Wednesday 31 July 2013

A day at Rutland Water, Rutland - July 30, 2013

I was out on my own today and went initially to the north arm at Rutland Water.  The water levels have now dropped considerably and there is plenty of suitable habitat for waders but there were not too many waders present.  There were two Oystercatchers, a Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank on the north shore and two Little Ringed Plovers and a Redshank on the south shore.  At least four Ospreys were observed over Burley Wood and a single Red Kite was also observed.

With nothing else I moved on to the Egleton Reserve and walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three but not before seeing a single Marsh Tit at the Egleton feeding station.  The water level here has risen a little but is still suitable for waders but again few were present with single Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper.  Wood Sandpipers are always nice to see and this was a nice juvenile.  There were a couple of Little Egrets and an Osprey was observed over lagoon four.  A single Yellow Wagtail was observed briefly and several Reed Warblers were visible intermittently just in front of the hide.

A look on lagoon four produced sixteen Ringed Plovers and eleven Dunlin and there was two adult and a single juvenile Oystercatcher present.  There was a single female Pintail, a Little Egret and at least nine Yellow-legged Gulls on the lagoon and I picked up a single first-summer Little Gull in flight before it landed amongst a party of gulls.  I informed Bob and whilst he was trying to see the Little Gull he spotted a Peregrine drinking on the lagoon.  There were several Buzzards observed to the north mainly over Burley Wood but two were observed a little further to the west towards Oakham.

I walked back to the car park before retuning again to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  The Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper were all still present and the two juvenile Shelduck were also observed along with an adult.  Two Red Kites and two Buzzards were also observed but there was no sign of the reported Bittern.

Marsh Tit at the Egleton feeding station


Comma


Juvenile Black-headed Gull over lagoon four


Adult male Ruff moulting into winter plumage on lagoon three


Reeve on lagoon three


Juvenile Grey Heron on lagoon three

Ken and I decided to go and have a look from Manton Bridge before going home and we were surprised to see how far the water had receded.  Despite the idea conditions for waders few were present with just two Little Ringed Plovers, two Common Sandpipers and six Green Sandpipers being present.  There were eight Little Egrets visible and the three juvenile and a adult Osprey were present on the nest and nearby perch.

Steve called to say he had found a Garganey on the wet meadow flash and so I returned to Egleton and walked to snipe hide.  Steve had just left the hide as I approached and confirmed it was still present.  I was surprised to see how many duck were on the flash but as I started to scan them they all took to flight.  I scanned the birds in flight see in numerous Gadwall, a few Teal and a single Shoveler but didn’t pick up the Garganey.  A few of the birds returned but they were all Gadwall and as most appeared to have come down on lagoon one I went to mallard hide.

I spent quite some time in mallard hide but couldn’t find the Garganey but did locate three Dunlin, a Ruff, a Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper.  The Ruff looked like the male seen earlier on lagoon three and I assumed that it and the three Dunlin had been seen earlier on lagoons three and four.
I eventually called it a day and walked back to the car park and set off for home.

Sunday 28 July 2013

A day in Lincolnshire & Cambridgeshire - July 27, 2013

Dave, Ken, Roger and I went to Frampton Marsh today where there had been a Baird’s Sandpiper for a few days.  There were quite a few birders present when we arrived but there had been no sign of the Baird’s.  We scanned the area where the Baird’s had been and found several Avocets, a couple of Little Ringed Plovers, two Dunlin, several Ruff, two Snipe, several Black-tailed Godwits, two Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper and a Turnstone.  As we were scanning the scrape another indicated that there had been a Merlin perched on a gate but it appeared to have gone.  We scanned the area and Dave picked it up perched on a distant fence post but it was rather a long way off and so we moved on towards the track to the 360° hide.  When we scanned the area we couldn’t see but then Roger saw it flying close to the fence but it appeared to drop into the grass and we didn’t see it again.  There were three Wood Sandpipers fairly close and a flock of Dunlin could also be seen on the other scrape and so we decided to move to the 360° hide.

When we arrived at the 360° there were masses of waders, which were presumably a high tide roost.  The flock included hundreds of Black-tailed Godwits and Dunlin with plenty of Knot and Grey Plover and we did manage to find two adult Curlew Sandpipers.  There were also good numbers of Redshanks and more Ruff and at least four Ringed Plovers and another Little Ringed Plover as well as two Spotted Redshanks and a Greenshank.  One of the Wood Sandpipers came close to hide and allowed me to get a few reasonable shots of it.

