Thursday 27 June 2013

An early morning at Newton Harcourt, Leicestershire - June 27, 2013

Dave had put his month trap out last night and caught thirty-six identifiable months with a few that were too worn to distinguish.


There were two new moths a Freyer’s Pug and a Puff Moth, which was rather worn but this now takes my species count for Newton Harcourt to 203.

The following were trapped: Brown House-moth [1]; Timothy Tortrix [1]; Celpha lacunana [4]; Small Magpie [1]; Udea olivalis [1]; Blood-vein [1]; Common Marble Carpet [1]; Foxglove Pug [2]; Freyer’s Pug [1]; Common Pug [1]; Scorched Wing [1]; Puss Moth [1]; Buff Ermine [2]; Heart and Dart [8]; Flame [1]; Brown Rustic [3]; Dark Arches [1]; Marble Minor species [2] and Silver Y [1].


Celpha lacunana 


Small Magpie


Blood-vein


Freyer's Pug


Common Pug


Puss Moth


Puss Moth

Wednesday 26 June 2013

A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - June 25, 2013

With the weather forecast being reasonable today I decided to go to Ketton in the hope of seeing some butterflies.  When I arrived although the sun was shining there was still a nip in the air due to the cool northwest wind.  I initially decided to check out the area where there had been twenty plus Bee Orchids last year and where I thought there were some spike beginning to show at my last visit.  However today the suspected spike appeared to have withered and there was no sign.  I continued down the track and continued around into the area where there was a single Southern Marsh Orchid and a number of Twayblades.  The surprise today was the number of Common Spotted orchids since my last visit and I must have seen well over two hundred.  During the initial part of the walk I had seen several Common Blues, all males, and a couple of Small Heath.  As I continued there was a single Speckled Wood but little else insect wise and so I decided to go through the wood and check on the Yellow Bird’s-nest.  There were plenty of them but very few more than shoots and they had not progressed much since the last visit.  Over the gate I found several more Southern Marsh Orchids with two looking rather stunning.


Spear Thistle


Nettle-tap


Southern Marsh Orchids

Whilst I was looking around the area for more I noticed a rather pale month flying and saw it land and was able to catch it in a pot to establish that it as a Grass Wave and I also found my first Red Admiral of the year feeding on a faeces.


Grass Wave


Yellow Bird's-nest

I walked back through the wood and on through the valley.  There were more Twayblade and numerous Common Spotted Orchids alongside the path and there were also several more Common Blue and Small Heath butterflies.  As I reached the end of the valley I found a Large Skipper and my first Meadow Brown of the year juts the other side of the gate.  In the small quarry I saw a couple of male Common Blue and Small Heath and a female Adder was seen briefly before she slipped away into the longer grass.
I continued further into the larger quarry area and found a Vapourer moth lava on the top of a grass stem.


Vapourer lava


Common Spotted Orchids

There were few insects other than an odd Common Blue and Small Heath but two Red Kites flew over.
When I got back to the small quarry two others looking for butterflies had seen both Grizzled and Dingy Skipper and a Brown Argus.  I did see a Dingy Skipper and a second Red Admiral before I walked back through the valley with them.


Dingy Skipper

It was now a little warm and there were more insects on the wing with another Meadow Brown, several more, male, Common Blues and Small Heaths and there were also several Burnet Companions.  I left the other two to continue and I walked back along the track seeing my first female Common Blue and two more Dingy Skippers.  When I reached the small quarry I also found a single Grizzled Skipper but there was no sign of the Brown Argus.


Burnet Companion

I walked back to the car and after some lunch went to Rutland Water where I met Ken in the Bird Watching Centre.

At Rutland Water Ken and I walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three but there appeared to be far fewer birds, particularly close to the hide.  We find a single Green Sandpiper and the two Shelduck still had four young.  A couple of Reed Warbler also provided some brief views and a Hobby flew in a remained to feed for a short while.  Other than about a dozen Common Terns there was little else so we moved to bittern hide where we had further brief views of Reed Warblers and a single Sedge Warbler.  A first-summer Little Gull appeared to fly in off lagoon four and remained to feed amongst the terns.


Common Tern over lagoon three


Grey Heron over lagoon three


Juvenile Pied Wagtail

We walked back to sandpiper hide on lagoon four and found four first-summer Little Gulls, which was a surprise as there had only been three.  There was also seven Little Egrets feeding on the lagoon and we also found a single Little Ringed Plover and Ringed Plover and a Hobby provided some distant views.


