Dunstable Downs; Butterflies, Bees, Burnets and Poplars...

The temperatures throughout the day have been much more tolerable over the past few days. The searing heat seems to have receded into comfortably sunny days, shaken with a few immense storms and heavy showers. However, it has taken me a while to get around to sitting, sorting the photos and writing the blog, so we will have to cast our minds back to the days where by 9 am, wearing only a t-shirt and shorts was far too much (unless you can work the sodden arm-pit look).

Between shifts at Whipsnade, I decided to head over to Bison Hill, and have a little stroll through the chalk grassland meadows across the hillsides. It has been an absolutely incredible year for butterflies, and I had hoped to find the time to get out and spot some!

Orchid in the grassland

Remaining flowers of a Pyramidal Orchid

By the time I got out onto the grasslands, it was plenty warm enough for the butterflies to be extremely hyperactive. And in the slight breeze, there were swarms of them. As I strolled the pathway, chalk blues, probably in their hundreds across the site, lifted up from the grasses like turquoise gems with wings.

Chalk Blue

Female Chalk Blue; a really naff photo, but one that shows off the beautiful colours!

Phwoarrr! Mating Blues...

The colours are astounding. Peacocks, with their deep, rich red scales decorated with the blue, black and cream eye spots. Large and small whites, as their name suggests, are pure white with the very tips of their wings dipped in black, sometimes with small black spots. The bright orange little gatekeepers, rest on the ground before fluttering off at first sign of disturbance.

Gatekeeper

The little larger, and much darker, meadow brown makes a frequent appearance. Ringlets, a very dark brown, with black spots surrounded by a ring of white or yellowy cream.

Ringlet

Another white, this time with a green tinge and some dark and defined scales along the veins of its wings, giving the butterfly its rather imaginative name... green-veined white!

Green-veined White

Not to forget the skippers. A dusty orange brown, the male of both small and large skippers were aggressively defending their territory, whilst keeping their eyes peeled for any passing females they can mate with.

Large Skipper

Large Skipper

Small Skipper

And last, but definitely not least, the marbled white...

Marbled White

An absolutely stunning butterfly, and the first I have ever seen! Not only have I seen a species I have never seen before, but I got to see tens of them. Tens of them amongst hundreds of other butterflies. However, I did notice a parasite on one of the marbled whites; check out the red mite on the photo below. It does not look very nice for the butterfly, but, apparently, the mites do them no actual harm. 

Butterfly with parasite

Of course, being out on the downs there was plenty of other animalian activity!

Six-spot Burnet Moth

I came across what looked like the next entrance to a colony of red-tailed bumblebees. Outside of the nest entrance lay tens of deceased bees. I do wonder whether this was a natural part of the cycle of life for a bumblebee, maybe the worker bees have moved them outside of the nest, or maybe there was another cause for a mass of dead bees to accumulate by the hole in the ground??

Dead bees!

Within just a 40-minute walk, I found 11 species of butterfly, of various sizes, colours and shapes. Surely, evidence enough that you do not have to travel halfway around the world to find the exotic and tropical colours of the wild. Try a short drive up the road to a wildflower meadow in summer. Here in the UK, we have 59 resident breeding species to choose from. So keep your eyes peeled, whether its in your back garden, whilst taking your kids to the park, or on your next spot of birding down the local nature reserve, and see how many colours you can spot!


I will end this heavily insect based post with another insect. This time a moth, found at work, by the wonderful catering team next door who have made me their first port of call to come over to help rescue any moths that have ended up inside the cafe. I am extremely grateful they do... stunning animals!

Poplar Hawk-Moth

On the tree

Once again, thank ya'll for reading folks! I really do appreciate it. Next post will include my brief trip to Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk... Surely not more butterflies!?!

Yellow: Rape, Butter, Hammer and Moon

Blue, yellow and white flowers, with purple buds... the lovely Forget-me-not!

From the classic signs of spring, to the turn of summer. My previous two blogs were heavily focused around  the violet-blue bluebells and the dunnock in the garden. The dunnocks have fully fledged and the few chicks that survived are now off on their own adventure, with the ultimate goal of surviving until next spring and having chicks of their own. Because there was so much blue going on in my previous blog, I decided to theme this one around the colour yellow. A very summery colour indeed, often associated with optimism and bright, fun-filled days. But first, a bluebell with a difference...

