SLIMBRIDGE SUMMER

 I finally caught a glimpse of the white spotted bluethroat at Slimbridge today, it was only a distant sighting but at least a tick for the year and only 5 minutes or so after my arrival. I had headed out on the summer walkway to the sea wall viewing point, as this bird seems to prefer mornings to perch visibly out in the reed bed. On two previous visits I had failed to see it so decided to make one more attempt. Viewing is generally pretty distant, as it perches on some  tall sticks which have been set up at a few points amongst the reeds. Today it chose the furthermost point away but through binoculars I was able to make out its colouring even though it was too far for any photos.

There was a brisk wind blowing, so after waiting a further half an hour with no  further sightings, I decided to  return to the main part of the reserve, and see what else was about.

From a couple of hides along the walkway which looked out over the Tack Piece, I saw my first green sandpiper of the year and in the Rushy Pen there were good numbers of avocets with young, as well as broods of ducklings and goslings.

I spent some time at the Discovery Hide looking over South Lake, where some black tailed godwits were looking great in their summer plumage and black headed gull chicks were changing into adult plumage.

The other hide which looks over South lake had 3 further green sandpipers, one of which was giving especially good views as it searched for food  amongst the mud in front of the hide. 

very distant bluethroat!!!

RAVENSROOST BUTTERFLIES

It's been pretty warm these last few days and I saw that White Admirals and Silver washed fritillaries have just emerged at Ravensroost wood near Minety. So this afternoon I headed over there; on arrival I found that the small car park was being re surfaced and some new gate posts added, so I parked on the verge on the side of the country road  which passes the woods. A man in an small excavator was working in the park, but he kindly stopped while I walked past and I went through the gate leading on to the main track through this woodland.

There weren't that many butterflies about, considering the sunshine, but I did see a few ringlets, my first of the year, as well as meadow browns and a couple of red admirals. Following the track along, I saw 3 silver washed fritillaries but they didn't settle, so I continued down as far as a pond which is usually a good area to look for White Admiral. White Admirals are one of my favourite butterflies, I think they look virtually tropical with black and white wing pattern. I didn't see any there but was joined by another person who recognised me from my trip to Daneway banks last week. Then two others came, one of them I also knew from Swindon. 

As we chatted about all the different places we visited recently we watched a silver washed fritillary flying continuously around. It eventually settled on top of of a plant but not that close - I wished I'd brought a longer lens!  We had a brief glimpse of a white admiral, but not for long. Walking back toward the car park, I saw two more, one of which was on the ground ahead of us, but as we reached it, off it went so still no photos this time.

If the sunny weather  continues, I expect I will revisit this site, as it's not too far from home, so hopefully I will get some better photos. 

silver washed fritillary

ringlet

SEARCHING FOR SMALL PEARLS AT UBLEY WARREN

 I drove down to the Mendips in Somerset this morning to join a field trip at a place called Ubley Warren, organised by the Somerset local group of Butterfly Conservation. The target species for the day was small pearl bordered fritillary butterflies, a species I have seen before at Priddy Mineries, a short distance away. However, I thought I'd give another area a visit, particularly as a guided walk had been arranged for BC members, 

The site itself is a former lead mining area, and there are plenty of dips and hollows amongst piles of rocks which have been left to be colonised by wild flowers and bracken.  

I arrived an hour or so before the walk started, in order to avoid the traffic and found  a space in the layby close to our meeting point. The walk had attracted ten participants plus the leader, although it seemed as if many knew each other from previous walks and some  had roles within the local BC group. However, I was made welcome and we started to follow the path into the reserve. 

One of the group had done a quick reccy and had already found a small copper down in a hollow which she pointed out to us. We also saw a large skipper nearby. 

We climbed up a slope where gorse and bracken was all around, and I spotted the first of half a dozen green hairstreaks. Suddenly I noticed an orange butterfly flying past and over the gorse bushes out of site, a fritillary possibly? Then a member of the group pointed to a butterfly sunning itself near the ground, a small pearl bordered fritillary. We all had a chance to photograph it before if flew off, a good thing as it happened as these were the only two of our target species that  we saw on the entire walk! 

Although sunny when I had arrived, a bank of cloud swiftly caught us up, and with a bit of a breeze, it wasn't ideal butterfly spotting weather. However, it didn't seem to deter the small heath butterflies which were quite numerous, when the sun  appeared from time to time, a few common blues and meadow browns showed up. 

