Butterflies

Sunny periods, 20°, light W.

Still rather quiet bird wise. A single Black-headed Gull and a Herring Gull noted and a flock of c50 Swallow feeding over and around CSW.

The most frequent songster today was Yellowhammer with only occasional Blackcap and Common Whitethroat noted.

Butterflies: Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet & Small Heath.

Loren's allotment yesterday: Southern Hawker, 2 Common Blue Damselfly and a Silver-washed Fritillary. + Large White, Large Skipper & Meadow Brown.

Small Skipper

Gatekeeper courtesy Alan

Yellowhammers in full song ↕

Brown Hare courtesy Alan

Marbled White

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell

Roebuck Encounter

Mainly sunny, 19°, light SW.

A pleasant walk out along the Bunk Line today. Birdlife still very static and very little song being heard.

A few Swift overhead and a couple of Kestrel present.

Butterflies and Dragonflies more apparent in particular areas that have not been sprayed or cut and even then, mainly grassland species as there are very few wild flowers around.

Why is the field on the other side of the road opposite the Church being sprayed or even cut? It seems just for so called cosmetic purposes!

Mammals: an encounter with the Roebuck again.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly Southern Hawker.

Butterflies: Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Large White, Small White, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Comma, a Silver-washed Fritillary (found by Tony Pittaway yesterday), 1 Speckled Wood, many Marbled White, and Meadow Brown, good numbers of Ringlet & 3 Small Heath.

Sunshiny Day

A sunshiny day, 30°, light NW.

A surprise day on Lollingdon hill today, initially a male Common Redstart had turned up but keeping to the top hedge and only seen briefly a few times.

Next, a butterfly landed on some bramble just in front of me and stayed long enough to ID it as a White-letter Hairstreak. What it was doing there? I don’t know but an unusual record for this species with only 3 records in the last 20 years. It flew up into the tree canopy and I did not see it again.

While searching for the WLH, I came across a Silver-washed Fritillary, another scarce butterfly for the area. This one very active and soon disappeared and sadly no photos of either.

A Little Owl and a Sparrowhawk also seen and 18 Red Kite seen thermalling out at Lollingdon. Also a few Swift, Swallow and House Martin feeding overhead.

River birds: Both Reed & Sedge Warbler plus the usual suspects.  

*Seen along the river, per Alan.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle, *Banded Demoiselle, *White-legged Damselfly, *Blue-tailed Damselfly, Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker, *Emperor, *Black-tailed Skimmer & Common Darter.

And a good mix of butterflies seen by us both.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, White-letter Hairstreak, Common Blue, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Silver-washed Fritillary, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet & Small Heath.

Beautiful Demoiselle

Grey Heron courtesy Alan

Painted Lady courtesy Alan (one antennae missing)

Silver-washed Frit

Mainly sunny with some cloud, 25°, breezy WSW.

Fairly quiet out there today with lots of butterflies around and this afternoon Alan found a Silver-washed Fritillary at Bow Bridge.

The 2 Common Redstart still present on the hill and a family group of Common Whitethroat and a couple of Chiffchaff.

The Little Owl seen briefly and a couple of Kestrel around. Apart from the usual species not much else to note.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Emperor and a small unidentified Hawker that may have been a Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: Small Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Small Heath.

Silver-washed Fritillary  (courtesy Alan)

Yellow Shell Moth

Redstarts & Ravens

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 21°, light WSW.

2 Common Redstart seen on the hill today, an adult male and a young bird. Also 2 Raven visited for around 10 minutes before flying off towards Moulsford.

2 Kestrel nearby and a flock of Mistle Thrush, at least 6 but maybe more and all the usual suspects present.

Butterflies: Small Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Silver-washed Fritillary (Millennium Wood), Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Yellowhammer

Common Redstart (male & young)

 Raven ↕

 7-spot Ladybirds

Gatekeeper

Butterfly Wars

Who would have thought a butterfly could stir up such feelings?

There has been some suspicion that someone local has been illicitly releasing various species of butterfly locally over the years.

Several years back there was an apparent release of Map butterflies in an area in Cholsey and around 3 years ago some Silver-washed Fritillaries were seen at the same site. Both these butterflies species were not seen in subsequent years at the site and as far as I know have not been at this site for many years if at all.

Last year a Marsh Fritillary was seen at the same site. This butterfly had become extinct in the 3 counties of Berks, Bucks and Oxon around 1996.

I understand Natural England are planning to introduce them on Otmoor and are in the process of planting Devil’s bit Scabious in large quantities prior to the release as the Scabious is the caterpillars food plant and a lot would be required to support a new colony.

This year Marsh Fritillaries were seen at this same site in Cholsey with up to 12 noted. Courtship behaviour and egg laying was also observed. The food plant was also found at the site but not in large quantities.

I blogged about the sightings and others put information on other social media sites and subsequently a lot of butterfly enthusiasts turned up to see these butterflies.

Another butterfly seen at the same site was the Small Blue that has not been recorded there before and some believe these were also released.

