East Yorkshire Butterflies

August 02, 2020

I always see the end of July as ‘High Summer’ the point in time when we are fully out of Spring and the flowers associated with this time are in bloom.

Rosebay Willowherb, Privet, Knapweed, buddlia and bramble to name but a few. The scent of privet is especially evocative and takes me right back to my childhood . It is then I start making connections with the past -Withernsea Carnival, school holidays, flowers laden with butterflies, catching moths under the street light in our old front garden-the memories flood back in an instant.

This year especially with the re-discovery of one of my childhood bibles (The I Spy book of Butterflies) combined with 2 weeks leave have re-kindled my interest in these most enigmatic of creatures.

It is well documented that the amount of butterflies on the wing is a good barometer for the health of the rest of the ecology in our environment. It would appear to me that there are some good numbers of them around at the moment creating some optimism, offering some hope giving a much needed boost in what has been pretty dark times just recently.

As I leafed through the pages of my I Spy book I looked on with some amusement at some of the descriptions I put in against a sighting ‘my friends house’, ‘on a field’, ‘the allotments’ and ‘the railway lines’. To anyone else reading those early notes they would have no idea where in the world those records came from, yet I could take you now to the nearest square yard and show you where those early sightings were made over 40 years ago.

Some of the butterflies to a young lad with a passion for lepidoptera held almost mythical status (some still do)-The Swallowtail, Purple Emperor and Fritiliaries were never going to show up in a small East Coast town and as such were sightings I could only dream about.

Given the recent declines in numbers of most of our wildlife in recent years, I would have been blissfully unaware of what would been an abundance of flora and fauna at the time. Me and my mate Russ used to spend hours on a night catching moths in our butterfly nets-nearly every one was a Silver Y moth but given their size we always thought there would be a chance of something more unusual. Imagine the day when I saw and caught my first hummingbird hawk moth-I remember it as though it was yesterday and seeing one even today brings the same excitement.

My first forays beyond our garden were down the railway lines at Withernsea, This opened up a new group of butterflies that were different from my previous standard fare of red admirals, small tortoiseshells, peacocks and whites.

The railway lines were home to meadow browns, ringlets, the odd gatekeeper (hedge brown in those days) and what I mistakenly thought was silver studded blue but were in fact common blue. Importantly it was the prospect of seeing something even more unusual that made it all the more exciting.

I can remember the remains of the old railway platform being overtaken by nature-brambles down the back and massive (or seemed to be at the time) groups of privet which at this time of year were teeming with butterflies. I used to go down there with my dad-his mission was to bring back as many brambles as we could-enough to keep us stocked up to make bramble pie and jam until well after Christmas. It was here amongst the brambles that the butterflies abounded.

Memories from over 40 years ago which are so fresh in the mind it could have happened yesterday.

So back to the present-my mum and I had a walk down the railway lines last Sunday. Nice and sunny, warm but quite breezy. The change from then until now is very apparent, some may say it looks overgrown, The once wide track is now a footpath not much more than 3 foot wide. For me it all looked pristine and it is a credit to those who have allowed it to develop and enhanced it with tree planting.

It was teeming with all kinds of insects including lots of butterflies. We walked maybe a third of a mile down and not only the number but the diversity was fantastic. It seemed like every flower in bloom had some sort of insect on it-it was teeming with life,

This was only a snapshot-there is no data to compare it against, but this little piece of East Yorkshire, a place so close to my heart is a clear beacon of hope. The butterflies are a gauge for how well the environment is doing and clearly in that small place they are doing very well.

Our natural world is under pressure from all angles right now and areas protected from the threat from farming or development must be given the highest levels of protection.

Their value for allowing us to connect with nature, for uplifting the spirit and calming the mind and their enduring message of hope is something that is priceless in the madness of the world we are living in right now.

Thanks for reading.

Gatekeeper (Hedge Brown)-Withernsea Railway Line

Green Veined White-Withernsea Railway Line

Small Tortoiseshell- Withernsea Railway Line

Humberhead Levels

May 17, 2020

I thought about heading for the coast today but my concience got the better of me and I decided to head to a place where I thought would be less crowded.

As I arrived in the car park I was pleased to see I was the only one there (just how I like it). First sighting was some distant but magnificent red deer-they soon evaporated into the background as soon as they knew I was there.

Not quite a dawn chorus more of an early morning one, still impressive all the same with blackcap, whitethroat, wren, blackbird,robin, willow warbler, chiff-chaff, yellowhammer and cuckoo all playing their part.

I headed off to the area where I thought a red-footed falcon had been seen for the last couple of days. Given that I had never been to the South Yorkshire side before it was all a bit blind, however after a good walk I saw 2 birders who had reliable information that this was the spot. A hobby had been showing distantly but no sign of the falcon.

I hung around for half an hour without any joy so filled time by photographing swifts. The 2 birders moved off leaving me to my own devices. Not long after a grey falcon cam over my right shoulder and carried on, I managed a few record shots which confirmed it was the red footed falcon. I had a wander further along the track and it was hunting over the adjacent field. It was interesting to watch it catching dragon flies-flying up when the sun came out and the temperature rose sending the dragonflies on the wing. Once it clouded over it settled down sometimes for up to three quarters of an hour.

It never came really close but put on a nice show nevertheless.

Both reserves looked in very good shape with lots of birds and insects around-the most impressive thing was the amount of cuckoos around-there must have been at least half a dozen.

I kept very socially distant and only saw about a dozen people all morning.

More From The Garden

May 10, 2020

Some nice photo opportunities in the garden just lately. A male blackbird has obviously had a close escape but has shown some great resillience in bouncing back. He has protected his territory despite what looks like a nasty injury and as of today his feathers are well on the way to growing back.

The house sparrows have been gathering small insects off the red campion so much so that they have nearly all disappeared-great to see a wildlife garden doing what it was intended to do-if it wasn’t for the red campion there’d be no insects and the sparrows would have to look elsewhere.

The goldfinches are now regular visitors and have been quite tame whilst gorging on the nyger seed. Starlings have been bathing in the pond (completely ignoring the bird bath!) and providing some nice photo opportunities-one to focus on throughout the summer.

Great to see our house martins back-they look like they are going to have another try at building a nest after it fell down the winter before last.

A cracking mint moth and holly blue gave some nice colour from the insect world and the masons bees continue to build their cavities within the bee hotel.

Up to 4 hedgehogs now but no sign of any young ones-still plenty of time yet.

Cool weather this week may slow things down a bit, but an unexpected wheatear in Beverley was nice as was the first 2 swifts of the year.