Shenstone Birder

Monday 18th July 2011 - Bircher Common and Yatton Hill Common (Herefordshire)

Today TS and I went off patch and headed over to the North Herefordshire hills in search of Dark Green Fritillaries. Interestingly enough where I live in North Worcestershire you can get to 5 different counties within a 50 minute drive...anyway I digress.

We arrived at Bircher Common and walked the paths through the bracken (as mentioned in the 30 Butterfly Walks in the West Midlands book) with very little success. The weather was getting cooler and windier and the only butterflies we saw were Ringlet, Small White and Large White. It was nice to see lots of Harebell in flower along these grassy rides. Whilst there we bumped into a guy with a pair of bins and asked him about the Dark Green Fritillaries. He suggested a better sight was at Yatton Hill Common a few miles down the road.

We decided to continue our walk at Bircher for a while and I did see a fleeting Dark Green Fritillary zip over the bracken but it was a very unsatisfying view. We headed up to the grazed common above the bracken and had a consolation bird in the form of a ♀ Common Redstart that was showing well. Linnets and Yellowhammers were also seen.

We returned to the car and headed over to Yatton Hill Common. Here you can park in Yatton village and walk up, it is a fairly steep ascent for the unfit (myself included!). Looking up at the bracken covered common through binoculars I could see a Fallow Deer neer the summit. On taking the footpath from the village to the hill there are cereal fields either side. Here we had the highlight of the day when we heard 2 singing Quails. We stopped and listened for a while and then continued our trek up the hill.

Towards the summit I had a somewhat worn Dark Green Fritillary on the path. I called Tony over and it flew just has he got there (so no photos I'm afraid). As the fritillary flew off over the bracken a 2nd one flew up and zipped across. This was the end of our fritillary sightings for the day. We continued to the summit where the views were stunning looking right across to the Black mountains in Wales. After a short rest it was back down the hill, just getting to the village as the heavens opened up.

View from Yatton Hill Common

Click on photo to enlarge

Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Thursday 14th July 2011 - Shenstone

I hadn't got much time to spare today and with things fairly quiet on the bird front I decided to continue building up a picture of the patch flora. I focused on the area at the edge of Stanklyn Lane beet field today.

Whilst at the beet field I was pleased to see and hear singing an adult Willow Warbler in the hedgerow. This is particularly pleasing as Willow Warblers are not a breeding bird on the patch. With yesterday's Lesser Whitethroat and today's Willow Warbler I just get the feeling that there is a little bit of movement on the warbler front.

Not much to butterfly wise in this area other than 1 Red Admiral, 1 Comma, 1 Holly Blue and a handful of Whites. I did however record a Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri) next to the pull in along Barrs Lane half hour or so before. This is a species that I haven't recorded in the area before so it was a pleasing sighting.

As for the flora, I added to the growing patch list Field Pansy, Black Horehound and White Dead Nettle. So all in all it was an hour well spent.

Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri)

Comma

Black Horehound

Field Pansy

Wed 13th July 2011 (evening) - Shenstone

A Lesser Whitethroat was present and singing along Barrs Lane for a brief while this evening (TMH). This is the first record of this non-patch breeding species this year.

I arrived about 15 minutes later to meet up with Terry by which time the bird had flown. Whilst on the patch TMH pointed out a nice bit of Shepherd's Purse that is growing along Stanklyn Lane.

We then proceeded to have a quick check around to see what was about. There was no sign of the Little Owls this evening but a highlight came when a Hobby flew over Witch Lane heading East.

Shepherd's Purse

Wed 13th July 2011 - Oversley Wood (Warks)

Today I returned to Oversley Wood with my mate Jared 'Bellamy' Tibbetts, primarily to see the Purple Emperors but also to see any other butterflies that were on the wing. The weather was cloudier than my previous visit a couple of weeks before so it was fingers crossed as to whether we would get our target species. In total we saw 19 species of butterfly.

Whilst we were walking the rides we bumped into a couple of gents (Richard & Steve) that I knew from some of the Worcestershire asites that I visit, so the four of us decided to walk the reserve together (more pairs of eyes and all that). During the walk we did in fact see 4 Purple Emperors that flew over the canopies. The highlight of these was a ♀ being chased by a noticeably smaller ♂. The views were sufficient but not a patch on last time when I had one perched...but that's wildlife watching, you need to be in the right place at the right time and then have a certain amount of luck.

Interestingly enough we only saw one White Admiral, leading me to believe that they are over a bit earlier due to emerging early this year. We also recorded 10+ Silver-washed Fritillary, 1 Brown Argus, 1 Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White and Purple Hairstreak. We didn't record any White-letter Hairstreaks on this visit.

Other insects of interest included Narrow-bordered Five-Spot Burnett moth, Large Red Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle and Southern Hawker dragonfly. Of note bird wise were a small party of Marsh Tits and a stunning dark phase Common Buzzard that was perched in a nearby tree.

Of course a trip out with Bellamy (sorry I mean Jared) wouldn't be the same without him sharing some of his extensive botanical knowledge on the way round. During the course of the walk he pointed out a variety of interesting flora including - Agrimony, Bettany, Corn Mint, Creeping Jenny, Nettle-leafed Campanula, Meadowsweet, Perforate St. John's Wort and Enchanter's Nightshade (what an ace name!) All in all it was another enjoyable day out at Oversley Wood.

Comma on Meadowsweet

Purple Hairstreak

Silver-washed Fritillary

(a rather worn) Red Admiral

Small Skipper

Brown Argus

Nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium)

Corn Mint (Mentha arvensis)

Enchanter's Nightshade (Circaea lutetiana)

Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

Tuesday 12th July 2011 - Shenstone

I decided to do a couple of butterfly walks around the patch today with the weather being fairly nice.

My first port of call was the field at the back of Stone vicarage (just behind the top of Butts Lane). Here there were good numbers of Small Skipper, Meadow Brown and Ringlet. The highlight was a nice fresh 2nd generation Small Copper that was feeding on the flowers of some Yarrow.

Next stop was Stanklyn Lane. The Gallops field was disappointing as the grass has now been cut (hopefully all the pairs of Skylarks here had fledged there young!) I spent some time at the beet field watching 3 Purple Hairstreaks flit around the Oaks and Ash but still didn't manage any photos (one day!). Also in this area were 4 Speckled Wood and 2 Holly Blues. 2 singing Chiffchaffs were also present along the lane.

My final stop was Butts Lane/Barrs Lane. I decided to walk the footpath across the field towards the vicarage. There had been an emergance of Small Tortoiseshell with 9 present on one area of thistles. It was also good for the farmland birds with Skylark, Yellowhammer and Linnet all showing well. 2 young Common Buzzards could be heard calling from the trees at the back of Stone Manor with one fledgling showing quite well. The walk back along the set-aside was fairly productive with good numbers of Essex Skipper and Small Skipper seen (it seems to be about 70% Essex to 30% Small down there at the mo). A Red Admiral, 1 Comma, 2 Gatekeepers and 1 Large skipper were also added to the days list here. The Whites were numerous across the patch with all three common species seen.

Below are a few butterfly shots from the walk plus another handful of photos of the patch's flora.

Small Copper