A first visit to Fen Bog

A trip to Fen Bog with fellow naturalist Robert Jaques. Fen Bog is a place I had wanted to visit for a while: a peaty bog area on a flat-bottom valley, with the Yorkshire North Moors steam railway line bordering the reserve. The steam train passed a couple of times while we were there (top). The nature reserve is flanked by upland streams. Continuing with the spell of warm, sunny weather, it was a perfect day for dragonflies and butterflies, including a light cooling northerly breeze which keeping biting insects at bay.

Butterflies

On the high slopes by the car park several Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries (top) fed on the flowering heather. Common Blues, Small Heath, Ringlet and Large Skippers were also on the wing, and later at the bottom of the site we caught with a Dark green Fritillary feeding on the Marsh Thistles. No signs of the Large Heath, which is recorded on the site too. Both Fritillaries were new for me in the UK.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Large Skipper.

Dark Green Fritillary.

Common Blue on Bird's foot trefoil

Dragonflies

Fen Bog is known by its upland and moorland specialist dragonflies, with a total of 13 sp. On the path towards the bottom of the site we came across the first Keeled Skimmer, a female who sat on the ground several times.

Female Keeled Skimmer.

It was on the mire area, on a pool, a male Golden-ringed Dragonfly fed and patrolled the area. A second male came often to the pool, and both chased and occasionally fought for the prime position over the pond. After a while the resident male sat on a reed stem, and then occasionally sat again in various places in the same area. At one point 4 individuals chased high over the pool, with rustling of wings as they clashed. It was great to watch the dragonflies while sitting on the side of the pool. 

My best try at a flight shot.

 On the way back we were lucky with male Keeled Skimmers. This is a rare species in Yorkshire only present in a few sites, mostly found around Fylingdales Moor.

Male Keeled Skimmer.

Large Red Damselfly.

Plants
The heather was blooming and the site is not as wet as it would have been some rain in the last few weeks, but there were still boggy areas holding sundews, bog asphodels and other bog specialist plants.

Round leaves sundew. Note the captured fly under the topmost stem. A live fly was flying about, possibly attracted by the captured one?

Round-leaved sundew about to flower

Bog Asphodel

A view of Fen Bog from the path.

  Others

An Adder sunbathing on a sunny patch under trees. 

Sericomyia silentis, the Bog Hoverfly.

Bog hoverfly on orchid.

We came across three dead rabbits in various stages of decomposition around the reserve. Turning over this one revealed a pair of...

Banded Sexton beetles, Nicrophorus investigator, which promptly scurried under the corpse.

Birds 
Not a lot to report on the bird front. A curlew called and few over. A few Whitethroats were on full song, but not much else.

Singing Whitethroat.

Sprotborough Flash with Hull Nats

A day trip doing a circular walk around Sprotborough Flash with Hull Nats. It is warm and sunny, with barely any breeze. We walk counter-clockwise, visiting the woodland and limestone meadows and then going back through the disused railway track and returning by the River Don. The River Don joins the River Went to form Dutch River before draining into the Ouse at Goole, and reaching the Humber. At Sprotborough it is canalised in places, with locks and weirs to control its flow, but the landscape is dominated by the picturesque Don gorge (above), excavated in magnesian limestone and clothed in woodland, which can be seen from various viewpoints along the reserve. The flash, a wetland parallel to the river, was formed due to subsidence after coal mining, and can be watched from three hides and screens.

Long boat moored by the island on the River Don.

Weir

Two Great Tit fledglings sunbating.

A yellow and black longhorn, Rutpela maculata

Magnesium limestone grassland
Conservation grazing by Hebridean sheep is used by YWT to control succession of woodland in patches of meadow surrounded by woodland. The richness of plants is astounding, Hull Nats recorded 198 species of plants in our walk today. In the patch of meadow 4 species of orchid were in bloom, including large numbers of Twayblade and Pyramidal Orchids. Not only plants, insects are plentiful and a swarm of hidundines and swifts feed over our heads. Two Buzzards chased by a Hobby are also around.

Common Spotted Orchid.

Twayblade.

Bee Orchid.

Pyramidal Orchid.

Centaury.

Small Skipper.

Andrew photographing a Twayblade.

Lunch break by the meadow.

Damsels and Dragons
We watch eight Odonata species on the wing, including hundreds of Common Blue Damseflies in the River Don, Large Red, Blue-tailed and Azure damselflies and Banded Demoiselles; also several Brown Hawker, Four-spotted Chaser ovipositing and Emperor patrolling the river. Four species of damselflies were mating.

Azure Damselfly.

Blue-tailed damselflies mating.

Banded Demoiselle on a pond.

Andrew and Helen photographing damselflies.

Mating Large Red Damselflies.

Common blue damselfly.

Mating Banded demoiselles, with attending Blue-tailed damselfly.

A cluster of Pyramidal Orchids.

Photographing orchids.

6 spot burnet moth.

Scorpion fly, Panorpa sp.

A tunnel under the disused railway track that borders the reserve.

A dead Hedgehog on the path. Victim of a Badger?

Hoof fungus, Fomes fomentarius, the largest I've even seen

The Flash

We make use of the hide and watch the birds using the flash. There are plenty of Gadwall, some with grown ducklings, two Grey Herons and a Cormorant. Coots with young and a few Black-headed gulls.

The flash and woods.

A drake Mandarin in the river moulting into eclipse plumage.

Ringlet.

Great Heron.

A wonderful, diverse reserve, which I shall revisit.