SLIMBRIDGE WADERS

 Having set myself a new yearly bird species target, I went over to Slimbridge WWT centre to see if I could add to my current total. I've not been for a little while so also decided to book myself a place on the morning 'Landrover safari' too. 

I spent the hour or so before the Landrover trip on the Holden Walkway side of the reserve, particularly at the Rushy Hide which had a good number of waders present, including two greenshanks which so far I've not seen this year. 

The Landrover Safari took us across  some different parts of the reserve, including some reed beds  which have matured extremely well after just two years since  making from just a field.  We looked under a number of corrugated pieces of metal but only found one grass snake, which hurriedly disappeared. There were not a great number of different bird species to be seen but above a recently cut meadow about 7 buzzards were circling and there were also curlews on the estuary. A number of dragonflies were present including a migrant hawker dragonfly which remained perched for quite a while in a tree beside the track. 

Back at the centre I walked down to the Zeiss hide to locate a couple of spoonbill  which were also new for this year. 

black tailed godwit

migrant hawker dragonfly

grey wagtail

greenshank

two greenshank

ruff

greenshank

ruff

greenshank and ruff

MORE WADERS AT FARMOOR

 After a somewhat damp morning (rain very welcome) I decided to head to Farmoor reservoir where several waders on my 'still to see' list for 2022 had been reported.

It was cloudy but with little wind so I donned my cotton jacket as I took the route around the smaller of the two reservoirs which was lot quieter, the other having several groups of children having sailing lessons. However  there weren't many birds there really, possibly due to the presence of a lone paddle boarder who was paddling up and down quite close to the shoreline! I did spot a single common sandpiper though but it kept at a distance, flying out from the shore and  back to another spot further away as I walked towards the area it was feeding in. In the bushes on the other side of the path, a common whitethroat was feeding on berries.

Although no rain had been forecast the clouds thickened and as I left the path to go down to  a hide on the nature reserve next to the River Thames it started to spit with rain and then once inside it began to rain in earnest. There was no one else in the hide and no birds to see apart from a buzzard on a distant post which soon flew off. 

I waited a while but soon got bored and decided to risk a wet walk back to the car The rain had eased a tiny bit and in fact it wasn't too bad; I  even stopped to watch some  little egrets at one end of the causeway and at the other end I found a turnstone and a juvenile ringed plover. Lots of sand martins could be seen flying low across the water too. 

My bird list for the year now stands at 159 so I've revised my total end of year target upwards to 170 which would be a yearly record. With 11 more species to find in the next 4 months I'm fairly hopeful...

As I drove home the clouds began to break up and soon the sun appeared.....!

common sandpiper

little egret

turnstone

juvenile ringed plover

ASTON ROWANT AND OTMOOR

With the butterfly season slipping away, it's time to look for my last new butterfly sightings of the year at the nature reserves of  Aston Rowant (silver spotted skipper) and Otmoor (brown hairstreak) so with fine weather and warm temperatures predicted I headed over there this morning. It was a 50 minute drive down to Aston Rowant via the A40 and M40 but the traffic was good and I arrived just before 10am. 

After entering the reserve at the top of the slope  I initially saw very few butterflies apart from  the odd meadow brown. However leaving the main path for a narrow trodden path through the grasses and flowers I disturbed a chalk hill blue, the first of dozens throughout the reserve. However, being fairly early in the day and still fairly cool, most of them were warming themselves up in the sun on the ground, rather than nectaring.   My target species of a silver spotted skipper being far less numerous. I began to look carefully at the flower heads as I walked. After some time, a smallish orangey brown butterfly suddenly whizzed passed and stopped suddenly down in the grass. A closer look revealed a skipper like butterfly with silver flecks on its underwings; my first silver spotted skipper of the year. However It wasn't  easy to photograph and soon flew off.

I spent the next hour or so walking through the site, noticing meadow browns, gatekeepers, common blue, a brimstone and eventually  a total of eight silver spotted skippers which I was pleased with, having only found one last year. 

Leaving the site, I  set my sat nav for RSPB Otmoor, half an hour away, where I hoped to find brown hairstreak butterflies. There had also been some posts about a ruddy shelduck and black necked grebe being seen from one of the viewing screens so if time I thought I'd look for these too. 

I spoke to a gentleman who was searching for hairstreaks at the usual spot on what it known as the Roman Road. He said he'd been looking since 10am and  had had good views of a male and then a very short glimpse of a female but both had now flown off. I waited alongside him for a while then decided to wander further along the path while he went the opposite direction. Suddenly I heard him whistle and saw he was frantically waving at me: a male brown hairstreak had come down and was feeding from a bramble flower where it could be seen well at head height. It stayed there for a ages, and I'd taken as many photos as I needed  and then I suddenly noticed another had just landed on an unripe blackberry right in front of us. It opened its wings to reveal that it was a more brightly coloured female but before we had time to reposition our cameras, it had gone!!  However whilst waiting I did see a few common/ruddy darters, a southern hawker and a brown hawker. Sadly the hairstreak didn't reappear so I decided to take the twenty minute or so  walk to the first screen. The bridleway was very dry, so different to the squelchy mud that I'd had to negotiate earlier in the year!  Only one other person was at the screen, and looking out at the water, I  quickly spotted the bright orangey plumage of the ruddy shelduck as it preened itself alongside three cattle egrets. To the left I found the black necked grebe resting just behind some mallards. 

