Orange-tip tag along
Wednesday 28th May
As I was walking through Ebchester Woods today I felt something graze the back of my neck. As I put my hand back there I realised that a male orange-tip butterfly was hitching a ride. A harbinger of spring, this captivating lepidopteran will usually lay a single egg on the underside of the leaf or stem of a cuckoo-flower. If you ever get the chance to look at one through a hand lens, take it from me you won’t regret it. Orange, elongated and reticulated. A thing of intricate beauty.
The fox and the hedgehog return
Sunday 25th May
Some of you may remember videos of recent times featuring a fox and hedgehog spending time together in my garden. Well, I can’t say I’m certain this is same hedgehog, but it is most definitely the same fox that has frequented the garden for the last four years, thanks to its distinctive characteristics. Maybe this fox has a penchant for its fellow mammal or perhaps both species just equally appreciate the extra bit of sustenance and hydration put out for them during this prolonged dry spell.
Either way, what a heart-warming sight this is to see.
Tawny mining bees are nesting again!
Sunday 20th April
Today I was working down by the river (Derwent), and on the path edge something caught my eye. A small, volcano-like mound of soil spool at the foot of an ancient, sessile oak. I carefully put my phone on the path and managed to film a charming video of a preoccupied female tawny mining bee in all her gingery glory. This wonderful solitary bee forms a burrow of eggs and a food source of nectar from nearby flowering fruit trees. She will seal each egg complete with a store of nectar in a single cell which will then hatch, develop, hibernate before it emerges as an adult the following spring.
The great toad migration
Thursday 27th March
Each year at early spring, the Gibside estate sees a common toad migration en masse. It is quite the spectacle. Thousands migrate from their terrestrial hideouts back to the pond they spawned in to breed and carry on the cycle of this charismatic amphibian. Roads and paths are covered and require key intervention to prevent harm. Often you will see the ambushing males clinging on to a very tired, larger looking female on the approach to the water course. She will be fought over many times and you can’t help but feel sorry for the incessant attention she warrants. There is no romance here!
But, with a bit of luck it won’t be long before the surrounding vegetation is teeming with tiny, perfectly formed toadlets.
