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

A TWITCH AND A TURNSTONE

My usual few days in Cambridgeshire during the summer holidays fell towards the end of August this year and therefore it seemed a good opportunity to see what waders had come in at Frampton Marsh RSPB reserve. A good list of birds to see  had appeared on their sightings list, but the previous evening to our visit, news had come in of a rarity.. a stilt sandpiper Admittedly not a bird I have even heard of but always good to see something new. 

As you'd expect, the car park was exceptionally busy; we arrived early but before we left the overflow carpark field was in use too.  The visitor centre had just opened for the morning and a  good number of birds, ducks and geese could be seen from the  centre, and directly in front  of it, dozens of sand martins were clinging to the reeds, their wings appearing to shimmer, just like a flock of locusts on a field of corn!  At the visitor centre people were enquiring about the whereabouts of the sandpiper, and we were pointed in the direction of a group of people out on the reserve which we could see from the visitor centre. We strolled in that direction and caught up with them,  but no sandpiper had been seen for a while. Scouring with our binoculars for a while, we then left the group and headed for a couple of hides where Karen was able to add several birds to her list of waders for the year. Heading for the final hide,  a birder ahead of us gave a whistle and a wave.. the stilt sandpiper had been re found and we were at the right spot at the right time! The bird could be seen with the naked eye, but any decent views of its striking plumage could really only be made out through binoculars or through a kind person's telescope! 

stilt sandpiper.. 

Looking on the twitter feed that evening, we appeared to have just missed the arrival of a red necked phalarope which amazingly decided to feed right next to the stilt sandpiper, a bonus for anyone there. 

The next day was somewhat colder and we made a visit to a reserve at Pitsford Reservoir; here again Karen added more birds and also butterflies to her list. Clouded yellow butterflies are sometimes seen here, but clearly with cool, and cloudy conditions with some wind, I was unlikely to find any today. We followed this with a stop off at Twywell Hills and Dales. I was excited to hear that a second brood grizzled skipper had been spotted here recently, but it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and we were unsuccessful in finding any. We saw a couple of birders who had seen a redstart at the end of the field but disappointingly it had disappeared and we were anxious to get home before the bank holiday weekend traffic really got going. 

On my way home I stopped off at Farmoor reservoir. Although blue skies, there was a brisk north westerly wind and I needed my jacket. Plenty of  sand martins and house martins flying low over the causeway as I walked along it.  Along the causeway I found two ringed plovers, adult and juvenile, and also six dunlin and two grey wagtails.  All of which were within 10 feet of me so good viewing opportunities. As I returned to the carpark I mused on the fact that  I had not yet managed to see a turnstone at Farmoor although they are seen  from time time. I looked down.. and there it was.. a turnstone a few metres away! How strange is that! It was very confiding and allowed me to keep abreast with it as it ran along the edge of the shoreline. Farmoor reservoir allows some really close views of waders and other water birds from time to time, and I have enjoyed excellent views of a variety of species, this being the latest, and a nice end to my short break. 

ringed plover

ringed plover

dunlin and juv ringed plover

dunlins

dunlin preening

juv ringed plover

turnstone

SLIMBRIDGE SANDPIPERS

Finding myself with a day to spare, I spent several hours catching up with what's going on at Slimbridge WWT Centre. As usual, I visited the Rushy Pen hide first where it was pretty quiet, although   I was pleased to see several green sandpipers had arrived although I didn't locate any little ringed plovers.  Further along the Holden walkway, I was able to find the wood sandpiper which obligingly came fairly close to the Robbie Garnett hide and I spent a while watching and photographing it.  From the Holden Tower,  could be seen cattle grazing on the sea wall, with at least one yellow wagtail amongst them. 
Around the reserve the usual waders were in evidence; black tailed godwit, ruff, avocet, lapwing, and geese and ducks included Canada goose, greylag, Egyptian and barnacle geese, teal, gadwall, mallard and shoveler.  Half a dozen cranes were seen too. 

avocet

green sandpiper

lapwing

wood sandpiper

Finally, who could resist these cute flamingo chicks that have featured in the news recently. One of them looked only a day or so old.