgling blackbird chasing a reluctant parent begging for food.

There has been an unusual visitor on the niger seed feeder this week.  At first I couldn’t believe my eyes and thought I was looking at a funny coloured siskin.  It was a lesser redpoll - only the second one I have been lucky enough to see and the first time I have got photos.

This photo shows the similarity in size of the siskin (on the left) and the redpoll.

And this is a better view of the red patch on her head.  I think it is a female because the males have pink colouring on their breasts during the breeding season.

The chaffinches and siskins have been bringing their babies to the feeder but I still haven’t had a positive sighting of a juvenile goldfinch even though the adults come every day.   A few days ago I thought that I saw a baby in the tree above the feeder.  I ran to get my camera but it had gone by the time I returned.  And then I started to have doubts . . . perhaps it was just a baby siskin.  The juveniles look similar from the front when you can’t get a good look at the gold patch on the wings and the black tail of the goldfinch.

I started thinking, rather whimsically, about the poem by Queenie Scott-Hopper who . . . “ . . . never quite saw fairy folk . . . But, while behind that oak I hid,  One day I very nearly did!”      Perhaps I never quite saw a juvenile goldfinch . . . but I very nearly did!

“Fur”

On Sunday I took a photo of this visitor sitting in our summerhouse window.  She was enjoying the sunshine and watching the birds fly past before I politely asked her to vacate the premises.  I am not really an anti-cat person.  I like most cats and if it were not for the birds, we would probably invite one or two to live with us.  But we do our best to attract the wild birds to the garden and it seems unfair not to do all we can to protect them from predators.

When we walked in Skyhill plantation we saw some real wild fur in the adjoining paddocks.

And then we were visited by the sweetest little wood mouse.

Walks

We went on a series of short local walks during the week in an attempt to get fitter after recovering from colds.

The most photogenic and memorable walks were to Brookdale plantation.  The first visit was on Thursday.  I took some photos as we walked up the road.  First a newly opened wild rose.

Then some pink campion, growing on the bank above the little river.

And finally some rather fine fuchsia magellanica.

The Isle of Man does not have a national flower - although four have been suggested.  Heather and gorse are both reflected in the purple and gold of the Manx tartan; the fuchsia is also an iconic Manx flower even though it isn’t really appropriate because it is native to South America . . . and one of the past Manx governors suggested humorously that the ragwort (a bright yellow weed which poisonous to grazing animals) should be declared the national flower because it flourished all over the Island.

As we crossed the footbridge into the plantation, the sound of the gurgling river was almost drowned out by quadraphonic bird song.  We couldn’t see the singers but it seemed likely that a number of robins were holding angry negotiations about territory.  They split up from their partners after the breeding season when the pairs share territory.

I wondered what caused this damage to some of the young sitka spruces at the side of the track but decided that it must be frost damage.  The only other possible culprit could be carelessly sprayed weedkiller but the pattern of the damage ruled that out.  

We turned back when we reached the clearing - and after I took some photos of this thistle.  It looks like a marsh thistle and I wouldn’t welcome them in the garden - but it has a weird kind of beauty.

We had a second walk in Brookdale today.  The birds were quieter.  Perhaps they have settled their disputes over territory.  I didn’t take many photos because I forgot to put the memory card back in my camera and the built in memory is very limited.

The path is steep in places but is fairly good.  The only obstacle we have to negotiate is a steep mud bank, which can be slippery when wet, and the trunks of some victims of the larch genocide.

I know it sounds selfish but I am glad that the access hasn’t been improved like Archallagan.  Archallagan plantation used to have a wild and inaccessible pond which was the haunt of dragonflies and damselflies.  But recently it was “improved”.  Now the route to the pond is signposted, there are picnic tables, a boardwalk, an adventure playground under the trees and mountain bike trails.  The long grass and bushy gorse and willow surrounding the pond have been cleared and there are notices giving information about the dragonfly trail.  Archallagan even has it own Facebook page with photos of bikes and children enjoying the playground and moans about dog muck.  But I couldn’t find one report of anyone actually seeing a dragonfly or damselfly since the pond was “improved”.  I hope the wee beasties arrive later this summer and that they haven’t been disturbed by the destruction of the vegetation on the margins of the pond.

Brookdale might be a bit of a mess with areas of felled larch but it is great for wildlife and wild plants.  The brambles are thriving in the sunny clearings and there are patches of foxgloves and the promise of rosebay willowherb in a few weeks.

Garden

I haven’t done much in the garden this week.  The roses are starting to flower and the climbing rose by the summerhouse is looking pretty even though the flowers have suffered in the wind.  One branch kept blowing off the roof and has ended up rather artistically draped across the front.  

It is a frustrating rose to photograph because it is impossible to achieve the true colour.  The delicate pink is too pale in comparison with the background and the camera can’t cope with the contrast.  It is possible to get a better impression of the colour in this close-up of one bud.  The outer petals of the flowers are slightly discoloured. This is probably due to being thrashed around in the gales.

Midsummer

Here we go again!

Saturday 20th June, 2015

Less than two weeks ago, I resolved to spend less time on writing and more time on gardening and cleaning the house.  As happens with most of my resolutions, it didn't work out as planned and the resolution didn't last long.  I did spend less time writing but the time that I "saved" was just used for pointless activities like playing killer sudoku or feeling sorry for myself because I had a cold.  

I am starting a new garden-themed blog because Walking the Bayr ny Geayee has been closed to public readership and mothballed.  I started worrying that I had not been discrete enough about our various activities.  Even feeding wild birds in Ramsey is apparently taboo.  Last Sunday, while I was taking a photo of a cormorant, a rather officious man told Tim that he could be prosecuted for feeding the gulls on the quay.  

