Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

It was agreed by everyone that I thoroughly deserved a morning’s peace and quiet whilst I was visiting the UK and so I decided to have a walk somewhere in the Yorkshire Wolds to look for some chalk-loving species. I chose the area round Wharram, between Driffield and Malton, which is one of the highest parts of the Wolds and has a small nature reserve. It was a hot, sunny day and I pulled into a car park right at the top of the hill ready for a mile walk to the Wharram Quarry Nature Reserve.

The Yorkshire Wolds - from the car park overlooking the valley where the nature reserve sits

Immediately, as I started walking down the chalk path, I started to see unfamiliar species, such as Yellowhammers perched atop bushes and on wires. The most common butterfly in the valley appeared to be Marbled White which I’ve hardly ever seen, although many were very worn, as were the handful of Ringlet that were still on the wing.

Phosphuga atrata - Wharram, 29 Jul 24 - a new species of beetle for me

At the bottom of the valley there was a walk up an old railway track which was quite a shaded, wooded place. There were lots of wildflowers growing along the side including lots of Meadowsweet, Butterbur and Wild Angelica, none of which we get in Guernsey. I ticked off two new species here - Meadow Crane’s-bill and Common Comfrey, the former being very common in this part of the world. In the sunny spots, butterflies congregated, plus a Shaded Broad-bar moth was flushed and a dead Mole on the track (which didn’t flush, and was quite confiding).

Meadow Crane's-bill - Wharram, 29 Jul 24

Scorpionfly sp. - Wharram, 29 Jul 24 - despite being relatively common in the UK, we don't get any of the species in Guernsey

At the end of the railway track, the path went through a tiny hamlet and I went through a gate into the old quarry nature reserve which was a large flat area full of wild flowers. I was a little late in the month to see it at its best but it was still fabulous, with lots of useful paths going through it. I spent about an hour here poking around but I regret not taking more time to find more things.

There wasn’t a lot of new plants to tick as I had seen a lot of late-summer chalk species a few years ago down south. If I’d spent more time on my hands and knees and focused, I could have found probably a few more subtle species. The Yorkshire Wolds are the most northern chalk hills in England and a lot of species don’t get this far north so the selection here was more limited. Reading the information sign, I was surprised to find that there was a big rarity here and it was easy to find. First of all was to find the Cotton Thistles (also a tick) which was easy because they were massive, and sprouting out from their base were a few (albeit very crispy) Thistle Broomrapes. This species is very rare and only occurs at a few sites in Yorkshire in the whole UK and I wasn’t aware that this was one of them until I got here - bonus.

Cotton Thistle - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24

Thistle BROOMRAPE - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24

Autumn Gentian - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24

Carline Thistle - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24

The best species I found at the nature reserve was a small, plain brown moth that I happened to spot resting on the flower of a Red Clover. I potted it up and looked at it through the lens but could not notice any features that could identify it in the field. I thought about throwing it back but something told me to keep it and take it home for proper study. When I had a look through the microscope, the only notable features that I could pick out were a very pale underside to the lower abdomen and some pale scales around the eye, palps and mouth area. Reading through the books, this seemed to match a species of Scythris and picaepennis looking the most likely. It needed checking though and I managed a tricky dissection on such a small moth and the gen matched female Scythris picaepennis. I had recorded this species before, in Scotland (must have been an ambitious ID!) but looking at the Yorkshire Moths website, there are only 3 records listed in the county, none since the 1800’s. I have sent the record in and am awaiting confirmation of the rarity. Goes to show, if you’ve got a gut feeling about a specimen, always keep it to check.

Scythris picaepennis - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24

I saw very few other moths as I kicked through the grass, but there were some burnets buzzing about. They mostly were Six-spot Burnets which is widespread throughout the UK but is surprisingly absent in Guernsey. There were also a couple of faded five-spots which was very useful to me because, in the UK, I have only ever seen five-spots in areas where the two species’ range overlaps. However, in Yorkshire, only the Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet occurs, so this becomes a new species for me, even though I will have seen some in the past before I knew of such things.

Six-Spot Burnet - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24

Narrow-bordered Five-Spot Burnet - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24

Small Skipper - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24 - we have no skippers in Guernsey

Marbled Whites - Wharram Quarry, 29 Jul 24 - a much fresher individual (in both senses of the word!)

Just off the track back to the car was Wharram Percy, “Europe’s best-known deserted medieval village”, so I went to have a look. It might be the best-known but I was certainly not the most visible. It really consisted of rectangles on the floor showing where things used to be. I guess it was more of archaeological excitement than anything else. The church was first there in the 10th century but most of what can be seen is a lot newer than that. After a quick look around it started to get very hot and I headed back home.

