Bee-catchers and butterflies

It's always interesting when non-birding friends and colleagues ask me about a particular bird - "do you know about the Bee-eaters at East Leake?" (or Bee-catchers in one case!). Well yes, yes I do - I didn't act fast enough on the Sunday night (unlike some), but was down there first thing on Monday morning, eventually enjoying somewhat distant views at about 6.30am. Today was my first crack at seeing them again. First of all though, I had a four hour shift (6-10am) in the carpark, but this was rewarded with a fly-over by four of the Bee-eaters heading south, and then two returning north a bit later. Amazing really, to be stood in a field in south Notts and for that to be happening. I then wandered down to the viewing point and had very satisfactory views of two, then four birds perched up and hawking for insects (not that you'd think so from my pics). 

Bee-eater

Bee-eaters

Back home, and whilst attacking some unruly shrubs in the garden, I became aware of a familiar call, but one I couldn't instantly place. A chunky passerine then appeared overhead, flashing large white wing patches, and the penny dropped - a Hawfinch! Quite what this was doing flying west over Newark in mid July, or where it had come from, I have no idea. 

Yesterday, and I had an enjoyable afternoon on the patch. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but the Lapwing bonanza at Mons Pool continues, with at least 12 young birds in 7 broods on Mons itself, or in the fallow fields to the west and north, ranging from a couple of days old to fully grown. Here too there were three cygnets with an adult Mute Swan (good as I though the nest had failed), a female Gadwall with 6 duckings (with another with 5 ducklings elsewhere). There were also signs that for some birds, summer was over, with 6 Green Sands and 9 Teal present.

The non-avian highlight of the week was a Purple Emperor in Cotgrave Forest. The origins of this species here are undoubtedly questionable, which slightly takes the shine off them for me, but still great little creatures to see, along with a bonus Silver-washed Fritillary and two Purple Hairstreaks. I also had a work visit to Freckland Wood near Newstead, which spports another species of dubious origin - Marbled Whites, at least 25, plus 100s (maybe 1000??) Ringlets - there was literally one every metre. 

Purple Emperor

Silver-washed Fritillary

The week gone

The last week on the patch has been fairly uneventful. The waders have dried up (although the habitat at Mons pool hasn't - it's still looking good for a Sanderling or Temminck's Stint...), and the Turtle Doves haven't reappeared - yet (will they this year?). After Sunday's visit I took advantage of the good weather, and went looking for Grizzled Skippers around Kilvington Lakes and Flawborough Footpath, with some success. One spot, on the disused railway line running between the North and East Lakes at Kilvington held around 9 individuals, with small numbers elsewhere. I also encountered two Dingy Skippers on my travels; I think this is the only location in Notts where both Grizzled and Dingy Skipper fly together - at least naturally (i.e. they haven't been released). 

Grizzled Skipper

As I approached Kilvington in my car, I almost wrote off a large bird to the west as a gull. However, it soon became apparent that it was in fact an Osprey, cruising south. I sped round to the parking spot next to the viewing screen in anticipation of the bird flying past, but after a bit of scanning realised the bird was heading north now, being harassed by one of the local Buzzards, which was a bit of a shame.

Osprey (left...)

Yesterday (Monday) a site visit in the north of the county allowed me to return via Girton Pits to do my WeBS count. Best was of course the now-resident Cattle Egret, looking very smart and actually fairly close among the sheep next to North Pit. 

Cattle Egret at Girton Pits

Whilst there, news broke of what sounds rather like an Iberian Chiffchaff at Spalford Warren - just a stone's throw away. A quick call to county recorder Andy Hall for any further details (like where exactly it had been seen) revealed that the report actually related to a sighting from 3 weeks previous, and that the observer had been back recently and not found the bird. And with the only clue to the birds location being that it appeared to have been in a cherry tree, I decided to carry on with my WeBS... but I might go and have a look tomorrow (even though it's got to be a long shot now). See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heZq60SmHmA. Very frustrating that this bird didn't decide to stop 2 miles short at Besthorpe or Collingham Pits!

The first week of June

We're well and truly into the summer doldrums on the patch. However, breeding birds continue to provide interest. The Coots at Meering are doing well, despite one brood seeming to vanish; last visit there were 16 young across four pairs, including one brood of seven, which I think is the biggest family of Coots I've ever come across. 