Also the pro and anti pheasant shooting factions in the glen are on the warpath and I don't want to be caught in the crossfire.  And I am too lazy to go through a few years' worth of posts in order to delete the bits that I should have left out in the first place.

I have done practically nothing in the garden since TT started apart from mowing the grass each week.  The garden doesn't seem as inviting when one has a cold and the midges are out in force.  There are three types of weather that midges hate . . . hot sunshine, heavy rain and wind.  And all have been in short supply recently.  We have had a series of still, overcast days mixed with sunny spells and drizzle.

There are still very few butterflies around.  Just the occasional green veined white, but I have seen a hummingbird hawkmoth on three separate occasions.  The third time I managed to get a photo - not a good one but good enough for proof of identity.  I had seen the moth on the sage flowers but it flew up to the centranthus under the hawthorn before I got my camera.  So I just took a few shots at full zoom through the dining room window.  It was a miracle that the photos were not even worse - given the distance and the state of the windows.  

I have frequent debates with myself about cleaning windows.  On the plus side they would look more respectable and any photos taken through the glass would come out better.  On the minus side more birds might crash into the windows if they were cleaner.  I usually decide to give it a bit more thought before doing something and end up doing nothing.

There has been a lot of bird activity in the garden.  Tim saw a male blackcap hopping about in the shrubs outside the living room window week ago.  This is earlier than expected as the blackcaps usually only arrive in the garden when the raspberries are ripe.  We also saw a young wood pigeon which had just left the nest.  It is the first time that I have seen a juvenile.  They can be distinguished from the adults because they lack the white neck patches.

Then I saw at least two longtailed tits on the bird feeder which is also unusual because we have only seen them in winter previously. 

Later I heard them in the front garden.  They were up in the top branches of the white flowering cherry.  They may have had juveniles with them but I couldn't see well enough to be sure.  

I don't think the tits have had a very successful breeding season this year.  I have hardly seen any baby tits on the feeder.  Our great tits built their nest in the nestbox as usual but abandoned it before laying eggs.  We opened it to have a look after it became certain that they had gone.

On the other hand the siskins have done remarkably well.  They are almost as numerous as the chaffinches now.  It is difficult to distinguish the juveniles from the females but the centre bird feeding on the saucer was obviously a baby because it kept begging the male (on the right) for food and being rebuffed.  The father had decided that it was old enough to feed itself.

This afternoon I saw two baby robins up at the top of the garden.  But, even though we have had more adult goldfinches visiting the feeder than in previous years, I still haven't caught sight of a juvenile goldfinch.

The blackbirds and thrushes have been collecting worms and slugs again.  They must be feeding second broods already.  The thrushes prefer to hunt in the morning and evening when the light is rather dim for photography.

One male blackbird took time off to indulge in some weird activity.  I wouldn't have know what it was doing if I hadn't happened to read a short of report on "anting" on the internet the day before.  He was standing on a patch of grass which was swarming with small ants and kept fidgeting around - apparently picking ants off his feathers, preening and then and eating them.  The behaviour is not fully understood but I read that the ants release formic acid on the feathers before being eaten.

The young chaffinches find life out of the nest rather tiring at first.  This one was having a rest in the mesh food bowl.

While our son was staying with us he asked whether a rather scruffy male chaffinch was a fledgling.  I thought it was more likely that it was an adult male which was moulting but decided to check on the internet.  I found one scientific paper with too much jargon for my simple mind - about research into “Photoperiodic Control of the molt cycle in the chaffinch”. I was amused by a reference to "the postnuptial molt" which conjured up a rather frivolous image of chaffinches in white meringue dresses and top hats. But I did manage to find out that juveniles do not moult until autumn - only adults moult at the beginning of summer. Another bit of interesting information about moulting is that chaffinches only have one moult. The brighter colours on the heads of the males in spring are just due to wear and tear. The tips of the feathers are not as bright as the lower part and some birds deliberately scratch their heads in order to accelerate the abrasion and onset of the brighter colour.

As far as the plants are concerned, I have to report that sadly my blackthorn did not survive being transplanted.  It looked quite spritely for a while but gradually wilted.  But it is not all bad news because our kind neighbour found a nursery garden that had a few blackthorns in stock at St John's and we drove down this morning and bought two plants.  I sincerely hope this is a case of third time lucky.  Many years ago we dug out a very tiny blackthorn which had sent up a shoot in the middle of a path.  It survived the move - but didn't survive being accidentally raked up with the autumn leaves.

The warmer weather has accelerated the rate of growth of both plants and weeds and now my cold is almost better I shall have to brave the midges and do some serious work outside.  It is even starting to look like summer at last with the oxeye daisies and foxgloves in full flower.

A week ago the oriental poppies and wisteria were still looking good . . . 

. . . now but the poppies have shed most of their petals and the wisteria flowers are being overwhelmed by rampant leaf growth.  The rhododendron flowers are also past their best but there is always something new.  The viburnum opulus is flowering well this year.  It must have enjoyed the cool spring.

The pieris which lost its first crop of bright red new leaves to the late frost has decided to try again.

The red hot pokers which were demolished by slugs last year have managed to produce a few flowers.   The slugs prefer eating the flower stems and the buds so the leaves survive more or less unscathed.

And I had just one perfect iris flower.

PS  I checked the Ramsey Commissioners Byelaws and found this information:

19 Feeding of animals and birds (1) No person shall feed, or attract the gathering of wild birds, other wildlife or vermin, by providing any food in a manner likely to cause nuisance, inconvenience or to give reasonable grounds for annoyance to any person. (2) This byelaw applies to the areas shown in the plan in Schedule 3.

According to the plan in Schedule 3 we are only prohibited from feeding the swans on the south side of the harbour - so we could always cross the swing bridge and feed them perfectly legally on the other side of the river!