There have been differing views on these butterflies being present.

Most have enjoyed watching them as they are a rare butterfly but have reservations about them being there as they appear to be a non-sanctioned release rather than a natural colonisation or a planned introduction, such as the Otmoor project.

Apparently the species has been found at 6 sites in the upper Thames area so I’ve heard. Again probable illicit releases and is this being co-ordinated?

It has been mooted that the ‘Butterfly Conservation organisation’ is not accepting records from the area anymore. Maybe they should then at least they can keep tabs on the releases if that is how they view them?

The scientific community are not keen on these alleged releases as, I quote.

“These releases are frowned upon by butterfly conservationists, as they can't monitor natural population changes, and the genetic integrity is threatened.”

And furthermore.

“It's a big problem for science & conservation, as butterflies are a great indicator of the effects of climate change & range shifts. There's also the genetic aspect, populations might be micro-adapted to their habitat, and bringing in genes from who-knows-where can dilute this & alter behaviour or phenology, or move diseases around.”

Over to you!

A Butterfly day

Another sunny day, 24°, light E.

A walk alongside the Bunk line from Church road to the bypass.

Butterflies were the order of the day with literally hundreds of Meadow Brown on the wing today. They were everywhere.

Another 8 Painted Lady seen with some looking very tatty after a presumably long flight and ageing.

Best one of the day was a single Silver-washed Fritillary seen flying around a large garden before disappearing from view.

Good numbers of Marbled White all along the route.

Other species noted were: Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Brimstone (1), Brown Argus (3), Common Blue (8), Red Admiral (6), Small Tortoiseshell (c20), Comma (3), Speckled Wood (2), Ringlet (12) and Small Heath (2).

Some thistles were in flower on the edge of a bean field and these held the majority of Painted Lady, Small Tort and Marbled White.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle (M&F), Large Red Damselfly and Southern Hawker.

Moths: Cinnabar Moth.

A few birds noted were, 3 Yellowhammer, a single Reed Bunting and 2 Common Whitethroat.

Surprisingly I found 2 Pyramid Orchid growing in one of the conservation strips by the side of one of the fields. Sadly almost devoid of any other flowers.

Maybe farmers should be encouraged to plant wild flowers on these strips?

On the down side there were very few Bees noted…..just a handful!

Painted Lady

 Large Skipper

 Ringlet

 Large Skipper

 Painted Lady

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Small Heath

 Meadow Brown & Marbled White

Comma

Banded Demoiselle (M)

Birds, Butterflies and Litter!

Sunny spells, 20º, light W.

Cholsey Marsh and Bow Bridge.

Decided on a walk this afternoon so drove down to Cholsey marsh and took a leisurely walk to Bow Bridge and back.

On arrival, the usual Sedge Warblers song is the first thing you hear, their scratchy song coming from various points on the marsh.

Then hearing the odd Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Reed Bunting and today, also a Lesser Whitethroat. At one point, it went very quiet and on looking around, I saw a female Sparrowhawk circling over the marsh. She eventually flew off west, being shepherded by a few Swallows. Within a few moments, the marsh returned to its normal volume.

The Mute Swan pair have lost one of the cygnets as only three were with the adult birds today. Also a couple of Great-crested Grebe on the river.

A Grey Heron and a single Cormorant seen also. (Grey Heron seen yesterday flying over Cholsey Hill).

Moving a little further upriver there is a wild flower meadow and a hedgerow that was full of butterflies, mainly Meadow Brown along with Large and Small White, Large Skipper, Red Admiral, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, singles of Small Copper and Holly Blue and 2 to 3 Silver-washed Fritillaries.

The only Dragonflies seen were about a dozen Banded Demoiselles.

On the way back I encountered a flock of a least 18 Long-tailed Tits, there were certainly more as I could hear them calling from the opposite river bank as well.

A Hobby circled overhead for a few minutes being mobbed by Swallows, House Martins and Swifts and unusually a single Sand Martin.

A few Greenfinch, Linnet, two Bullfinch and Goldfinch in the riverbank hedges.

A Grass Snake seen briefly, I was not fast enough to get a good angle and focus on it before it became aware of my presence and shot off. The Pyramid Orchid is still in flower. There are also some Bee Orchids nearby.

A Great-spotted Woodpecker now a daily visitor to the garden, along with three Grey Squirrels, two adults and a juvenile.
Tawny Owls heard over the past two nights calling.
Also a Pipistrelle Bat hunting in the garden tonight.

A Pied Wagtail collecting food in the meadow this afternoon.

On another note, what’s with all the rubbish being left along the river bank and Ferry Lane, beer and cider cans, coke cans, portable bar-b-q’s, plastic drinks bottles and other assorted litter and even a bloody wheel chair. There was also a double mattress dumped last week that has since been removed.

  Take it with you!!!! Please.

 Grass Snake, could not get a good angle on it before it shot off!

                                   Silver-washed Fritillary