Lep's For A Change!.........Saturday 29th June 2019.

After not visiting Chamber's Farm Wood and the famous Bardney Limewood's complex for what seems like a life time,today i decided to meet up with Dave F. and pay the area a visit.
 On arrival with Dave not in sight yet,i had a quick look on the Black Currant bushes in the car park and quickly found my first ever Currant Clearwings.
 This diminutive little family of moths,which always look like make up brushes to me are a real joy to see and this one was no exception,albeit not as colourful as some of the other family members,they are still nice to see and an added bonus on today's visit.
 Dave then turned up and we decided to check out the Butterfly garden before heading off.The first of 2 Broad-bordered Hawkmoths for the day gave stunning views as it acrobatically fed at the Red Valarian on the edge of the path.
 A little further and i spotted a Black Hairstreak nectaring on a Privet bush in the middle of the garden,one of the target species we had come to see.It gave close views,but was a buggar to get the correct angle on for a photo and then it was gone. 
 Other species observed in the garden included several Painted Lady,a Grass Snake and a brief female Broad-bodied Chaser.
 We eventually headed off in the direction of 5 ways and around the Minting Triangle seeing at least another 4 Black Hairstreak and 3 lovely White Admiral with a second BBBHM near the bench at 5 ways,with a good mix of commoner species also seen but none in any big numbers.
 A male Emperor Dragonfly provided some interest away from the butterflies and a lovely Peppered Moth and Rosy Footman were seen also.
 A final visit to the butterfly garden before heading to Southrey Wood,saw us bumping into Matt Latham,it had been ages since we had seen each other and we all headed off to Southrey.
 A short time later and we were parked up at Southrey Wood and off we went chatting and catching up.To be honest it was just too hot here,even for the butterflies and we only managed to see 3 White Admiral and a few Painted Ladies,but another female Broad-bodied Chaser and a Black-tailed Skimmer were logged in the note book.
 When we arrived back at our cars,my car temp. said 38 degrees,bloody hell!,that's just too warm.
 We all said our good byes and then headed home after a pretty decent day out and nice to do something different for a change.

Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth

Black Hairstreak In The Butterfly Garden.

Currant Clearwing.

Currant Clearwing.

Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth,Five Ways.

Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth,Five Ways.

The Yorkshire Dales.....Birds & Scenery At It's Finest......Sunday & Monday 23rd/24th June 2019.

Sunday 23rd June

An already planned stay overnight at the lovely village of Malham in the Yorkshire Dales,saw us heading along the M62 bright and early to our destination to complete one of our favourite walks taking in Janet's Foss,Gordale Scar & of course Malham Cove.
 The weather wasn't too bad and at least it was warm today also,albeit a tad cloudy to start.
 As well as the superb scenery,this area also holds some lovely wildlife and flowers,highlights went to a male Redstart,3 Spotted Flycatcher,several juvenile Wheatear and the stars of the show,the Peregrine Falcons.
 The latter really put on an amazing show on today's visit,with the resident pair fledging 4 juveniles,one of which showed incredibly well.
 Wildflowers and plants were also a feature of the walk as always,with Common-rock Rose,Common-spotted Orchids,Adder's tongue Fern and the pungent Ramsons.
 A few nice insects seen included Dark-green Fritillary & Chimney Sweeper Moths.

Monday 24th June

This morning,after a hearty breakfast at the Buck Inn at Malham,we travelled over to another one of our favourite villages,Burnsall.
 We decided to walk along the lovely River Wharfe up to Linton Falls and back,a really picturesque walk and fantastic for riverside birding.
 Today was certainly productive bird wise with at least 10 Common Sandpipers,3 Dipper,2 Kingfisher,2 female Goosanders with young,Mandarin,5 Spotted Flycatcher,Garden Warbler and several Grey Wagtail entering the notebook.
 Unfortunately on the return leg back to the car,as we neared Hebden,the promised thunder storms arrived and the weather turned almost tropical with warm,torrential rain.
 This put an end to our visit,but we both had to be back for work on the night anyway.

A lovely visit again to this special part of the world,the only trouble is i never want to leave!.

Meadow Cranesbill,Gordale Beckside.

Male Redstart,Gordale Beckside.

Gordale Beck.

Common-spotted Orchids,Gordale Beckside.

Chimney Sweeper,Gordale Beckside.

Janet's Foss.

Gordale Scar.

Gordale Scar.

Common-rock Rose,Gordale Scar.

Juvenile Wheatear,Gordale Scar.

Juvenile Peregrine,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrine,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrine,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrine,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrine,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrine,Malham Cove.

Playing Juvenile Peregrines,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrines,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrines,Malham Cove.

Juvenile Peregrine,Malham Cove.

Ing Scar.

Limestone Pavement,Malham Cove.

Malham Cove.

Malham Cove.

Common Sandpiper,Burnsall.

The River Wharfe At Hebden.

Female Goosander & Young,Hebden.

Linton Falls.

Linton Falls.

Preening Dipper,Linton Falls.

Juvenile Dipper,Linton Falls.

Linton Falls.

Garden Warbler,Linton Falls.

Black-winged Pratincole,Frampton Marsh,18th June 2019.

After receiving news from birding buddy Tim that a Black-winged Pratincole had been found at the wader mecca that is Frampton Marsh,the remainder of my shift at work dragged like hell.
 Two reasons,this bird was not only a lifer for me,but it would incredibly be the 3rd species of Pratincole i had seen on this superb reserve.
 After getting home from work,it was grab the gear and head out,the drive south being pretty frantic it has to be said,getting stuck behind several slow drivers.
 As i neared the reserve,it began to bloody rain,but at least it was warm.I grabbed the kit and power walked to where the crowd were watching the bird.
 At first it was pretty much hidden as it huddled in the grass trying to keep dry,but as the rain eased off it showed much better,albeit only on the deck,but what a cracking bird!.
 Bit by bit as it preened,the main ID features were pieced together and finally i had seen my 3rd species of Pratincole,not just for my life list,but also for Lincolnshire as well.
 Unfortunately because of the distance involved,i did not get any photos of the bird as it never flew while i was on site,but there are plenty of cracking images out there,particularly by Steve Keightly.
 This constitutes my 324th species in Lincolnshire and 54th species of wader,what a county Lincolnshire is for the latter!.

Lathkill Dale,Sunday 16th June 2019.

Another visit to another stunning part of the Peak District today saw us visiting the beautiful Lathkill Dale in the 'White Peak' area near to Bakewell.
 We began the walk by parking in Upper Haddon and walking along the river Lathkill up to Monyash.Some of the scenery is absolutely stunning and reminded me a little of Gordale Scar in the Yorkshire Dales,particularly at the Monyash end.
 The flora and fauna here is varied with some lovely wildflowers including the nationally rare Jacob's Ladder and we saw birds including Dipper,Grey Wagtail,Redstart and a family of Mandarin Ducks.
 A few insects encountered,included Small Heath & Wall Brown butterflies,the latter,the first i had seen this year.
 It is a typical habitat mix of the limestone areas in the 'White Peak',with rocky areas interspersed with some ancient woodland and also some nice historical features from the bygone days of Lead mining in the area.
 All in all it was a very nice area to visit and one we will certainly do in hopefully better weather next time.

Jacob's Ladder.

Jacob's Ladder.

Male Grey Wagtail

Small Tortoiseshell Larvae