BUTTERFLY CATCH-UP

When comparing my butterfly sightings with this time last year, interestingly I found that I'd seen exactly the same number and types  of species by the middle of June! (32 in total).  

Since my last butterfly blog I've been over to Daneway Banks and found a few of the beautiful but rare large blues,  as well as my first marbled whites. Being a hot day with  blue skies, they were reluctant to open their wings but did so enough for me to confirm that they were the large blues rather than common blues. 

common blue

marbled white

large blue

Yesterday I visited Strumpshaw fen with my sister to see if we could get some better views of Swallowtail butterflies which have always been just a fleeting glimpse in the past as they sailed past us in the breeze. This time the weather looked more promising with more in the way of sunshine and less in the way of wind. We arrived about 10 o'clock and found that already the car park was full and we had to park in the overflow one. Upon reaching the reception table we were immediately told that there was a bittern in view from the hide nearby. Someone kindly let us use their telescope to locate it in the far off reeds but  once found we did see it briefly through our binoculars before it crept away into the reeds. A good sighting to start our visit though. 

From previous experience we have found the  recommended place to find swallowtails is in the front garden of the 'doctor''s house which lies adjacent to the reserve trail. The quickest way to reach it was to leave the reserve and cross over the railway line, walk along the road  and then take a lane which leads from the road back onto the reserve. The house is set back up a slight hill from the trail and its front garden consists of grass with a central  flower bed running from the house down to the path where visitors can stand. We soon reached it and were told that there were two swallowtails around, one of which had spent some time nectaring on some flowers right close  to the path but had now flown off! Hopeful that it would return, we decided to wait. After a while we did see one butterfly but it chose instead to use the brightly coloured flowers close to the house and although it flew around  from time to time, sometimes with another swallowtail,  it always seemed to return to the same spot. Some photos were possible, although not the close ones I had been hoping for! 

We decided to  continue following the trail around the reserve, which led through some reed beds adjacent to the River Yare.  A swallowtail passed   very close and for a second or two we were hopeful of a 'private viewing' but it didn't settle. We also saw some dragonflies and damselflies, including a Norfolk hawker and several mallard families from the Tower hide. After a picnic lunch we returned for another try at the   house but the swallowtail was remaining far off. 

the doctors house

mallard and ducklings

River Yare

Norfolk hawker

On the way home I decided to stop off at Bernwood Meadows near Oxford to see if I could find some black hairstreak butterflies, which have just begun to emerge. I wasn't sure of the weather forecast as some early rain had been forecast followed by either cloud or sun, depending on which forecast you chose to follow. 

I was pleased to find there was a space in the tiny car park, which only takes 3 cars ( other visitors can park in the woodland car park down the road) but as soon as I had stopped, the spots of rain on the window became a bit more frequent and I realised I might have to wait a bit. Standing outside one of the other cars I recognised someone I had met on previous occasions, who, after we had wondered how long it would be before the rain eased,  asked me if I could tell him where the hairstreaks were to be found. Of course, I agreed, and when the  rain stopped a few minutes later we walked through a couple of flower meadows to where the black hairstreaks could be often located amongst the blackthorn.

It wasn't long before we  spotted the first of a number of black hairstreaks flitting about above the hedge. They would occasionally settle briefly on a leaf before being roused by a another butterfly coming past but never in an easy to photograph position, preferring to remain at the top or back of the bushes. I did eventually get a view of one through a gap which I managed to get a few photo of. 

In the meadows themselves, I found marbled whites, large skippers, common blues and meadow browns. 

black hairstreak

MARSH FRITILLARIES AT MORGANS HILL

I paid a short afternoon visit to Morgan's hill today to see some Marsh Fritillaries which were not out at my last visit. After the cloudy morning the sun had appeared and it was a fine afternoon, despite the continual NE wind which we are experiencing at the moment. 

Having visited the reserve numerous times, I knew the sheltered areas where I would be likely to find these butterflies and took  the track in that direction,  passing through a gate to enter the reserve.  Almost immediately I noticed a lightish brown butterfly flying quickly past, which did not settle. I first took it to be the marsh fritillary but after seeing a third one, which did stop for a moment, I realised that these were not marsh fritillaries but Wall browns being blown along by the brisk wind. 

