REVISIT TO OAKLEY WOOD

I had an hour or so free   after lunch today so drove over to Oakley Wood once again.Today it was unbroken sunshine  which had encouraged more  of Pearl Bordered Fritillaries to fly than on my previous visit. The most I saw at one time was five, although there were probably more.  The warm weather meant the butterflies were continually on the wing and rarely settling. However on the couple of occasions when one did settle for a few seconds, it was with wings shut enabling me to see and photograph their beautiful pattern. 

  

MORGANS HILL

With just two more sunny days forecast this week I decided to  go in search of any early Marsh Fritillaries at Morgan's Hill near Devizes. At least one has been seen here already this year.

As I neared the reserve my tyre pressure check light came on but I managed to reach the reserve car park.... and then forgot to check...more later! 

I walked up to the reserve entrance noting Brimstones  and  orange tips as I went. On entering the reserve, I spoke to a couple of people who said they had been searching unsuccessfully for Duke of Burgundies and Marsh Fritillaries but had seen dingy skippers, common blue and  brown argus, the latter two of which I had not seen yet this year. 

I carried on to an area more sheltered from the wind, and spotted good  numbers of dingy skippers, but no common  blues or brown argus. I did nearly step on a small copper which was perched on a dandelion but it flew off and I didn' t find it again. The I noticed a larger, orange coloured butterfly at a distance but I couldn't identify it, was it a comma? It appeared and disappeared a couple of times until eventually I caught up with it, and it turned out to be.. a wall brown, which was another year tick. In fact there were two of them. 

Although not seeing my target species, I did find a total of 9 species so was happy with that, although photos were at a premium with  few settling. 

On my return to the car... I was faced with a deflated tyre... I knew I had little credit left on my phone so hoped the RAC would answer my call before it ran out. Thankfully they did and I quickly gave them my mobile to return my call if needed. At the end of my call I had 75 pence credit left!!  Although they said allow up to three hours, a RAC van was able to get to me within 40 minutes and thankfully I was home in reasonable time so managed to get a new tyre from the local depot. All's well that end's well!

 view from Morgans Hill

wall brown

PEARL BORDERED FRITILLARY AT OAKLEY WOOD

With a reasonably fine day forecast I thought I drive over to Oakley Wood near Cirencester in search of Pearl bordered fritillary butterflies which is the only local hotspot I know of and just half an hour away.  On arrival I went to get my camera bag from the boot, only to discover that I'd left my new camera back at home, having forgotten to return it to the bag!! 

After a few moments of frustration, I realised that I still had a small compact camera with me so as it has a fairly decent macro facility decided that it would have to do for today, as long  the butterflies were obligingly happy to settle and let me get pretty close up. 

Having visited this area of Cirencester Park on several occasions I now know the best spot for finding these pretty orange butterflies and after parking in the woodland carpark I headed there straight away. After a few hundred yards I reached the area of relatively newly planted trees with a carpet of bluebells growing beneath them and waited.

With the sun in and out of the clouds I knew that I'd be only likely to see these butterflies when the sun was shining. I just hoped they would settle for me today. 

I didn't have to wait that long before I saw one flying towards me, its bright orange colouring making it hard to miss. It flew around for a bit before settling to feed not far from me and what is more, stayed long enough for me to  get a reasonable photo before flying off out of sight once more. Each time the sun came out, it wasn't long before it reappeared and I was able to get fairly close after it settled and before it flew off again.  I only saw two of these butterflies today, but it is early in the season and it wasn't as warm as it could be today. I will try and come back again (with my bigger camera) and hopefully get some views of their beautiful  underwings.  

WARBLERS AT THE WATER PARK

       My new superzoom replacement camera came this week and I wanted to try it out, so this afternoon I drove over to the Cotswold Water Park where yesterday someone had photographed a grasshopper warbler by Lake 82.

       I've heard but never seen one of these birds, as they are quite elusive but decided it would worth trying to locate it. I parked in the Waterhay Car park and went along the bridleway then turned left along the  Thames path which leads past lake 82.  A few butterflies were enjoying the sunshine... Brimstone, peacock and orange tip and a white which flew past too quickly to identify. 

       On reaching Lake 82, I stopped next to a bramble hedge  where a sedge warbler was singing lustily and almost immediately heard the reeling of a grasshopper warbler quite close, but on the opposite side of the hedge where it couldn't be seen. After a while it stopped  and I concentrated on taking a few pictures of the sedge warbler. 

        When the reeling began again it was more distant and I realised I would have to try and locate  it from a footpath which I had just passed.  Another birder turned up and we both waited until we heard it again and then he pointed it out to me, me, rather distant, and down amongst the long grasses!  As soon as it finished singing it seemed to disappear out of sight and then creep along and emerge at a different spot in the grass before starting its song again.  It did this several times, but not before I'd had a good chance to watch it through my binoculars. When we'd not heard it for a while, my companion left to continue walking along the footpath and I waited alone.  

          After a while,  the reeling began again, closer to the hedge, and I  realised that I could probably view the bird from the original footpath through a gap where the hedge was lower   which I did, although with its back to me meant I only got a  poor record shot! 

