Looking forward to
June

Ben Rhydding needs you!

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

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



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 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

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.'

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 .