Climate change

(This post was mostly written during a not so brief stopover at a regional transport hub)

The pause in bloggage has been due to a trip south to visit family. How does that prevent post output I hear you ponder? Well, it was too hot, hot enough at least for a denizen of the Northern Isles experiencing mid May in central England. And when it wasn’t hot, there was so much more wildlife to see and hear. This is a known ecological phenomenon, (not the whinging about the heat, although that could be argued, eh?), the fact that larger islands have more biodiversity than smaller ones. And despite Bedfordshire seemingly being somewhere very near the Equator, there was quite a lot of biodiversity.

It did take me while to find a House Sparrow, mind, as well as any Swallows, and of Swifts there was nary a sniff. But my bird list for the year went stratospheric, up by 16 in three days, and I managed 9 species of butterfly in the same timeframe. There were wildflowers aplenty and, glory be, a few dragonflies and damselflies – my first of the year and in a most unusual order.

Happily, I was able to meet up with both daughters, plus my brother and his wife, so there were several sociable meals, and plenty of hugs and catching-up chat.

Did I mention it was May? Fresh green foliage in a variety of gorgeous hues, blossom everywhere, and bountiful birdsong to gently soothe the soul. If only England could distil the essence of that and serve it through the year, the world would be a better place.

Travel south was reasonably trouble-free, leaving Orkney in the early evening and arriving in Luton, via Edinburgh, shortly after 10pm. This was my first trip below 59° N since pandemic restrictions were properly eased throughout the UK, so I found myself in a chillingly small minority of mask wearers, scary stuff when packed into a large metal tube or a thronging international airport (no, Kirkwall, not you). However, arriving at chez younger daughter provided much needed relief and relaxation.

The first full day in Cranfield was a designated DIY Dad day. With the imminent arrival of a new, and huge, sofa, the lounge had been reorganised and emptied, but the relocation of a television meant a trip to the loft to re-route aerial signal to a different cable drop. In the afternoon, once the sofa was installed, it was time for a short walk around the neighbourhood, sampling the sweet songs of multitudinous warblers. There were plenty of Orange Tip butterflies, and another species – small and blue – which was never still enough to risk an ID. It didn’t seem as large as Common Blue, but there were several options, so I left that for later.

Hedges!

Red Kites were a bit easier to photograph than warblers

The following day, we met up with elder daughter for a few hours, meeting her at the main rail station in Milton Keynes, where the outer concourse was sporting a wonderfully unkempt wildflower project. We had a walk along the Grand Union Canal, revelling in the wildlife, and where I spotted my first dragonfly of the season – in the beak of a Magpie. I guess that the bird must have grabbed the dragonfly just before its maiden flight. We went to a recently-opened restaurant for lunch, sharing a mixed selection of starters and sides, a great way to sample lots of different tastes and flavours. An evening walk to a nearby woodland brought more butterflies: Peacock, Red Admiral, Comma, as well as plenty of those mystery Blues.

MK train station

MK train station

Dad and daughters

Harlequin ladybird

Sparrowhawk

A shopping trolley daragonfly

Grand Union Canal

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Grey Squirrel

Street Canal art

Mute Swan family

Grand Union Canal

How is this Peacock butterfly able to fly?!

Yellow Archangel

If you go down to the woods today...

You're in for a big surprise!

Sunday was an Adventure Day, with a trip to Wicken Fen, one of the UK’s oldest nature reserves. Here, finally, I managed to get my flight season up and running with several Hairy Dragonflies, and a smattering of damselflies: Variable, Azure and Large Red. The raptor count was pleasing too: Buzzard, Kestrel, Red Kite, Marsh Harrier and Hobby, the latter a group of four, busy hoovering up dragonflies (Aaarrrgh!). On the return journey, we stopped off briefly for another potter around the wood at Marston Thrift.

Variable Damselflies making out

Azure Damselfly

Honey Bee

Hobby

Muntjac deer

Bluebells

As it was a four hour drive to visit my brother, we agreed to meet halfway, so on Monday we gathered for lunch at the Hardwick Inn, a 16 Century coaching inn near Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. A postprandial walk in the grounds of the Hall delivered a Speckled Wood butterfly and a Coot family with 5 tiny fledglings.

My last full day in England saw another episode of DIY Dad, before a banzai shopping raid to purchase a few things not easily obtainable in Orkney. Wildlife-watching was limited to a small brown moth seen in the garden. It had a distinctive orange spot on its wings and a black and white banded abdomen. Recourse to the internet suggested that this was a Mint Moth, and indeed, I had unwittingly disturbed it from a plant of the Mint family. Whilst packing, I received a message from an old friend, who listed the butterflies he had seen nearby that lunchtime. This list contained only one species of Blue, so I finally had a possible ID for my mystery insect, a Holly Blue.

As I write, I am currently in the middle of a 6 hour wait at Edinburgh Airport. When not on the phone with work, or gazing at a laptop screen for this post, my eyes keep veering to the grass strips either side of the runway, as well as to the trees on the far side of the airfield. Not much to report, but there was a Kestrel a few minutes ago, hovering over one of the grass strips.

[Time passes…]

Three hours later, after several marches from one end of the terminal to the other, and a pleasant lunch, I am sat in a different departure lounge still staring out of the window and hopeful of a Swift. There’s been Swallows, feral pigeons, various corvids and the Kestrel has just done a very close flyby of my location, as if there are small rodents on the terminal roof.

Dang, the quiet area I am sat in has just filled up with a throng of passengers, so a flight must be departing from an adjacent gate. Sigh. Only 90 minutes to go…

[The next morning…]

Well, I arrived home on time and accompanied by my luggage, which is as it should be. 

Blimey, it’s freezing here!