A Day Out at the Seaside

 AS the weather turned out better than forecast we decided to walk Jet down at the beach in hopes of seeing sanderling on the tide line.  In the event we were thwarted in both things: no sanderling and a sea fret blew in on the tide.  We had an enjoyable walk, however; like being on holiday with the hustle and bustle of people kite flying, walking on the beach and even in the tide!!  Every time I visit the Buck Beck Beach Bench becomes more elaborate; in fact it has got the the point where it features on Google as a local Cleethorpes landmark.  As usual there were several little egrets on the salt marsh, although not much else in the way of birds.  We really enjoyed our walk, though and were pleased to see the sea lavender still just in flower.

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Little Egret

Little Egret

Buck Beck Beach Bench

Buck Beck Beach Bench

Drift Wood

Drift Wood

A Suprise in the Woodland Burial Ground.

 Again the sun came out after lunch following a gloomy morning, however today it very quickly clouded over and later turned to rain.  This meant very few butterflies:

• Whites 4
• Speckled Wood 3
• Peacock 1
• Meadow Brown 1

The highlight of the walk, however was the fox.  As I turned in through the gate a fox was lying in a very relaxed way on the grass and wasn't fazed by me at all.  It sat up as soon as it saw me and allowed me to take some shots and then lay down again.  As I moved forward, though, it stood up and moved into the sanctuary of the trees.  A very pleasant encounter.

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A Good Afternoon on the Horsefield

 The weather has turned cooler and more grey this week; not good for butterfly photography.  However after lunch the sky cleared and the sun cam out so I made my way over to the Horsefield.  It turned out to be a successful afternoon with my second brown argus record for the patch, male and female common blues and small copper, one in particular, on common fleabane, being of super colour and condition.

• Whites of varying species 12
• Meadow brown 4
• Common Blue Male 4; Female 2
• Brown Argus 1
• Gatekeeper 5
• Small Copper 3

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Common Blue female

Common Blue female

Common Blue female

Brown Argus

Common Blue, Male

Meadow Brown

Small Copper

Small Copper

Small Copper

New Species in the Woodland Burial Ground

 A perfect afternoon so I headed through the cemetery towards the Woodland Burial Ground hoping that some dragonflies would be out.  On the way I could see across the fields that the oil seed rape, or what was left of it after the pigeons had finished with it, was being harvested.  I was delighted to find my first brown argus on the patch; the afternoon was looking promising.  My optimism was rewarded when I immediately came across common darters in the usual places; I always forget how late species appear on my patch and expect them earlier.  The Horsefield is quite exposed so there it is more expected but it is sheltered in the burial ground so I don't know the answer to this.  My good fortune continued when I found a couple of small copper butterflies and a superbly fresh female southern hawker dragonfly.  Speckled woods and gatekeepers were still on the wing as were a couple of very worn ringlets and some meadow browns.  Peacock and red admiral completed the day.  Guelder rose berries are turning red already and should look a picture against the autumn foliage in a few weeks time.

• Brown argus 1
• Peacock 4
• Speckled Wood 4
• Meadow brown 7
• Ringlet 2
• Gatekeeper 4
• Small copper 2
• Red admiral 1

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Oilseed rape harvest

Brown argus

Common Darter

Common Darter

Common Darter

Common Darter

Common Darter

Guelder Rose

Small Copper

Small Copper

Small Copper

Female Southern Hawker

Female Southern Hawker

Speckled Wood

Red Admiral

Zebra Jumping Spider in the Garden

 While I was pottering in the garden today I came across a zebra jumping spider.  I have been searching for one of these in the garden for the past could of years to no avail so was delighted to find this one.  These striking little jumping spiders are most frequent around human habitations - on sunny outside walls and fences and sometimes indoors.  They also turn up on tree trunks, rocks and shingle.  Although they normally move unobtrusively and fairly slowly, most species are capable of very agile jumps, notably when hunting, but sometimes when startled.  All jumping spiders have for pairs of eyes with the middle two being particularly large.

