Helmshore; Bugs, butterflies and bucks!

It’s been a wonderful weekend for seeing some incredible wildlife around Helmshore. The Cuckoo on Friday was a great start, but things also got very interesting with the insect population.

On Saturday, I went out around Musbury to do some Cuckoo hunting. Sadly, I was evaded (all weekend) with no sight nor sound of it.

The Cuckoo (in case you missed the last post)

However, the warm weather brought out dragonflies and I was fortunate to see 2 that I have never seen before; broad bodied chasers.

The male is has a pruinose blue abdomen, and the female is brown with yellow patches down the sides. The female caught my eye as she was darting and dipping into the water: this behaviour is called ovipositing.

I had to look all this up as I’ve never seen or heard of them before: if you’re interested, you can look here for more information-

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/dragonflies/broad-bodied-chaser

Further around the valley, it was the butterflies which caught my attention. There seemed like there were hundreds fluttering around the trees and grass. I captured four different ones, they are tough to photograph!

I looked up UK butterflies and we have 57 natives, and 2 migrants species in the UK. I shall endeavour to photograph more to see if I can find the rarities. If you’re interested, you can find a full list of them here – https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies

Finally, as I set off back down the valley, I disturbed a roe deer doe. I have still not seen the kids, but these pictures are possibly the best one I’ve ever taken of a deer: she was fabulous in motion!

On Sunday, I abandoned cuckoo hunting and took a long walk around Holcombe Moor and Alden. I was hoping for the elusive Hen Harriers, but I was defeated.

However, I was treated to a magnificent Roe Deer buck, a flock of black headed gulls and a kestrel.

As I descended back down into Helmshore, I was treated to a redstart sitting on a fence. This is also a first for me and I had to look it up to identify; I’ve learned never dismiss little brown birds!

Finally, the walk through sunnybank gave me my first glimpse this year of a kingfisher. No pictures this time as Pepper was having a tantrum about going home, but I shall try for another time.