AN EARLY EMPEROR AT BERNWOOD FOREST

 Yesterday a local birder reported he'd seen one of the first purple emperors of the year at Bernwood Forest in Oxfordshire. They are usually reported early July although I saw one once  on 23rd June, so it seems that the early emergence of this season's butterflies is continuing.

I would normally try and arrive early at the forest as PEs tend to like to come down to the floor  earlier in the day before returning to the treetops but a family commitment prevented me, nevertheless  I drove over to the Forest afterwards arriving shortly before 12.30. It was a bit risky seeing as only one had been reported but I also wanted to log silver washed fritillaries and white admirals which are also found at this site. 

At the car park I spoke to a gentleman who said he'd seen an emperor along the ride leading to the meadows, which seemed to keep returning to the same spot so I  went to look there first, seeing some silver washed fritillaries on the way, along with  skippers and meadow browns. No emperor but I did spot one white admiral which, like the SWF, didn't settle in the heat.

The next person I met directed me to a pond where he had also spotted an Emperor this morning, but after quite a long walk, there was again nothing to be seen.  In fact there were fewer butterflies than in other areas. 

I continued until I reached a wide track, turning left, as I hoped this would eventually lead back to the car park.  I could see a couple of figures in the distance, who were standing talking, one with a camera, who I decided could tell me if I was heading in the right direction. As I reached them I asked them if the track led to the car park. 

'Yes' they said,' but there's a purple emperor down here!' I looked down where they were standing,  a small muddy area of water and some stones and logs, and amongst them, wings closed was a Purple Emperor, tasting something on the ground! It had apparently been there for quite a while, once flying round then returning. The sun was behind a cloud and they were waiting for it to reappear, and hopefully coax the emperor to reveal its upper wings. 

After chatting to them (and finding that one of them was in fact the person who had  written the blog I mentioned earlier!) eventually the sun came through and the butterfly began to open its wings, the iridescent blue showing on one of its wings  when you looked it from a certain angle. 

It remained there  just for three of us to admire,  until eventually it took flight and disappeared around the corner.  A satisfying outcome to the day. 

Purple emperor showing its long yellow 'tongue' 

large skipper

ringlet

large white

RODBOROUGH COMMON LARGE BLUE

Last week I paid an unsuccessful visit to the reserve at Daneways where for the past few years I've always managed to see at least one of the rare large blue butterfly.  I also heard that only one was seen by a friend's son last weekend and  that had been a quick fly past . Therefore today I decided to head off to Rodborough Common and see if I could find any there as this is a site where they have been reintroduced in recent years although I've never looked for them. 

I'd heard that the large blues are usually found in the same sheltered area where I look for spring butterflies so I started to walk in that direction.  I soon saw meadow browns, marbled whites and  small heaths  but from the top of the common I couldn't see much butterfly activity down in the gully . Carefully negotiating the steep bank down to the bottom I looked around but saw nothing. Then suddenly a  blue butterfly appeared and I realised  it had the darker markings of a large blue. Success! It eventually settled on a leaf of a small bush. Wings tightly closed- this is typical of a large blue in sunny weather - it sat there for long enough for me to take some photos before taking off and resettling on  a grassy stem. It did this several times but I never saw its open wings However its larger size, underwing pattern and glimpse of blue upper wings showing through confirmed the butterfly's identity. 

If was the only individual I saw today but at least it confirmed their presence at this site.

SILVER STUDDED BLUE AT SILCHESTER COMMON

  I'd been waiting for an opportunity to revisit Silchester common to look for Silver studded blue butterflies so when I was asked to do a spot of childminding I realised I could combine it quite easily as the site is only a few miles from where  my daughter lives.  

This area of heathland is an easy place to locate this species of butterfly provided you know when and where to look. With many species earlier on the wing than usual this year, I thought the timing would be right, and I'd already seen reports of silver studded blues else where. 

Being a weekday the parking are ;was quite empty, especially as it had only just stopped raining, ( sometimes it can be difficult to find a space as the area is popular with dog walkers). I then headed along a familiar path through some bracken and gorse, across a short boardwalk  and on to an area of heath. Almost immediately I saw my target species, two in fact, both the blue males. The sun came out briefly and I managed to get some pictures of the butterflies with open wings before it then clouded over a bit more and although the butterflies were still flying low amongst the heather, when they stopped, it was with wings closed, giving me the shots I wanted, showing the 'studs' ( which look more blue than silver) which the give the species its name. 

I decided to  not wait any longer, although I only saw a handful of butterflies, and no females, and drove on to my daughter's house, having gathered another tick for the year. 

Yorkshire's coast and moors

 The rspb reserve at Bempton Cliffs on the Yorkshire coast is a place I've wanted to visit for long time due to the vast numbers of sea birds that nest there including everyone's favourite - puffins.