Holly blues can often be seen in our garden at this time of year but rarely settle in a photograph-able position so I was pleased with the image of this one.

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Canna Lilly abstract.

Holly Blue

Zebra Jumping Spider

A Sultry Walk Around the Horsefield

 Although it was a dull and threatening afternoon and rained later in the evening the day was warm and humid at 22C.  I hadn't been around the Horsefield for some days so set off to see what was about.  To me the land seems bone dry.  Despite a lot of rain at the beginning of the month it hasn't rained now for over two weeks and has been unrelentingly hot.  I was amazed at how much the vegetation has grown up; I have never seen things so overgrown.  Earlier rain and then high temperatures have produced an explosion in plant growth.  The freshness has gone now, though and things are beginning to look dried up, perhaps 'back-endish'.   Although I didn't make a detail count, there were a lot of whites about, mainly large and small and a few green-veined.  Gate keeps were also around in large numbers and there were good numbers of ringlet and meadow brown.  Amongst large numbers of small skippers I found 2 essex skippers.  I also saw 1 small heath, 2 small tortoiseshells and 1 common blue.

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View to show the black tips to the antenna of essex skipper.

View to show the black tips to the antenna of essex skipper.

Small/Essex Skipper.

Green Veined White

Green Veined White

Meadow Brown

Silver Y Moth

Small Skipper

Small Skipper

Small White

Butterflies, Dragonflies, Sea Lavender, Sea Swimming and Fish and Chips.

Having dropped Jet off at the Kennels we were soon pulling into the Rimac car park on the Saltfleetby/Theddlethorpe NNR by which time it was time for lunch and a brew up before heading out into the dunes.  Despite being warm at 22C it was annoyingly windy which was going to make photography a challenge.  It was good to see rest harrow in flower as well as common centaury.  I always enjoy vipers bugloss and it was lovely to see some orchids still hanging on: pyramidal, southern marsh and common spotted.  There was a lot of marsh helleborine by the pond on the freshwater marsh, although it was past its best.  On the butterfly front there were lots of small skippers and whites about along with good numbers of ringlet and meadow brown and lots of gatekeepers.  I found one each of peacock, common blue and small copper which posed beautifully on ragwort.  There were large numbers of darter dragonfly but I could only find ruddy darters; why no common I wonder.  I have since posted some images on facebook and was delighted when a friend who is much more experienced than I am identified one of the gatekeepers as an aberration, ab.excessa.

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Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper ab.excessa

Gatekeeper

Marsh helleborine

Ruddy Darter, male

Ruddy Darter, male

Ruddy Darter, male

Ruddy Darter, female

Ruddy Darter, female

Ruddy Darter, female

Ruddy Darter, male

Ruddy Darter, female

Ruddy Darter, female

Ruddy Darter, male

Ruddy Darter, female

Ruddy Darter, male

Small Copper

Small Skipper

Small Skipper

Having enjoyed a couple of hours at Rimac we continued on down to Huttoft Bank for a paddle.  However, it was so pleasant there and the sea temperature at least moderate if not warm, I was tempted into having a swim.  The water was delightful and refreshing and I came out thinking we should indulge in more sea swimming!

Feeling refreshed, it was time to head back into Mabblethorpe for fish and chips.  On our way through earlier it had been unusually crowded in the town itself, reminiscent of boyhood visits for my birthday treat back in the 1950s when British seaside holidays were de rigueur.  In view of this we called at the excellent Queen's Park chippie where enjoyed our tea in the sun outside.  Excellent.

I was time to head homewards by now but not before calling in at Paradise Lagoon at Saltfleet to see what birds were about.  The lagoon produced lapwing, little egret, dunlin, greenshank and several green sandpipers.

Next stop was at Howden's Pullover for a brew and a short walk to look at the sea lavender which was excellent.  After this we could delay our return home no longer; it was beer o'clock!!

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