We returned to the centre and continued to the footpath leading to the reservoir in the hope of seeing a Turtle Dove.  We walked all the way to the reservoir but there was no sign of any Turtle Doves but we did have another Green Sandpiper and nineteen Golden Plover flew over.

After some lunch we decided to go to the sea wall where we added our nineteenth wader of the day a Curlew.  There was also four distant Brent Goose, which were obviously birds that had for some reason not departed with the majority in the spring.


It was disappointing that the Baird’s had departed but the number of waders present and the Merlin eased the disappointment.


Ringed Plover


Wood Sandpiper


Wood Sandpiper


Wood Sandpiper


Wood Sandpiper


Wood Sandpiper


Wood Sandpiper

We finally decided to carry out our original plan, which was to visit Barnack Hills and Holes reserve in Cambridgeshire to hopefully Chalk Hill Blue butterflies.

When we arrived in the car park it was still very warm, although the sun was becoming hazier.  As we started to walk out onto the reserve there were clearly a number of butterflies on the wing and it wasn’t long before we saw our first Chalk Hill Blue.  We didn’t have worried though as they and Six-spot Burnet moths were numerous.  We also had Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Marble White, Meadow Brown and Large Skipper and we also found a Shaded Broad-bar, Common Carpet and Silver Y.  A Green Woodpecker was heard calling and then seen in flight and Red Kite flew over.


Chalk Hill Blue


Pyramid Orchid

On route home we made a brief stop at Eye Brook Reservoir where we had three Little Egrets, two Red Kites, a Common Sandpiper and four Common Terns.

Friday 26 July 2013

A day’s birding in Norfolk - July 25, 2013

I was nominated drive today and Roger and I picked Dave up from Newton Harcourt and then went to Uppingham where we met Ken.  With a full car we set of for Lynford Arboretum where there had been up to four Two-barred Crossbills over the last few days.  The weather was pretty awful at times with several heavy downpours but it was dry as we pulled into the car park.  We walked the short distance to where three other birders were looking for the birds and they had seen several Common Crossbills but not any of the Two-barred Crossbills.  We heard crossbills calling on several occasions and saw several as they flew over.  Six then landed in a larch tree and began feeding but they were very difficult to observe but they were all just Common Crossbill.  We had been there just over an hour when two more flew over calling and one landed at the top of a larch, it was one of the juvenile Two-barred Crossbills and it provided good views for perhaps a couple of minutes before it eventually flew off to the east.  It called several times as it flew off and sounded different from Common Crossbill.

We stayed for another forty-five minutes but no crossbills were seen or heard and we decided to move off to Titchwell.  There had been up to ten Siskin observed and a single Buzzard flew over, whilst a second raptor quite close but just a silhouette and all too brief remained unidentified.

We stopped at Choseley Barns for lunch where there appeared to be little, if any food, on the ground and subsequently few birds as well.  We did have a male and female harrier to the south and two females to the north during our short stay.

Having parked at Titchwell we set off towards the sea and found a female Mandarin, six juvenile Red-crested Pochard on the Thornham Pool and a Bearded Tit flew over.  As we approached the Freshwater Marsh it was clear that there were plenty of waders, mainly Avocet and Black-tailed Godwits but there was also a few Ruff and at least fifteen Spotted Redshanks.  As we scanned the area we also found two Little Ringed Plovers, three Knot, a summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper, two Dunlin, a Curlew, a Green Sandpiper, a Wood Sandpiper and a couple of Redshanks.  There were also seven Spoonbills visible on one of the distant islands and a female Marsh Harrier flew over causing some panic, when nine Golden Plover flew over.  Before the harrier flew over there were quite a few terns and gulls on one of the islands, the terns being mainly Common but there was also four Sandwich and there was also a single first-summer Little Gull.

We eventually continued towards the beach but there was very little on the Volunteer Marsh but three first-summer Little Gulls on the tidal marsh provided some good photo opportunities.

When we eventually reached the beach there was at least 300 Knot amongst which there were good numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits and Curlew and small numbers of Turnstone.  There were two Black Terns amongst numerous Common and Sandwich Terns feeding over the sea and five Little Terns flew west.  A single male Common Scoter was observed on the sea and five more flew by.  A single Greenshank over and eight Grey Plover flew west.  Eventually we had to call it a day and walked back to the car park but saw nothing new on the return.


