9th to 23rd August 2013 - Shenstone

Friday 9th August:
Only visited the patch on a whistle-stop today but was really pleased to see both the juvenile and one of the adult Little Owls sat out in one of the trees there.


Sunday 11th August:
I undertook a butterfly walk over the Butts Lane fields early evening.  at first it seemed rather unproductive but then I picked up 2 Clouded Yellows that were chasing over the field.  One of which was even obliging enough to land so that I could take some photos!  I was overjoyed as this was a patch lifer and the first time I had recorded this species of migrant butterfly there. 


Clouded Yellow - 11th August 2013:

Monday 12th August:
A single ♂ Common Darter was seen near the drainage pond but there was no sign of the Clouded Yellows today


Common Darter (♂) - 12th August 2013

Friday 16th August:
Two Clouded Yellows were still present at the Butts Lane fields late afternoon.  Nearby, a Brown Hawker and a  single Migrant Hawker dragonfly were over the drainage pond.

Earlier this afternoon I had observed a Painted Lady on a buddleia at nearby Hartlebury.


Painted Lady - 16th August 2013

Sunday 18th August:
Today there were now 4 Clouded Yellows present at Butts Lane fields.  Also of note was a single Brown Argus, a ♂ Common Blue and 5 Silver Y moths.


Thursday 22nd August:
Today, Bev and I undertook a walk around the Butts Lane fields and observed just 2 Clouded Yellows.  Other butterflies of note during the walk were 1♂ Brimstone, 4♂ Common Blue, 2 Gatekeepers and 7 Small Tortoiseshell.  Also of interest were 5 Silver Y, 1 Dingy Footman moth and a Migrant Hawker dragonfly.


Common Blue (♂) - 22nd August 2013

Dingy Footman - 22nd August 2013

Friday 23rd August:
I didn't see any sign of the Clouded Yellows at Butts Lane today.  Nearby there was a fair bit of bird activity at Eastfields Farm where 21 Swallows were perched up on the wires.  Also present there were 8 Goldfinch (some of which were juveniles still being fed by their parents), 3 Greenfinch, 1 Green Woodpecker and a really stunning juvenile Willow Warbler looking rather resplendent in its yellow-washed finery! 

The undoubted highlight of the day came from an unexpected location on the patch.  I was scanning the fields next to Sparum Farm at the Summerfield end of Stanklyn Lane.  This field is one of the most unproductive areas on the patch (although I did pick up 4 Mistle Thrushes feeding there today).  As I was scanning I picked up a flash of red as a bird flitted down from the adjacent hedgerow down to ground.  I had a good idea what it was but grabbed my scope to confirm it.  Result...it was an immature Common Redstart.  Redstart is an annual passage migrant through the patch. Only small numbers are recorded each year and this was my first at the site for this year's autumn passage.

6th & 7th August 2013 - Shenstone & Grimley

Tuesday 6th August - Grimley & Shenstone:
Today I popped to Grimley with TS to see what was about.  Whilst there we recorded 2 Little Egrets, 11 Common Tern (7 juveniles) and a family party of 5 Oystercatchers (3 juv).

The highlight though came in the shape of a single Clouded Yellow that was darting about over the clover covered causeway.  It was the first time I had seen this migrant butterfly in Worcestershire in over 10 years so needless to say I was dead pleased!

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On the way back from Grimley we nipped over to the local patch to check on the colony of Purple Hairstreak butterflies at Stanklyn Lane.  After a while we picked up 2 Purple Hairstreaks flitting around the top of a mature Ash.

Elsewhere on the patch the juvenile Little Owl was showing well.

Common Tern (juveniles)

Wednesday 7th August - Shenstone:
Today I spent a 2nd consecutive afternoon in the company of Tony.... it's no wonder I needed a stiff drink on the evening!  Spurred on by the previous day's Clouded Yellow sighting, we undertook a couple of walks on the patch looking for butterflies.

Our first walk was across the gallops field where there were an incredible 30+ Silver Y moths present.  The other notable here was a single Brown Argus butterfly.

From the gallops we headed over to walk the Butts Lane field & set-aside.  This turned out very productive with 1♀ Brown Argus, 5 Common Blues (4♂, 1♀), 1 Essex Skipper, 1 Peacock, 1 Small Skipper,  Small Copper and the ubiquitous Whites all noted.  The Common Blues were particularly pleasing as I had not recorded a single one on patch up until this visit.

Also noted at Butts Lane was a Silver Y and a Yellow Shell moth.

Yellow Shell

Common Blue (♂)

Common Blue (♀)

23rd & 24th July 2013 - Shenstone

Tuesday 23rd July - Captains Pool & Shenstone:

Today I had a long over due catch up with my old mate Tony S and to sample his splendid range of hot beverages! 

Whilst at Tony's Café, I spent some time viewing Captains Pool where a single adult Common Tern was performing well over the water.  Also showing was the Barnacle Goose that has been knocking around with the local group of Canada Geese for a number of weeks now.  The 2 juvenile Great Crested Grebes are also still present and developing well.

TS and I then headed out to check the Butts Lane set-aside for butterflies.  The warm weather has certainly bought them out in good numbers with 11 Species recorded along this small stretch of field margin.  The species recorded were Essex Skipper, Small Skipper, Small Copper, Comma, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small White, Large White and Green-veined White.