I continued across the slope, which was quite windy. to reach a sheltered area. Here I soon found the butterflies I was looking for - there were good numbers of them though I thought they appeared slightly worn.  Other butterflies in this sunny spot included common blue, dingy skipper, grizzled skipper and brown argus. Also I saw a couple of brimstones and large whites, a small heath and my first large skipper of the year. Someone told me they'd seen a duke of burgundy earlier but I didn't see it myself. 

wall brown

small heath

path down to the butterflies

brown argus

grizzled skipper

dingy skipper

marsh fritillary

view from the reserve

large skipper

SLIMBRIDGE AND THE FOREST OF DEAN

I originally planned to drive down to Somerset today to search for small pearl bordered fritillaries but decided against it as I was feeling rather tired from the recent trips I've made, so instead, I opted for a slightly nearer destination of the Forest of Dean. I missed out on the pied flycatchers back in April but decided to have another attempt and maybe even find a spotted flycatcher too!

I therefore didn't leave until 8 o'clock and had a good run so was at Nagshead RSPB by 9.15. It was quite chilly and cloudy so I needed my sweatshirt and coat, especially as the hide I wanted to visit faced into the wind. 

A couple of people were already in the hide and said they'd not been there long but had already seen a male pied flycatcher.  In a few minutes I saw another bird,  on a post 30 metres or so in front of the hide, which they assumed was the female, but on a closer look, I realised that it was actually a spotted flycatcher!  

We did see the female pied flycatcher  too, and had some exceptionally close encounters with the male pied. In fact there was quite a bit of flycatcher action over the time we were there; we also saw nuthatch, treecreeper and the usual woodland birds. Eventually we saw a redstart on a tree in the distant pond. 

After leaving Nagshead, I stopped off at Cannop ponds at a place where I had been told I could see a dipper. I did see it in a distance, but it quickly disappeared. Instead I found a pair of mandarin ducks on the path ahead, although they quickly found their way back to the water and swam off. 

I'd been regularly reading reports of a black winged stilt at Slimbridge and today I noted that it had been seen from the Discovery hide at South lake and the Rushy Hide. I decided that it might be worth taking a detour and popping into Slimbridge for a couple of hours to see if I could find it, especially now the sun had come out and it was warming up. 

When I got there, I found it was busy with half term families visiting, although I knew it would be probably be peaceful in the hides. I went to straight to South Lake, but was told that it had been flushed with other birds when a red kite went over head and hadn't been relocated. I was advised to try the Rushy hide instead, but although I looked, I couldn't see it.  There were plenty of avocets there, and the long staying male garganey was a bit closer than on my previous visit. I walked up to some of the other hides in the vicinity but decided it might be worth waiting at the Rushy hide to see if it  turned up, or indeed anything else!

After a while some staff members came in and they said that although someone had spent 2 hours looking, the stilt hadn't been found. It seemed as if my visit was in vain. Then  a couple of visitors came in and I asked them about the stilt. They had seen it about midday, they said but more importantly they had just spoken to someone who had just seen it in front of the Hogarth hide (  a hide that looks over another area of South lake).

I thought I might have one last try, so made my way over there. The hide was empty apart from a family who didn't really look like birdwatchers, so I assumed it wouldn't be there. But looking out, there it was directly in view from the hide! The family didn't stay long so I was left alone in the hide. 

I managed one photo before the bird suddenly took off and flew round and landed at a distance on an island to the left. Maybe it was about to return to the other end of the lake. But after a minute or so, up it went, and flew round a bit and then came back to where I could see it even better than before! It spent the next 20 minutes or so having a good preen and wash, and I took plenty of photos before my battery ran out! It was time to go!

pied flycatcher m

pied flycatcher f

pied flycatcher m

pied flycatcher m

redstart m

spotted flycatcher

spotted flycatcher

mandarins

Cannop ponds

garganey

view from Rushy hide

view from another hide