Well, the 2010 recording season has started. And, straight out of the box, so to speak, I found butterflies!
I also found some interesting wild flowers, and for once, managed to get the wild flowers and most of the butterflies on film!
However, a little preamble is necessary. The site in question is Pickerings Pasture Local Nature Reserve (LNR for short), which those familiar with Landranger Ordnance Survey maps will find centred upon SJ487836, which is the approximate location of the Visitor Centre. The reserve achieved Green Flag status back in 2005 or thereabouts, and has been managed with wildlife conservation in mind since the late 1980s. There are four principal parts of the reserve that I survey, which are marked out on annotated OS maps as recording transects. In short, a recording transect is a well-defined route that a biological recorder surveys for organisms of interest, with well defined start and end points that, if possible, are associated with Ordnance Survey grid references. The four transects that I survey are:
[1] Back of River Towpath (BRT for short): this is a 1.25 Km stretch of footpath adjoining the railings separating the reserve from the nearby timber yard. It's separated from the adjacent Waterfront transect (see [2] below) by a line of various trees, including White Poplar, Swedish Hornbeam, Alder Buckthorn, Aspen, Goat Willow, and at least two species of Oak, along with Field Maple, and the occasional Ash tree. Tall shrubs found growing here include Gorse, Broom, Russian Dogwood, and (regrettably in the minds of some), Sea Buckthorn, though this was planted with the stabilisation of the riverbank and the soil layer in mind.
[2] Waterfront (WF for short): this is a 1.25 Km stretch of footpath following the riverbank, running parallel to the Back of River Towpath transect above, but at an elevation some 3-4 metres lower. Separation of these two transects is approximately 10 metres. At the north east extremity of the transect is a footbridge, constructed some time ago to connect the reserve to the Pennine Way (see photograph below), whilst the south-east extremity adjoins a managed meadow that is devoted to Cowslips, which in turn is adjoined at its northern boundary by a managed cornfield, intended to represent agricultural land in the days before mechanised agriculture and the extensive use of agrochemicals.
[3] Wet Meadow (WM for short): sunken tracts of waterlogged land that is home to various marsh and wetland plants. The transect was originally a looped path of approximately 400-500 metres length, but the section where the Yellow Irises grow is now impassable because of Brambles, so the original route is having to be rearranged somewhat to take account of this. During heavy rainfall, this section becomes a quagmire if you're not prepared with the correct footwear!
[4] Far Summer Meadow (FSM for short): occupies the SE extremity of the reserve, and adjoins a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), where various wading birds breed. This meadow only attracts significant insect populations from June onwards, when the meadow flowers appear, and is only surveyed during June to September. There is a bird hide adjacent to the SSSI, which faces west to south-west over the SSSI, and from which other views of the Liverpool and Birkenhead section of the Mersey can be photographed.
An annotated satellite image of the reserve, with the transects labelled, can be viewed by clicking on this thumbnail:
Now that you've all gained some idea of what the reserve is like on the large scale, it's time to wheel out some photographs!
First, here's some shots of the locality, taken back in January 2010. These two depict Runcorn Bridge, which is clearly visible from the Pickerings Pasture LNR, as the reserve includes a 2Km or so stretch of the north bank of the River Mersey, and the footbridge that was built a few years back to facilitate connecting the reserve to other parts of the Pennine Way:
Somewhere, I have shots of that footbridge being constructed, which I can dig up at some point in the future if anyone wants to see them, including the honking big crane that was used to lift the footbridge into place when it was being constructed. But I digress ... now, here's a couple of shots of the bird feeder that hangs near the bird hide, first with some Tits in attendance (there's a Blue Tit feeding, and a Great Tit waiting in the queue), second with a Greenfinch in attendance (both taken in January 2010).
Now, on to the shots I took yesterday!
First, I'll cover the wild flowers. These two shots show specimens of Common Primrose, Primula vulgaris, the first growing on the BRT transect, the second on the WF transect:
Next, here's a fine specimen of Germander Speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys, a member of the Scrophulariaceae, to which Foxgloves also belong. Though the difference between the two is enormous - Germander Speedwells are low, creeping plants that grow no higher than, say, 10 cm, whilst Foxgloves can tower up to 1.5 metres above ground level! Germander Speedwells cover parts of the reserve in a carpet of blue in Spring and early Summer, and tend to produce their flowers in patchy clusters. The small size of these flowers (they're about the size of my index fingernail, or perhaps a bit smaller) makes them a challenge to photograph well, especially when the camera batteries are starting to run low! Despite the appearance of this photo, I didn't use fill in flash for the shot, the sunshine was beaming directly onto the flowers, and whited them out somewhat (for some reason, my camera didn't stop down automatically to compensate - next time I'll photograph these in full manual mode with the lens stopped down more).
