BROWN HAIRSTREAKS

As the butterfly season starts drawing to a close, I made my annual visit to rspb Otmoor to look for  Brown hairstreaks which are regularly seen  along the 'Roman Road', close to the car park. These are bigger than the other hairstreaks and the female, in particular, has a bright  orange colour to its underwings. As with many butterflies this year, they have been emerging several weeks early and I'd seen reports of several  at Otmoor. Brown hairstreaks are one of the last butterflies to emerge and I often make this one of my  targets for the start of the school summer holidays. 

With a mix of cloud and sun forecast, I  arrived at the reserve car park around 11.30 am and was  pleased to find it only half full so after displaying my membership card in the window I took the short walk out of the car park to the entry point of the Roman road.  This is  a sheltered grassy path  bordered by a variety of hedgerow plants and trees, including ash and oaks and is attractive to a variety of butterfly species.  I stopped by a large area of bramble where a variety of butterflies could be seen, including, gatekeepers, speckled wood, comma, meadow brown red admiral, even a common blue.  I was surprised that no one else was there to start with though fairly soon I was joined by a fellow butterfly enthusiast who said he had walked the length of the path but hadn't found any hairstreaks. We did see a few   butterflies flying about around the tops of the ash trees but were hoping some would come down to nectar on the brambles or thistles. However after being informed by another visitor that he'd found a female on brambles some distance along the bridleway which joins at right angles to our current path we both decided to walk in that direction and see what could be seen. I waited a while before following my recent acquaintance and then met him returning without success. However whilst walking back to our original location,  I was scanning the hedgerows and  spotted a brown hairstreak conveniently settled on a thistle at eye level !  It even opened its wings slightly, confirming it was a male. as there was no orange on the upper wings. 

It remained in the same place for a while before eventually flying off. Back on the original grass track, I then spotted another male. We eventually found a third, rather tatty specimen, which spent some time on the ground, even fully opening its wings,  but sadly no females this time. 

gatekeeper

large white

brown hairstreak

'Roman road' where butterflies can be seen

open wings of male brown hairstreak

comma

green veined white

MINSMERE AND DUNWICH HEATH

 During a few days with my sister in Cambridgeshire, we paid a re-visit to rspb Minsmere. Sadly it failed to turn up the hoped-for bearded tits and bitterns but nevertheless was an enjoyable day out.  Arriving just before 10 am we decided to visit the scrpes, though not before observing butterflies on some of the centre's buddleia bushes. We saw red admirals, various white species, gatekeepers  and peacocks although no painted ladies. A humming bee hawkmoth also presented some opportunities for  photography. 

Across the site numerous gatekeepers could be seen, they seem to be having a good year this year. We also found a white admiral  on some bramble in some woodland and a gypsy moth on a tree trunk.  We saw a couple of southern hawker  and emperor dragonflies and some ruddy/common darters.

At the hides surrounding the scrapes, we spent some time watching a small flock of little gulls, mostly preening on the mud with the occasional fly around. They were joined by some sandwich terns, then some common girls, all three species being new  sightings for the year for me. Also on the scrapes were  common terns, common sandpiper, green sandpiper, avocets, oyster catchers,  ruff and little ringed plovers and a great white egret flew over. .

After some  refreshments in the cafe we went down to the bittern and island mere hide which overlook reedbeds but did  not see any birds of note here. 

We then drove the short distance to Dunwich heath where we hoped to find grayling on the heather, rather than the silver studded blue butterflies which were about last time we visited.  

It took a while to find any but eventually we saw three or four which landed on the gravel path and quickly did their 'disappearing act ' as they shut their wings and became camouflaged. This was another first for my butterfly year list. 

heather on  NT Dunwich heath

southern hawker dragonfly f

southern hawker m

gypsy moth

white admiral

hummingbee hawk moth

gypsy moth (f)

little ringed plover (juv)

sandwich tern and little gulls

common gull

avocet

sandwich terns

oyster catchers

BIG BUTTERFLY COUNT

 The big butterfly count has begun and runs till 10 Aug so this afternoon I  went down to the local Country Park to see what I could spot. 

Gatekeepers and meadow browns were by far the most numerous butterflies, especially as I reached the perimeter hedge where  brambles grow. I also saw a green veined white and a holly blue, and in the grass a common blue and a lovely small copper. On the bird front, a juvenile  wren showed well from the bushes. Further on I came across a large buddleia bush which was  attracting a variety of species; 8 large whites, a peacock, 2 red admirals, a brimstone, and even a large skipper. 

gatekeepers

meadow browns

small copper

wren

common blue

peacock

large white

large skipper

brimstone

SUMMER AT SLIMBRIDGE

Hot weather and work commitments have prevented me from getting out and about as much as I would like, but today was an opportunity to revisit Slimbridge and tick off a few more birds for the year. Being the Air Tattoo weekend  I decided to wait until the morning's  traffic had quietened down, before setting off just before lunch and consequently my journey was of about the usual duration. The morning's rain and cloud was also clearing, making for a largely sunny and warm afternoon. 

My main target species today was a tundra bean goose which had somehow found its way to Slimbridge and  could be viewed from the Discovery Hide. I'd never seen this species of goose before so was keen to add it to my list. I headed there first, where I soon found it at the back of the causeway, amongst a flock of greylags and Canada geese;  although similar colouring to a greylag goose, its bill is black rather than orange, with a orange band on it. What stood out most for me was its bright orange legs, making it easy to pick out within a flock of standing geese. Also on South lake were numerous black headed gulls, avocets, a flock of black tailed godwits,  a white headed ruff and a tufted duck female with duckling. I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon visiting the hides along the estuary walkway, beginning with the Rushy where I immediately added  green sandpiper to my year list. I saw 4 of these birds, one fairly close, although there had been quite a few more earlier on. A juvenile little ringed plover was also giving quite close views and a couple of goldfinches kept coming down for a bath in front of the hide. 

The remaining hides produced nice views of a grey heron, wading in a much shallower scrape than usual. In fact much of the scrape was dry and the meadow, which is usually under a lot of water in the winter was colourful with wild flowers. The resident black swan and mute swan mate (?) were the only other birds on the water, whilst a few green sandpipers and a further juvenile little ringed plover were feeding on the mud at the edges and I watched a reed warbler feeding its young in the reeds. Four cranes flew over head at one point . A small herd of young cattle came down to drink and amongst them could be seen a few yellow wagtails, although at times it was hard to distinguish them from the pied and grey wagtails also present. 

tundra bean goose

water fowl on South lake causeway - the bean goose was towardds the back

black tailed godwit and green sandpiper

green sandpiper

little ringed plover ( juv)

bathing goldfinches

dried up scrape

grey heron

reed warbler feeding young

tufted duck and duckling with coot

white headed ruff