Elmley and Blean.

 Our final two days of our early summer trip were spent at Elmley and then Blean woods. Unfortunately, both these days involved more rain and strong breeze.

The Elmley day it didn't matter quite so much, although I was hoping for some rarer day flying moths, which obviously didn't happen. However, the drive along the entrance track did give us some excellent views of some young Oystercatchers out with their parents. We also saw half grown Lapwing and Redshank chicks as well as the usual Elmley Brown Hares and Marsh Harriers.

Oystercatcher with chick.

Oystercatcher with chick.

At one time one of the chicks came very close to the car.

Oystercatcher chick.

Our day in Blean was weatherwise even worse, with very dull conditions and drizzle on and off. However, as usual we didn't let that bother us too much, especially as Heath Fritillaries are quite easy to find in poor weather as they often roost on top of the Bracken.

As we moved along the woodland paths we found several fritillaries with ease, as well as a very fine example of one of my favourite micro moths. I have only seen the Dasycera oliviella once before and that was last year in virtually the same spot. A few were seen, but one did pose extremely well. Bear in mind this lovely moth is only 6-8mm long, it really is a tiny beauty.

Dasycera oliviella (Cream-spot Bark Moth).

Some areas of the woodland had more Fritillaries than others. Despite the wet weather we were surprised to find a mating pair of Heath Fritillaries. There were none flying at all so this pair probably joined up the previous day and then spent the night and following day attached to each other!! During the stroll we actually found 24 Heath Fritillaries scattered through the woodland.

Heath Fritillaries roosting on Bracken.

However, the best moment came when Lisa spotted a brand new Purple Hairstreak. It appears that this may well have been the first record for Purple Hairstreak in Kent this year. Strangely, a couple of days later we had the first Sussex record as well.

Purple Hairstreak.

It had been an epic trip with great butterfly stops on the way up and back from Yorkshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent. With so many birds also seen at Bempton, Hickling and Minsmere there were many highlights. Certainly a trip we will remember for a very long time.

Subbuteo.

 When I was a young lad I used to love playing Subbuteo with my friends, a table top football game. What I didn't realise at the time was that the inventor of the game was a very keen birdwatcher, and after not being able to call the game 'Hobby', which was his first choice but was not allowed due to patent issues, he decided to call it Subbuteo which is the Latin name for the bird of prey.

While Lisa and I were at Minsmere we had great fun trying to photograph these high speed birds as they hunted near us chasing dragonflies. There were many more bad shots than good ones, but I was actually quite pleased with a few of the results.

Hobby (Falco subbuteo).

A Four-spotted Chaser attached to a Hobby.

After trying for a couple of hours these are the only sharp shots achieved!!

A fly-by from a male Marsh Harrier was much easier.

Heading Home (slowly).

 After visiting Glapthorn on our way to Yorkshire and seeing lots of Black Hairstreak, we had the idea of perhaps visiting another great site that I had heard about, on our return journey, which was also going to incorporate staying in Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent. Yes, we were not in a hurry to get home, and we wanted to make the most of our trip.

Although I knew we were very late into the Marsh Fritillary season I thought it was worth at least checking out the site of Chamber's Farm Wood in Lincolnshire. Especially as we would be near to a very good friend of Lisa's that she was keen to visit.

As we headed to an area to park the car at Chamber's Farm Wood I saw a lovely Blackthorn area in the corner of the small meadow. I immediately thought there was a chance of Black Hairstreak there. I hadn't at that time heard of Black Hairstreak in this wood, but as we approached the scrubby area I immediately saw a hairstreak flying around the bushes, and it wasn't a surprise to see it was indeed a Black Hairstreak. In all we saw around 5 in this little corner, but only one landed in a photographable position.

Black Hairstreak.

After this wonderful sighting we headed to the area where the Marsh Fritillaries are known to be. On the way we saw our first White Admiral of the year as well as lots of Green Oak Tortrix. On entering the meadow my thoughts of us being too late to see the fritillary were quickly erased as there were still large numbers of these gorgeous butterflies. However, only one was seen that was worth photographing as they were generally very worn. However, the females were fresher, and just before we were ready to leave I spotted one that was actually pretty good.

Female Marsh Fritillary.

During our time in Yorkshire we had seen thousands of Painted Lady's, but a fresh one did land and pose near me so I decided to take only my 2nd photo of one of the whole trip.

Painted Lady.

Once again, our extra stop was well worth doing. Our next stop was in Lowestoft, which would position us well for both the North-east Norfolk and Minsmere. 

Our first day there the weather was far from ideal with drizzle and heavy cloud. However, we were determined to make the most of what we had, so we headed north to Buxton Heath in Norfolk. As we parked the car the rain started to get heavier, so we sat it out for a while, but eventually the rain became just a light drizzle, so we headed onto the heath to the area where we had seen Silver-studded Blue the previous year. It wasn't long before we started to find these lovely butterflies roosting, and no doubt, hoping for the weather to improve. As we walked along the paths of the heath we actually found 42 Silver-studded Blues. After a couple of hours and after having a picnic lunch sheltering from yet more rain, the sun suddenly appeared for around 30 minutes. During this brief interlude from the rain many of the butterflies started to wake up and some even took flight.

Female Silver-studded Blue at roost.

Female Silver-studded Blue waking up.

Male Silver-studded Blue at roost.

Eventually we decided to move on, and as the forecast was slightly better for the afternoon we decided to head to Strumpshaw Fen where we would stand a chance of a Swallowtail. As we parked the car the sun came back out, and as we headed to the visitor centre a Swallowtail flew past us and started nectaring on some Bramble flowers. However, it was extremely flighty and we didn't get a photo of it. At the visitor centre we were told that it was possibly the only one seen that day, as already the clouds had come back in. We were so lucky even having such a brief sighting, as some people had been there for several hours hoping and failing to see one. We did have good views of a couple of Cuckoos and I was more than surprised to bump into Julia, who had been on my Sussex Butterfly tour 3 weeks earlier.

