Bishop Middleham & Wingate part 2

My target butterfly at Bishop Middleham Quarry was Marbled White and I wasn’t disappointed there were quite a few willing to pose for the camera. At Wingate Quarry, my target butterflies were Brown and Northern Brown Argus unfortunately I didn‘t find many. Here are some images of said butterflies and others that I managed to photograph too.

Marbled White. I wondered what was going on here because when I checked the image on the camera I noticed something between the wings of the butterfly.

It wasn’t until I changed positions that I saw what was happening, I’d caught a pair mating.

They changed positions a few times.

Marbled White

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

I’m not sure whether or not this is a Northern Brown Argus

Female Common Blue

Male Common Blue

Large Skipper

Small Skipper

Ringlet

Small Heath

A different Small Heath

Meadow Brown

Small Tortoiseshell

 

Bishop Middleham & Wingate part 1

Here are a few of the Orchids from Bishop Middleham Quarry and some of the insects from there too.

Bee Orchid



Orchid

Dark Red Helleborine

Dark Red Helleborine

Common Spotted Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid

I think this is a Small Heath Orchid

Common Twayblade

Five-spot Burnet Moth

Volucella bombylans Hoverfly

Bumblebee

Another Bumblebee

Eucosma conterminana Moth?

 

Far Pastures

I had a drive down to Far Pastures the other day. While the hide is closed, I thought I would have a walk up the lane looking for Red Kites. I didn’t see one Kite while I was there which is unusual however; I did see a couple of Roe Deer and a few of the smaller birds in the bushes either side of the lane.

This male Roe Deer had its eye on something

And this is what it was, a female, which it chased around the field. At one point they came straight toward me.

They both jumped a fence into a wood and were lost to sight.

I picked them up again in another field where the female was quite happily feeding

It got its eye on the male again

The female then started to walk toward the wood again

The male came a little closer

And chased it into the woods again.

This Whitethroat was in the scrub along the lane

Chiffchaff

Wren

I haven’t a clue where this Magpie got the biscuit

I had a go at trying to get the Swallows hawking across the field, without much success