We made a circuit of the site, and  worked out we could reach a popular area for SPBF just about the time when the next area of blue sky would be above us. However despite splitting into groups to scour the area, no small pearl bordered fritillaries appeared and we had to concede that either they were late this year or only few had emerged. 

Towards the end of the route, I found  Red Admiral although it preferred to shelter down in the vegetation.

After our two hours were up, other members of the group decided to remain and have their picnics, whether they had a further look for species after lunch I don't know. I decided that I would make my way home, as I had quite a journey ahead of me.

small copper ( and friends!)

large skipper

green hairstreak

small pearl bordered fritillary

SILVER STUDDED BLUE OF SILCHESTER COMMON

I paid a  short visit to the heathland site at Silchester Common, near Tadley to look for my target species, the silver studded blue butterfly.  It is handy to have this area of heathland so close to my daughter's home, so when visiting her today, I was keen to see if this species was on the wing as it is still fairly early in their flight season. 

Parking at my usual spot in Impstone Road, I took a footpath out on to the heath where there are gorse bushes and some low heather plants. There were a few clouds about so I waited for the sun to appear before scanning the area close to the ground. It wasn't long before the first blue butterfly appeared. Not being able to get close enough to check , I wondered if it might be a common blue which are   also found at this site, but then several more appeared together which  indicated to me that they were silver- studded blues. It took ages before any would settle, but eventually some did and I was able to take some photos. They were mostly the blue males but I did see one brown female. 

During my visit  I also saw a few stonechats, an emperor dragonfly and a golden ringed dragonfly although  the dragonflies didn't settle. 

LARGE BLUE

After having to postphone my visit to Daneway banks yesterday due to extra work committments, I made the journey to this Gloucester Wildlife trust reserve straight from work today after finishing at lunch time. The morning had been a sunny one but by the time I left, cloud had increased with little blue sky to be seen. However, it was still quite warm I was hopeful that the butterflies would still be flying, and in fact the large blues are often seen with wings open on cloudy days as they tend to shut them when sunny.

After walking uphill to the reserve from the layby where I'd parked my car, I arrived at the reserve entrance just in time to notice a couple of photographers looking intently into the grass ahead of me.  It transpired they had found the first large blue butterfly of the day!  The butterfly flew up then settled again, wings open,  allowing for some photos. A cluster of photographers gathered and  pointed their cameras towards it, some said that they had been there all morning searching with no success until now, a great relief especially for someone who'd travelled two to three hours to get there. For me, however, it was success  straightaway!  

I only saw two large blue butterflies on my visit, but not for long before they flew off and out of sight in the reserve. However, I was told that there were a good number of marbled whites in an area further along where they were nectaring so I went along to find those as I hadn't yet seen any this year. I also found a common blue, large skipper, a few meadow browns and a possible ringlet which I couldn't identify as it didn't settle.

Despite the lack of butterflies, which some said could be due to all the rain we've had earlier in the year,  I did get chatting to others who were able to give me some further sites where I might find the butterflies I have still yet to see 

looking up towards the banks of the reserve

marbled white

large blue

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER IN FOD

With 15 more species of bird to find to make my target of 175, I headed over to the Forest of Dean to look for a summer migrant -  a spotted flycatcher. They arrive later than the pied flycatcher and hadn't yet arrived on  my last visit  to the rspb Nagshead reserve in April. I left home slightly later than usual as the weather forecast was for early rain, and I did drive through some showers, but the sun came out  just as I arrived at the reserve. 

 My usual place to look for spotted flycatchers is at the Lower hide  but a returning visitor told me he hadn't seen any flycatchers there but had seen a  couple of male redstarts and a kingfisher.  I did go and look but after waiting over an hour, I failed to spot one, although I did see a kingfisher and a jay. With rather cloudy and breezy weather, I questioned my decision to come as I was unsure if there would be sufficient insects around for the flycatcher anyway.  

After a sudden heavy downpour,  I returned to the car park and then walked the short distance to the Campbell hide where yesterday there had been reports of  hawfinches feeding juveniles in front of the hide. I was told that yes the hawfinches had been present until twenty minutes ago and stayed for about twenty minutes. But I was also glad to hear that a spotted flycatcher was 'around' but rather flighty.  After ascending the wooden steps into the hide, I found a place to sit and started to wait. It was quite overcast and there was nothing much around apart from a couple of blackbirds. Occasionally I caught sight of a little brown bird, but it was gone too quickly to identify. Later I saw a juvenile robin and a couple of song thrushes. A buzzard landed on a bare branch of a distant tree and a siskin pecked for insects from the surface of the edge of the pond, even continuing in the rain.

