Insects plus

Sunny intervals, 20°, light SSW.

Lollingdon and the River covered today: Little Owl, Yellow Wagtail, Corn Bunting, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Swallow, House Martin and Swift.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor, Four-spotted Chaser & Black-tailed Skimmer.

Butterflies: Small White, Common Blue, Small Blue, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

Moths: A good day for day-flying moths with several Silver-Y, Cinnabar and Mother Shipton.

Paul & Alan.

Mother Shipton

Emperor courtesy Alan

Silver-Y

Black-tailed Skimmer courtesy Alan

Four-spot Chaser courtesy Alan

Meadow Brown

Roe Deer courtesy Alan

Did not expect that!

Overcast, 14°, light W.

Firstly, some belated news from Friday of a Turtle Dove heard “purring” c150m north east of primary school but not since. Presumably a migrant passing thru. Per Richard Broughton.

Secondly, not what you expect but the pair of Blue and Yellow Macaw doing a tour of the village again but this time retrieved by their keeper and their bout of freedom is at an end.

Back to normality and fairly quiet elsewhere around the village. A Lesser Whitethroat and Corn Bunting along the Bunk line, a Grey Wagtail nearby and a Cormorant over.

River/Marsh: Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Nuthatch etc.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle, Banded Demoiselle, White-legged Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Painted Lady, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

Paul & Alan.

Blue & Yellow Macaw ↕

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan

White-legged Damselfly courtesy Alan

Uninspiring

Sunny intervals, 20°, light ENE.

A Bunk Line walk today that proved somewhat un.

Good numbers of Swift, Swallow and House Martin feeding overhead and the usual Warblers and Yellowhammer in song but fairly quiet overall.

Alan managed to find plenty of the larger insects with a couple of newbies for the year.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle, Emperor, Four-spot Chaser.

Butterflies: Dingy Skipper, Large Skipper, Small White, Small Copper, Small Blue, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell & Peacock.

Moths: Mother Shipton & Garden Tiger.

Paul & Alan.

Common Whitethroat

Kestrel

Goldfinch courtesy Bill Nicholls

Large Skipper courtesy Alan

Brown Argus courtesy Alan

Bumblebee Hoverfly courtesy Alan.

A couple of Pics

A couple of pics from Alan today.

House Martin & a White-legged Damselfly.

 

A

Cloudy with the odd sunny spell, 14°, light SSW.

Between 40-50 Swift and up to 20 House Martin and the odd Swallow feeding over Lollingdon Hill for a time, they seemed to be moving ahead of the rain clouds that were passing further south with the birds eventually moving off north.

A couple of Corn Bunting present and the usual Common Whitethroat and Blackcap on the hill and a Yellow Wagtail flew over.

Nearby a Little Owl, a vocal Jay and a couple more Yellow Wagtail.

Most frequent songsters today were Yellowhammer and Common Whitethroat followed closely by Blackcap and Chiffchaff with singles of Reed Bunting and Lesser Whitethroat.

River/Bunk: Grey Wagtail, several House Martin, Swallow and Swift, Yellow Wagtail plus the usual Warblers.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Black-tailed Skimmer.

Butterflies: Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

Paul & Alan.

Jackdaws have sussed out the nut feeders

Quiet times locally

Mainly cloudy, 14°, light N.

Have not got out much this week but Alan has been out most days.

Little change birdwise as most if not all our summer visitors are in now.

A few Gulls still hanging around with 2 Herring Gull, up to 10 Black-headed Gull and the odd Lesser Blackback Gull.

Alan added a few new insects for the year, Common Blue Damselfly, White-legged Damselfly, Broad-bodied Chaser and Blue Emperor.

All Dragons courtesy Alan Dawson  

A damp one

Rain early then sunny spells, 16°, breezy SW,

An afternoon start for both today to avoid the morning rain.

Both the Bunk line and Marsh/River covered.

A lot of House Martin noted today with around 100 birds plus a good number of Swift and Swallow and a Hobby seen by Alan along the Bunk.

