A Flutter of Butterflies

Painted Lady

It has not been a good season for butterflies here in our Suffolk garden, though we had a few Brown Argus earlier on and even a Green Hairstreak. However, Red Admirals seem to have flourished in recent days and even the white Buddleia has been awash with their colourful wings. 

We have been thrilled to see a few Painted Ladies, like the one in the picture above that landed on one of the old insect houses. This house has been taken over by ants; you can see their earthworks in the holes. Last summer this same insect house was the domain of Leafcutter bees, who were a joy to watch as they came in and out with their rolled-leaf parcels. 

 

Comma

Meadow Brown, numbers down on 2020

A rather travel-worn Red Admiral

Peacock, one of the few

Red Admiral, one of the many more numerous

Small White (we have had Large Whites, too)

 

Small Tortoiseshell, a slightly better 'garden season' for these

We also had a single male Brimstone a few days ago followed by a Speckled Wood, but they didn't stay around long enough for a photograph. 

 

Painted Lady, wings closed

 

Common Blue Butterflies at Landguard, Felixstowe

 

We seem to have had a very breezy, and at times blustery, summer here in our corner of the east coast. Small butterflies, like the blues, tend to hide away in the long grass and are not easy to see. If they brave the elements by clinging to Viper's Bugloss, Ragwort or grass seedheads, they sway about and can be very difficult to photograph!  

But I love blue butterflies (which always bring to mind 'Blue-Butterfly Day', Robert Frost's springtime poem), and am always glad when I encounter them. The photographs in this post were taken this last weekend on the nature reserve at Landguard, which nestles between the North Sea and the container port of Felixstowe. We think we also saw one or two Brown Argus; these insects are not easy to distinguish from Common Blue females, and in such windy conditions, it was hard to be sure. However, I think the butterflies in these photos are all Common Blue. 

 

Wasp Spider in the Garden ... at last!

 

 

Having kept a careful eye on last year's Wasp Spiders and then their extraordinary egg-sacs, we were beginning to think that the small 'colony' in our Suffolk garden had died out over the winter. This however was not the case, at least not the case entirely, for (while the photo below was taken in 2020) the photo above was taken yesterday. What fascinating arachnids these are! The one above shows the underside; and the one below, the top of the spider's abdomen.

As a postscript to this post I should add that some hours after taking the top photograph, we returned to 'check on' the spider, only to find a large wasp in the grass by the web. What we failed to ascertain was whether the spider was attacking the insect or the other way around. I rather thought the spider had had its day; but no, a little later on there it was, and the wasp had disappeared. Do leave a comment if you can explain what was going on. I have failed to find a website that explains how Wasp Spiders and wasps behave towards one another. 

 

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Previous post (here): Tiger moths, Butterflies ... and Driftwood by Starlight, my new poetry collection.

 

Tiger moths, Butterflies ... and 'Driftwood by Starlight', my new poetry collection

 

 

It seems a while since I last posted about wildlife on this blog. There are various reasons for this including the following: 

(a) having postponed last year's holiday, we finally got away to Cornwall.

(b) I have been busy with the launch of my new poetry collection and other (less exciting!) matters that accrued in the run up to it.

Anyway, the photographs show our favourite moth of the season so far, a Scarlet Tiger seen in the grounds of NT Cotehele, on the banks of the river Tamar. The moth was high up in a tree, which is why the photographs are fairly small. 

The photograph below shows the same species (I believe), also taken in Cornwall, this time at NT Trerice two years ago. This was our first sighting ever of the species, and on this occasion it opened its wings, displaying the reason for its name.

 

 

On the subject of lepidoptera, we took full advantage of the three weeks of the Big Butterfly Count organised by Butterfly Conservation. Each time we sat outside for coffee, lunch or mugs of tea we tried to do a 15 minute count, which was then submitted to the survey. 

This time last year we did much the same, and there were times when it was literally a case of take a bite, log a butterfly, take a sip, log two. It wasn't a bit like that this year; the butterflies arrived in dribs and drabs, but over the course of a week or so numbers began to mount. Even so, they don't look particularly good when set alongside those for 2020! My thanks to David for preparing these charts, which make most sense when you read them together. 

 

 

We are at last beginning to see a decent increase in Red Admirals, perhaps because the white Buddleia has finally begun to come out in our garden. We even had a male Brimstone earlier, the first for a while. 

I began this post with a Scarlet Tiger moth. One of the poems in my new collection concerns the larva of a different Tiger moth species. Driftwood by Starlight can be bought online (£6.99, $10) in The Seventh Quarry Press online shop (here). Some of you will know the Crafty Green Poet blog, where you can read a review (thank you, Juliet!).

 

Launch day

 

Driftwood by Starlight by Caroline Gill, published June 2021, available from The Seventh Quarry Press

'The beautifully-crafted poems in Caroline Gill's debut full-length collection more than live up to the appeal of its Cornish cove cover and title. With elegance and finesse, she masters a range of traditional forms, all of which beg to be read aloud so their musicality can be fully relished. In several poems, joy and wonder in the natural world co-exist with a deep, questioning concern for threatened species from the puffin to the fen raft spider, while Gill's imagery, particularly where birdlife's concerned – 'the curlew's bill of boomerang design', 'white/grenades explode as gannets pierce the sea' – surprises and delights in equal measure.'

 

Susan Richardson, author of Words the Turtle Taught Me 

(Cinnamon Press, 2018), shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award

'Driftwood by Starlight', my new poetry collection

Publication day has come, and Driftwood by Starlight, my first full-length poetry collection has arrived. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Peter Thabit Jones, my publisher.