So when my sister  casually suggested that maybe we should both stay there for a night or two I jumped at the chance. Half term would be a perfect time of year so we booked some accommodation and I also bought tickets for a boat trip which would take us out  to see the birds  from  the sea  below the cliffs

After an early start with a stop off at Far Ings nature reserve near the Humber bridge, we arrived at Bridlington and  took the park and ride bus down to the harbour in good time and explored  for a  while before heading for the Yorkshire Belle which was moored against the pier. We were first in the queue and  therefore able to choose the seats that we wanted, in this case on the side nearest the cliffs on the outward journey and with the best protection from the rain which was forecast and had already started to fall! We opted to stay outside rather than under cover in order to get better views and were glad we did.  As the boat passed Flamborough head, we could see sea birds all around, including gannets, razor bills, guillemots, kittiwakes and a few puffins, either on the water or flying to and from the cliffs as they paired up and collected nesting material. We even saw a 'bridled' guillemot amongst them and an occasional seal popped its head out of the water. The cliffs were impressive with the huge numbers of nesting birds and the resultant noise. Every now and then the rain would get harder and I had to keep hiding my camera under my coat between  shots and wiping it after use. Nevertheless the boat trip gave us the opportunity to see just how many birds were there, something we could never see from the top of the cliffs and as we returned to our accommodation at nearby Flamborough, there was plenty to muse on. 

Next morning the weather had improved and by 7.40 a.m.  we were at Bempton Cliffs carpark in brilliant sunshine, before  the visitor centre opened. We made our way out to to the cliff top, passing through a flower strewn meadow, with sedge warblers and whitethroats singing from the hedges and tree sparrows frequenting some feeders.  As we approached the cliff path and the first viewing platform, the noise  of seabirds became louder and, peering over the cliffs; we could see many razorbills and guillemots nesting on the ledges together with good numbers of kittiwakes.  Taking the path to the left we followed the edge of the cliff, gannets could be seen circling out at sea, then returning to the cliffs. They were pulling grass from the top of the cliffs only a few metres away and flew almost at eye level before coming into land. I took far too many photos, experimenting with different flight shots. At the final platform we eventually came across a couple of puffins, although they were quite distant and difficult to photograph even for a record shot. 

After concluding that we had had our fill of seabirds for the morning we set off on a drive  which would take us  north over the Yorkshire Moors. We took a route that my sister suggested, as she had been before, which would lead us to Danby where there was a tea room. She assured me that we would see red grouse on the way and it wasn't too long before we did, a small head poking above the bracken. Slowing down we saw a female too but they disappeared behind a hump and we continued on. 

Suddenly we heard the familiar call of a curlew, another bird of the moors, but when we stopped on the side of the road it started to run towards us .. it was then we realised that we had stopped just in front of where its young were hiding!   We moved on a bit and found another bird which posed nicely for us on top of a mound, calling. 

A few more grouse could be seen as we made our way slowly along the road which had open views all around. The flowering heather looked as if it had gone over, as it was more brown than purple. I thought how pretty it would look when the moors were covered in purple heather. We also saw some grouse chicks with a few female birds. 

After refreshing ourselves at Danby we drove back down to Pickering- a quick walk at Fen Bog failed to turn up the hoped for Large heath and Small Pearl bordered fritillaries -   probably too early in the season, but I did find my first small copper butterfly of the year.  

After eating back at Flamborough we decided to make the most of the light evening,  and drove out to  Flamborough Head. We parked by the lighthouse, and spoke to some other visitors  who told us they hadn't seen puffins but there were plenty of seals and we soon found these hidden down on a beach. I had heard that this would be a good place to  try to see puffins and  despite what we had been told,  we found three of them in a good position to photograph on the edge of the cliffs. I lay down to get a better view and to eliminate any risk of standing  too near the edge! After a while the sun began to sink, and we returned to our cottage, delighted to have at last had some good views of puffins. 

                                                                 nesting kittiwakes at Bridlington

kittiwakes

guillemot

'bridled' guillemot

razorbills and guillemots

tree sparrow near  Bempton cliff feeders

gannets near the cliff top

BUTTERFLIES AT BOSCOMBE DOWN WEST

A month ago I had to cancel a visit I had hoped to make to a reserve called Fishlake Meadows near Romsey with a rspb birding group. However, with another sunny day forecast, I decided I would make the trip myself to find out what the reserve had to offer. There had been recent reports of ospreys and hobbies so having seen neither so far this year, it would be something to look out for. 

I was at the reserve by  just after eight, when the gates are unlocked ( though I'm not sure if the time is adhered to as another visitor had been there since six o'clock and they were already open!)  The first part of the reserve follows a path by side of an old barge canal and here there were numerous cettis warblers calling. Then you can take a path into the centre of the reed bed overlooking a lake from a screen. Reed and sedge warblers were singing; I also heard a cuckoo, and saw a great white egret, marsh harrier, red kite, buzzard and kestrel. Sadly no hobby or osprey during my visit. 

Although the morning had been slightly cloudy with a cool breeze at times, by lunch time the clouds had cleared and temperatures rising so I took a different route home,   stopping off at a butterfly nature reserve at Boscombe Down West.  This is a 1 km long disused railway line alongside some ministry of defence land, and is bordered by chalk embankments which attract a range of butterfly species taking advantage of the sheltered environment. For anyone in a wheelchair this is an ideal place to spot butterflies as it is level and easy to access. 

The butterflies I saw were mostly on the sunny side of the track, and provided a range of species, although not in particularly large numbers. I was pleased to find my first Painted Lady of the year, this was a species missed out on last year. However my sighting was only brief, with the butterfly stopping on a flower a only a few seconds before rising and disappearing through some wire fencing and over a bank.  I also saw a couple of Adonis blues, another first for the year, together with small and common blues, brown argus, grizzled skippers, brimstones, small heath and a green hairstreak. There were a lot of white butterflies but none stopped to enable identification.