The Two-barred Crossbill was my third the last being in Wakerley Wood in November 1990.  It had been the highlight of a very good and enjoyable day’s birding.


Female/juvenile Red-crested Pochard


Adult Spotted Redshank


Male Ruff


Adult Herring Gull


First-summer Little Gull


First-summer Little Gull


First-summer Little Gull


First-summer Little Gull

A morning in Newton Harcourt, Leicestershire - July 24, 2013

Dave had the moth trap out again yesterday and we trapped and identified 193 moths of sixty-nine species.  There were twenty-seven micros and forty-two macros with three new micros and one macro.


The following were trapped: Argyresthia goedartella [1]; Bird-cherry Ermine [8]; Spindle Ermine [1]; Diamond-backed Moth [1]; Plutella porecctella [1]; Brown House Moth [7]; Carcina quercana [1]; Blastobasis adustella [1]; Agapeta hamana [1]; Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix [4]; Large Fruit-tree Tortrix [1]; Timothy Tortrix [1]; Clepsis consimilana [1]; Lozotaenia forsterana [2]; Celypha striana [2]; Marbled Orchard Tortrix [1]; Bactra furfurana [1]; Branble Shoot Moth [1]; Chrysoteuchia culmella [22]; Crambus perlella [1]; Agriphila tristella [3]; Catoptria falsella [3]; Eudonia mercurella [3]; Small Magpie [1]; Udea lutealis [2]; Mother of Pearl [1]; Phycitodes binaevella [1]; Buff Arches [1]; Small Blood-vein [1]; Small Fan-footed Wave [2]; Riband Wave [12]; Large Twin-spot Carpet [1]; Garden Carpet [1]; Common Carpet [1]; Sandy Carpet [1]; Green Pug [2]; Clouded Border [1]; Brimstone Moth [2]; Early Thorn [1]; Swallow-tailed Moth [2]; Peppered Moth [1]; Willow Beauty [3]; Clouded Silver [1]; Privet Hawk-moth [1]; Yellow-tail [1]; Common Footman [17]; Heart and Dart [3]; Large Yellow Underwing [3]; Lesser Yellow Underwing [1]; Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing [1]; Double Square-spot [2]; Dot Moth [2]; Smoky Wainscot [4]; Dagger sp. [2]; Coronet [1]; Marbled Beauty [4]; Dark Arches [9]; Marbled Minor sp. [6]; Middle-barred Minor [1]; Common Rustic sp. [5]; Small Dotted Buff [1]; Uncertain [5]; Rustic [9]; Burnished Brass [2]; Golden Plusia [1]; Silver Y [1]; Plain Golden Y [3]; Herald [1] and Beautiful Hook-tip [1].


Spindle Ermine


Plutella porecctella 


Celypha striana 


Catoptria falsella 


Udea lutealis 


Small Blood-vein


Large Twin-spot Carpet


Sandy Carpet


Smoky Wainscot


Herald

Thursday 25 July 2013

A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - July 23, 2013

I went out fairly early today as expected that the overnight thunder storms might have brought some birds down.  I decided to go to Eye Brook Reservoir first and saw a single Buzzard near Cranoe and a Little Owl at Slawston on route.

At Eye Brook Reservoir the two juvenile Shelduck were still present and I did find a Little Ringed Plover and two Green Sandpipers and there were at least eight Common Terns.  There was also a female Gadwall escorting a brood of nine.

I eventually decided to call it a day and moved off to Rutland Water where I went straight to mallard hide on lagoon one where there had been three adult Curlew Sandpipers yesterday evening.  Whilst I was in the hide the heavens opened and there was a terrific downpour but all I could find was a single Little Ringed Plover and Ringed Plover on one of the small islets.  There were four Little Egrets feeding around the margins but little else.  The rain eventually stopped and I continued on towards snipe hide where I again took shelter from some heavy rain.  There was a Oystercatcher and a Little Egret visible and when a second Oystercatcher flew in a third, a juvenile, appeared wanting to be fed.  The rain again ceased and I continued on towards fieldfare hide seeing a nice mixed party of warblers containing a number of Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers and a single Garden Warbler, with a Blackcap singing nearby.  I had also seen a couple of Sedge Warbler and heard a Reed Warbler just before reaching the turning to fieldfare.

