CLOUDED YELLOWS AT CHIMNEY MEADOWS

Having completed my butterfly tally for the year I hadn't looked at the local butterfly conservation sightings for a while, so when I casually checked the Upper Thames group website,  I was amazed to read that 10 days ago, up to 100 clouded yellows had been seen at a nature reserve in Oxfordshire! Several days later, numbers had reduced (20+) but whilst chiding myself for not checking sooner I reckoned there might be a chance of finding one of two still around now.  However with weather for Saturday not looking good I quickly realised that today might be the only opportunity. The sun was forecast to appear late afternoon with temperatures around 20 degrees, which was just as well as I was on a school trip till 2pm. So on my return I drove the half hour trip over to Chimney meadows, which I've visited only once before ( and incidentally saw my first water rail there) .

By the time I arrived, it was almost 3 o'clock; the sun had started to appear through the clouds and as I walked along the edge of a field to the reserve, I  straightaway found a couple of small coppers  and common blues.  Could some clouded yellows still be around too?  Then whilst crossing a meadow on the reserve itself, I suddenly saw my first one, flying fast over the grasses, into the distance. Then another, zig zagging quite low, occasionally looking if it was about to settle, then off it would go again.Eventually one settled long enough for me to approach it and grab a couple of photos.  The sun was intermittent, but each time it shone through a hole in the clouds, one or two of these bright golden butterflies seemed to appear from nowhere, fly around for a while and then disappear into the distance.  

By now the  sun had disappeared and with the time approaching four o'clock I decided that  I was unlikely  to have many more sightings so returned to the car, happy to have at least one photograph at last!

clouded yellow

 a brightly coloured small copper

CATCHING UP WITH THE LOCALS..

A sunny hour spent at my local country park at Stanton, gave me the chance to reacquaint myself with the local inhabitants... bird sightings included most of the common species; nuthatch, tree creeper, pheasant, marsh tit, coal tit, blue tit, great tit, long tailed tit,  goldcrest, robin, wren, blackheaded gull,  mallard, great crested grebe. Other species seen included red admiral on ivy and a number of grey squirrels. 

tree creeper

marsh tit

 grey squirrel

nuthatch

red admiral

GWE

A visit to the Windrush Valley area gave me a further sighting  for the year... a great white egret. 

Firstly I visited the hide at Rushy Common; a peaceful lake scene where I noted herring gull, cormorant, greylag and Canada geese, red crested pochard, mallard, mute swan, black swan, bh gull, gadwall, heron, coot and moorhen.

Next  visit was to the two hides at Standlake; this is where I'd read that a great white egret had been located. From the North hide there were lapwing, coot, moorhens, and across the lake near to the second hide,  an egret, too distant to decide if 'little' or 'great'.

I walked round to the second hide, but realised that the egret I'd earlier seen couldn't be seen from the hide.  However a scan round the edge of the lake found the 'great white' in another spot, busy preening itself.. species tick number 142.

Still some butterflies making the most of the sunshine; brimstone, speckled wood, peacock, red admiral and small white.

 distant great white egret

red admiral on ivy

 

QUIET WWT AFTERNOON

spotted redshank

It was a very quiet sunny afternoon at Slimbridge today. Not many people about either so just a chance to relax and enjoy the beginning of autumn.  

The hides along the holden walkway were all pretty quiet, apart from a nice group of redshanks close to one of the hides. It wasn't until I looked more closely  at my photos at home, that I realised from the colouring of the beak and head that one of them was in fact, a spotted redshank!

From the Zeiss hide were a group of around eight cranes, three of which did a fly past. 

On the butterfly front, I found four species ( red admiral, speckled wood, small white and a  group of three small coppers). 

redshanks and spotted redshank

redshank

spotted redshank

spotted redshank

spotted redshank

red admiral

house sparrow

small copper

three cranes in flight

view from hide 

small copper

migrant hawker

common darter

 I also was shown a couple of dragonfly species by a lady who turned out to be Gloucestershire's county recorder. Maybe I should be taking more of an interest in them....

WWT SLIMBRIDGE

It was a dry and fairly warm afternoon a for further visit to Slimbridge, my aim being to see a spotted redshank to add to my year list.

With the holidays over it was fairly quiet as far as visitors were concerned, but still plenty of birds around. 

I clocked up 32 species in the two and a half hours I was there, highlights being green sandpiper, yellow wagtail, sparrow hawk, and on the South lake, not one,  but three spotted redshanks!   That brings my year total to 142, can I get to 150 by the end of the year.....? 

ruff

spotted red shanks

pied wagtail

green sandpiper

greylag geese avoiding wet feet!

the flamingo chicks are growing!

umm....

WHEATEAR AND WHINCHAT

This afternoon I popped over to Blakehill Reserve hoping to see a possible wheatear and/or whinchat before they migrate.  It was quite sunny and warm, although chillier when the clouds covered the sun which they did from time to time.

I followed the track between the fields which are fenced off either side. The reserve used to be a military airfield and is quite open, but is now a nature reserve with meadow and pasture. Wheatears and whinchats are often seen perching on the fence posts at this time of year and I used my bincoculars regularly to check the posts ahead of me.

Sometimes I see very little in the way of birds, but today I managed to find both a wheatear and a whinchat. Perched up on the posts, they were easy to spot, but always liked to maintain their distance, flying off and landing again a few fence posts further away as I drew near. I also saw goldfinches on the thistles and a few swallows flying about, preparing for their migration too no doubt. 

wheatear

whinchat

HAMPSHIRE BUTTERFLY FIELD TRIP

This was my first ever butterfly conservation field trip, led by butterfly expert Ashley Whitlock from Hampshire. Some time ago I had made a note of this trip which was targeting three butterflies I had not  yet seen this year, namely, silver spotted skipper, adonis blue and clouded yellow. I worked out that I could make a wide detour on my route home from Kent at the end of the school summer holidays. 

So at 10.15 I drew up in the car park, at Old Winchester Hill. It was already quite warm and the forecast promised a cloudless day with only a light breeze.  Some group members were already there and the leader came up and introduced himself. I had brought a picnic lunch, which was handy, as I was told to bring it with me as we would have this part way through the walk. 

Since originally deciding to join this walk, I had managed to see an adonis blue and a few silver spotted skippers so really I was hoping that I would see a clouded yellow today, although I realised it couldn't be guaranteed as this is a migrant butterfly and could turn up anywhere. 

There were about 14 of us on the walk, mostly people of  around my age, and surprisingly more women than men. In my experience most butterfly enthusiasts have tended to be male! 

We explored the area thoroughly, negotiating several steep slopes to find the best areas for butterflies.There were good numbers of adonis blues in excellent condition as well as the more faded chalkhill and common blues. We also found brown argus, several small coppers and silver spotted skippers. All the time I was keeping an eye out for clouded yellows and all of a sudden I spotted a golden yellow butterfly crossing the slope just below us and over the hedge into field. Clouded yellow!  Sadly that the was the only sighting we had , but it made the final species of the year for me, giving a total of 47, an increase of one over last year and giving me a life species total of 50 (including a released monarch from last summer). 

adonis blue

silver spotted skipper

small copper