After yesterdays biblical downpour - 25mm of rain - it was good to be able to walk around the Horsefield. Warm, today but overcast and with a cool wind from the north. Everything is much more grown up now. There are still not many butterflies on the wing but there were freshly minted, newly emerged small tortoiseshells and red admirals.
It was wonderful today down at Cleethorpes. The saltmarsh was fresh and green and the beach golden with the sea sparkling in the sun behind. I had gone hoping for butterflies and also to check ot the orchids. The dunes were a blaze of colour: yellows of swathers of buttercups and bird's-foot trefoil studded with the pinkish purple orchids. The orchids here are hybrids of common spotted and southern marsh orchids, both relatively small plants. The hybrids, though, benefit from hybrid vigour and are tall and robust and in a variety of shades and with and without spotted leaves. They have been hybridising here for many years and I couldn't find much evidence of the pure species apart from on clump of possibly pure(ish) common spotted. Butterflies, however, were notable from their lack. I only found 1 common blue, 3 small white and 1 male orange tip. Where are all the butterflies this year? Is it down to the very poor April and May?
The first image is of common spotted, the remainder are hybrids.
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The little owl sat on the gate post as I drove along the lane to Scallows. Turning round in a gateway a couple of hundred yards firther on and preparing the camera, I drove slowly back, wondering if I dare block the road. In the event the owl was having none of of it and headed for the horizon. I was keen to get out to scallows to check the front meadow for butterflies as John had cleared the sheep out and it was growing up nicely. It was a pleasure to be back again. Inside the wood it was cathedral like but lit with a green light. As I parked up I spotted a pair of speckled woods dancing in a patch of sunlight and managed to secure a photograph. The wild garlic which had been so luxurient a few weeks ago has now died back completely. The meadow is looking really good and I saw 4 male and 2 female common blues which is the best I have done for a while. Apart from the speckled woods, a single small heath and a small white there was nothing else on the wing. I did find 11 mother Shipton's moths though.
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Another Clear Sunny day, although at 20C and a fresh breeze, slightly cooler. Dog Rose and field bindweed are now in flower as well as goat's beard. I found a clump of Japanese knotweed in the middle hedge; good job it's not in the garden. On the plant front, though, the highlight is the mass of bird's-foot trefoil growing in large patches where the horses have grazed last year. This, of course, begs the question where are all the common blues as this is the larval food plant.
The roadside verges in the lane approaching Bempton looked stunning, being ablaze with campion, cow parsley, hogweed and hawthorn still in flower. The RSPB reserve was just as specacular; the meadows were a wash of pinks, whites and yellows and stirred the soul. Beyond this was the cacophony of sound from the nesting seabirds on the vertiginous cliffs and the sky swirled with birds about their business. Expecting, correctly, Bempton to be very busy in the middle of the day we had timed our arrival for 3.30 as the car park was emptying, having visited Hull to view a couple of galleries on the way. Bempton was everything we knew it would be and we topped off a perfect day with fish and chips in Bridlington.
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