Last week of July and it was away to East Yorkshire with the oldest two kids to visit the family. Any time leaving the island you immediately come across species that you haven’t seen for ages, especially if you rarely go anywhere, like me. At least five Red Kites were seen driving from Yeadon Airport to Driffield.

The first thing I saw the next morning was a new species of macro moth just perched on my parents’ garage wall - a Small Ranunculus. I was surprised, first that I recognised it, but also that it had spread so far north. I thought it was restricted to SE England but obviously not. A smart individual, with a dark, scalloped band across the wing and with a bright orange garnish sprinkled on the top.

In the evening of the first full day (25th July) I went for a quick visit to Skerne Wetlands which is the closest nature reserve to Driffield. I only discovered this spot last time I was here and I really love it. The main reason is that I’ve hardly seen anyone there at all. It is so quiet, you can actually have some proper peace. It is especially noticeable because, in Guernsey, there are people literally everywhere. You can’t walk anywhere without passing people every few minutes and there’s very little alone time. I didn’t expect much birds at this time of year but I had brought my net and was looking for a few interesting insects. The best thing I saw on this first visit were quite a lot of Banded Demoiselles along the riverside. This was a species that I had not seen for years and the last time was in Germany. We do not get any demoiselles in Guernsey so it was terrific to watch the males bounce along the waterside vegetation.

Banded Demoiselle - Skerne Wetlands, 25 Jul 24

Another insect that was very much in evidence was a small, brown beetle that had totally been devouring the willows of the reserve. Every leaf was eaten away by the larvae and now there was literally thousands and thousands of them all along the path. A little research proved these to be “Brown Willow Beetles” (imaginative!) also known as Galerucella lineola. In among them were the odd few “Blue Willow Beetle” or Phratora vulgatissima. Other things seen this evening were some Azure Damselflies, a few “friendly” Twin-spotted Deerflies and a Dingy Footman.

Brown (*Galerucella lineola)* & Blue (*Phratora vulgatissima)* Willow Beetles - Skerne wetlands, 25 Jul 24

Brown Willow Beetles (*Galerucella lineola)* - Skerne wetlands, 25 Jul 24

I went down again the next day and it was a hot and sunny day with lots of insects out, which was good but now the deerflies had been joined by numerous cleg flies to try and feast upon me. This time I walked past the reserve and followed the path north along the River Hull until I got to another bridge. It was even more peaceful up here and I came face to face with a superb Roe Deer. The water was so clear below the bridge and the Brown Trout were in the shallows. I was desperate to see Otters but none were there.

River Hull By Skerne Wetlands - you can see the Brown Trout in the shallows on the left

Highlight of the insects along the riverbank was the beetle Leptura quadrifasciata, also known as the Four-banded Longhorn Beetle - I have never seen this before and I am certain I would have noticed on in Guernsey. Other new species for me were the Scorpion-fly Panorpa communis (a family we get none of in Guernsey), and two species of cranefly - Ptychoptera contaminata and Nephrotoma quadrifaria.

Four-banded Longhorn Beetle (Leptura quadrifasciata) - Skerne Wetlands, 26 Jul 24

Azure Damselfly - Skerne Wetlands, 26 Jul 24

The next day, Saturday 27th July, was spent wandering in Driffield, where I saw two high-flying Red Kites over my parents’ house - the first I have seen in the area. A walk down the canal saw a fly-by Gadwall amongst the commoner species. On the Sunday, me and Aidan went to Flamborough which was a stupid idea because it was rammed with holidaymakers - I have never seen it so busy - there was a 10 min queue for the parking machine! We didn’t stay very long and didn’t really see anything of note.

Mystacides azurea - Driffield Canal, 27 Jul 24

Late in the evening we decompressed with another visit to Skerne. On the way in we saw two Grey Partridges running along the road. Birding was a bit better as we had both Great Spotted Woodpecker and Kingfisher, as well as lots of post-breeding Swallows starting to mass together. I managed to net both a Small and a Brown China-mark moth, the latter being a tick, the last ‘common’ chna-mark I needed.

Brown China-mark - Skerne Wetlands, 28 Jul 24

Small China-mark - Skerne Wetlands, 28 Jul 24

On my last full day I paid a final visit to Skerne with Dad and it was very hot indeed. The species were much the same but there were more dragonflies out with plenty of Brown Hawkers and (maybe?) Southern Hawkers patrolling. Looking down in a ditch I saw a frog sunbathing on a floating bit of wood and it looked pretty large, very bright green and a little odd. Looking at the pictures when I got back I identified it as a Marsh Frog which was a new species for me. Not a native species, this is an amphibian that originally escaped from captivity. It is mostly seen in SE England but the Hull River valley seems to be a stronghold for the species.

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Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

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