From blue (and white) bells...

.... to the yellow of rapeseed

The weather had finally taken a turn for the better, at least for a few days, and you will have noticed the fields are filled with the overwhelmingly sweet smelling rapeseed plant. Its scent so thick in the air you can almost feel it. I quite like the smell, and I especially enjoy the fields laden with splashes of gold amongst the intense green of the now chlorophyll packed leaves on our trees.

Fields of rape

Fallen shed

In just the last forty years, rapeseed production has increased in the UK from a few thousand to a couple of million of tonnes, and is becoming a far more common sight as we drive, train, cycle and walk through our countryside. Since it has become a far more palatable crop and the toxins have been removed from its oils, it is quite a healthy alternative to other cooking oils on the market. 

In the rape

Aesthetically, the flowering plant looks wonderful on bright sunny days, and provides a beautiful contrast to the bright blue skies on a clear day. Fortunately for me, the plant is insect-pollinated, and although some people have reported to suffer allergic reactions from it, my horrendous hay-fever appears to be none the worse...

Amongst the rape

Rachael and I took a trip up to Therfield, a site recently designated as a coronation meadow in honour of the 60th anniversary of the Queens coronation. Buttercups laden the fields as cows lounged in the heat, lifting their head out of curiosity as two people made their way through their field.

Cow in a field of buttercups

Yellowhammers called from perches in the hedgerows surrounding the arable farmland. Breeding populations of this bird have declined by over 50% across the UK in the last 25 years. But, like the skylark in this area, the yellowhammer is seemingly doing well in this part of the countryside. What a beautiful little bird it is too!

Male Yellowhammer

Some insects, like this field digger wasp, use the brightness of yellow, mixed with black, as a warning to other animals. Kindly, this provides others with the knowledge that trying to predate them could be a bad idea...

Field-digger wasp

This lunar months full moon shone a brilliantly bold orange and yellow against the black of the clear night sky, dulling the surrounding stars from the top of the Downs in Whipsnade.

Full moon!

Driving into Stotfold, the moon sat directly above the road leading into the town. Pulling over, I stood in the middle of the road, and enjoyed the incredible sight.

Showing me the way home

How amazing is the natural world around us? I really believe more people need to take more time to just stop and admire the sight, sound, smell, taste and feel of the world around us. Take a break from the long drive home and see your breathe as you watch the rise of the moon. Listen to the dawn chorus before getting into your car to work and putting the horrendously irritating idiot on Radio 1's breakfast show on, as they churn out a loud of crap music that sounds like the last load of crap music that came out two years ago. Watch flying mammals catch flying insects on the wing at night, bees collecting nectar and immersing themselves in pollen. Think about how plants have evolved to rely on insects to enable them to reproduce and how insects rely on plants for food. You do not have to go far - your back garden is a great place to start, just open your senses to the world around, learn and be inspired.

Bumblebee

Tree sparrows and a Sparrowhawk in the garden this week have bumped this years garden bird list up to 23 species... Next blog will include a little trip around Ashridge (again!) and Ivinghoe. Hope ya'll enjoyed!

Toads, Red Kite & a Badger Sett in a Car...

Finally. The weather is ideal; comfortably warm enough to sit outside in the morning with a cup of tea, squinting slightly in the bright, low sunlight. Blackbirds and song thrush fill the air with their wonderfully refreshing song, whilst tits call with cheerfully repetitive phrases. My room is now warm enough in the evenings to leave the window slightly ajar, allowing me to hear the faint high-pitched squeak of echo-locating pipistrelle bats, as they hunt for insects that have taken flight in the night. The sudden change from the freezing conditions that gripped the country, to the warmer days of spring has unleashed all plants and animals that have laid dormant over winter. 

Common Frog

Walking through Whipsnade was impossible to do so without coming across toads every yard or so. On a short walk through the zoo at night, we counted well over 80 toads. A mixture of males and females, chirping  furiously in an attempt to locate a mate and produce young.