          On my way back to the car, I stopped to  enjoy  other warblers singing from the bushes along the path; blackcaps, willow warblers, chiffchaff and for the first time this year for me, a garden warbler.As for the camera.. well its a bit early to make any comment but it seems to do the job although I'm still trying to master the settings and new control buttons!

sedge warbler

garden warbler

grasshopper warbler

sedge warbler

OTMOOR BIRDING

Having had to change my bank holiday plans, I found myself with a free day, so decided to visit RSPB Otmoor. Both cuckoos and turtle doves are back at this site near Oxford, so I was hoping to see both of these today, together with various warblers. 

After a fairly early start, I arrived at 815 am; at that time there was still a fair amount of blue sky but it felt quite chilly in the slight breeze. Cuckoos could be heard across the reserve but apart from a glimpse of a couple in flight I didn't get to see one perched in a tree. Sedge warblers and black caps were somewhat easier to spot, and reed warblers very vocal down in the reeds. 

Along the bridleway, another birder kindly allowed me to look through his telescope to find a hobby on a post, as well as a crane and great white egret which I don't think I'd have spotted otherwise. 

As I returned to the car park after a couple of hours wandering around the reserve, I had some good views of a common and a lesser whitethroat. 

It was a good morning,  with 34 species recorded,  although I never did see a turtle dove, I think it was a bit on the cold side today, so I may have to revisit in order to tick that one off!

My camera  has been letting me down recently, so I have had to order a new one, and I only managed a couple of shots today which was rather disappointing, considering there were some nice photo opportunities.

sedge warbler singing

Canada geese with large family of goslings

MORE BUTTERFLIES

Green hairstreaks and Duke of Burgundy butterflies have already been seen around the UK so I thought I'd go and find some for myself. With sunny spells forecast, coupled with rising temperatures and less wind, I headed over to Rodborough Common, which is where I have seen both these species before and isn't too far from home ( about 40 mins). 


At the usual spot, I could see someone already looking, and on making enquiries, I discovered he'd already seen one of each of these species in the past 10 minutes although they had disappeared for the time being. He'd also seen Dingy skippers. The first butterfly I saw, though,  was a male Orange tip, followed by a speckled wood.  Then a couple of smaller brown butterfies appeared... a dingy skipper and a small heath ( both first of the year for me). We waited for a while and then saw two small heaths, which were then joined by another darker brown butterfly, which turned out to be.. a Duke of Burgundy.  It settled briefly a couple of times, down among the vegetation before disappearing once more. Hopefully it would return, I thought.  Whilst waiting, I  spotted a green hairstreak, but it didn't stop for long. 

After engaging in conversation for a while, my companion left, and I waitied around alone, in case I had any more sightings.  Sure enough the Duke of Burgundy re-appeared, this time happy to stay in one spot for long enough to photograph before moving to different places in the vicinity. 

I then decided to hunt for green hairstreaks, so walked towards an area of the common where there were more bushes; gorse, bramble and hawthorn, which I thought a more likely habitat.  I was right, as I soon found a green hairstreak, although it had an obvious piece missing from the edge of one of its wings.  I managed a few record photos, but then a few yards further on, I found a prisitine individual flying around and eventually it posed beautifully on a leaf for me. 

Dingy skipper

Duke of Burgundy

green hairstreak

small heath

REDSTARTS IN THE FOREST

With another week of the school holidays remaining I decided to visit the Forest of Dean to look for migrant redstarts and pied flycatchers which have recently been reported there. I'd wanted to do this last year but never found an opportunity.  
 I was a bit dubious about the weather for today as it was originally forecast cloudy and quite windy but this morning the forecast had improved with some sun predicted and milder  temperatures than of late. There was still a bit of a breeze but I reckoned it would be less noticeable amongst the trees which would offer some protection. 

I left home at  8.15 am, expecting to be held up at the Air Balloon roundabout, but in the event there were no queues at all and I was at Nagshead RSPB reserve by 9.20 am  There were only a few cars in the car park, and after taking the path down to the lower hide, I found it was empty. 
 The hide overlooks a couple of ponds in a cleared area of the woodland and I waited for ten minutes or so, looking closely at every bird movement but it was mostly great tits and blue tits. Whilst I sat there, there was a splash as a male mandarin arrived in the larger pond, swam around a bit, then proceeded to go to sleep under a overhanging bush.   A stock dove arrived and perched on a nearby tree and a willow warbler flitted around a low bush at the smaller pond taking an occasional drink. Three jays were also in the area. Then  I spotted a different bird flitting to and fro from a holly bush to a leafless bush on an island in the pond... taking a closer look through my binoculars, I could make out a beautiful male redstart!  It was quite active as it visited various bushes around the pond,  and  occasionally joined by a female, buff in colour but with the same unmistakeable red tail Admittedly it was at a distance but nevertheless it was enjoyable to watch. As I left the hide, there were a number of other birders making their way down to the hide but as  the redstart  had seemed to  have become less active and  consequently less easy to spot,  I was pleased I had got there early.

Disappointingly there seemed no pied flycatchers around while I was at the reserve, and no one else I spoke to had seen any either despite reports of four indivduals at the end of last week. I decided to leave the hide and have my picnic lunch after which I walked both the short and long trails at the reserve to see what could be found. The usual woodland birds were present, including nuthatch, tree creeper, coal tits, long tailed tits, blackcaps, chiff chaff and willow warbler.  An unexpected sighting was a lone redwing! 

After spending four hours at the reserve I headed for home, having added three more year ticks.

path to the lower hide

the lower hide over looking the ponds

mandarin 

stock dove

willow warbler

dunnock

redstart

                                            

jay

redstart

the long trail