I was at Cranford Park for most of the afternoon and had a lovely transect and walk. As I was leaving I bumped into Max and was told the very sad news that David Wellavise passed away early this morning.
David had a great mischievous twinkle in his eye, a lovely smile and a wonderfully dry witty sense of humour. I bumped into him at many of the volunteering sessions, and always enjoyed some banter with him and his lovely wife, Daphne. He always showed an interest in my photos and what I had seen around the park. He will be missed.
R.I.P David
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My UKBMS butterfly transect was quite surprising today. It was overcast for most of the day yet butterflies I expected to see, I didn't and vice versa.
Species seen and recorded today
Small Skipper
Essex Skipper
Large White
Small White
Small Copper
Holly Blue
Red Admiral
Peacock
Comma
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Ringlet
That is what I would expect to see at this time of year, but this time last year I was counting numbers of well over 150 (on 12/07/2019 I had a total count of 198 and on 08/07/2018 I had a total count of 234 !!) yet today with the cloudy weather I just about hit 90. The surprisingly lowest number were the Meadow Browns with only 10 seen on the transect today. I would have expected a much higher count that that today. Meadow Browns are one of the butterfly species that doesn't mind weather conditions, and can often be seen in the dullest of days. on 12/07/2019 I recorded 39 in total, and 28 of them were in the meadow where today I saw just 10. On 08/07/2018 I had a count of 30 in the meadow.
Ringlet numbers are also down on last year. I only found 4 at their usual corner in the orchard. And I hoped and prayed for a Marbled White but saw none, yet everywhere else I've been to has good numbers of Marbled Whites. I'm not sure why Cranford Park doesn't have a healthy population, and I'm going to try and find out why.
I was also hoping to see a Silver-washed Fritillary today as I had recorded one last July, but no sign of any yet.
Here's a complete onslaught of butterfly pics from todays transect ….
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| Comma |
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| Comma |
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| Comma |
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| Comma |
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| Comma |
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| Comma |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Peacock |
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| Peacock |
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| Peacock |
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| Small Skipper |
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| Essex Skipper |
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| Essex Skipper |
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| Small White |
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| Small White |
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| Small White |
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| Ringlet |
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| Holly Blue with Honeybee for size comparison |
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| Meadow Brown (female) |
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| Meadow Brown (female) |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Gatekeeper (male) - this one has an aberration - the white spot on the upper wing is not usually present |
There weren't too many critters out in the dull weather, the majority were probably hunkered down and hiding under leaves, but this Black and Yellow Longhorn (aka Rutpela maculate) was braving the clouds …
During the transect route I heard the familiar sound of Kestrels calling, and happened to pass under the tree they were calling from, but because I was doing the time sensitive butterfly transect I opted to go back to the tree after I had finished.
And there I found our Kestrels have fledged this years young.
It looks like we have three youngsters this year. I think two males and a female going by the face markings that I could see. At the moment they are sticking to the trees and shrubs at the Cranford Lane end of the park, but in a few days time you'll see them on the grassy paths that cut through the meadow. They will be honing their hunting skills by trying to catch grasshoppers and crickets and butterflies. But for today they were happily perched in trees, or trying to perch on top of shrubs and waiting for the parents to bring them their food in.
The cloudy weather meant some of my photos of them in the trees are quite dark and I've lightened them where I can.
Other juvenile birds in the park that I saw today included this young Blackbird by the car park ...
and this soggy young Song Thrush at the wildlife pond ...
and yet another by the M4 wall …
There aren't too many clumps of Ragwort in the meadows at the moment, but I did spot my first Cinnabar moth caterpillars of the season ...
and some of the young oak tree saplings have already got Oak Galls. Right inside that round mass is the grub of a parasitic tiny wasp.
When it has fully grown and pupated, the adult wasp will make a tiny tunnel and exit through a very small hole which can normally be seen very clearly in the autumn ...
The girls in the paddock didn't really care if it was sunny or cloudy and spent most of the time lying in the grasses ...
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