Wild Wharfedale
The Wharfedale Naturalists Society 

Wharfedale Naturalists Society


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Walks in Wharfedale


Welcome
 to the Wharfedale Naturalists Society

- and to the wildlife of Wharfedale

Looking forward to
June

June 3 Nature Walk
Adel Dam
June 5 Botany
Otley Wetland Nature Reserve survey
June 5 Birding
Malham Tarn and Malham Cove
June 7 Botany
Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve
June 10 Nature Walk
Nightjars and Owls at Timble Ings
June 10 Geology
Holden Beck to Addingham
June 17 Nature Walk
Otley Wetland Nature Reserve
June 19 Botany
Deepdale Hay Meadows
June 24 Nature Walk
Ferns in Middleton Woods
June 28 Summer Visit
Coach Outing - Potteric Carr

Full Spring/Summer programme here


Second award for limestone project
Take care when pouring down the drain
Merlot from Yorkshire, Hampshire too hot to make wine
North-south divide revealed
Rubbish dumps pay for woodland beauty
Yorkshire Dales conservation project in line for award

Ben Rhydding needs you!

Ben Rhydding gravel pits

Steve Parkes invites you to the (first!) annual Balsam Bash at Ben Rhydding, on June 15th and 22nd.

This special place needs our attention to maximise its wildlife value. The sessions run 10.30-3.30 both days. BTCV funding means that we can provide free drinks and maybe even snacks! All are welcome, especially16-25 yr olds who are keen to give conservation work a try. Under 16's need to bring along an adult.


Butterfly time

Ringlet

June is one of the best months for butterflies, with many species appearing for the first time in the year.

Common Blue, Large Skipper and Northern Brown Argus have appeared early in the month, as has the migrant Painted Lady. Later Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Skipper and possibly Dark Green Fritillary will fly.

Towards the end of the month a few White-letter Hairstreak may be seen on creeping thistle.


Banded beauties

Banded demoiselle

After the cool April, it took warmer weather in May to get our damselflies out, and dragonflies are still few and far between.

One striking damsel - demoiselle, actually - is the Banded Demoiselle, named of course from the male's wing pattern. The body and abdomen are an iridescent metallic deep blue-green, and the female has beautiful green-tinted wings.

It likes unpolluted rivers with muddy bottoms and can be seen along the lower Wharfe, where thick vegetation provides perching places. Males will defend their territory vigorously against other damselflies. When mating, the male has a distinctive fluttering display flight, and the pair fly off into the bushes, with the female returning alone to lay eggs into plant tissue.


Wildlife ponds

Garden pond

Gardens make a major contribution to biodiversity in our tight little island, and one of the major factors in this is the garden pond. A pond can support local populations of frogs and toads, newts and also dragonflies and other water insects.

Although it's too late now to watch tadpoles, you could have a pond ready for later in the year when the new generation disperses. Avoid fishes in a wildlife pond - even tiny sticklebacks can prevent newts from breeding. Also avoid alien water plants - New Zealand pygmyweed, floating pennywort and water fern - which can take over local wetlands. Don't import your fauna - you might bring in disease. Amphibian diseases such as red leg virus can wipe out entire frog populations locally.

Go for native plants, such as water crowfoot, water starwort, water forget-me-not and water mint. Local dragonflies and amphibians will quickly find your pond, and, if it is attractive, will stay.

There's more advice on pond-building here, and an information sheet (.pdf) on amphibians in gardens here. The (former) English Nature published some excellent booklets (.pdf) - 'Amphibians in your garden' is here and 'Dragonflies and Damselflies in your garden' is here.


Dogs and nests

It's great to get out onto the moors with your dog for a walk, now the weather is improving - but please remember that nesting birds need your help.

Ground-nesting birds such as lapwing and snipe are among our most endangered species, and dogs running free can mean abandoned nests. In sensitive areas, they should be kept on leads until mid-July.



Wildlife in
June


The leaves on the trees now look more uniform but there' s such a lot to see.

  • The last of the bluebells
  • Grouse chicks on the moors
  • Spotted flycatchers in the Washburn valley
  • Banded demoiselles by the Wharfe
  • Roadsides edged with Wild Angelica
  • Twite (if you're lucky!) - at Grimwith?
  • Common blue butterflies

More here


Plants now

Bird's-eye Primrose

Surely this is an iconic flower of the limestone Dales - a 'dazzling little jewel' indeed. The Bird's-eye Primrose is found in a broad band across northern England, with Wharfedale at its heart. The limestone is its home, although it can be found off it. It is a plant of the late-glacial period which has clung on in cool, damp habitats, favouring better-drained positions in mires or seepages.