There was still at least one young Lapwing at Meering on the 3rd, although no sign of it the following day. There are several small families of Mallards around, and two active Mute Swan nests. The Great Crested Grebes at Mons Pool are doing less well, with three nests now abandoned, and only one now active (with at least one egg in it tonight). The Shelduck pair are down to two young on Mons Pool (with no sign of any on the Silt Lagoon) - perhaps not surprising, as they were left unattended when I arrived this evening, and it was some time before the adults flew in from elsewhere. 

On the passerine front, Yellow Wags have been collecting food at Meering, nesting in the field to the north, whilst a Cuckoo was doing his thing on two visits, after a bit of an absence. Away from breeding birds, three male Teal turned up at Meering out of the blue, whilst a pair of Shoveler appeared at Mons Pool tonight along with a Ringed Plover. 

At the weekend I had what will probably be my last excursion out searching for Grizzled Skippers, finding a tatty individual in the Cotham Sustrans verges adjacent to Cotham Landfill, plus a smarter individual on the access track to the restored landfill leachate lagoon. There were good numbers of Common Blues around, plus a few Brown Argus and one or two Small Heaths. I've still only seen one Small Coppers so far this year...

Grizzled Skippers and breeding birds

I celebrated the commencement of the bank holiday weekend by looking for Grizzled Skippers on the disused railway line at Alverton on Friday afternoon. This section was worked on over the winter (mainly scrub clearance), and whilst there is plenty of ideal looking habitat, I could find no skippers... A quick check of Kilvington West Lake produced the drake Red-crested Pochard, at least one young Oystercatcher on the island, and a pair of Shelduck with 14 ducklings. 

Alverton Disused Railway

On Saturday morning I had stroll round the patch; the summer doldrums already seem to have set in, so I occupied myself by checking on how various nesting species were doing; the Kingfisher nest still seems to be active, but two of both the Coot and Great Crested Grebe nests on Mons Pool had been abandoned. Better were two families of Shelduck on the Silt Lagoon - one pair with 8 ducklings, and a second with just one. Better still were two Turtle Doves purring concurrently. 

Shelduck family

I had another session out looking for Grizzled Skippers in the afternoon, this time targetting the Newark to Cotham Sustrans route just south of Bowbridge Road, finding 2 GS on the Sustrans path itself and 2 more in the adjacent field headland, where I discovered them in 2014. I then went and had an explore of Hawton Works Grassland, which I've been meaning to check for GS for the last couple of years. And success: I found four individuals in three discrete locations, along with a single egg, proving they are indeed breeding there. These are slightly further north than the individuals on the Sustrans, so become the most northerly (non-introduced) individuals in Notts, if not Britain, I believe. 

Grizzled Skipper

Hawton Works

Hawton Works Grassland is a big site, so there is plenty of scope for it to support a good population of GS. Unfortunately, however, part of this site on the western side has recently been ploughed up, and turned into an arable field. From a Grizzled Skipper perspective, this area was probably not very suitable for them (being quite coarse, scrubby grassland), and the better, flowery grassland on a former tip area has survived. However, the ploughed up area used to hold breeding Barn Owl, Grey Partridge and Grasshopper Warbler, and wintering Short-eared Owl, Woodcock and Snipe. But not any more.  

Habitat, lost

Today, and some gentle birding was had at Meering Marsh. There has evidently been a mass hatching of Coots since last visit, with at least 9 cootlings across three pairs, and another 4 birds still sitting. Added to this were two young Lapwing, which is fantastic news; there had been an adult acting like there was a nest but I hadn't been able to see a sitting bird, so I'm particularly pleased with these new arrivals. A quick check of Mons Pool from the new viewing screen produced a Ruff.

The new viewing screen at Mons Pool

Ternless

There was no sign of Friday night's Garganey on Saturday morning, and the best patch bird was a Spotted Flycatcher along Northcroft Lane. Aside from this, there were two Dunlin present on Mons Pool in the morning, increasing to 3 in the afternoon, when they were joined by a Ringed Plover. The same day, my WeBS count at Girton was uneventful (no scarce terns).

Sunday, and I failed to find a Black Tern on the patch; unfortunately I was busy in the afternoon/evening when big numbers built up at Lound and Holme Pierrepont, which was a bit frustrating. