Shenstone Birder: Friday 20th July 2012

I received a phone call this morning from Terry informing me that he had found another adult ♂ Whinchat in the gallops field at Stanklyn Lane. There were a number of features that differed from the previous bird 2 days ago, with this one in a more advanced moult, leading TMH to conclude it was a different bird.

Due to other commitments I was unable to get down until after lunch but thankfully the very photogenic Whinchat was sill there and showing well...despite the Friday afternoon dog walkers!

A Raven was calling from a nearby Pylon and a ♂ Green Woodpecker was feeding in the paddock. No sign of any juvenile Green Woodpeckers yet which is quite worrying.

After enjoying the Whinchat for a fair while I decided to walk the footpaths towards Summerfield. This proved very worthwhile as in one field I picked up 4 juvenile Corn Buntings with 2 adults present nearby, these are the first young Corn Buntings I have seen this year and a very welcome sight on the patch, especially with the way that the wet weather has effected many ground nesting species.

My final port of call was Butts Lane where the set-aside produced a good selection of butterflies including 8 Essex Skippers, 3 Small Skippers, 2 Small Tortoiseshells, 1 Red Admiral, 4 Meadow Browns and 12 Ringlets.

A very pleasing patch visit and even though there was a cracking looking Whinchat on the patch the undoubted highlight for me was seeing the young Corn Buntings....superb!

♂ Whinchat

Click on box right of YouTube logo to enlarge

Essex Skipper

5 comments:

Warren Baker22 July 2012 at 11:55
Good to here about the Corn Buntings successfully breeding Jase, the Whinchat was just the icing on the cake!
Jason K24 July 2012 at 02:14
I totally agree Warren it was great news!
ShySongbird29 July 2012 at 04:27
Hi Jason, just catching up with your recent posts. Love the Whinchat photos and that was good news regarding the Corn Buntings! You have seen some nice Odonata lately too.

Well done on the patch Marbled White. Surprisingly, I think they are doing well this year. I have seen them in five different locations in the last week or so including four very local places.

Your reply to me recently about Essex Skippers possibly being misidentified is correct I think as looking closely at photos I have taken in a few places this year some may indeed be Essex...I think :-)
Jason K29 July 2012 at 04:31
Hi Jan. I've just caught up on your recent posts too.

Seeing the young Corn Buntings has been the undoubted highlight for me over the past few weeks though!
Omi6 August 2012 at 15:34
Aha, your new header comes from here ;) Gorgeous birds, great shots!