A few Gulls still around with 7 Lesser Blackback moving north and 4 Black-headed still hanging around.

No change as far as the rest goes.

Dragonflies: Azure Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly. Red-eyed Damselfly and Large Red Damselfly.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Brimstone, Small White, Common Blue, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Small Heath.

Large Skipper courtesy Alan

Red-eyed Damselfly courtesy Alan

Painted Ladies

Sunny intervals, 19°, light S.

Appear to have a small influx of Painted Lady butterflies. With 1 in the garden yesterday and another at Bow Bridge (per JD) and 3 today out at Lollingdon and Alan had at least 1 more along the river.

A Hairy Dragonfly out at Lollingdon today as well, first one I recall out there.

The hill was fairly quiet birdwise, the usual Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

Nearby a Great-spotted Woodpecker nest with young, a Little Owl, 3-4 Yellow Wagtail and a Lesser Whitethroat.

River/Marsh: A Lesser Whitethroat plus the regulars.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle, Banded Demoiselle, Azure Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Hairy Dragonfly, Club-tailed Dragonfly and Four-spotted Chaser.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Green-veined White, Small Blue, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock & Speckled Wood.

Alan & Paul.

Painted Lady

Yellow Wagtail

Great-spotted Woodpecker (f) delivering food.

Azure Damselfly courtesy Alan

Roe Deer courtesy Alan

Small Blue courtesy Alan

Just about the garden

Sunny, 24°, light SSE.

Just about the garden today as I spent some time just pottering about and tidying a few bits.

The Rook squad come in early along with a few Jackdaw and decimate the bird feeders whilst the Mallard flotilla and the Stock Dove posse wait underneath and clean up the copious spillage.

The Great Tit brood has fledged with at least 2 young and the Blue Tit family are still feeding young.

A few songsters in or near the garden include, a Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Wren and Chiffchaff. A male Great-spotted Woodpecker made a brief visit.

And just looking up watching Swift, Swallow and House Martin wheeling and feeding overhead and alarm calling every time a Red Kite drifted over.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Painted Lady and Peacock.

Tony Rayner left me a message today: he had his moth trap out last night and when he opened it up this morning 2 Great Tit flew out. Obviously tempted by a moth breakfast!

Rook ↕

Stock Dove

Jackdaw

Mallard

New Bug Hotel

No change

Mainly cloudy, 19°, light to breezy SW.

No great changes out along the Bunk line and River/Marsh area today.

We seem to have lost one of our Kestrel pair as the male was found dead by RB on the bypass at the week end and no sign of the female today at the usual site. A sad loss.

However there was a Kestrel hunting at the village end of the Bunk line.

A few Yellow Wagtail around, a couple of Green Woodpecker, the usual songsters and several Swift and Swallow plus a couple of House Martin prospecting around Church Road.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Blue-tailed Damselfly and Large Red Damselfly.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small White and Orange Tip.

Alan & Paul.

Yellow Wagtail

Greylag

Banded Demoiselle

Green Woodpecker

Kestrel

Blue-tailed Damselfly courtesy Alan

Four-spotted Chaser courtesy Alan

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Common Whitethroat courtesy Alan

Ditto

Cloudy at first then brighter, 15°, breezy SW.

Very little change along the Bunk line today. Plenty of Swift around and a good number of Swallow but no House Martin noted.

A couple of Black-headed Gull and the usual Warblers and Buntings in song. A flock of c40 Linnet and Goldfinch feeding on Dandelion seed heads.

The River/Marsh has settled down birdwise and has become somewhat static as it usually does at this time of year. A Lesser Whitethroat still in song.

Insectwise the area is waking up:

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle & Club-tailed Dragonfly.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Small White, Green-veined White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock & Speckled Wood.

Alan & Paul.

Beautiful Demoiselle ↕ courtesy Alan

Grey Wagtail courtesy Alan

Common Clubtail courtesy Alan

Banana Cockroach courtesy Bill Nicholls