Sunday 10th July 2011 - Shenstone

Today, I decided to pop around the patch on the evening with the hope of seeing a mammal or two at dusk or maybe if I'm lucky picking up a patch Barn Owl.  Well the mammals were not showing (I've had Foxes, Badgers, Stoats and various Bats at dusk on other occasions).  As for a Barn Owl, well it was a bit optimistic.

The evening wasn't a complete loss though as I did manage to verify that there are in fact 2 Little Owls on territory on the patch.  One on the Northern side and one to the South.  As a pair bred at the Southern location last year its possible that they are breeding here again.  The Northern Territory bird is a recent find (found by TMH) and has been present on a number of evenings over the last few weeks.  This evening though I managed to see adult birds at both sites...encouraging indeed.

Ive attached some record shots of one of the Little Owls.  The photos are slightly dark due to the time of evening but they serve a purpose..

Little Owl
 

Shenstone News

Saturday 9th July 2011

The ♂ Whinchat was still present at Heath Lane paddock (CRe and JC).

Please Note:  for the past 2 weeks I have been having problems logging into the Shenstone Birder Flickr account.  The Flickr team are supposedly sorting it out.  I will let you know when it is back up and running and new photos have been added.

Cheers 

Jase

Friday 8th July 2011 - Shenstone

Today's rather interchangeable weather looked good for a possible early autumn migrant on the patch.  Ok, so its called Autumn migration but really this return passage of birds runs anywhere between July and October.  Anyway the day didn't disappoint.

Late morning TS recorded a Common Sandpiper at Captains Pool.  2 Common Terns were also present.  By the time I was able to get to the patch (late afternoon) there was no sign of either species from the dam.  Sod's law but great records all the same.

From Captains Pool I headed over to Butts Lane. The pair of Common Whitethroats that have bred bear the drainage pond were busy feeding 3 fledgelings.  The walk along the set-aside didn't produce any new additions to the previous days butterfly list, with only a single Gatekeeper again present.  I did get a nice photo of mating Small Whites and I also took the opportunity to take some more photos of the patch flora.

I then headed over to Heath Lane and shortly after arriving at the paddock I picked up a stunning ♂ Whinchat that was flicking down to ground a back from the right hand fence line.  This is the first patch Whinchat of the year, there were none recorded on Spring passage. It was a stunning individual with a lovely white supercilium and not too far off what you would expect fresh spring plumage bird to look like.  This Whinchat is probably a failed breeder making an early migration but during these dead days of summer birding it was a welcome sight indeed.  Other notable birds in this area were 40+ Common Swift, a Kestrel and 5 Linnets on the wires.

Whinchat (a distant record shot)

Click on photo to enlarge

Small Whites

Evening Primrose (Oenothera erythrosepala)

Birdsfoot Trefoil 

Common Vetch

Weld

Redshank

Thursday 7th July 2011 - Shenstone

My first stop off on my late morning visit to the patch was the 'beet field' at Stanklyn Lane.  There was no sign of any Purple Hairstreak activity today, which isn't surprising with the sunshine and showers weather.  There were however good numbers of hirundines hawking low over the cereal field with c.60 Swallows and 16 House Martins present.  A ♀ Sparrowhawk and 1 Common Swift were also present.

At Heath Lane there were 11 Common Swifts and a ♂ Kestrel over the model aircraft field.  I also noted an interesting wildflower called Weld that TMH had made me aware of.

I then headed over to Butts Lane to undertake an insect walk.  I finally picked up my first Gatekeeper butterfly of the year. There had also been a noticeable emergance of Essex Skipper with 30+ on the wing along the set-aside. Other butterflies recorded included 1 Red Admiral, 1 Small Copper, 8 Small Tortoiseshells, 2 Large Skipper, 1 Large White, 4 Green-veined Whites, 1 Speckled Wood, 6 Meadow Browns, many Ringlets and Small Whites.

Also of great interest on the insect front was a Roesel's Bush Cricket, which over recent years has moved into Worcestershire as it expands its range from its stronghold in the South East of the country.  Other notable invertebrates included a ♂ Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly and many Episyrphus balteatus Hoverflies.

I also started looking at a few more of the plants in this area including a nice patch of White Bryony (TMH) that was climbing through the Bramble on Barrs Lane.  Also of note was Redshank (no not the bird...if only!) at the edge of the field in this area.

Double-click on any of the below pictures to enlarge.

Roesel's Bush Cricket (Metrioptera roeseli)

Essex Skippers

Meadow Brown

Small White

Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

White Bryony (Bryonia alba) 

Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium)

Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

Monday 4th July 2011 - Shenstone

I arrived at the patch late morning today and decided to walk the fields along Stanklyn Lane.  On arrival there were 7 Mistle Thrush in the paddocks opposite.  Walking the Gallops field there were large numbers of Ringlet,  Meadow Brown and Small White butterflies, with few Small Skippers and a single Large White also present.

I then checked out the set-aside strip in the adjacent field.  The Ox-eye Daisy's were starting to go over but the Knapweed was looking stunning. In addition to the previously mentioned butterfly species there were a couple of Small Tortoiseshell here.  The Knapweed was attracting good numbers of both Six-spot Burnett and Narrow-bordered Five-Spot Burnett Moths.

The final area I checked out was the beet field (although its full of cereals this year).  Here there were 2 second-generation Holly Blue butterflies on the wing as well as a Red Admiral. The highlight came with the discovery of a small colony of Purple Hairstreaks that were flitting around the tops of a couple of mature Oaks and an Ash along Stanklyn Lane.  This is a patch first and a welcome addition to the species list.  I will endeavour to get some photographs during the course of the week (weather permitting).

As if that wasn't enough I was treated to the site of 2 recently fledged juvenile Corn Buntings that perched up for a while at the top of a nearby tree.  They seemed quite young birds as part of the gape flange was still showing at the base of the bill.  There was a slightly scruffy look to some the birds crown feathers and the tail feathers did not quite fully developed either.  Yet the still seemed to be flying fine and decided to take off and fly over the lane to the opposite cereal field.  Heartening indeed!  what a great day on the patch.

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnett Moth on Knapweed