These brought my total of bird species seen this year to one hundred and fifty-six, just over my total for last year! 

chalkhill blue

two 'chalkies' and a meadow brown sharing the same flower

reserve at Aston Rowant

silver spotted skipper

ruddy shelduck and cattle egrets

ruddy shelduck

juvenile black necked grebe (distant)

SLIMBRIDGE AGAIN

 I paid a short afternoon visit to Slimbridge today, in search of one or two more birds to add to my year's sightings. It was originally forecast cloudy but in fact the sun came out and it was a pleasant afternoon. 

For a change I headed over first to  the Discovery Hide where  a good variety of waders had been reported including, redshanks, black tailed godwits, avocets and a spotted redshank       ( the latter being new for year) . Amongst the gulls on the causeway I found  a Mediterranean gull and in the distance four male ruffs with remnants of their  breeding 'ruffs' still apparent. 

I had heard that  a crane family with two youngsters could be seen regularly from the Hogarth Hide so I went there next. As I sat down, I saw the crane family disappear round the corner but decided that they probably would return before long so decided to wait a while. Meanwhile I had some better views of the summer plumaged black tailed godwits with their reddish orange necks, also a further spotted redshank. I didn't have to wait too long to see the crane family return with their chicks, feeding together in the long grass.

The Centre still had numerous goose families with youngsters of varying ages, including some barnacle geese. 
I didn't see any ducklings but there were the usual coots and moorhens with chicks.

Canada goose and gosling on the Rushy Pen

Canada goose juvenile

family of barnacle geese

ruff ( from aviary)

crane and chick

black tailed godwit

greylag gosling

Mediterranean gull

avocet family

spotted redshank  (distant)

WHITE LETTER HAIRSTREAKS AT KNAPWELL WOOD

 One of the butterflies I failed to record last year was the white letter  hairstreak. I used to regularly find one of two of these small butterflies at a woodland near home but have been unable to locate them recently. However, as I was staying with my sister I asked if she knew of a colony near to her in Cambridgeshire and she told  about some she'd seen in a small clearing in Knapwell wood. 

On arrival in the small carpark, I followed her down a path and into the woodland where she located the clearing, although it had become somewhat overgrown. We focused on an area of brambles just below some elms, and making our way through some shoulder high cow parsley soon spotted our first white letter hairstreak on the bramble. They were hard to photograph as they appeared as small dark triangles with the sun behind them, but eventually I succeeded in getting a few decent images. 

We then made for a golf course at Therfield heath where we found some dark green fritillaries flying at great speed across the long grass before disappearing. These were new for the year, together with a single chalk hill blue which we found clinging to some grass for a few seconds. Sadly I was unable to photograph either species on this visit. 

DAY OUT IN SUFFOLK

 Our original plan for this weekend was to visit Norfolk to  see swallowtail butterflies but as they have had an early season and we could not be confident of  sightings we decided to visit the RSPB reserve at Minsmere which I've never  been to before.

After an uneventful two hour car journey we reached Minsmere at 10am with clear blue skies and a warm sunshine. Leaving the visitor centre we spent some time watching a colony of sand martins using a  nesting bank, before heading off to the hides. The gravel islands on the coast trail  held various gulls as well as common and sandwich terns with a few waders present e.g oyster catchers and lapwings.We could feel the brisk wind on oud faces whilst it whipped up waves on the sea.

Passing the reed beds we listened out for bearded tits but they proved elusive now their first broods have fledged. However at the bittern hide we had scarcely entered when a bittern did a fly past in front of the hide. This was the first of a few flights over the next ten minutes. Squeezing into a seat at the right hand corner we saw a kingfisher fly along the water channel before returning to settle on a perch in the shelter of the ditch below us. Beyond us we could see a couple of marsh harriers hunting over the reedbeds. 

Other hides yielded nothing new but we did spot some dragonflies including a  green eyed norfolk hawker which was busy patrolling a ditch alongside the path. 

Discovering that silver studded blue butterflies could be found on neighboutring heath we decided to try and incorporate a visit to a Dunwich Hesth. owned by the NT. It was only a short visit, and most of the heather seemed to have gone over,  but  eventually, having made a circular walk,  I spotted three rather worn butterflies on a clump of heather which was still in flower, only fifty yards or so from the carpark. I should add though that we also saw an adder slither quickly across the path in front of us, a creature I'd not seen in the wild before. 

sand martins

avocet

sandwich terns

kingfisher

Norfolk hawker

silver studded blues

adder

 

RAVENSROOST

I usually make a couple of forays each year during June and July to some old woodland at Ravensroost, not far from Minety to see the woodland species of butterflies. Today was another hot and sunny day and I had heard that White Admirals have already emerged in the local area so I went over there after lunch. 

There is a main track which leads from the car park around some bends and ends at the far end of the woodland. Along this route I  found three White Admirals on the way and seven on my return. Only one of them settled and that was for just long enough for a quick photo.  No silver washed fritillaries though I was told a couple had been seen that morning. There were a few dragonflies and damselflies around the pond and in the meadow I saw my first ringlets and small skippers.

meadow brown

four spotted chaser

orchids alongside the main path

large red damselfly

white admiral

small skipper

ringlet