The horny toad

Males, wisely, often ride on the back of females and get carried to their ancestral breeding grounds. Males will mate aggressively with females, latching on until she releases eggs for fertilisation, sometimes drowning them. In their somewhat blind desperation to reproduce, they will also attempt to mate with deceased females, or, if you are Rachael, a human hand moving them to safety from a busy road. Chirp!

Toad face

To Dunstable Downs. My new favourite place to visit. Already violets scatter the steep chalk hillside here. Never have I enjoyed being and feeling so intimately close to wild birds of prey. Not for the first time, I pulled up in the National Trust car park, and being a big fan of the odd nap, I wound the seat back, and nodded off for half hour or so (Not bad for a 24 year old!). When I woke, as I opened my eyes, a red kite with its wings arched into a 'W' formation, forked tail balancing it in the strong winds, bombed directly across the front of my car. What a sight. 

Red kite above

Rich red and brown in colour, grey heads and with white undersides to their primaries.That classic and diagnostic forked tail makes them easily distinguished from other large birds of prey. 

Another red kite rose on the wind forced up against the side of the downs. Holding its wings stiff, the kite reached down to its talons mid-flight and tore scraps from the prey it most likely scavenged. 

Feeding mid-flight

The red kites are a conservation success story, being brought back from near to extinction in the UK. And it is not just the red kites that love patrolling these hills. Kestrels hover, head motionless in the wind. Whilst buzzards soar in a circling fashion, with their wings stretched wide. 

Buzzard

Olivia joined me after work for a walk on the downs, where we investigated some of the woodland in the area. Immediately, we stumbled across some entrances to what turned out to be a huge badger sett. The entrances appeared to have been used recently, nesting material strewn messily around the site, latrines full of their messy tar-like faeces, scratches set into the bark of nearby trees, and even badger hair caught onto branches by some of the entrance holes. 

Curiously, the remains of an old, rusted car sat amongst the woodland. Slowly it has been reclaimed by the land, filled with dirt and tangled by new growth. What was strange, was to find an entrance to the badger sett  underneath where the drivers seat would have been. 

Rusty old car in the woods

Hair was caught on the shard of metal that hung from just above the sett entrance. There is something fascinating about the idea of human waste being claimed and used to the advantage of wild plants and animals. Something that would have been an appalling act of littering and dumping, has conversely become what appears to be a useful shelter and protected entrance to the badgers sett.

Sett in the car

Even stranger, was the discovery of three skulls, amongst a heap of bones from a range of animals. Rabbit, as you would expect from an area prowled by aerial and terrestrial predators. Then what looked like the jaw of a cow, possible due to the grazing that has occurred on sites nearby. Two badger skulls, fairly close to the sett. And a third, very similar in size and shape as the two badger skulls; it had the same dentition, but lacked the sagittal crest that runs along the centre of the two badger skulls, instead fused by two separate fibrous joints. Confusing indeed.

The three skulls

Whilst eating sandwiches, a spotted wolf spider came crawling out of the undergrowth.

Spotted wolf spider on the chalky downs

Close-up!

Back in Langford, and a red lily beetle perched on a blade of grass in the garden. Luckily flying off before I cut the grass. Apparently they devastate lilies and are a burden to gardeners.

Red lily beetle, poised on the end of a blade of grass

Little beauty!

Quite frankly, I am a red lily beetle fan. A very good-looking insect, that can ruin any of my lilies any day.

Back at Whipsnade, and a metallic trill echoes through the woodland. Faster paced than the cackling of the green woodpecker, and a lot tinnier. A bird lands on the trunk opposite. The wonderfully slate grey back, separated from its chestnut orange underside by a black eye band running back from its bill. Reaching its head out, it eyes up its nest hole. Then dashes into the nest hole where a branch used to be. Packed with dirt, the hole is now only big enough to fit the nuthatch through.

Reaching out

Eyeing up its nesthole before entering

Nuthatch are hot on the heels of the treecreeper for their amazing ability to effortlessly scurry both up and down tree trunks and branches.

Calling from the top of a tree

Collecting dirt

And just below this wonderful bird, the newborn wild boar piglets charge around and snuffle through the mud, imitating their boisterous mother. Cute or what!? 

Boar-lets

And I shall end with this photo of Ellie, enjoying the cool River Ivel on one of our sunnier days....

Expect some butterflies and some bloody faetus' in the next blog.... Bet you can not wait!