There were three Greenshanks from fieldfare but very little else and so I walked back and went to heron hide.  After the excitement of the Pacific Golden Plover last week, which was observed from a full hide I had the place to myself.  I could see three Osprey in Manton Bay and a Green Sandpiper flew in close by briefly before flying off in the direction of lagoon eight.  I had seen three Little Egrets on lagoon eight as I walked by but there was nothing else of note from kingfisher hide.  I continued on to Shelduck hide and looked over lagoon seven from the entrance ramp finding a couple of Ringed Plovers and twelve Common Terns.  There were three Little Egrets visible from Shelduck hide and I saw a forth from the 360° that overlooks the lagoon.  As I left the hide it looked as though another storm was brewing so I made my way back to the centre just managing to get back before the heavy rain set in again.  After the storm had passed I had some lunch before going to the north arm where a Turnstone had been reported.

I was soon watching the nice summer plumage Turnstone on the north shore where there was also single Common and Green Sandpipers and there were eight Little Ringed Plover on the spit on the south shore.  There was a single Little Egret in the north arm and seven more in the fishponds area.

I went back to the Egleton Reserve and walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  On arrival a single Black-tailed Godwit, a Ruff and several Green Sandpipers were visible.  I spent quite some time in the hide seeing many other birders come and go and eventually had seen eight four Little Ringed Plovers, five Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits, a Common Sandpiper and twelve Green Sandpipers.  Just after the last person had left the hide I noticed that three waders had come a little closer and as I lifted the bins I realised that one was an adult Curlew Sandpiper in almost full summer plumage.  I hadn’t noticed any birds fly in but assumed that it must have, although it disappeared later before suddenly reappearing and then disappearing again and it may well have been present and out of sight all of the time.  It was good to find on myself, particularly as the three seen yesterday had disappeared.  Ken, Steve, Colin and Chris arrived and they all managed to see the bird and just before Ken and were departing Colin asked how many Greenshanks we had seen.  There were now four present but I and no one else had seen them previously and again we didn’t see any of them fly in.

Lagoon four produced two first-summer Little Gulls, three Yellow-legged Gulls and a number of Common Terns but otherwise it was pretty quiet.

I walked back to the car park with Ken and after a quick word with Tim Appleton, who informed us that last night’s storms had probably claimed two young Ospreys, we set off home.


When I reached the A47 it was closed so I decided to go back via Eye Brook Reservoir where I found two Common Sandpipers and a juvenile Wood Sandpiper that I had not seen this morning.  This was an excellent end to a very good day’s birding on my local patches.

Monday 22 July 2013

A mid-morning walk in Newton Harcourt - July 22, 2013

I went for a walk with my granddaughter, Clia, along the Grand Union Canal from Newton Harcourt towards Kilby Bridge.  Bird wise it was raher quiet with Swallow, Blackcap and Whitethroat being the highlights.  There were plenty of butterflies, particularly whites, and I had eighty-seven involving ten species in just over an hour.  I saw five male Banded Demoiselle, two White-legged Damselfly, a Common Blue Damselfly, two Blue-tailed Damselfly and two Brown Hawkers.


The butterflies were Large White [15]; Small White [8]; Green-veined White [11]; Small Tortoiseshell [3]; Comma [8]; Speckled Wood [1]; Gatekeeper [15]; Meadow Brown [7]; Ringlet [17] and Large Skipper [2].


Comma


Gatekeeper


Ringlet


Common Knapweed


Common Knapweed


Selfheel

Sunday 21 July 2013

A day in Leicestershire & Rutland and Northamptonshire - July 20, 2013

I was at with Dave today and the plan was to visit Fermyn Wood in Northamptonshire where there had been exceptional numbers of Purple Emperors.  However due to the inclement weather we did a quick visit and unsuccessful visit Ketton and then moved on to Rutland Water.

We had seen a Buzzard near Tugby on route to Ketton and Sparrowhawk just after leaving as we drove to Rutland Water.  At Rutland Water we went to the north arm where we found four Oystercatchers and nine Little Ringed Plovers.  There was a single Little Egret in the north arm and another eight were located in the fishponds.

After a while in the north arm we moved off to the Egleton Reserve where we had a quick over lagoon.  There was another nine Little Egrets on the lagoon and an Osprey was observed over south arm three and six Snipe over the wet meadow.


We moved off to shoveler hide on lagoon three and found that the water level had receded even further.  There were a good number of waders present with and Oystercatcher, a Little Ringed Plover, three Dunlin, four Ruff, two Snipe, ten Black-tailed Godwits, three Curlew and seven Green Sandpiper.  The was a single adult Shelduck and the two juveniles were also found as was a single Little Egret and just as we were thinking of moving on a Greenshank flew in.  An Osprey, carrying a fish, was then observed heading in the direction of the south arm.


