Week 33: Mining, Growths & Another Argus

I should probably begin by confessing that I couldn’t resist another visit to the Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) colony. However, for those less inclined to pedantically scrutinise the wear patterns of battered butterflies, I’ll leave the results of that until the end. My visits this week to the rest of the Trust’s land have been very brief, which is a shame given the calm, warm conditions.

The Horse Chestnut trees (Aesculus hippocastanum) are looking at their best and worst. Their best, because they are laden with Autumn fruit (aka conkers!), and their worst, because the mining moth (Cameraria ohridella) has left no leaf untouched! Incredibly, although the damage looks decidedly vicious, the health of the tree is essentially unaffected. Its leaves will return as normal next year all set for another moth infestation, I expect. The light on Wednesday evening was beautiful, giving me the opportunity to enjoy the Horse Chestnuts (and horses) on Station Moor.


Early Autumn fruits are abundant now (blackberries on Bramble, berries on Hawthorn, hips on Roses, sloes on Blackthorn, elderberries on Elder etc) and acorns aren’t the only growths on the Dellfield Oak. A fresh eruption of the fungus Laetiporus sulphureus has appeared on the trunk less than 2 metres from the ground, on the east side, in an old wound. According to the internet, it tastes like chicken, hence its common name "Chicken of the Woods". However, I have no intention of wasting a good onion on finding out if wikipedia can be trusted or not.

Another conspicuous fungus which I photographed at the Brickworks is Tar Spot (Rhytisma acerinum) on sycamore leaves. It looks a lot worse than it is and again, like the mining moth, doesn’t do significant damage to the health of the tree.

Fancy some chips with your chicken?!

Tar Spot

Ok, to my guilty pleasure, indulged on Tuesday morning when the sun shone and the breeze was barely noticeable. A family party of tiny, trilling Goldcrests were in the trees as I made my way to the south-east side of Baker’s Wood at the Brickworks. A couple of Common Darter dragonflies flitted back and forth around the path. My eyes, however, were firmly focused on spotting the Brown Argus butterflies. I promised myself I wouldn’t spend more than about half an hour at this task, especially if I kept finding specimens I’d already seen on previous visits. The results were quite interesting (what?! they were).

I refound 6 specimens, 2 from last Thursday and 4 from Sunday, which just goes to show how little the Brown Argus wanders. I also found one more new specimen to add to the tally, making a total find of 14 individuals. I've christened this one Tatty, for obvious reason. Of the 6 refound, 3 had incurred further damage or wear, demonstrating just how quickly their condition deteriorates at this stage in their lifespan, even in a matter of 48 hours.

The Brown Arguses would turn up anywhere along this path

14. Tatty

Below are comparison photographs of the 3 refound butterflies, showing the changes in their wear patterns incurred in a matter of days. The original 13 butterflies can be viewed here.

3. Left Dink. The little tear in the left forewing has caused a small portion to subsequently fall off [shown left]









11. Worn. The trailing edge of the right hindwing has been damaged [shown below]

12. Big Notch. The damage to the left hindwing has worsened and there’s also now a small notch missing from the left forewing [shown right]












I think that's probably the last of my Brown Argus spotting (that wasn't a sigh of relief I heard was it?!). Knowing for certain that there are at least 14 individuals in the Brickworks colony is satisfaction enough. The peak count at Aldbury Nowers (the species stronghold) last year was 38 in week 22 (27/08/2013). The Nowers transect recorded 80% of the total number of Brown Argus observed across the whole of Hertfordshire and Middlesex last year. A count of 14 outside of that area is certainly significant and very encouraging.

Time for this week's horse photograph

Sorry, I meant Oak photograph

Week 10: Glory of the Grass Verge

This week, my brain is about as useful as a soggy tissue pulled from the pocket of wet jeans, fresh out of the washing machine. Hopefully the pretty pictures will compensate for barely being able to string a sentence together (and don’t ask me how long it took to come up with that opener! The answer "too long" is a serious understatement). OK, so, firing on half a cylinder at best, I stuck to Dellfield and its surrounding fields, yesterday. Over the last couple of weeks, a variety of small, early spring flowers have steadily emerged. Primroses, Wood Dog Violets, Cowslips and Meadow Buttercups have joined the Daffodils and Grape Hyacinths dotted around the Box Moor lands. And, yesterday, I finally remembered to go and look at another little flower I’d noticed growing along the grass verge leading to the Dellfield carpark. In the morning’s brilliant sunshine, they looked like miniature starbursts and would very definitely live up to their name, “Glory of the Snow”, should the white stuff descend. (To enlarge the smaller images, just click on them).

Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa)

Leaf buds are bursting open now on many trees, although the Oak will be a while yet. At the south end of Bovingdon Reach, there is a rather mighty Horse Chestnut, its skeleton just beginning to carry splashes of colour. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capture its sense of fresh decoration on camera so you have the tree in black and white (right) and the beautiful, new leaves in colour (below)

High over head, 2 Buzzards were circling and calling and a Red Kite hovered. A Mistle Thrush was sunning itself on the ground, turning its head towards the warmth and seemingly closing its eyes in pleasure. Without slipping further into anthropomorphism, I reckoned this rattler had the right idea and I could have happily sat alongside and soaked up some rays as well.

Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Through the woods, towards Preston Hill, I was looking up into a still leafless canopy.

Approaching Preston Hill pond frequently results in me accidentally disturbing a bathing Blue Tit. It always chooses the same spot and we always surprise one another! Today, I decided to check the pond more carefully from a distance before approaching. No Blue Tit but, in its place, something a little more exciting, a male Grey Wagtail. In fact, it was a pair of Grey Wagtails, likely on their way to find a place to breed. They only stayed a minute or two but it made my morning. This was the first time I’d seen this species on Box Moor land. The photograph (right) shows the male, with his developing black throat unfortunately hidden from view.

Finally, this week’s Oak photograph is again not for the purists. With the tree in its leafless state, I find I’m drawn more to its shape and the structures of its setting. To the original image (which I’ve included for reference), I applied a dark blue, inverted gradient filter in PSE. I’m currently not able to go wandering around at night (well, not on purpose anyway) so this is me improvising.

The Oak by Moonlight (sort of)