Friday, June 15, 2012

Teesdale in early June.........




In early June the meadows in the middle part of the dale, around Middleton-in-Teesdale, are full of buttercups, while...


... the hawthorn blossom beside the riverbank footpaths is just past its peak.


In the middle of the river this fledgling dipper has been parked on a stone by its parents that are away collecting food, though it looks like it could feed itself.



This young rabbit was using a coltsfoot leaf for cover but ....


... it would have done better to run for the dense stand of butterbur leaves that could hide a hundred rabbits.


Upstream of Middleton-in-Teesdale, on the way to Bowlees, there are globe flowers blooming on the riverbank, alongside the white umbels of pignut.




















You can hear a spotted flycatcher's beak snap shut when it catches a fly ..... and there are plenty of those around, including .....



... dungflies that are plentiful wherever there is livestock grazing in the fields and ....



..... empid flies that use nectaries of wood crane'sbill flowers are fuel stations.


The wet weather hasn't been kind to bees and this little solitary bees resting on an oak leaf looked bedraggled. Can anyone help with an ID? 



Hay rattle is coming into bloom in the hay meadows .....


..... and mountain pansy Viola lutea is flowering well. The epithet lutea means yellow but pure yellow pansies are in the minority - most have variable amounts of purple in their petals and this has a hint of it in the petal tips.

10 comments:

  1. A wonderful medley. How lovely to have all those Pied Flies!

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  2. The top two photos are wonderful - so evocative of lush, balmy days of summer (pity the weather is not adding to the feeling). I'm missing Dippers this year. I've not seen any at all. I saw them almost each day at work last summer, but since I'm not in the post at Glenmore this summer and have not seen any locally, I'm missing them.

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  3. Teesdale in early June seems to be sheer enchantment!

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  4. I can see I am going to have to have a trip to Tessdale too.

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  5. Hi Caroline, I never seem to walk very far in the dale because there's so much to stop and look at...

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  6. I think some dipper nests around here may have been washed out when the river rose during floods, swanscot, so it was good to see a youngster..

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  7. The meadows in this part of the dale are particularly attractive, lotusleaf...

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  8. Hi Emma, the meadows will be at their best over the next couple of weeks Emma, provided this weather relents!

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  9. What a beautiful post, it is so good to see those little creatures and the flora.

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  10. There's always something interesting to see along this route toffeeapple, even in the depths of winter...

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