I Love Arnside and Silverdale: Snippets of Wealth - Wednesday 24th July 2019 - Hybrids, Atrorubens, Helleborines, etc etc.

Wednesday, 24 July 2019

Snippets of Wealth - Wednesday 24th July 2019 - Hybrids, Atrorubens, Helleborines, etc etc.

Birds today were represented by 2 family groups of Willow Warblers calling with their contact calls "hou-wit", also had a calling Chiffchaff (in song), 4 Ravens overhead to the South and then came back on themselves half hour later. A very loud Green Woodpecker coming close and calling so loud. Also heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the nearby woodland. Insects must have been flying above the fell and I had the great pleasure of enjoying at least 14 swooping Swallows and even a Martin and a couple of Swifts.

Butterflies have also been good with 5x Meadow Browns, a couple of Ringlets, 2x Painted Ladies, 1x Small Heath, 1x Common Blue, 3x Large Whites, 19x Grayling, but not getting any of the large fritillaries over the past week or so.

Diary page for Wednesday 24th July 2019 Hutton Roof Epipactis

I continued with my Broad Leaved Helleborine survey and now completed. On my research area today I finished with a total of 132 which included 18 that had been predated. In fact at the last survey in 2017 I finished with a total of 136 which 88 were active and 48 predated. So we have more or less got the same quantity, but done a lot better with non-predation numbers this year.

Still finding one or two atrorubens, but not a lot on offer.

However! I did know about a Pallens which I found about two weeks ago but never mentioned it until now, but until it actually flowered I could not be too sure which it might have been, but now I can confirm it is our Pallens No.6 which I am pleased its come through again, and brings our Pallens up to 10 flowering this year.

I don't know whether I will get around to surveying the quantity of atrorubens, will try to sort it later this week but just for today I thought I would count the schmalhauseneii area No. 17s and did manage the following: 6 confirmed hybrids, 52 atrorubens (some hybrids suspected in this number) plus 9 snipped.

I noted that when I was surveying the area 70's for the helleborines, lots of the plants were suffering with a burn to odd leaves, this has also been the case over the past 2/3 years so they are either diseased or I wonder if the area is a sort of sun trap and catching some of these leaves. Also today I am finding lots of plants throughout all areas which suffering with Black aphids together with their patrolling large ants.

Here are some of the photos from today: