First stop was Barbondale. Visited here last year for the first time in late summerand was not disappointed with the variety of Birdlife and the sheer amount upon arrival so we thought we ought to try our luck this year in Spring. We did the full walk this time, up and down the valley and saw an array of things, regardless of the weather, however not as much as last time, although still a great walk.
Highlights of Barbon included; a good number of Common Redstarts (best place for them by far), a single Pied flycatcher, Tree pipits, Meadow pipits (galore), Green woodpeckers and Wheatears. No Ring ouzels this time however. Flora on the walk was good, plenty to see out on the hills, in the woods and by the river's edge. Photographs below.
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| Rush sp. |
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| Male Redstart |
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| Female Redstart |
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| Wood Sorrell |
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| Bluebell |
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| Bluebell carpet |
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| Dog violet sp. |
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| Wild primrose |
Next up was Birk bank bog, which is a great place and this was our second time visiting. Main targets for here were Cuckoo (had them here last time), Green hairstreak and the ever elusive Emperor moth.
Weather was slowly improving at our second destination but it was still windy and cool, not particularly good weather for insects. Surprisingly after not much time of scanning the Heather and Bilberry i spotted my first Green hairstreak of the year (always a joy to see these annually) but this view was brief as the wind blew it away. A walk to the top of the hill proved a worthy trip up as at the top we were greeted with a good number of Red grouse, a Peregrine hunting and a pair of Raven displaying.
On the walk back down i spotted another Green hairstreak which sat up nicely on the Heather showing it's brilliant green sides in the minimal sunshine, lovely.
We didn't end up seeing any Emperor moths on our visit this time, however we've spent good time at various suitable sites in past years, in May and June to try and see them but we've always come up out without seeing any so we're starting to question their existence..
Arriving back at the car park Dad came across a Common lizard and i found a Slow worm slowly making its way across the path, which obviously it being a Slow worm and me being me, i just could not resist handling, such a beauty though.
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| Bilberry - one of Green hairstreak's larval foodplants |
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| Gorse - another of Green hairstreaks larval foodplants |
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| Gorse |
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| standard Sheep shot |
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| Meadow pipits on Heather |
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| Rubbish shot of the 2nd Green hairstreak of the day, got much better shots on the computer from the past, must dig them out.... |
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| Slow worm |
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| Slow worm |
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| Slow worm |
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