Common Tern over lagoon four at Rutland Water

Sunday 23 June 2013

A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - June 22, 2013

Roger and I were out locally today and we initially went to Eye Brook Reservoir.  There were plenty of Swifts over the reserve but most of these departed as the cloud moved away.  The Shelduck still had five young, which was a good as I had only seen three during my last visit.  A Red Kite and a Buzzard were observed over the Rutland side and we heard a Lesser Whitethroat and Whitethroat.  It was surprising with some many Swift that there were few hirundine, just two Swallow and a single House Martin.  Twenty-five Common Terns were also feeding over the water.


Swift


There had been a belated report of a male Red-footed Falcon on Sunday near Lyddington and so we drove the short distance to the site but not surprisingly there was no sign.  We did have a single Sparrowhawk and a couple of Buzzard and a Whitethroat was singing almost continuously but a Chiffchaff and Blackcap were only heard occasionally.


Buzzard

From Lyddington we went to the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water and walked to wader scrape hide.  As we walked along the top path we had views of a Lesser Whitethroat and a Chiffchaff was singing from a suspended wire over the path.  We also heard a couple of Willow Warbler and Blackcap and a single Garden Warbler.  From the hide we could see both of the adult Osprey and one of the young raised its head but the other two remained out of sight and a Buzzard was observed just west of Manton Bay.  There was a male Goldeneye close to Manton Bridge and a single Shelduck was nearby with two others over towards wigeon hide and five other flying into south arm two.  A Sedge Warbler provided some nice views close to the hide and we had a Coal Tit and four Tree Sparrows on the feeders at the centre.  An unusual bird at Rutland Water was a single Yellowhammer that was feeding under the feeders.


Sedge Warbler


Sedge Warbler


Chiffchaff

After some lunch in the Egleton car park we walked with Ken to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  There were two Green Sandpipers on the edge of one of the islands and amongst twenty Common Terns feeding over the water we found two first-summer Little Gulls and then saw a third flying off to lagoon four.  We had at least five Reed Warbler close to the hide but none of them would show themselves long enough to photograph.  The female Pintail present for a few weeks was also observed.


Egyptian Geese


Male Shoveler entering eclipse plumage


Male Tufted Duck


Common Tern

We moved to lagoon four were two of the Little Gulls were resting on a spit and we did find two Oystercatcher, an adult and a juvenile, a Little Ringed Plover, three Ringed Plover and a Little Egret.  We also had distant views of two Red Kites, a Hobby and a Peregrine over Burley Wood.


Female Tufted Duck with bill band

There were more wildfowl than of late on lagoon one but there was nothing of note amongst them.  A Hobby then passed right in front of the centre but disappeared as quickly as it appeared and three Little Egrets flew in the direction of the wet meadow.


Goldfinch from the Bird Watching Centre

A day’s birding in Nottinghamshire - June 21, 2013

Dave, Roger and I had set off to Tiln Gravel Pits in Nottinghamshire where an Icterine Warbler had been reported.  On arrival we parked and walked southwest along a footpath meeting a returning birder who gave further instructions.  As we walked along a path through a small plantation we could hear the bird singing and we then saw it singing from the top of a pine.  I fired off a few shots but I was about through the scope it dropped out of sight.  It started singing again a few minutes later and Roger found a little further away again near the top of pine but again it dropped as I was about to get the scope on it.  It then became more elusive singing more erratically and showing less often and then only briefly.  We did get one final reasonable view when I eventually saw it through the scope but on briefly.  There was one Nottinghamshire birder who referred to the fact that its primaries did not appear very long but as it had a good mid-wing panel it must be an Icterine and we left believing that is what we had seen.  Although my photos were not brilliant later at home I was able to confirm that the primaries appeared rather short and did not extended to at least the end of the under-tail coverts.  It was later re-identified as a Melodious Warbler.


Melodious Warbler

As we walked back to the car a Grey Partridge flew in front of us and a Barn Owl was observed hunting over a field between the path and the road.

As the weather was still rather poor we set off for Budby Common but as the weather started to improve we changed our plan and headed for the raptor watch point at Welbeck.  We were there several hours but saw a few Buzzards but little else.

Thursday 20 June 2013

An early morning at Newton Harcourt, Leicestershire - June 19, 2013

Dave had his mot trap out last night and caught twenty-eight moths of eighteen species.  This was by far the best night we have had this year and included a Scorched Wing that was a new moth for both of us.


