SPARROWHAWK!

 

Sadly I have had to (temporarily) cease feeding the birds in my garden in order to discourage a rat from entering my loft, but looking out of the window today I saw this character at the end of my garden who had obviously no intention of going hungry! 

This female sparrowhawk had caught a pigeon and was methodically pulling out feathers and insides , making a terrible mess as she did so, but by hiding behind various trees/shrubs I was abe to get quite close (within 5 metres) before she flew off. 

SCAUP TRIO AT FARMOOR

  

For a number of reasons including a temporary change of hours at school, plus a visit from a heating engineer, I've not been out this week until today.  It was a mostly grey day with a brisk south westerly wind  blowing when I headed over to one of my regular birding sites at Farmoor Reservoir. I'd been reading a number of reports of several Greater Scaup on the reservoir which were associating with some tufted ducks not too far from the western end of the causeway which divides the two reservoirs. As I parked, I noticed the orange wind sock blowing horizonally which indicated that I would be heading into the wind as I crossed the causeway. I felt in my pockets for my hat and gloves, which thankfully were there in readiness.

 There were several groups of   tufted ducks visible on F1, and I scanned them with my binoculars to see if I could pick out any female Scaup with their white blaze. Another lady told me that she thought she could find one that was sleeping but it was difficult to identify it. I thought I could see the one she meant although there were another few ducks asleep as well. I decided to continue across the causeway  to see whether I could find any other birds of interest or  indeed anything else that looked like a Scaup. As I got to  the corner I  did spot what could be the possible immature male Scaup which had also been reported -  I'm always grateful to photographers who add their pictures to the Oxon birding blog, as it helps me check the birds I am trying to identify! . I turned to walk a little way along  the western bank of F1 but there appeared nothing that resembled the birds I was looking for. However, l did see a couple of kestrels perched  on the Thames Water building.

Returning across the causeway, this time with the wind behind me, I noticed a couple of photographers focusing on one of the  groups of  tufted ducks. I quickly realised that they had found the two female scaups, which had obviously been the sleeping birds I'd seen earlier!  Both had their white flash showing well, though the different colouring of the birds showed they were of different ages  - according to one birder's report they were probably first and second winter birds.

I took a few photos  before returning to my car to enjoy a flask of hot chocolate which I had brought with me in the car to warm me up after my walk!

2nd winter Scaup f

1st winter Scaup f

prob immature Scaup m 

kestrel on the roof

..and between some pipes

A CROSSBILL BONUS

 One of my aims this winter was to find some crossbills; these are birds that I've never seen before but from time to time can be seen locally though I've not managed to see any myself

. Consequently I was pleased to see an entry on the Oxfordshire birding blog recording that ,over the weekend,  several had been seen in Buckland, a little village near Faringdon, about 15 minutes from home. 

The earliest opportunity I expected to have was Thursday this week as I generally work Mon - Wed. However, yesterday I was informed that my class bubble at school was having to self isolate for 14 days and I would be working from home, though without the need to completely self isolate as I hadn't been in school at the end of last week. 

As a result,  I decided to take the opportunity to see if I could find the crossbills at lunch time today.  They had been seen in some conifer trees which lined a bridle way leading to a farm, just off the A420. I soon found the location but the only parking I could find was on the opposite side of the road outside a gated entrance so  I  hoped I wasn't going to upset anyone by parking on their property!  Looking down the drive/bridleway I could see a few people with binoculars looking up at one of the trees a 100 yards or so  away. On reaching them I found  a couple with cameras plus a couple of ladies who told me they lived there and were enjoying all the interest that the birds ' presence had generate!. They also reassured me that it was a public bridleway so we were not trespassing in any way!  The crossbills were easy to spot,in branches half way to two thirds the way up the the tree and often at the outer edges although their colours ( red males and green females) blended in quite well with the pine cones and leaves respectively.  I was very pleased to spend a while watching them use their specially shaped beaks to extract the seeds from the  cones. There were at least half a dozen, maybe quite a lot more, mostly males, (I only spotted one female)  On enquiring I learned that the crossbills seemed to have selected that particular tree and were returning to it regularly. 

STAYING LOCAL(ISH) DURING LOCKDOWN NO 2

The  start of the new lockdown coincided with my days off this week  and some beautiful autumn sunshine. I had fully intended to pay a visit to Slimbridge on Thursday, but sadly that is closed for the moment, I therefore headed for some more local sites. At Stanton Park, on Friday, I was surprised to find the car park almost full, even at 10  o'lock in the morning. However, it is a large area and I had little difficulty in finding a quiet spot next to some a  bird feeding station, which some thoughtful person had filled with a range of food.. No sooner, had I sat down on one of the wooden benches, when I saw my first bird table visitor,  a marsh tit.  Gorgeous little birds, but in common with other members of the tit family, they don't hang about for long, but grab a seed and fly off with it. 

Next to visit was another of my favourite woodland birds,a nuthatch, followed by coal tit, blue tit and great tit. A robin and blackbird also made an appearance as did a couple of grey squirrels. I stayed a while, for a time, being joined by another couple who sat, at a suitable distance on one of the other seats, before taking another path back towards the car park. 

marsh tit

nuthatch

coal tit

I'd been reading on the local Oxfordshire birding blog of a juvenile great northern diver that was currently visiting Farmoor Reservoir so as this bird was not yet ticked off on my year list I decided to make the half hour trip today to go and find it. After a rather cold, murky start to the day, it was brightening up and with little or no wind, I thought the water would be calm enough to take some photos if it was near enough to the bank. 