The following day we headed to Hickling Broad. Last year we saw lots of Swallowtail here, and we were hoping for the same again, especially as the weather had improved. However, we only saw 3 Swallowtail, and the only one that posed was not in the best condition.

Swallowtail.

We were also hoping for Bittern sightings, but again these were a little disappointing. We did however, still have a few things worth photographing. A young Conehead Cricket nymph was nice to see as were good numbers of damselflies which included several Variable Damselflies, as well as large numbers of Four-spotted Chasers.

Conehead Cricket nymph.

Four-spotted Chaser.

Our final day before moving onto Kent was spent at Minsmere. Once again the weather was not perfect, however, during a sunny interlude we searched for Red-veined Darters as they can be seen here as they emerge from the pool near the visitor centre. We didn't get lucky with this, however, Lisa did spot a lovely Drinker larva.

Drinker larva.

We also enjoyed the challenge of photographing some fast flying birds. However, that will be the subject of my next post!!

Kittiwake and Fulmar and Auks.

As well as the many Gannets at Bempton, there is a good showing of other seabirds. Although I have a good local colony of both Kittiwake and Fulmar, they are not as easy to get close to at home, as they are on the cliffs of Bempton.

With the birds nesting so close it is very easy to get some half decent images.

Close up on a Kittiwake.

 

Nesting pair of Kittiwake.

Kittiwake in flight.

I have always enjoyed trying to photograph the Fulmar flying past. Here the lighting was much better than on the south coast, where one is normally photographing into the light. Fulmars have such a wonderful glide, hardly ever flapping their wings as they use the thermals off the cliff face.

Fulmar on the wing.

Auks are also common on the cliffs, with most of them being Guillemot, but there are also pretty good numbers of Razorbill and Puffin, although the Puffin doesn't show as well as some other sites, due to them nesting in holes on the cliff, rather than rabbit burrows.

Razorbill looking for its partner.

And here he is.

Puffin.

Off  on a Fishing trip.

Puffin returning empty beaked.

Gannets.

 Our trip north was a birthday treat from Lisa. A bit special as I had never been to Bempton before, although of course, I had heard a lot about the site.

I was a little limited with what I could do as I had damaged the back a few weeks before the trip, and it is taking an age to get totally better, however, with careful gentle walking we made the best of it, and it didn't actually stop us doing anything.

The weather during the trip was a little mixed, but also didn't hold us back at all. The star species at Bempton is probably the Puffin, although these are not as easy to see here as some other sites. The Gannet however, is really easy to see and get reasonably close to. It was great watching them interacting with each other. Also a challenge photographing them as they flew past.

Gannet flying past.

My favourite moment came when a partner flew back to land next to its mate. Lots of pair bonding then took place.

     

A Classic type photo.

The patterns on the top of their wings varied depending on their age. The blacker the top of the wings are the younger they are. It's only when they reach the 5th year when they are fully mature. I did find the younger birds very attractive when they flew past.

This one was probably in it's 4th year.

3rd Year.

These birds were amazing, and were seen close as they collected nesting material. The birds would land on the grassy slopes and pull clumps of grass up before taking the grass back to the nest.

Gannet on grass slope.

This Gannet had possibly suffered from and recovered from Bird Flu, hence the strange eye.

Gannet Grooming.

Heading North.

 Lisa and I have recently returned from a trip to Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire. It was my first visit to this iconic site, but as well as enjoying the fabulous birdlife there we also took advantage of being away from our local area by seeing other wildlife we rarely get in Sussex.

As we left home early on a Friday morning, I realised that we were going to miss the flight season of the lovely Black Hairstreak. When I was a young lad getting interested in butterflies this species was the holy grail of butterflies as it was regarded as one of the rarest butterflies in Britain and only found in a few sites between Oxford and Cambridge. Back then, I thought I would never see this species. However, since then I have seen them a few times in their natural woodlands. There has also been a mystery introduction at a local site, where I have seen them several times. However, I still much prefer to see them where they are meant to be and not in an introduced site. There is one such site in Northants which is well known as a really good woodland for them, so after driving a few miles I suddenly had a brainwave idea that we could perhaps visit the site on the way to Yorkshire. I mentioned to Lisa that we could possibly go there on the way up if it wasn't too far out of the way. I was then surprised that she was keen, and after checking on her mobile phone and seeing it would only add 30-40 minutes a plan was devised.

The village of Glapthorn was eventually reached and the woodland we were after just north of the village. The site is managed by the Northants Wildlife Trust and was just a few minutes further on. We were pleased to see only a couple of other cars were parked up, and after having a quick lunch, we saw a group of 3 people returning from the wood. Strangely, Lisa had met one of the guys somewhere in Sussex. I also recognised another chap from pictures taken from Kent. Anyway, they gave us the good news that there were several Black Hairstreak showing well. As it was a site I had never been to before, they also told us the best area to concentrate on.

As we entered the woodland the weather was quite overcast, but at least it was not cold. We soon found the ride we needed and was almost immediately rewarded with several Black Hairstreak nectaring on the Bramble flowers. Nearly all my previous photos of Black Hairstreak have been of them resting on Bracken, so it was really nice getting them feeding. In a short area of the ride we were in we often had at least 5 butterflies flying together, and by walking along the short ride we saw at least 30 Black Hairstreak. An absolutely amazing start to our trip!!

Black Hairstreak on Bramble.

Most of the butterflies were in immaculate condition, as the flight season had only just begun. What we didn't realise was that we would have another Black Hairstreak session later in the trip!!