Kiplingcotes Chalk Pit and the Hudson Way

It was my first visit to Kiplingcotes Quarry YWT Nature reserve today. The site is a site of scientific interest and is a disused quarry. Chalk was extracted to be used in the embankments of the Hudson Way between Beverley and Market Weighton. It took me a while to triangulate it, as the entrance is not visible from the road, just from the path of the railway line, but after parking on Kiplincotes station and returning I managed to find it. Thanks to my slow driving while trying to find the site I managed to get some photos of a Little Owl right on the edge of the reserve, and not far from it a pair of Grey Partridges, which made for a very good start of the morning. It was still quite overcast, but in my little walk on the Hudson Way, a disused railway line, Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites and Large Skippers were active.
 There were some young warblers (not sure if Chiffchaff or Willow) on the hedges. I heard a male Chiffchaff sing nearby.
 By the time I got to the reserve the sky was starting to clear up and it was quite warm. Hundreds of butterflies were present, with some bramble bushes and a couple of patches of creeping thistle teeming with Marble Whites, Ringlets and Meadow Browns. Elsewhere in the reserve there were active Large Skippers, Small Heath and Common Blue and I saw a single Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral too, taking it to eight species of butterfly present. There were also several day-flying moths, Cinnabar, Six spot burnet, silver Y and a Bordered Sallow (thanks to Chris @VerwoodGarden for ID).
 At some point a Red Partridge started to call, that, the butterflies, the calling grasshoppers and the vivid memory of the the Little Owl sighting made me feel like I was in Spain.

Little Owl

Grey Partridges

Marbled White on Pyramidal orchid

Ringlet

Willow or chiffchaff young?

Common Spotted Orchid

Male Large Skipper

Swallow

Mullein

Rabbits and wild pansies

Yellowhammer, one of two males singing in the reserve

Wild pansy

Marbled White and 6 spot burnet

Yellow Rattle

6 spot burnet

Bordered Sallow moth, Pyrrhia umbra, also feeding on bramble

Robin's Pin Cushion

Cinnabar moth

Mating large skippers

Stonecrop

Pisaura mirabilis, Nursery web spider with nursery

Male Common Green Grasshopper

Meadow Brown feeding on Selfheal

Marbled White

A bit battered Male Common Blue

Small Heath feeding on Eyebright. This was the first time I saw this species of butterfly. It rests with wings closed and leans to one side to face the sun, some times almost resting on one side.

Marbled White and Meadow Brown on Creeping thistle

Common Blue

Silver Y feeding on Meadow Cranesbill

More information
YWT site. Here.
NBG site with information on the flora and fauna of the reserve. Here.
Hull Valley Wildlife group site. Here.

Bird list

1. Blackbird
2. Blackcap
3. Blue Tit
4. Bullfinch
5. Buzzard
6. Carrion Crow
7. Chaffinch
8. Goldfinch
9. Great Tit
10. Grey Partridge
11. Linnet
12. Little Owl
13. Long-tailed Tit
14. Magpie
15. Red-legged Partridge
16. Robin
17. Skylark
18. Swallow
19. Whitethroat
20. Woodpigeon
21. Wren
22. Yellowhammer

Orchids and butterflies at North Cave Wetlands

 The image above was the view from East Hide today, a drift of orchids, and orchids were indeed flowering around the reserve. There were plenty of immature Black-Headed Gulls from East Hide, and many moulting ducks, mainly Gadwall. I was at the reserve quite early and the sun was hiding behind some high clouds, so there were not as many butterflies and dragonflies as I had anticipated. Still, Ringlet, Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown were active.

As I walked to Turret hide I had to jump to avoid this Drinker caterpillar, which was crossing the path at some speed.

I saw my first Bee Orchid of the year, not quite at its best, on the approach path to Turret Hide too.

Male Common Blue Damselfly with prey

And male Common Blue butterfly

More hybrid orchids

A very bright Small Tortoiseshell sunbathing

Carrion Crow family

This male Sedge Warbler put on a great display. After every song flight it went low down into the bushes and then climbed up to an exposed position while singing before... 

