A CLOUDED YELLOW MORNING AT OTMOOR

 

This morning I went over to RSPB Otmoor, not to see birds this time, but to look for clouded yellow butterflies. These migrants are on the wing into the autumn and I have been checking the local butterfly blogs recently to see where I might find some. This week a report was made of at least five clouded yellow butterflies having been seen  at Julys meadow at RSPB Otmoor, so as there seemed a good chance that they would be still be present I headed over there today.

I wasn't sure exactly sure where Julys meadow was, so did a bit of research on the internet and found there is a track leading to it from the Wetland Hide, which is a track I haven't followed before. It was quite easy to find, once I had walked along the bridleway,  although as I reached one of the kissing gates , I saw someone  coming back, so  checked that I was in the right place. He indicated that the field in question  was just a short distance along the path and  said that the clouded yellows were definitely around, if I just waited a while for them to appear.

Sure enough the first golden yellow butterfly appeared within a couple of minutes, followed by a second. They flew fast over the tops of the flowers in the meadow, and I enjoyed watching them, several more appeared and I saw at least half a dozen at once, though there were probably more than that. Every so often one would settle for a few seconds on a flower, and eventually I managed to get close enough to take some photos of some of them before they whizzed off once more. 

As it was lunch time, I sat down on the grass to eat my picnic at the edge of the meadow. It was peaceful with no one else in sight, and just occasionally a yellow butterfly would fly past.. There were few other butterflies around, although I did spot a small heath. 

After considering I had enough photos for the day, I walked back along the track and bridleway, this time passing through the Roman road, a good spot for butterflies and dragonflies. There were a few speckled woods and a comma around, and good numbers of ruddy darters. I also had a good view of a southern hawker which clung to a piece of vegetation right by the path. 

I started chatting to another visitor who was also searching the path. He told me  had just been visiting with a group of 6 birders but hadn't known about the clouded yellows otherwise he would have shown them as they had been as far as the Wetland hide  but then turned back!  I wondered if  the Julys meadow was a common area for the clouded yellows but he didn't think so as Otmoor is known for its brown hairstreaks more with only the occasionally clouded yellow reported.  We had an brief discussion about some of the other butterflies  seen in the locality before it was time for me to return home. 

Julys Meadow

GREAT WHITE EGRET

 

I visited WWT Slimbridge again today, not expecting to see anything new but it's always a pleasant day out.  The most interesting sighting today was the Great White Egret from the Knott Hide. On my last visit it wasn't seen, and indeed as I looked in the hide for the first time as I made my way down to the Estuary Tower, I saw nothing,  but on my return I looked in and was almost taken by surprise to see this large white bird showing well not too far from the hide. Every so often it would stop, stretch out its neck and with a sudden movement stab its spear- like yellow bill into the water.  

I had seen a couple of little egrets on the estuary from the summer walkway, and I thought I might even make it three egrets in one visit, but the twelve cattle egrets that had been roosting on the South lake had moved on. All three egrets are now much more common than they used to be; I can remember seeing  little egrets on  the Hayle Estuary in the early 1990s  when they started to  visit the UK in more significant numbers. 

A few butterflies were still about, enjoying the autumn sunshine, including one common blue, red admiral, several speckled woods and quite a few whites. 

red admiral

common blue

speckled wood

MANX SHEARWATER AND TWO BLACK NECKED GREBES

 

This afternoon, I checked, as I do regularly, the Oxon Birding Blog website to see what has been seen recently, particularly at Farmoor Reservoir as it is one of the closer good birding sites. 

At Farmoor, two sightings were of interest - a manx shearwater and two black necked grebes had been seen at 245 p.m. . I considered whether I should visit tomorrow morning, but decided for once, that I would go straight away, as not only had I not had a walk today, but also the chances are that none of those birds would still be present tomorrow. Arriving at 3.45 pm. the wind was quite brisk so I put on an extra jacket and went towards the causeway.  

I questioned a couple who were leaving and they said that the grebes were on the north west corner of F1 amongst a large group of coots, and tufted ducks, whilst the manx shearwater had flown and would appear to have relocated at the south east corner of F2 -in other words the birds were direct opposite corners of the  site! 

I decided to continue across the causeway  and round the side of F1 section of the reservoir to search for the grebes and then return for the manx shearwater.  After a while scanning through my binoculars I could just make out the two  black necked grebes but they were not close enough for a photo. I watched for a while, before returning the way I had come, and came across several birders looking across the other, larger, section of the reservoir. One of them was happy to point out to me the manx shearwater  in the distance which was smaller than expected and seemed to disappear and reappear behind the waves as it swam out in the centre of the reservoir. The light was not great for photos as it was now gone 5 pm. but at least that is another tick for the year. 

NB none of these birds were found at the reservoir the following morning