Another Painted lady, Undisclosed site Orchids & Haslam park LNR

On the 30th May another P. Lady stopped to nectate from the same flowers the other one did on the previous day and 5 flew through.

At an undisclosed site i found 30+ Northern marsh orchids growing.

At Haslam park LNR in the wildflower meadows, there was a Male Common blue, Small copper, tatty looking Peacock, c50 Painted lady zooming through (and a couple stopping to feed) and plenty of all three common whites about. Also on the brook a Kingfisher stopped briefly. As for the wildflowers, they included Red clover, Hare's foot clover, blue/purple moor grass, Bird's foot trefoil, various Cranesbills, Buttercups and Common bistort was everywhere in masses.

The Painted lady

This isn't the first time i've seen a Painted lady by far, but this year is definitely the first time i have witnessed (or part witnessed) the Spring migration of this spectacular butterfly, and being an influx year i was lucky enough to get a couple in my garden this past week - one just passing through and this one today which fed for a while, giving great photo opportunities then leaving, in it's usual fast manner to join it's other fast friends northwards.

News on this year's migration is that it could be the biggest modern-day wildlife migration in the world with millions of these colourful Nymphalids taking to the skies from Morocco up to their summer breeding grounds.

The Painted ladies arrive in their European destinations after flying from the Atlas mountains in Morocco and other surrounding areas of North Africa. The reason for the influx this year may be due to a wet winter season in Morocco which boosted the germination of the butterfly's foodplant and in turn boosted caterpillar numbers which led to millions of fresh and healthy adult Painted ladies heading off for Europe this spring/early summer.

25th May 09 - Gait barrows, Meathop moss and more

Having missed on a few of our Spring targets on the 9th (with rain, etc) we made the decision to revisit Gait barrows and it's surrounding areas.

We arrived at Gait barrows early morning and the sun was up and the skies were clear. As a result of this we weren't to be disappointed with Life on the ground (and in the air!)

Gait barrows - 1 Duke of Burgundy, 3 Dingy skipper, 10+ Pearl-bordered fritillary, Green-veined, Small and Large whites, 2 Speckled wood, 4-spotted chaser, 5+ Garden warbler, male Marsh harrier and a Anania funebris.

Next up was Meathop, where after a thorough search we missed out on two of our target species (now reserved for next year ;)) but managed to catch up with the most Green hairstreaks i have ever seen - they were everywhere you walked jumping out at you!

Meathop moss - Green hairstreaks (lots!), 10+ 4-spotted chaser, Large red damselflies, 20+ Painted lady flying north, 2 Orange tip, Male Brimstone, 2 Tree pipit, c5 Meadow pipit, c5 Stonechat (one very white winged and rumped individual).

After Meathop we visited an Undisclosed site in sunny Cumbria to see a fairly rare plant, which in my opinion has one of the most stunning flower blooms. The Bird's eye primrose was out in full, carpeting the area and giving a magnificent display (and again in the sun!). Along with the BEP, were Butterwort flowers, loads of Common and Alder Buckthorn (Brimstone's sole foodplants) and tons of Marsh valerian. Also an Orchid was poking through.

Shortly after seeing the Primroses we set off again, this time to Warton crag (near Leighton moss) where up on the top we briefly stopped and came across a pair of Brimstone amongst Whites. The male was particularly beautiful.

Finally, as the clouds were setting in we took up a brief wander up Birkbank near Quernmore in FOB, and caught up with a Cuckoo singing even after the clouds had taken over the skies.

A great day had, seeing Lancashire's/Cumbria's finest and best of all, the sun was out!