The following were trapped: Straw Dot [1]; Bee Moth [1]; Silver-ground Carpet [1]; Green Carpet [4]; Foxglove Pug [2]; Mottled Pug [1]; Common Pug [1]; Scorched Wing [3]; Scalloped Hazel [1]; Popular Hawkmoth [1]; Buff Ermine [2]; Heart and Dart [2]; Bright-line Brown-eye [1]; Brown Rustic [2]; Middle-barred Minor [1]; Burnished Brass [1]; Beautiful Golden Y [2] and Snout [1].


Silver-ground Carpet


Foxglove Pug


Mottled Pug


Common Pug


Beautiful Golden Y


Snout


Green Carpet


Scorched Wing

A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - June 18, 2013

I went to Stoughton Airfield first to see if there was any sign of Grey Partridge but again there were none and very little else, a Stock Dove and Skylark being the best.

I continued onto Mount’s Lodge near Great Casterton where there had been a Quail calling recently.  The roadside verges here are wide and contain and array of wild flowers and grasses, which are of some interest and there is always a few birds of interest.  Skylarks appeared to be everywhere and there were two Red Kites and two Buzzards showing over a distant wood.  After an hour I still hadn’t heard the Quail and decided to move on.


Goat's Beard


Hoary Plantain


Ribwort Plantain


Common Poppy

I drove the short distance to Ketton Quarry and walked to where the Bee Orchids were but they were still no more than short stalks.  I continued to walk along the path seeing a few Common Blue and Small Heath butterflies.  As I turned to walk towards the wooded area I found a single Southern Marsh Orchid and a few Common Twayblades and a little further had two Speckled Wood butterflies.  I then heard a Marsh Tit call and had some nice views before it moved off.  This was the first Marsh Tit I had seen since early May and they appear to be going the same way as Willow Tits and becoming more difficult to locate.  There were a few Common Spotted Orchids alongside the path but they were all rather small and looked as though they were going over.  I continued through the wood and dropped into the cutting where I found more Common Spotted Orchids with a few looking a little better.  The sun was now out and there were more Common Blue and Small Heath butterflies and also had a single Brimstone and Large Skipper and I disturbed a Burnet moth.


Common Carpet


Large Skipper


Common Blue


Southern Marsh Orchid


Common Twayblade


Common Spotted Orchid


Prickly-sow Thistle


When I reached the first small quarry an Adder was pointed out and over next hour I had some nice views of two females that were sunning themselves on the edge of the vegetation.  There were also more Common Blue and Small Heath, two Dingy Skipper and a single Peacock butterflies.


Female Adder


Female Adder

Having had a nice couple of hours at Ketton I went to Rutland Water where there had been a tweet regarding a Spotted Redshank on lagoon three.

On arrival I had an early lunch before I walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  I saw Bob on the way down who said he had only seen a Garganey, Green Sandpiper and a Redshank on lagoon three and couldn't find the Spotted Redshank.

When I arrived in the hide I soon located the Green Sandpiper and Redshank but the eclipse male Garganey proved a little more difficult.  It was on few for a little while before the male Shelduck, present with the female and a brood of seven, chased everything away as the ducklings moved towards the hide.  The male and female were later seen giving two Grey Herons some grief as they tried to land and succeeded in forcing them away.  This brood of Shelduck were the same as those seen on lagoon four last week and it was pleasing to see all seven were still present.  There were a couple of Reed Warblers chasing through the reeds but they didn’t stay still long enough to photograph.  Two Hobby were observed above the lagoon, a couple of Sparrowhawks were seen briefly over the wood to the north and two Little Egrets flew over the hide.  I moved to bittern hide, seeing an Osprey, Garden Warbler and Sedge Warbler on route, but other than a Little Egret and several Reed Warblers there was nothing new.


Little Egret over lagoon three


Two of the brood of seven Shelduck on lagoon three


Common Tern over lagoon three


Common Tern over lagoon three

From plover hide on lagoon four I saw a single Little Ringed Plover and two Ringed Plover and then two Oystercatcher chicks were beginning to look more like Oystercatchers.  I walked to dunlin hide on lagoon four where I had five Ringed Plover and a Dunlin suddenly appear that disappeared almost as quickly and was unable to find them again but I did locate a single first-summer Little Gull and two Yellow-legged Gulls.

It would appear that the Spotted Redshank sighting was erroneous as only the original observer had seen it.  When they had been asked about it they confirmed that it was not in breeding plumage, which is unlikely at this time of year and too early for a juvenile, and agreed that they had regrettably made a mistake but who hasn’t.