A couple of hours at Shotton Steel Works over lunchtime produced a few gems, the best being six Burnet Companion moths along the banks of the Dee.To be honest, I thought they were Skippers at first, with the closest fit being a Chequered Skipper. However, when I realised that they are about as likely south of the border as a deep-fried pizza I had a rethink.
Thanks to an excellent moth website, I was eventually able to nail the identity – a Burnet Companion. Wonderful name and called so because they often appear in the same habitat as the Burnet moths.
This section of footpath along the river bank really is superb habitat – and being a public footpath, open for everybody to enjoy. It is only a slither of land, but the abundance of many species of wild flowers means it is a magnet for butterflies and now, moths!
Also the river was a pair of Common Sandpipers and numerous warblers singing from the scrub and phragmites.
The pools around the ringing hut contained the regular summer inhabitants of Tufted Duck, Coot, Canada Goose, Gadwall and Mallard, with a pair of the geese the proud parents of three young goslings.
A strange noise emanating from the sky drew my attention to a Crow and an adult male Peregrine engaged in an aerial ding-dong. It lasted for a good ten minutes, and by the time the dispute was over I was still no the wiser whom was mobbing whom…
Until later.
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