KENT WILDLIFE

Spending a week in Kent , with family.  On a visit to the Isle of Sheppey saw a common blue and small heath butterfly, also a mediterranean gull with a couple of black headed gulls.  Not a very clear photo as zoomed in quite a bit. 

SLIMBRIDGE BABIES

After a week of gorgeous weather, a thunderstorm overnight brought a bit of a change; overcast skies, lower temperatures and a steady breeze.

I made for Slimbridge WWT centre to see what young birds were around; to start with I found a family of oyster catchers only a few metres away from the Rushy Hide, there were also several different aged broods of avocets. 

Young moorhens and coots were around the centre, and at the Hogarth hide I spent a while watching a parent avocet watching out for danger while her two growing chicks searched for food  in the shallow water, already using the side to side motion, characteristic of avocets. 
In front of that hide a pair of cranes are incubating two eggs, which hopefully should provide great views for those watching, in a couple of weeks when they are due to hatch. 

Other families included canada geese, greylag geese, black headed gull, mallard and shelduck. 

A few other birds seen included little ringed plover, black tailed godwit and a couple of cattle egrets in a field viewed from the Kingfisher hide .

avocet parent guarding...

...her chick

black head gull and chick

canada goose family

moorhen feeding chick

incubating crane

turning the eggs

two eggs

house martin nest seen on a house by the swing bridge

greylag family

oyster catcher and chick

oyster catcher and chick

moorhen chick

WALK IN OAKLEY WOOD

Working through butterflies in order of emergence, I had reached pearl bordered fritillary, a species not yet seen by me. I  know of two  places where these can be found; in Bentley Wood near Salisbury and Oakley Wood, Cirencester.  Not surprisingly I chose the latter, being only half an hour away.  It is part of the Bathurst private estate but allows walkers  in during the day.

I parked in the woodland layby; a few other cars were there which seemed a good sign!  The route I planned to take was in the recently reproduced booklet, Butterfly Walks in Gloucestershire, and so I started off down the main track.  I had just turned off when I  met two walkers who were returning. Getting into conversation it turned out they had just turned back, not knowing where to find the butterflies, so on producing my booklet we all decided to follow the route marked. It was not long before we came across the first area of interest, where we quickly spotted at least 3 pearl bordered butterflies. It was a hot day, and they were very active, not settling, apart from one individual, so I quickly grabbed a few photos before it was off again.  We then went onto another suggested area; again 3 or so butterflies, but although they occasionally stopped to feed on bugle, they were only there for a couple of seconds so impossible to photograph without a good deal of patience (and time!)

Arriving home in good time, I made a quick visit to Stanton Park, butterflies around included large white, holly blue, small white and speckled wood. Also several chaser dragonflies around the ponds.  I noticed one brood of mallard ducklings. Also the two adult swans and last years cygnet were on the lake, no evidence of cygnets although I had recently seen the female on her nest. 

broad bodied chaser

broad bodied chaser

pearl bordered fritillary

speckled wood

BUTTERFLIES AT RODBOROUGH COMMON

Summer has returned and I made the most of my afternoon off.  Made a first visit to Rodborough Common, where a number of butterflies including the Duke of Burgundy can be seen, the latter being my target for the afternoon to add to my year's list.

A bit breezy over the common, so I didn't see many butteflies to start with but as I went down the hillside and found some more sheltered areas, I found some small heath,  common blue,  and a red admiral.  A bit further on, there was a nice sheltered gully where a number of little brown butterflies were fluttering about, which on close inspection proved to be dingy skippers, small heaths  and a single duke of burgundy!  Quest achieved! . Having taken  a few  photos I made my way up the steep hillside and found adonis blue and  small blue  on my way back to the car park.

Butterflies seen:
dingy skipper
duke of burgundy
common blue
small blue
adonis blue
small heath
red admiral

duke of burgundy

small blue

adonis blue

MORE BIRDING AT OTMOOR

Having regard for the weather forecast, it seemed an ideal opportunity to visit Otmoor RSPB reserve with the object of seeing a turtle dove and or cuckoo which spend a few months there each year.

Arriving at 820 am. the first sound I heard was a cuckoo, though I didn't get to view it until   sometime later. As I walked down the bridleway I then heard  a turtle dove purring in one of the oaks, giving a pretty good view. Three cranes also flew onto the reserve as I watched.

Sedge warblers and reed warblers were  all singing away, also saw and heard a snipe drumming, and a couple of hobbies. Also lots of greylag geese with their goslings.

Rather a surprise to find a young mole on the path, not sure how it got there, but it seemed a bit disorientated!

Birds seen included:

snipe, cuckoo, turtle dove, magpie, hobby, greylag, canada goose, shoveler, redshank, swan, mallard, coot, sedge warbler, reed warbler, reed bunting, kestrel, cormorant, willow warbler, chiffchaff, goldfinch, chaffinch, linnet, blackbird, crane.

cuckoo, taken through hide window

turtle dove

hobby

sedge warbler

greylag goslings

linnet

a young mole

SPRING BUTTERFLIES

I  had been recommended Cotley Hill, near Warminster as a good spot for butterflies at this time of year, and I wasn't disappointed on my visit this afternoon. After a cloudy morning, the afternoon was forecast sunny so I took lunch and drove the one hour 20 minutes journey to the aforementioned site.

Having spoken to a couple of chaps who arrived soon after me, as to which route to take, I walked up the narrow path and soon spotted green hairstreaks and a small blue. As the path opened out onto the chalk hillside, I was soon saw more species, including the notable marsh fritillary and adonis blue. Later a wall brown was seen, though unwilling to pose for photographs, preferring to hide under leaves.

After traversing the hillside and path for an hour or so, I returned to the car, having seen a total of 14 butterflies, including two completely new ones, and 9 new for the year. A worthwhile trip.

Species of butterfly seen:
green veined white, orange-tip, peacock, speckled wood, marsh fritillary, wall brown, small heath, small blue, brown argus, adonis blue, holly blue, green hairstreak, dingy skipper, grizzled skipper.

green hairstreak

adonis blue

grizzled skipper

marsh fritillary

orange tip

a hiding wall brown

FARMOOR

There had been some interesting reports of waders present in the morning, so I made my way over to Farmoor reservoir on a dull, cold and rather breezy afternoon. 

The only wader I found was a common sandpiper, but there were loads of swifts sweeping low over the water and my head, as well as white, yellow and pied wagtails, greylag family, also common terns and black terns.  I did locate a kestrel nest box which hopefully should provide some interesting views on  a later date hopefully. 

Birds seen around the reservoir. 
greylag goose, pied wagtail, white wagtail, yellow wagtail, cormorant, blackheaded gull, great crested grebe, mallard, common tern, black tern, common sandpiper, swift, swallow, sand martin, coot. 

Coate water

A quick stroll around part of the lake at Coate water to see if the turnstone was still present- it wasn't!  However there were the usual geese and some goslings, a young heron, and various swans on nests, also gadwalls, tufted ducks, mallards and grebes. 

I also witnessed a young child fall off one of the fishing platforms into the water - I knew his parents were around but couldn't see them at the time, and wasn't sure if they had heard or seen the splash!  However, the child managed to turn round and grab the edge and his dad was there in a few seconds after the child called out. It was quite a walk from where I stood watching on the bridge, but thankfully I didn't have to undertake a dramatic rescue! I spoke to the dad afterwards who said that the little boy who was four, had been going to swimming lessons where they are taught to turn round and grab the side which obviously was a lesson well learnt, even if he didn't do as his dad said by going onto the platform in the first place!!