Wingates Quarry Durham

The end of last month we where down at Shotton Colliery  Durham there is a small airfield  that does Skydiving  we where there to watch someone do a charity jump , I must admit it did look fantastic as they floated down to earth from about 2 1/2 miles up, from above you would barely have seen the ground, several people where jumping for charities so well done to them all. While in the area we went to the nearby Wingates Quarry  LNR its easy to find on the map , this is the site for among other things the Marbled White Butterfly I think they where an unorthourised  introduction at some time , it was perhaps early in the year but with recent good spell of weather there is always a chance , Dingy Skipper was the first Butterfly seen also Orange Tip ,Small Heath and numerous Whites , but no Marbled, we did have a cracking view of a Broad Bodied Chaser which quite by chance settled near a very small pool that was teeming with Newts ,another pool nearby had the usual Damselflies and masses of Leeches in the water the most I've ever seen some looked 6" long . Well as the afternoon went on despite the warm weather the butterflies decreased , there where some notable botany specimens to be seen the best was Common Butterwort growing in clumps in the open , the site is well worth a visit , it's the furthest north for Marbled White introduction or not. 

 This would make a fantastic setting for some movie or other it must have been a very large quarry in it's day

 

Paths criss cross the whole area so it's easy to explore and being a quarry you can't get lost

 

 

 

C ommon Butterwort  a carnivorous plant the basal leaves are somewhat sticky  and so trap very small insect which are absorbed rather than eaten

 I could see any insects but  they are certainly sticky

 Common Blue but only one

 First Dingy Skipper seen but then they where all over the place  very common here

Female Broad Bodied Chaser the only actual Dragonfly seen this plantain was blowing back and forth about a foot each way , I was thinking I'm not going to get a photo before it goes , but if you use the take enough approach one or two will be OK

 

 

 

Female Broad Bodied Chaser on Ribwort Plantain and that's Cuckoo Spit below just to give an idea of size

 

 

 

 A few of these around Lacewings ? they just catch the eye being a nice shade of blue

 Dingy Skipper very common here I remember my first which took me ages to get a photo of

 Small Heath hard to get a photo with the wings spread

 Cinnabar Moth I was surprised to see for some reason I thought they where coastal ?

 Three Dingy Skippers where taking I presume minerals  from the bird dropping on the left

A strange landscape  now topped off with the ever increasing presence of wind turbines

Marbled Whites

Went down to Wingate Durham to have a look for Marbled Whites , also to check for any Orchids large number of Common Twayblades varying in height  from a couple of inches to 12+ " a rather plain orchid till you have a close look at there structure, plenty of Common Spotted Orchids again varying enormously in size depending I suppose on the soil depth , Frog Orchids have been recorded in the past but I could not find any, no surprise there, Bee Orchids also present   I would have thought there where lots of unusual plants but unless they have a distinctive flower I probably would not notice them, Greater Knapweed  a very common and showy flower , and  St Johns Wort (slender ?). Picked up the first Marbled White flying high it just looked like a dirty white, eventually followed one till it settled very briefly a couple of times allowing me to get a couple of shots an impressive creature indeed , actually as are all Butterflies they just seem to sum up warm summer days . 

 Slender St Johns Wort ?

 Greater Knapweed

 Marbled White

 Marbled White actually the same one re- settled

 Common Twayblade

Common Twayblade three very healthy spikes

 A few of these fungi  around probably common but just caught your eye even though they are very small

 As I sat on the grass for my lunch I noticed this Slug , so camera out I took a couple of shots , a very intricate red and black  pattern along the foot of this specimen

I'm sure I have had these before , they will be on the blog somewhere the name Latticed Heath comes to mind .