A good day for Butterflies

Cloudy with few sunny spells, 23°, fresh SE.

Bunk line walk.

Little Ringed Plover heard calling at gravel pit and Sand Martin, House Martin, Swallow and Swift feeding overhead.

Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, and Garden Warbler.

A single Lapwing, Kestrel and 4 Yellowhammer and 3 Herring Gull and 5 Black-headed Gull at CSW.

“Hobby low over the garden this morning. Reed Warbler singing on the brook just off Church Rd just now, and 5 Mallard families there (currently 32 ducklings in total), with another nest in our garden due to hatch this week. Grey Wagtails on 2nd brood at Church Rd/brook bridge (first was successful). Nuthatch calling yesterday.

Goldcrest bred again alongside our garden – fledglings were noisy all last week. Loads of Chub and Minnow in the brook – there’s also been a big shoal of Minnow spawning at the Bullshole tunnel, with Chub hunting them. Otter scats in the garden and on the steps into the brook in the meadow.” Per Richard Broughton.

Mammals: Muntjac Deer.

Dragonflies: Beautiful and Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly and a Hairy Dragonfly.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Large White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Marbled White, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Twin-lobed Deer Fly Chrysops relictus

Footy Fly

Cloudy with the occasional sunny spell, 15°, breezy NNE.

A routine walk out to Lollingdon today, no surprises. A few Swallow and Swift feeding over the hill and surrounding farmland and the usual songsters present.

Alan along the river: Nuthatch & Kingfisher to name a couple and all the regulars.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Stoat.

River Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle & Banded Demoiselle.

Lollingdon Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown.

River Butterflies: Small Tortoiseshell, Marbled White, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

The Footballer Fly, somewhat appropriate at the moment (courtesy Alan)

Marbled White, first of the year, courtesy Alan

The Lees

Sunny, 23°, light NNW.

Both Alan and I had the same thought today and went out to the Lees area where we overlapped.

Bird of the day was a Little Egret that was first seen flying from Aston Tirrold thru to Lollingdon and then seen over Whitehead Meadow. 15 minutes later it was back out by the Lees.

Other species were: 3 Yellow Wagtail (3 locations), 6+ Reed Bunting, 4 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 2 Song Thrush, a Corn Bunting, Chiffchaff and several Skylark.

A Reed Warbler singing in a hedge in a small garden in Papist Way. Per RB. (There has been a second pulse of Reed Warbler migration in the last couple of days and maybe this one is fresh in. And as some do, they start singing where they arrive before moving on).

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Large Red Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Emperor Dragonfly and Four-spot Chaser.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Small Tortoiseshell (10+), Speckled Wood, Marbled White and Meadow Brown.

Moths: Cinnabar and Burnet Companion.

 Little Egret ↕

  Little Egret ↕

Reed Bunting

 Burnet Companion

 Azure Damsels egg laying

The Lees and beyond

Sunny spells, 19°, light W.

A walk out to the Lees and beyond today and a little warmer than of late.

The “long ditch” out beyond the Lees was dredged over the winter and subsequently all the growth in and around the ditch was either disrupted or destroyed.

There are no birds breeding along the ditch this year and it seems the Reed Buntings that bred along the ditch have moved out into the crop fields (5 singing males). A lot of the Bullrush, Reed and other plants that were in the ditch have been destroyed but some of the plants on the bank have survived. Any larvae or other life that was in the ditch has also been partially destroyed.

However nature has a way of coming back!

Several Dragonfly species seen along the ditch and a few small fish present (probably Stickleback) and a few Orchid species along the bank.

The “Reedy ditch” at the far end had 5 singing Sedge Warbler and 3 singing Reed Warbler (plus others present) present along with several Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer.

A family group of Swallow spent time feeding over the area (2 adults & 5 young) and a few Swift overhead and a distant Grey Heron.

From Alan: 2 Common Tern again on the river and Lesser Whitethroat. 

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Large Red Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, 4-spot Chaser and Emperor Dragonfly. Per Alan: Brown Hawker and White-legged Damselfly.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Large White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Marbled White and Meadow Brown. Per Alan: Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Marbled White, Small Copper and Large Skipper.

Moths: Cinnabar Moth and Scarlet Tiger. Per Alan: Burnet Companion.

Insects: Black and Yellow Long Horn Beetle. Per Alan.

Orchids: Pyramid Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid and Poss Marsh Orchid hybrid.

Reed Warbler

Emperor Dragonfly

Burnet Companion

 Common Spotted Orchid

 Scarlet Tiger

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Large Skipper

 4-spot Chaser

 Azure Damselfly

More rain!

Overcast then rain, 17°, light SW.

Pretty quiet out today. A quick check on the Spotted Flycatchers before making my way out to Lollingdon.

A few Swift feeding around the hill and 3 Mistle Thrush present.

Chiffchaff, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting still singing well, other species not so frequent.

Little Owl and Grey Heron nearby and another Grey Heron in the meadow this afternoon.

Mammals: Stoat carrying small prey.

Butterflies: a few each of Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown. Yesterday Marbled White, Large Skipper and Small Skipper (per Alan Dawson and Tony Rayner).

Moths: Cinnabar Moth, and a Garden Tiger recently (per Ed Munday).

Marbled White (Alan Dawson)

Scarlet Tiger (Ed Munday)

Grey Heron

Sunshine & Butterflies

Sunny, 32°, light SE.

Warmest day of the year so far and a walk along the Bunk line to Winterbrook to see what butterflies were about.

(hottest July day on record with 36.7° recorded at Heathrow).

Meadow Brown were out in abundance along with good numbers of Marbled White and Ringlet.

Other species noted were: Large Skipper, Small Skipper, 1 Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Common Blue, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood, 1 Red Admiral and 1 Small Heath.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle.

Moth: 6-spot Burnet plus a few other day flying moths that were not identified.

Common Whitethroat and Yellowhammer frequent also Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

Swift, Swallow and House Martin regular overhead.

Young of Swallow, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Linnet and Goldfinch seen.

 Marbled White & Meadow Brown

 Large Skipper

 Common Blue Damselfly

Ringlet