Wildlife July 2011

[ranunculus]

Oh Cliff, always the sting in the tail

I like to keep it topical, Shelagh ... whilst it SWARM!!!   

[mark smyth]

Roma is the crossbill in the freezer?

[David Nicholson]

Roma is the crossbill in the freezer?

Didn't look to have that much meat on it to me?

[Roma]

Roma is the crossbill in the freezer?

No Mark.  I did think about it but left it on the windowsill.  It was still there on Sunday but had gone by Monday morning.  Plenty carrion eaters around - crows, magpies, cats.  Foxes and buzzards as well but less likely culprits.

[Peter Maguire]

I know that it’s now August, but it has taken some time to get these photos linked to a definite identification, and they were taken in July and I thought that they may be of interest. I was fortunate last month in having the opportunity to travel to Lithuania where my wife was attending a conference - I was just along for the ride.

A couple of years ago the Scottish photographer Niall Benvie spent some time in Latvia, and in his writings was enthusiastic about the wildlife to be seen there. I was not sure whether Lithuania would have the same abundance, but in the three days that I had a hire car to drive around (the roads were good and their driving manners impeccable, by the way) I was staggered by the variety of wildlife to be seen. Obviously, with the short time available, I was unlikely to see much in the way of large mammals (only a marten as road kill), but hopefully the following photographs of insects/birds will give some flavour of what is there in profusion. Flower-wise, I was a bit late in the year for interesting plants in lowland/woodland areas, although I did see lots of Cimaphila umbellata, previously posted here: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7532.60

The butterfly numbers and variety in particular made one realise how poor our butterfly fauna is in the UK, probably as a result of our more ‘advanced’ farming methods. Lithuania still has a long way to go to catch up with the prosperity seen in the rest of the EU, and I only hope that they can preserve their incredible variety of wildlife in the drive to improve their living standards. Would I go back? – most definitely.

Anyway, enough of the plug for Lithuanian tourism, here are the photographs, mostly taken in the south of the country, between Kaunas and the Dzūkija National Park near the Belarus border. First some damselflies/dragonflies (the English names will appear under the photographs):

Coenagrion puella ♂
Calopteryx splendens ♂
Calopteryx splendens ♂
Calopteryx splendens ♀

[Peter Maguire]

Libellula quadrimaculata (♂ I think)
Aeshna isosceles - mating pair (the male seems to have had a hard life, he’s been run ragged by the females!)
Lestes dryas ♂
Sympetrum sanguineum – immature ♂

[Peter Maguire]

Platycnemis pennipes – immature ♀

Now for some butterflies:

Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) feeding on Vicia sp.
Dusky Meadow Brown (Hyponephele lycaon) feeding on Scabiosa (?) sp.
Essex Skippers (Thymelictus lineola) drinking alongside a river – shows the usefulness of English names, they were a long way from Essex!

[Peter Maguire]

Green-veined White (Artogeia napi)
Heath Fritillary (Mellicta athalia)
Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) ♂
Purple Emperor (Apatura iris) – first time I’d seen one of these, very exciting and so large, I thought initially I’d seen an escape from a tropical butterfly house.

[Peter Maguire]

Purple-shot Copper (Lycaena alciphron) ♂
Scarce Copper (Lycaena virguareae) ♂
Scarce Copper (Lycaena virguareae) ♂
Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) ♂

[Peter Maguire]

Silver-washed Fritillary, Dusky Meadow Brown and a Ringlet (Erebia sp) that I have not been able to identify to species level, not helped by the fact that my butterfly identification book predates the fall of the Soviet Union, so the distribution maps covering Lithuania are somewhat vague! 
Small White (Artogeia rapae) ♂

And finally some birds, mostly taken using the car as a mobile hide with a long lens poking out of the window – I stopped for the photos! There wasn’t much traffic on the side roads, and this allows you to stop almost anywhere you see anything interesting:

Buzzard (Buteo buteo) – they were very common. I also got good views of a Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) hunting near the road, but the photos, taken in light drizzle, were poor.
Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundineceus) – another first for me, and a photo to prove it!

[Peter Maguire]

Nutcracker (Nucifuga caryocatactes)
Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) – yet another ‘tick’ for me. These birds obligingly perch on roadside cables when hunting and let you drive up to them.
Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniculus) ♂

[Peter Maguire]

White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) juveniles on nest
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) adult
Wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola)

[Peter Maguire]

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) ♂

Just in case anyone thought photographing the white storks on the nest was difficult, they are actually ridiculously tame, being both protected, and I suspect revered, as Lithuania’s national bird. Those householders unlucky enough not to have a nesting pair at the end of the drive on a pole generally placed a model stork in the garden just to keep up with the neighbours!

White Stork nest and my trusty hire car (only 177,000 kms on the clock!)

[Anthony Darby]

Gosh Peter, I'm in heaven. 

[daveyp1970]

Gosh Peter, I'm in heaven.  

I agree stunning my fav was the purple shot copper,and also the purple emperor,was it the only one Peter.I once was told if i wanted a shot of a purple emperor i was to take a container of my urine and tip it out were they are and they will come down to take the salts out of it.I wonder  if i was being wound up.