Northern Holiday 2018, Post 7: Butterflies at Belton House, Near Grantham

Belton House is in the care of the National Trust. We broke our journey here for tea on the way up and for lunch on our journey south. The gardeners have taken care with their planting schemes, resulting in a good show of butterflies. I was particularly pleased to see Small Tortoiseshells as we have hardly found any 'red' varieties in our neck of the woods this summer, as those of you who read this blog regularly will know. But Small Torties were not the only ones taking advantage of the lavender beds... 

We usually see plenty of Meadow Browns (below), but at least we saw two on this occasion. 

It was terrific to see a pair of Green-veined Whites ...

... and another Small Tortoiseshell. 

This young Fallow Deer stag bounded over in our direction while we were eating our picnic lunch, adding a moment of excitement to the last lap of our holiday. 

In the hot weather it was a delight to amble around the fountain to the Orangery behind...

... where there was a small but rather lovely exhibition of items relating to Florence Woolward (1854-1936), an artist and botanical illustrator.

I'm afraid I have run very behind with these holiday posts since we have now been home for over a month! I hope you have found something of interest along the way.

I am sad to report that 'red' butterflies still seem very few and far between in our area. I have never seen so few Peacocks or Red Admirals in a summer. However, we were out and about here in Suffolk this afternoon and encountered about five Graylings, a species we seldom find, so that gave us a little boost ...

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 6: Puffin Quest at RSPB Bempton Cliffs

You might well be wondering why the first bird in a post with the word 'Puffin' in the title is a ... Guillemot! Having posted a few photos of the Black Guillemot or Tystie a few days ago, it seemed only right, in the name of balance, to post an 'ordinary' Guillemot, too. Seen in this pose, there is something very 'Penguin' about these seabirds.

We were on the last lap of our holiday by this stage, and enjoying bright sunshine at RSPB Bempton Cliffs on the Yorkshire coast. There were Razorbills ...

... flapping about ...

... and long rows of Gannets and Guillemots along the chalk cliff face.

Many of the birds were with their mates, though it was the tail end of the nesting season.

Every so often a Gannet would soar past us.

Suddenly my eyes alerted on a pair of distinctive orange feet which simply had to belong to a Puffin!

There were not many Puffins to be seen, and I guess this was due to the fact that their numbers are down generally and in this part of the world; and also due to the fact that some would have reared their Pufflings by this stage and headed back out to sea. There is a fascinating RSPB post here about counting Puffins.

There may not have been many,
but the ones we saw delighted us, as they always do.

Puffins will always be the showstealers for me, but I love to see the cliffs filled with a healthy mix of seabirds. The photo below shows a Gannet surrounded by Kittiwakes.

Scarborough is not far up the coast, 

and after an excellent Italian meal on the harbourside, 

we looked up at the castle ...

and across to the sunlit cliffs ...

... as the sun set over the water.

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 5: Glenwhan with Fritillary Butterfly

Photo taken by David Gill

We spent our last full day in Galloway on the Rhins. Our first destination was the spectacular garden at Glenwhan, high above the busy port of Stranraer on Loch Ryan. David spent some time above the main garden in an area of reclaimed moorland, and while he was exploring this part of the garden, he spotted the magnificent butterfly you see in the photo above. Now I have hardly ever seen Fritillary butterflies, but I think this may be a Small Pearl-bordered one on account of those central dots and the fact that the habitat was grassland with bracken. We have posted the photo on iSpot, and will update this provisional ID if necessary. The last Fritillary I saw (back in 2013) was much further up the west coast of Scotland on the beautiful island of Raasay, opposite Skye.

While David was exploring the moor, I spent some time in the little pagoda you see at the top of the photo above, looking out across the garden to the Irish Sea beyond. We soon met up and wandered round the magnificent floral borders and displays together, enjoying the bright colours, the views and the insects.

Marmalade hoverfly

The photo above shows the marshy habitat that has been created in the middle part of the garden, above the lake and below the moor. We think we saw Water Vole here.

We were amused to see the boar statue as we had seen a not dissimilar one at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight at Easter, and knew we were likely to visit a third a few days later at Castle Howard. I should be interested to find out a bit more, but here is a little information on the 'boar front' for the time being.

I loved the use of complementary colours in the planting schemes shown here by the juxtaposition of the orange ?alstroemeria and the blue hydrangea.

The photos above and below show the view from the little pagoda, with the sea in the distance.

This little Robin seemed quite content to perch in our presence.

It was soon time to drag ourselves away, but we couldn't leave without admiring a rather proud and magnificent resident ...

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 1: Spoonbills

I'm afraid I'm running very late with my holiday photos, but never mind! I can still post a selection of highlights.

We heard about RSPB Fairburn Ings on BBC Springwatch a short while before our departure, so were delighted to find that the reserve was not far off our route as we headed north. There was a buzz in the air when we arrived, and we soon discovered that three Spoonbill chicks had hatched and could be viewed from a distance. My zoom is not the best, but the photo below the 'viewing' blackboard shows mother and young doing well. What a remarkable sight.

 

There was a heronry with chicks in close proximity, but I would hazard a guess that during our time at Fairburn Ings, all eyes were focused on the Spoonbills.