...jumping onto another flight song display

Peacock caterpillars, there were so many they had brought down the Nettle branches with them. 

These ones had dispersed a and were much bigger in size.

There were a few diseased rabbits about today.

The lapwing chicks by the Snipe field have grown so much. Their top-notch is starting to show. One adult tried to flush a Little Ringed Plover and a Ringed Plover, which probably compete with the chicks for food.

Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Corn Bunting in between a little singing and flying away

Unidentified Darter resting high on the north hedge.

I noticed a large black and white wasp carrying this Downlooker Snipefly (thank you to Richard Comont for ID)...

...into her nest on a rabbit scrape, where there were many more similar holes.

I waited until she came out again to photograph her.

and identified it as Crabro cribarius, an uncommon sand wasp (thank you to Ian Beavis for confirming ID) which hunts several types of fly to stock her burrow. The larvae feeds on the flies.

At another scrape some fierce-looking eyes and a shiny moustache looked at me intently...

...before she dared venture out.

A meadow in the heart of Hull

I had intended to visit this site in the summer for a while, and, although the weather wasn't brilliant for butterflies and bees, I still paid a short visit today, staying until the dew had seeped up half way to my trousers and the water inside my shoes made little waves inside them.
 Just as I was leaving the foot path tunnel from Argyle street, a pair of Kestrels hovering near each other greeted me. The Kestrels continued hunting during my visit, moving onto different areas of the site. The site is limited by a triangle of railway lines, with the KC stadium to the west, Hymers College to the north and the Infirmary car part to the south side. Despite the area appearing encroached by railway lines, it raises a couple of meters over the landscape around it, offering great views of city features (above). Although there are a few scattered trees, a hedgerow on the south side, and a very small ditch with a few reeds, most of the site is a meadow, crisscrossed with paths.
 There were many flowers in full bloom, Field Scabious, Meadow Vetch, Clovers, Brambles and Knapweed, but worryingly, all the perimeter of the site and a few patches inside are walled by imposing Giant Hogweeds and there is also a patch of Japanese Knotweed to the west side. There were some Purple Comfrey patches on the south of the site, which also had Hedge Woundwort, and some non-native Iris sp.
 The tell-tale short grass with clear ground in a circle, hoof prints and dung showed that at least occasionally horses are tethered and graze on the site.
 Bird wise, there were a pair of crows, with a recently fledged young that kept begging. One of them had caught a bird, and was feeding on the grass, quite oblivious to my presence. Later the young crow begged from a tree, and an adult flew down and fed him. Lesser Black-backed gulls searched the site from the air. At least three singing Whitethroats were present, a pair becoming quite agitated as I approached a patch of brambles and giant hogweed. On one of the few hard surfaces, a partly buried stone, there laid evidence of it being a Song Thrush anvil, with Brown-lipped and Garden snail shell fragments about. I watched a Song Thrush with food in the bill, and heard a singing male. A male Linnet sung from the railway fence.
 I heard squeaking noises and movement on the grass probably from a rodent, and the presence of Kestrels suggests that the site must have a thriving rodent population. Rabbit droppings are plentiful.

Female Kestrel

Entrance to the site from Argyle street

Giant Hogweed in bloom

Field Scabious

 Tufted vetch

Common Knapweed

 Dead Hoverfly killed by entomophagous fungus.

Alarmed Whitethroat on Giant Hogweed

 A view of the site looking towards Anlaby road

Kestrel hovering, with the Royal Infirmary as background

Song thrush anvil and rabbit droppings

Male Linnet on railway line

 Iris sp.

Iris sp.

Roe deer bed?

Begging Carrion Crow fledgling

The fledgling being fed by an adult

Location map
Some parking available on Londesborough and Kimberley street, by the entrance signalled KC Stadium.

Bird list

1. Blackbird
2. Carrion Crow
3. Chaffinch
4. Collared Dove
5. Dunnock
6. Goldfinch
7. Greenfinch
8. Kestrel
9. Lesser Black-backed Gull
10. Linnet
11. Song thrush
12. Starling
13. Swift
14. Whitethroat
15. Woodpigeon
16. Wren