Another heavy shower ensued  but after that the sun emerged and the forest was bathed in  sunlight.   Bird song seemed to increase and I thought I saw a brown bird fly out from a bush and return but I couldn't locate it. Later I noticed a bird drop to the floor then fly up, again remaining out of sight. It was rather frustrating as I was almost certain that it must be the flycatcher. Eventually I could just make it out between some branches -  definitely a spotted flycatcher. Then all of a sudden it flew out and landed at the end of a broken branch and I could see it clearly and get a few record shots. It flew off and that was the last I saw of it as the rain returned. If the weather had been better I might have taken the 'short trail' around the woodland  to see what else was about, but  I was not keen to get caught in the rain! 

I had also intended to visit another area of the Forest where it is sometimes possible to find small pearl bordered fritillaries but with the showers frequent and quite heavy I decided it wasn't butterfly weather!

WOOD WHITE AND BLACK HAIRSTREAK

 I'd arranged a trip to stay with my sister for a couple of nights in order to make a third attempt at seeing a chequered skipper butterfly, introduced a couple of years ago at Fineshade Wood, Northampton. 

As I passed close to Silverstone on my way up, I stopped off at Bucknell Wood to hopefully see some wood white butterflies along the  track.  I parked in the small car park and went through the gate heading up to an open area where some paths meet at a 'crossroads'.  It had been overcast on my journey but the cloud seemed to breaking up and as I progressed along the track the sun did come out eventually. I don't usually find any wood whites until at least half way to the cross roads, at a point where it curves round to the right. And today this was where I saw the first sign of wood whites- low on the grassy edge I could see a fluttering white butterfly ahead of me. I caught it up but it never settled, but gently fluttered  along  until it flew up and over some bushes at the side. Meanwhile  a second individual had appeared    and  eventually settled, just for a few seconds, delicately suspended from its chosen flower.

I saw at least half a dozen wood white butterflies, a few more appearing as the sun came out but  none settling until at last when the sun disappeared, the butterfly I was watching  stopped conveniently on the top of a stalk where it stayed long enough for some photos. 

s

Reaching my destination  ahead of time, I decided to   drive a bit further on to Ouse Fen, an old quarry which is being developed into  large wetland site, and where a certain Great reed warbler has been singing lustily from the reed beds for the last few weeks. An rare visitor to the UK, I felt it was an opportunity I should not miss. Having visited the reserve on several previous occasion, I knew the layout  and realised that it probably would not be too far to walk from the car park. I asked some returning photographers who pointed me in the right direction and I headed that way. The bird could be heard well before I reached the viewing point, much louder than its neighbours the reed warblers. It was difficult to spot amongst the reeds, as it had chosen to stay at the back, but you could just make out its shape and  obvious red throat as it sang. Although previous visitors had seen it at the front of the reeds, I didn't have a lot of time to stay, and it certainly did not seem in any hurry to move from its chosen spot. 

As I turned to leave, I noticed a small brown shape huddled up against the edge of the grassy path ahead of me, and on getting closer I could see that it was a small animal - a fawn. It turned towards me and I realised it was a young chinese water deer,  a species which I have seen on this reserve previously. Its spotted furry coat almost made it look like a cuddly toy! I took some photos from a respectable distance then walked passed it, it stood nervously  before slowly retreating into the long grass. 

 

 

The next morning I was up fairly early, these light mornings always ensuring that I am awake by 6 am. My aim was to drive up to  Fineshade wood, where back in 2022, the public were first invited to visit to see the chequered skipper butterflies which had been introduced there a few years previously. The population was  considered self-sustaining, though  in very small numbers and in both 2022 and 2023 I had visited with no sightings. Sadly 2024 was to prove a 'no sightings' year for me too, despite spending  over  two hours searching. I walked the recommended circuit of Westhay wood,  which was suggested as being the best area to look, especially along the grassy verges. I did see three dingy skippers but nothing else of note. It was fairly early in the day ( 930 -  1130) so I don't know if that would make a difference, However, someone later told me that although one had been seen the previous week, nothing else had been reported.   One wonders if the introduction is either failing or getting off to a very slow start. It doesn't help that chequered skippers  sightings are not reported on any website that I can find. However, 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' so at least I did try! 

In contrast, my next port of call was to Glapthorn Cow pastures, a small woodland where black hairstreaks are almost guaranteed, and easy to photograph on top of the bramble bushes which occur in a small clearing along the 'third ride'. This was a return visit from two year ago, and once more I was able to  photograph these butterflies as they spin slowly round as they nectar on the flowers.