Next, Lesser Celandine, Ranunculus ficaria. Yes, it's in the same Genus as Buttercups, but looks very different. For one thing, these flowers have at least 8, and sometimes as many as 12, petals, whilst other members of the Genus only have 5. Closely related to these are the Water Crowfoots (Genus Ranunculus, Subgenus Batrachium), which are aquatic or semi=aquatic plants with 5-petalled white flowers, which grow in ponds (there's some nice ones growing at another of my survey sites). First of these shots was taken at the WF transect, second at the WM transect.
And now, it's time for the butterflies!
Sadly, the two Small Tortoiseshells, and the Small White I saw, weren't in the mood to pose for the camera. But, the good news is, that the two butterflies that DID pose for the camera were the two most spectacular springtime butterflies on the reserve! Both posed for pictures quite happily, in between jousting with each other in territorial disputes on the WF transect.
First, the Peacock, Inachis io. I secured two shots of this handsome butterfly, and I think you'll agree it's one of the finest members of the British fauna:
However, the BIG event of my recording session was finding THIS handsome insect:
This is the Comma, Polygonia c-album, a species that has had a very interesting history over the past 200 years or so. Back in the 19th century, for reasons that still remain unexplained to this day (though numerous hypotheses are extant), the population of this species underwent a catastrophic crash, and disappeared from almost all of its old haunts in the UK. Eventually, the species was restricted to a small nucleus of individuals living in and around the New Forest, and British entomologists began to lament ever seeing this species in good numbers from that point on. Then, equally inexplicably, in 1945, the population began an equally sudden and spectacular expansion, moving out from its New Forest haunts into south west England and south-east England, before beginning a relentless expansion northwards. By the time 1990 arrived, the butterfly had been recorded in numbers in Cheshire, and was established as a breeding butterfly in the south of the county, but had not yet crossed the River Mersey in sufficient numbers to establish a breeding population on the north bank of the river. It was in 1990 that I saw my first ever specimen of this butterfly at the reserve, but sadly, I didn't have a decent camera to commemorate the fact. In 1993, I visited the reserve, with my first decent SLR in tow, and had a disastrous time trying to capture the species on film, leading me to wonder if I would ever be successful. In 1994 and 1995, the butterfly failed to show at the reserve, but then , in 1996, I secured my first good quality photograph of this species, and in 1997, the species was firmly established as a breeding species on the reserve. It has since expanded northwards to the point where it can now be found in parts of Scotland. To give you an idea how much it has expanded its range, consider that in the 19th century, it was effectively confined to the New Forest, one tiny dot on the UK distribution maps, and now, it can be found at every one of the dots on this map.
The Comma is a special favourite of mine, because in bright sunshine, a newly emerged specimen is resplendent in appearance - it glows like a hot coal, with vibrant colour, and the species exists in two forms, whose colouration is determined by larval light exposure. The typical form is fairly dark-hued, and arises from larvae that feed in late Summer, when the day length is slowly shortening- these adults go on to hibernate over the winter, re-emerging in the spring, mating, and then producing a Spring brood of larvae. These larvae, subject to increasing day length, sometimes produce a truly resplendent, bright-hued insect, known taxonomically as f. hutchinsoni, and are named after a certain Miss Emma Hutchinson, who studied these butterflies in the 19th century. She alighted upon the day length factor as being important in the production of bright-hued insects, and thus the bright colour form is named after her.
By the way, these butterflies are very strong and accomplished aeronauts, and seem to delight in playing "chicken" with human passers by - the butterflies will fly toward you, at eye level, approaching at what appears to be collision speed, only to swerve to one side at the very last moment. If disturbed from their perching places, they take off as if they are rocket propelled, but prefer to rely upon the sombre underwing camouflage, which makes the resting butterfly look like a dead leaf. Close examination will reveal a small white marking on the underside, shaped like a comma punctuation mark, from which the butterfly derives its common name. There are several species of Polygonia butterfly native to the Americas, one of which, Polygonia interrogationis, is known as the Question Mark, because it too has a white marking on the underside that resembles the appropriate punctuation character. Several of the North American relatives of the Comma can be found as far north as Canada and Alaska, and share the same upperside markings as the British species, making precise identification a task for a trained eye.
So, there you have it. The results of my first day's entomological recording for 2010. Enjoy!
