Small copper, North Walney 31 August Small copper is a beautiful butterfly and on North Walney this one lingered.
Where shingle merges into sand dunes we found Hare's-foot clover- a pale pink, with soft hairs almost hiding the flower itself. A delicate clover, easily overlooked.
Yellow bartsia is a speciality of Morecambe Bay. The sun was too bright to photograph a yellow flower well but there are few on Walney, so here it is. Red bartsia was more abundant.
A bright and sunny day with dragonflies and damselflies breeding.
Where shingle merges into sand dunes we found Hare's-foot clover- a pale pink, with soft hairs almost hiding the flower itself. A delicate clover, easily overlooked.
Yellow bartsia is a speciality of Morecambe Bay. The sun was too bright to photograph a yellow flower well but there are few on Walney, so here it is. Red bartsia was more abundant.
A bright and sunny day with dragonflies and damselflies breeding.
There were a few white flowers of burnet rose, fragrant flowers. The stems are dense with rosy-red bristles and prickles. And the plant has black hips, shown below.
Damselflies and dragonflies were mating and egg laying at the fresh water pools, the old gravel pits. I stood by the water's edge looking toward the trees which gave shelter from the breeze. Hawkers skimmed the water and rose in the sunlit air. There were brown hawkers, common blue damselflies and emerald damselflies which Americans call a spread-wing for its distinctive habit of settling with wings outspread. Amongst the reeds fringing the pool the sun made star-bursts upon the water and hid damselflies and hawkers in the dazzle.
Lunch was leisurely and the scene reminded me of Pieter Breughel's painting, Childrens' Games. His landscape is crammed with little figures each intent on some obscure game. On the far bank of the pool someone brushed the vegetation with a butterfly net and sucked a tube to deliver into a glass phial his haul of frog hoppers, leaf hoppers and tiny insects. Someone else tucked his butterfly net under his arm to pick blackberries. Later, we looked for toadflax and huddled round to search its leaves for tiny larvae, wriggling caterpillars. I sat on the bank and a common darter settled on my foot. I'll have an emerald damselfly on the other sock please.
' Is there sea-lavender?' I asked Steve Benn, our Natural England guide. I know it from South Walney and it's a favourite. 'Coming up,' said Steve and led us off the heather and onto the salt-marsh. Which deserves a blog unto itself.
My thanks to Steve and his fellow guide. To Julie, for Hare's-foot clover, yellow bartsia and her knowledge of flora. To Ian and Krysia Brodie for identifying damselfly images and the spread-wing ID feature for the emerald. To Arnside Natural History Group for a generous sharing of information.
Lunch was leisurely and the scene reminded me of Pieter Breughel's painting, Childrens' Games. His landscape is crammed with little figures each intent on some obscure game. On the far bank of the pool someone brushed the vegetation with a butterfly net and sucked a tube to deliver into a glass phial his haul of frog hoppers, leaf hoppers and tiny insects. Someone else tucked his butterfly net under his arm to pick blackberries. Later, we looked for toadflax and huddled round to search its leaves for tiny larvae, wriggling caterpillars. I sat on the bank and a common darter settled on my foot. I'll have an emerald damselfly on the other sock please.
' Is there sea-lavender?' I asked Steve Benn, our Natural England guide. I know it from South Walney and it's a favourite. 'Coming up,' said Steve and led us off the heather and onto the salt-marsh. Which deserves a blog unto itself.
My thanks to Steve and his fellow guide. To Julie, for Hare's-foot clover, yellow bartsia and her knowledge of flora. To Ian and Krysia Brodie for identifying damselfly images and the spread-wing ID feature for the emerald. To Arnside Natural History Group for a generous sharing of information.
Click on images to see fully, to read captions
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