With lockdown in progress I   thought, rather naivily that it might be quite quiet there, but no, I was wrong, the car park was full, and  many people were taking advantage of the autumn sunshine, including families, joggers, anglers as well as photographers and  birdwatchers. 

The diver was located in an area of water on the eastern side of F2 which meant only a short walk from the car park (for a change!|) There were a few photographers seated on the wall, and they  pointed out the bird to me. It was a fair distance from the bank, but easy to spot on the calm water and obtain a few photographs. Amongst the chat between the birders/photographers I recognised the voice of my cousin, Jon, so joined him ( socially distanced of course) for a chat and subsequent walk across the causeway. 

The usual birds were present, great crested and little grebes, cormorants, herring and blackheaded gulls, mute swans and mallards and the usual good numbers of coots. 

great northern diver juv

great crested grebe

mute swan

a raft of cormorants

BUTTERFLY SIGHTINGS SUMMARY 2020

This is the summary of the UK butterflies I have seen this year.

My aim is to see between 45 and 50; the last two years I managed 47. 

We were in lockdown when the first of the spring butteflies were on the wing. My first sightings of the year were on the local  disused golf course  during the  weeks of 'lockdown' due to Covid 19 when I took my daily exercise . The first records I made were on 31 March: peacock, brimstone and small tortoiseshell.

 During the next couple of weeks  I added a comma to my year list, together with orange tip and green veined white, again all seen at the golf course.

small tortoiseshell

orange tip (m)

brimstone (m)

comma

peacock

green veined white

Still limited to local walks, in the middle of April I I was please to find five speckled wood butterflies,  and a small white at the golf course.  In my garden the holly blues had also begun emerging and at Highworth's Pentylands country park, I found my first red admiral. On 12 May as restrictons were about to be lifted I saw a large white as I walked through the fields to Pentylands.

 In the middle of May we were at last  permitted to visit places further afield,  and it was time to do some  serious catching up on the butterflies which I would normally have seen by now. I therefore headed over to my usual hot spot at Oakley wood near Cirencester for Pearl bordered Fritillaries followed by a visit to Rodborough Common where I clocked up seven more species ; duke of burgundy, small heath, dingy skipper, brown argus, small blue, adonis blue and common blue .The following day I visited Morgan's Hill and ticked off Marsh Fritillary, grizzled skipper ( my first for several years!) and small copper. I felt my year list would be reasonable after all!

brown argus

common blue

dingy skipper

duke of burgundy

small blue

small heath

Adonis blue

Less than a week later  I decided to make the  drive to Bucknell Wood (after a visit to Farmoor reservoir),  in order to look for wood white butterflies, and was glad I did as I found half a dozen.

wood white

It is always good to add a never seen before butterfly to my year list, and I decided this year I would target the small pearl bordered butterfly. Having tried unsuccessfully to find it in previous years at various locations ( usually being either too late or too early in the season) I decided my best chance was to travel down to  Priddy Mineries in Somerset after reading some reports of sightings in the area. My visit paid off, even to the extent of having one land on my camera bag, and I was able to add species number 51 to my personal records list.

small pearl bordered 

 

With the end of May approaching, a further visit to  Morgan's hill  yielded a single green hairstreak and my first large skipper and meadow brown of the year. 

green hairstreak

large skipper

meadow brown

Some good weather in early June gave me the opportunities for specific butterfly recording;  I found black hairstreaks at Bernwood Meadows ( a change from my usual location at Whitecross Green wood, which was closed) , large blues  and marbled whites at Daneways, and silver studded blues at Silchester Common. 

black hairstreak

large blue

marbled white

silver studded blue

A few days later I located small skippers and dark green fritillaries at Cherhill.

dark green fritiallary

small skipper

I paid a visit to Ravensroost wood at the end of June to see White admirals and Silver washed fritillaries, but despite searching several times in July , I failed to record any white letter hairstreaks, which was a disappointment. I shall have to find a more reliable location another year I think, as it is rare that I have seen more than one at any time at Ravensroost anyway. I did record a probable Essex skipper in the meadow,

essex skipper

silver washed fritillary

white admiral

A revist to Bucknell woods in mid July, this time to meet my sister, enabled us to find  purple hairstreaks and ringlets but sadly no more wood whites, as it is between broods. No purple emperors either. A week later I added chalk hill blues to my list from a visit to Lardon Chase, on the way to visit my daughter who had also  just discovered she has purple hairstreaks visiting her garden  from an old oak tree at the back of her garden.

purple hairstreak

chalk hill blue

ringlet

By the end of July, brown hairstreaks were already on the wing and I made my customary visit to RSPB Otmoor to find some. I had also been seeing plenty of gatekeepers about.

brown hairstreak

gatekeeper

A conifer plantation  at Mortimer, in early August gave me my usual grayling record, although I only saw two this time,  and during a visit to Labrador Bay looking for cirl buntings, I spotted several wall browns, an unexpected bonus from the visit. 

wall brown

grayling

I was unable to record any silver spotted skippers at Aston Rowants;  the day I visited was unbearably hot and also breezy so nothing was settling. 

I did however get a final tick of the year  with some clouded yellows at RSPB  Otmoor in an area I had not previously visited known as Julys fields, having found details on the Upper Thames butterfly blog of some that had been seen there. 

During the year I have heard that it may be possible to see  Glanville Friitillaries at a site near Croydon, rather than at their stronghold on the Isle of Wight, and there were also autumn records at Brighton for Long tailed blue, another visiting migrant. Maybe next year....

My total for the season was 44. 

.