The book can be ordered here from Peter's online shop at The Seventh Quarry Press. Susan Richardson has written these very generous words for the back-cover blurb ...

 

Those of you who are kind enough to visit or follow this blog will not be surprised to hear that while there are some more historical and archaeological poems, the natural world looms large. Most poems are set on or around the coast of Wales, Scotland and England (Cornwall especially, which features on the cover photograph by Laurence Hartwell). I hope some of you may decide to buy a copy and that you will find something particular that resonates with you. 

 

 

#30DaysWild, Day 9, A Streak of Green

 

We sat outside, drinking our coffee, in the hope that we might see some butterflies. Apart from a couple of Soldier Beetles and two 7-spot Ladybirds in the long grass, there were few insects making their presence known. After a few minutes we noticed a couple of lively Holly Blues on the wing. 

I thought perhaps there might be some bees on the Ceanothus so went over to inspect, when a flutter of iridescence caught my eye in the form of a Green Hairstreak. I had never seen a Hairstreak of any description before our move to Suffolk nearly a decade ago, and have now seen three species, the Green and the Purple in our garden, and the White-letter in the Local Nature Reserve up the road.

My thanks to David for the top two photographs. I have recorded today's butterfly sightings on the Garden Butterfly Survey. 

 • • •

P.S. In case any of you were here earlier today, I had posted my updated Garden Species List, but something happened to the formatting, so I have withdrawn that post while I sort out the code. 

 P.P.S. No further False Widow sightings ... to date.

#30DaysWild, Day 8, Wild or Not-So-Wild Flowers in the Garden

 

For the last ten years I have wondered what this small plant might be. I have made a quick search every so often but have failed to trace the species. I don't think I am entirely there now, but I feel I am heading in the right direction for this evening I finally discovered that it is a variety of Oxalis, a plant related to Wood Sorrel. As soon as I saw the word, something felt right. 

The plant in the photo above, with its distinctive five-petalled flowers and burgundy, almost shamrock-shaped leaves, grows outside our patio door between paving slabs. I have no idea how it came to take root in this spot, but it is always a joy to see. 

I am not entirely sure that it qualifies for a #30DaysWild post as it seems it can be bought in garden centres, but since I have found it described as 'weedy ground-cover', I think it can just squeak into my garden wildflower list ...

1. Daisy (20  February)

2. Violet (18 March)

3. Chickweed (19 March)

4. Dandelion (19 March)

5. Herb Robert (9 April)

6. Red Valerian (29 March)

7. Goosegrass (with tiny white flowers) (21 May)

8. Buttercup (21 May)

9. Red Dead Nettle (21 May)

10. Common Storksbill (24 May)

11. Red Clover (25 May)

12. Oxalis (8 June)

13. Cut-leaved Cranesbill (8 June)

14. Cat's Ear (8 June)

15. Ox-eye Daisy (8 June)

16. Meadow Salsify (16 June)

17. Smooth Sow-thistle (16 June)

 

 

 

 I wonder what will emerge next ...

#30DaysWild, Day 7, 7 June 2021 ... First Brown Argus of the Season

 

It was lunch time and I was about to go inside when something with a glossy sheen about it caught the corner of my eye. My first guess was a Hairstreak, but then I saw the wings open to the familiar chocolate-brown of the Brown Argus (or, on occasions, the female Common Blue). The not-particularly-prominent mark in the centre of the forewing makes me favour the Brown Argus, though I think it is dubious whether the diagnostic 4th spot on the outer wing is in fact present in the photo below. Despite the proximity of the Blackfly in the photo above, Brown Argus larva feed off vegetation such as Rock Rose and particular varieties of Cranesbill and Stoksbill.

We had these butterflies in our homepatch for the first time last year, so we are glad they have returned, now that the unmown grassland of a garden has gone without a mow for well over a year. 

It was only when I uploaded the photograph that I noticed the bonus insect, which could be a female Thick-legged Flower Beetle. 

And just a quick update on butterfly species seen in the garden to date in 2021:

1. Peacock
2. Brimstone
3. Holly Blue
4. Orange Tip
5. Small White
6. Large White
7. Green Hairstreak
8. Brown Argus.

#30DaysWild 6 June, Day 6: A Tale of (at least) Two Blackbirds

The two photos above from our TrailCam show 'Star', the partially-leucistic female Blackbird, caught on camera. She is nearly always the star of our garden show as there must be particularly juicy worms in this corner of the garden! The orange arrow in the top photo shows the distinguishing mark that led to her 'name'.  

The two photos below show her mate, 'Mr Star', taken on different days, but with a bill full of food on each occasion.

 

The Blackbirds seemed to be foraging nearly all the time, and we began to have a hunch that there was almost certainly a 'Star Junior'. We became a bit fearful for the fledgling when the camera showed photos of potential predators in the form of the visiting cat and magpie you see below.

 

The foragaing continued apace, which we took to be a good sign. The adult male Blackbird kept his distance, often standing sentinel on top of a fir tree, but Star would wander round the grassy paths and come within a metre of us if we were sitting on the patio.

 

It seems the frantic hunt for food continued on into the night. The photo above, taken at 03.16 hrs yesterday morning, seems to show a Blackbird bill looking up at something in the air.

We have at last been 'introduced' to Star Junior, a single sleek and healthy-looking semi-fledgling. We have watched mother and young hopping in tandem round the grassy paths. We have seen Star's offspring fly into a low branch and we have watched it 'flop', with feathers all spread out, on the decking. Each day, and almost each hour, brings more independence. I did not like to disturb the 'new arrival' by clicking my camera (which always 'pings' when switched on) while it was spreadeagled in the sunshine, but I hope soon to be able to post a photograph, providing the latest bird on the block stays around a little longer.