A May Miscellany

1: Hornsea and Tophill Low - May 24th

I started my East Yorkshire roundabout trip at Kirkholme Point, Hornsea Mere to see the lingering iceland gull. Soon spotted chasing the visitors around among the canada geese. Iceland Gull Iceland Gull Eventually it flew out on to the mere... Iceland Gull ....and came back for a rest! Iceland Gull There were lots of jackdaws about. Jackdaw I headed on to Tophill Low. My hope was to photograph reed warblers as it is the best place I know to get up close to these birds. Here they are. Reed Warbler Reed Warbler Reed Warbler Reed Warbler Reed Warbler Reed Warbler Reed Warbler Next I walked on through the woods heading for the kingfishers. A common sandpiper ran along the reservoir parapet. The dots are flies - one on the right is almost in focus! Common Sandpiper I got quite close. Common Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Amazingly there was no-one in the hide. A lapwing dropped in. Lapwing Lapwing

Both kingfishers turned up and were still taking fish into the nest hole. Rather pleased with this set of images. Kingfisher Kingfisher Kingfisher Kingfisher Kingfisher Kingfisher

2: My favourite Yorkshire walk - May 26th

A very early start had me walking south from Barden Bridge by 7am. It was a beautiful morning. Bolton Abbey Walk

I saw pied and spotted flycatchers but failed to get any decent photos so I settled for goosander, mandarin, dipper, blackcap, curlew and nuthatch - in no particular order! Nuthatch Goosander Goosander Blackcap Blackcap Mandarin Dipper Mandarin Curlew Mandarin Curlew Dipper Curlew Mandarin

3: Garden spider: May 27th

Sheila spotted a hatching of a mass of spiders on virginia creeper by the garage at home. I put the macro lens on. Tiny baby spiders

4: Chris and Barry go orchid and butterfly hunting! May 28th

Barry fancied a trip to Leyburn Old Glebe field near Wensley. The famous green-winged orchids were much in evidence but largely over for the year. We found no burnt-tip orchids and settled for a couple of marsh orchids and quite a lot of twayblade.

View from the orchid field. View from Leyburn Old Glebe YWT

Marsh Orchid Common Twayblade Common Twayblade

Second target would be Duke of Burgundy butterflies to the east, north of Helmsley. We were in luck - not only did we find our target butterfly but in the glade we also had painted lady, red admiral, dingy skipper and small copper. Small Copper Dingy Skipper

The Dukes are very small! Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy Barry correctly identified this miniature potentilla - tormentil. 'Tormentil' Potentilla erecta

We called briefly at Sutton Bank to see the early purple orchids [too busy for any chance of turtle doves] and headed for a site near Knaresborough for an annual small blue 'fix'!

Barry got down to work! Barry photographing Small Blue He found a common blue damselfly too. Common Blue Damselfly Plenty of small blues on the kidney vetch. Small Blue Small Blue Small Blue Small Blue Small Blue

228 UK 2017