Dunlin on lagoon three


Snip on lagoon three


Gatekeeper near shoveler hide

From shoveler hide we moved to plover hide on lagoon four and again found another Little Egret.  There were also at least three Ringed Plovers and a Little Ringed Plover and several Yellow-legged Gulls were also present.  Bittern hide was quiet and we saw nothing, except for two Buzzards that we hadn’t seen from shoveler hide.


Moorhen chicks from bittern hide


Adult Moorhen from bittern hide

We called at sandpiper hide on lagoon four where we counted nine Yellow-legged Gulls and fifty-five Common Terns.  There were also two first-summer Little Gulls and at least eight Ringed Plovers.


Adult Black-headed Gull over lagoon four

As we walked back to the car park we had another Osprey over lagoon one and Dave found a Large Tabby moth on the toilet block, which was a new species for us.


Large Tabby

With the weather prospect looking better we decided to go to Fermyn Wood for the butterflies.

We had six Red Kites driving from Rutland Water to Fermyn Wood and another whilst in the wood.  The weather on arrival was no better and in fact the wind appeared to have increased.  We walked down the track into the wood and other informed us they had seen a number of Purple Emperors but we didn’t hold out too much hope.  We did however see eight and also saw a couple of White Admirals and two Purple Hairstreaks.  There were also a few Ringlets, a Green-veined White and at least one Meadow Brown on the wing and we had a single Southern Hawker.  A Common Crossbill was also heard as it or they flew over.

On route home we had another three Red Kites and a Buzzard close to Corby.

An early morning in Newton Harcourt, Leicestershire - July 19, 2013

David had put his moth trap out last night at a friend’s house, which is an old lock keepers cottage.  This meant that it was alongside the Grand Union Canal on the edge of the village.  It took us over five hours to empty it, which was partially due to a larger number of micros trapped.


The following were trapped: Ghost Moth [1]; Bird-cherry Ermine [12]; Diamond-back Moth [1]; Coleophora Sp. [4]; Large Clover Case-bearer [1]; Brown House Moth [1]; Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix [3]; Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix [1]; Timothy Tortrix [2]; Gree Oak Tortrix [1]; Celypha striana [2]; Celypha rosaceana [1]; Celypha lacunana [2]; Red-barred Tortrix [1]; Ancylis achatana [3]; Chrysoteuchia culmella [20]; Crambus pascuella [3]; Crambus perlella [12]; Agriphila straminella [2]; Agriphila tristella [2]; Eudonia mercurella [1]; Pyrausta purpuralis [1]; Small Magpie [4]; Anania perlucidalis [1]; Udea lutealis [1]; Udea prunalis [1]; Udea olivalis [5]; Mother of Pearl [1]; Drinker [1]; Buff Arches [1]; Single-dotted Wave [1]; Riband Wave [15]; Common Carpet [1]; Barred Straw [2]; Small Rivulet [2]; Lime-speck Pug [1]; Green Pug [2]; Clouded Border [1]; Brimstone Moth [7]; Swallow-atiled Moth [1]; Peppered Moth [3]; Willow Beauty [5]; Light Emerald [2]; Poplar Hawk-moth [2]; Buff-tip [1]; Pebble Prominent [1]; Swallow Prominent [1]; Yellow-tail [1]; White Satin Moth [1]; Dingy Footman [1]; Common Footman [41]; Ruby Tiger [1]; Short-cloaked Moth [2]; Heart and Dart [16]; Flame [5]; Flame Shoulder [3]; Large Yellow Underwing [4]; Double Square-spot [15]; Dot Moth [1]; Bright-line Brown-eye [1]; Brown-line Bright-eye [1]; Clay [6]; Smoky Wainscot [12]; Polar Grey [1]; Coronet [1]; Marbled Beauty [3]; Dark Arches [23]; Rustic Shoulder-knot [1]; Marble Minor group [8]; Common Rustic group [15]; Small Dotted Buff [3]; Uncertain [25]; Rustic [15]; Burnished Brass [5]; Plain Golden Y [1]; Beautiful Hook-tip [1]; Snout [1] and The Fan-foot [1].


Female Ghost Moth


Coleophora Species


Large Clover Case-bearer


Ancylis achatana


Anania perlucialis


Udea prunalis


Yellow-tail


Short-cloaked Moth


Brown-line Bright-eye