The bright yellow 'eye' contrasts with the deep pink of the flower - as with other Primroses, there are 'pin' and 'thrum' variants - the 'pin' type produces more pollen than the 'thrum.' The under-surfaces of the leaves are powdered white - 'floury' - hence the old name 'Mealy Primrose' and its latin specific. Populations suffer from habitat drainage, and flowers are eaten by sheep, particularly where over-stocked. Birds - partridges and crows - are also sometimes to blame for damage to both flowers and seed. Plants also spread by producing rosettes, and eventually quite a large area may be covered by the 'clone.'


Feather forecast

Song Thrush

We look forward to reports of many Song Thrushes in our area - this attractive bird is now doing well and last year there were good numbers in both Wharfedale and the Washburn valley. Breeding was reported from Beamsley and Addingham - if you see any nesting birds, let us know. It is a little smaller than a Blackbird, and the similar Mistle Thrush is also bigger, and often stands more upright. The song is distinctive - listen for repeated phrases, something neither the Blackbird nor Mistle Thrush do. It is best seen during the breeding season; otherwise its skulking habits make it surprising ly difficult to find.

Blue Tits are garden favourites, often attracted to nestboxes and feeders. They have suffered from harsh winters in the past but the recent run of warmer winters has helped. Climate change is a danger, though, since breeding has to coincide with the availability of caterpillars to feed the young. Even these common birds deserve our attention, as well as our love.


Nature Notes
by Jenny Dixon
featured in Wharfedale Newspapers

Moth magic

We’ve all seen those items on the local news where a rescued animal, a seal perhaps or a badger, is finally released into the wild: the mixed feelings of its carers – pride, anxiety, regret – like a parent with a first-day-at-school infant. Well, such feelings – on a more modest scale – were shared with me recently by Anne, a fellow Wharfedale naturalist, their object – a moth!

The story starts in early June two years ago when a female puss moth was caught in the Burley trap. Puss moths are attractive creatures – creamy white wings, spotted with black, and luxuriant white fur all over the body and legs, hence, I guess, the name. The female, sleepy in the morning sunlight, was placed on a log and put in a box in a shaded spot, ready to be photographed later in the day. When Anne came to take the photographs, she discovered that the moth had laid several chestnut-coloured bead-like eggs on the bark. The photo was taken, the moth released and the eggs put on one side to await events.

Actually, events proceeded rapidly: eight days later the eggs hatched – 2mm. long caterpillars emerged, their bedraggled black fur making them look like extremely skinny kittens. These were divided between a number of naturalist friends and Anne took two. Caterpillars are simple organisms, designed to eat and grow. On a diet of fresh willow leaves these two were revealed as champions on both counts. They munched, grew and kept casting their skin to accommodate increasing girth till they were about 7cm. long, smooth and green with a natty row of yellow spots on each flank – a credit to a nutritious diet and safe environment. On 20th July they began to change colour – flushing a dark red, like ripening plums; on the 21st each began the laborious process of constructing a cocoon, spinning silk for the structure and filling this in with chewed bark. The process took about three hours, at the end of which each caterpillar was encased in a domed shell that hardened and darkened to exactly match the bark on which it stood, so that all one saw was a sort of fault or knot in the natural texture of the bark.

Inside this papier mache home the most miraculous transformation takes place. The simple sack-like caterpillar body breaks down and from these parts is constructed the complex, exquisitely beautiful adult moth. According to the reference books the puss moth over-winters as a chrysalis, emerging in May- June the following year. That’s the theory. So, the box was put in a safe place, dampened tissue changed regularly to keep the precious contents from drying out, and patience was cultivated. May 2007 came and went and nothing happened. Summer passed – still nothing. So much for theory. Then last month, two years later, a tiny hole appeared in one of the domes and a small crumpled moth fought its way free. Soon it was busy gradually extending its abdomen with regular contractions; then it was the turn of the wings: these tiny frills attached to the shoulders soon began to lengthen and smooth out and suddenly flipped over into the characteristic moth-at-rest position. Now all it had to do was harden the tender surfaces, rest and wait for darkness – a beautiful male puss moth. Its sibling emerged a day later, another male, and both were released into the garden where, we hope, their delicate feathered antennae picked up that vital trail of pheromones which would lead them to mates and the beginning of another cycle of life.

More of Jenny's articles here .


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