Studley Royal

 My wife and I had a trip down to North Yorkshire at the beginning of the month to visit Studley Royal a National Trust property near Ripon. We went to see the Red Deer rut; we saw loads of Red Deer but unfortunately no rutting. It was however a great day out. FYI one of the images is a bit graphic so if you are easily offended don’t look.

Red Deer Stag.

Some stags were sniffing and tasting the air.

While others were strutting their stuff.

What have you been eating!?

Lots of bellowing but no rutting.

Kestrel.

Take off.

Nuthatch. 

It was looking for insects in the bark of a tree.

Nosterfield Nature Reserve…

 …near Ripon in Yorkshire was where my wife and I spent a canny morning in the middle of last month. The birds on the reserve were, for me, too far away from the hides so we had a walk along a path boarded on either side by mixed hedgerow. After lunch we headed for Ripon Walled Garden for a coffee. Here are some of the insects we came across at Nosterfield and Ripon Walled Garden. And as I have always said if the identification is wrong on any of these insects, please feel free to correct me.

Spotted Longhorn Beetle.

Harlequin Ladybird.

A pair of Harlequins.

A Harlequin top right but I’m not sure what’s in the bottom left I didn’t see it until I was going through the images on the computer.

Harlequin larvae.

Soldier Beetle.

Marmalade Hoverfly about to land.

Female Broad Centurion.

Male Broad Centurion.

Heterotoma planicornis or Common Flathorn Plant Bug.

Pale or Non-biting Midge.

Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Possibly a Southern Cuckoo Bee?

Buff-tailed Bumblebee?

Honey Bee.

Large White Butterfly.

Meadow Brown Butterfly.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly.

Green-veined White Butterfly.

Shaded Broad-bar Moth.

An unusual looking bird at Nosterfield.