David, Roger and I decided to
visit Fermyn Wood in Northamptonshire as the birding front was quiet and we
were hoping for a good selection of butterflies. Roger was driving and after picking David up
we headed to Corby and then onto Fermyn Wood but we didn’t see a great deal on
route.
Swallows in Newton Harcourt
When we arrived, I was a
little surprised to find just a couple of cars parked at the entrance and after
parking we started to walk along the track into the wood. There was a couple watching an area of
foliage that was lit by the morning sunlight and there were several butterflies
taking advantage of the shelter and warmth.
They had seen a Purple Emperor but it didn’t reappear whilst we observed
the trees but we did have a couple of Purple Hairstreaks and a Silver-washed Fritillary.
Purple Hairstreak
We eventually moved further
along the footpath to the first crossroads where we had views of a butterfly
that initially caused some confusion as some thought it was a Purple Emperor
but it turned out to be a White Admiral.
We stopped again near the first left-hand bend where we had two more
Silver-washed Fritillaries, one of which provided some excellent photo
opportunities. We eventually reached the
end of the first wood but still hadn’t seen a Purple Emperor and so moved onto
the second piece of woodland.
Silver-washed Fritillary
Silver-washed Fritillary
Silver-washed Fritillary
Silver-washed Fritillary
Just after entering the wood
David thought he had a Purple Emperor but it failed to reappear and we went
further into the wood. David then called
Roger and I had he had found a Red Kite and Sparrowhawk circling high above the
wood. Another couple then appeared but they
hadn’t had any luck with the emperors but as the guy walked further along the
ride he said here we go as he found one on the path. It didn’t stay too long and the proceeded to
fly further down the ride with the guy in hot pursuit, even running after it
but every time he approached it wasn’t surprising to see it fly off. It eventually doubled back and came towards
us landing briefly in the bushes where we had a reasonable view.
Purple Emperor
After it flew we proceeded to
walk back and Roger then found it or another perched in tree much high. When we alerted David, who was talking to someone
else, as they came towards us they found another on the ground and we
eventually had two flying along the ride.
They did come onto the ground a few times but appeared reluctant to
settle for any length of time and one landed at my feet but flew again without
fully opening its wings.
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
As we were waking back along
the final stretch before getting to the car another observed said he had seen
both Purple and White-letter Hairstreak on the ground between where we were and
the cars. As we walked a little further
we found the White-letter Hairstreak still on the ground where we able to watch
and photograph it down to a few yards.
White-letter Hairstreak
White-letter Hairstreak
This provide a good ending to an
excellent two-and-a-half hour at the site, where we had seen Large White, Small
White, Green-veined White, four Purple Hairstreaks, a White-letter Hairstreak,
three White Admirals, four Purple Emperors, four Red Admirals, six Commas,
eleven Silver-washed Fritillaries, two Speckled Wood, three Meadow Brown and
lots of Ringlets.
Bird wise we had seen two Red
Kites, a Sparrowhawk, Marsh Tit and a Chiffchaff and heard Tawny Owl, Blackcap,
Nuthatch and Treecreeper.
From Fermyn we made our way to
Rutland Water and initially went to Normanton where we had three female-type
Mandarins and a Little Egret. From Normanton,
we went to the Egleton Reserve and found Steve having his lunch in the car
park. He hadn’t seen too much during the
morning and after some lunch we went to the northern lagoons.
There was a pair of Shelduck
with four young on Lagoon Four, a single Little Egret and Roger picked up one
of the Great White Egrets at the back of the lagoon. There were six Oystercatchers and a Ringed
Plover on the lagoon and we found a Whimbrel amongst a party of five Curlew and
two Redshank and six Yellow-legged Gulls were also observed. The Whimbrel is apparently the one that spent
most of last winter on site identified by a coppery coloured ring, which
suggests that it may not be a wild bird.
David then found what he thought was a first-summer Arctic Tern amongst
the resting Common Terns and after some debate we were all in agreement and to
help matters a first-summer Common Tern also appeared. David thought that it might be the bird I had
seen a few weeks ago in South Arm Three but that hadn’t been reported for
several weeks and this bird looked very different. A Sparrowhawk flew over as we left the hide
but we hadn’t seen a great deal else when we arrived back at the centre.
Steve had called earlier to
say that nineteen Black-tailed Godwits had dropped onto Lagoon One and
thankfully they were still on the long island but with else we called it a day
and headed off.
Whilst at Rutland Water we had
seen a good range of insects that included a Speckled Wood, a Gatekeeper, ten
Ringlets, a Large Skipper, twenty plus Common Blue Damselflies, a Blue-tailed
Damselfly, a Southern Hawker and four Ruddy Darters.
Ruddy Darter
We called at Eyebrook
Reservoir on route home where we had three Little Egrets, an Osprey and a Green
Sandpiper.
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