The Naturalists' Notebook

A very noisy place on the lagoon behind the steep shingle bank what with 1600 pairs of sandwich terns, 100 pairs of common terns and some 40 pairs of arctic terns – a constant relay of birds – all incoming with fish, mostly sand eels. A marvellous place for the photographer. Along the shoreline numerous moon jellyfish and a few large lion’s mane jellies.

Very warm, sunny day proved excellent for butterflies on a circuit of the Marine  Drive – large numbers of silver-studded blues, impressive numbers of graylings on the hot rocks, 7-8 small pearl-borded fritillaries, several large skippers,ringlet, red admiral, ringlet, small tortoiseshell, wall brown and speckled wood. Interesting plants were slender St. John’s, fairy flax, pyramidal orchid, rock whitebeam and juniper. Another visit 2 days later had a family of choughs feeding in the steep turf above the seabird cliffs near the lighthouse, gannets diving close inshore and a pair of peregrines causing great commotion amongst the kittiwakes.

Limestone Cliffs on the Great Orme

Silver Studded Blue Female

Grayling

Lady’s Bedstraw

View from the Great Orme overlooking Llandudno Bay towards the Little Orme

A much needed day off work! visiting the Great Orme at Llandudno with Dave Bryant and Dave Hardy. Scorching hot day, highlights included: cackling Fulmars on the cliff ledges, nesting Guillemots and Razorbills, Peregrine gliding along the cliff face, Choughs, Ravens, Rock Pipits. Gazzilions of Silver Studded Blues, Graylings sunning themselves on the rocks and plenty of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries feeding on Wild Thyme and Devil’s Bit Scabious. Ruby-tailed Wasps were investigating the dry stone wall along the Marine Drive toll road probably looking for the nests of Mason Bees that it paratisizes. Plants included Wild Privet, Bloody Cranesbill, Lady’s Bedstraw, Common Rock-rose, Bugle, Wild Clary, Vervain, Dropwort, Strawberry Tree, Common Spotted Orchid and Pyramidal Orchid. Those past their best included Stinking Iris, Nottingham Catchfly and Ivy Broomrape.

White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis pair mating

White Satin Moth Caterpillar

White Satin Moth female laying eggs

Southern Marsh–orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa

Early Marsh–orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata

Lots of White Satin Moths Leucoma salicis in the large dune slack south of the Ainsdale Discovery Centre.  Plenty of empty pupae cases, adult moths on the wing, mating pairs and females busy laying eggs. Unusually, the Satin Moth overwinters in the caterpillar stage so the caterpillars present were probably from last year. Not a great profusion of Orchids in the dunes with scatterings on Early Marsh and Southern Marsh Orchids and only one lone Bee Orchid. Nice to see an extensive carpet of Yellow Rattle in one dune slack. Butterflies on the wing included Common Blues and Small Heaths.

The pair of Mute Swans on Sands Lake have five cygnets. Unfortunately yet another idiot dog owner had his collie off the lead that went for the Swans. Mum thankfully moved them into safety on the water whilst the Cob Swan took out his revenge on the dog!

Car-share meeting, joint with Liverpool RSPB.  6 x MNA and 3 x RSPB turned up.
Fallow Deer, normal spotted ones, brown ones, almost-black ones and some white ones. The males were in velvet while the females were in a closed-off area for fawning.
On the lake, a Kingfisher and a Mute Swan family with six cygnets. In the deer park, a nesting Treecreeper disappearing into a crack in tree bark. In the tree nursery, a Green Woodpecker. On the Bridgewater Canal, a Jay and a Banded Demoiselle.

Garden warbler, wood warbler and blackcap in the oakwoods. Higher up with fewer trees, fresh shoots of bracken and low gorse as many as 8 dark green fritillaries flying about in a small area, feeding on bramble flowers – another 3 seen further up the lane. On the open moors lots of summer chafers and small heaths with a few mountain bumble bees. The only wall had a pair of wheatears. Meadow pipits numerous while a cuckoo called in some conifers below. Foel Lwyd with its crags and screes had a raven and a ring ouzel calling while 4 choughs flew along the skyline to the south. Descending a lane to Rowen in the Conway Valley an aggressive buzzard came at me several times in a shallow dive, passing only a few feet above me with a great whoosh – just like a skua. The last attack was best when it came in at a much steeper angle and bunched its wings like a peregrine! Has anybody else experienced this?