Small numbers of Cinnabar Moth larvae were present on the Ragwort and a single Silver Y was also noted.

The undoubted highlight of the visit though was seeing a juvenile Little Owl branching out near the nest location.  The first sign of successful breeding this year.

Ringlet

Small Copper

Essex Skipper

Small White

Little Owl (juvenile)

 

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Wednesday 24th July - Summerfield:
On my way back home from my voluntary work at WBRC I decided to pop down to the patch and visit the Summerfield end of Stanklyn Lane to check out if the Purple Hairstreak butterflies were on the wing.
 
I was in luck and 2 Purple Hairstreaks were busily flitting around the mature Ash and adjacent Oaks  in the late afternoon sunshine.  Also of note here was a single Holly Blue, a Comma and a rather tatty Speckled Wood.

1st & 8th July 2013 - Shenstone

Right time to get past my "bloggers block" and write another post....

Monday 1st July:
I decided to pay an evening visit to the patch today in the hope of hearing a Quail singing from one of the cereal fields.  Its been 2 years since the last Quail at Shenstone so I was hoping that this year would see the return of this migrant gamebird.  Alas, I didn't hear one at all but the evening was pleasant all the same.

Along Heath Lane Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers, Common Whitethroats, Linnets and Dunnocks were perched up singing in the evening sun.  It made me realize just how special summer evenings can be on the patch.

Common Whitethroat

Monday 8th July:
Today I decided to concentrate on the Stanklyn Lane area of the patch and check out the set-aside in the pylon field.  I started off by walking across the gallops field, which much to my dismay the grass had been cut in the area where a number of pairs of Skylark nest...usually they do not do this here until late summer!  I really hope none were still nesting.  In fact the RSPB's guidance to farmers is to "leave the annual cut as late as possible, and not before August to prolong the nesting season"

Anyway, my mood began to improve on reaching the pylon field and seeing the set-aside in all its glory.  The Greater Knapweed and Ox-eye Daisies looked particularly splendid.  As you would expect the area was positively chuffing with bees, butterflies and moths but the undoubted highlight came in the form of a ♀ Black-tailed Skimmer dragonfly, which is a new species for me on the patch.

Also present were good numbers of Meadow Brown & Ringlet butterflies and Six-spot Burnet moths.  Both a single Small Skipper and single Small Tortoiseshell were also noted.  Somewhat worryingly there wasn't any sign of Common Blue butterfly!

I then headed across to Butts Lane where the young Swallows had now fledged and 6 of them could be seen perching up on the telephone wires.  It's always uplifting seeing successful breeding so I finished the visit a happier man.

Black-tailed Skimmer (♀)















Small Tortoiseshell

Small Skipper

Six-spot Burnet

Swallow (juvenile)

Hildditch Days....part one

As some of you may or may not be aware I have been having on going problems with an knee injury which has had a big impact on the amount of on/off patch walks I have been able to undertake over the past few months.  That said the 'invert' season is now in full flow and I have spent a far amount of time monitoring/recording them at a site near Hartlebury where not great deal of distance needs to be walked and to be honest I have enjoyed the change of scene.

Hillditch Pool is a narrow almost river like pool that is bordered by Phragmites (Common Reed to you and I) and has areas that are covered with Lily Pads.  The site is owned by Worcestershire County Council and is in close proximity to Hartlebury Common. A public footpath runs along the side of the pool making it ideal for viewing dragonflies and damselflies. 

Hillditch is a site that I have visited on/off for a few years now and on one visit last year I discovered some freshly emerged Scarce Chasers.  Through out the season myself and others including Mike Averill (the county dragonfly recorder) monitored them and observed mating activity.  So it remained to be seen if  they were to be present/emerge in 2013.  I am happy to say that they did and the first newly emerged ones were recorded on 10th June by both Mike A (http://dragonfliesofworcestershire.weebly.com/) and fellow wildlife blogger Mark P (http://doorstepbirding.blogspot.co.uk/)

Anyway,  enough of the back story & on with the post....

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6th May 2013:
A single teneral Large Red Damselfly was recorded at Hillditch today.  Also of interest was a Slow Worm basking on the track near the top pool.  A Common Frog was also present at the pool's edge.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

19th May 2013:
Things were generally quite at Hillditch on this visit and the only Odonata recorded were small numbers of Large Red Damselflies.  Also of interest was a cracking little metallic looking  micro moth called Micropterix calthella. 

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)

Micropterix calthella

25th May 2013:
On today's visit it was noticeable that there had been quite an increase in the number of Large Red Damselflies at the site.  Small numbers of teneral Azure Damselflies were also present.  The day's highlight though was seeing a young Pike, of about 6 inches in length,  basking between the lily pads.  Also of interest today was a single 14-spot Ladybird and a number of Bloody-nosed Beetle Larvae. Butterflies were in good numbers with 1 ♂ Brimstone, 1 Large White, 1 ♂ Orange Tip, 2 Peacocks, 3 Small Tortoiseshell noted

♀ Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)

Pike (Esox lucius)

Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) larva

8th June 2013:
Numbers of damselflies present have now increased significantly at Hillditch with Banded Demoiselle, Beautiful Demoiselle and Red-eyed Damselfly now on the wing.  There was no sign of any 'true dragonflies' however. 

Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens)

Male

Female












Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas)

To be continued.....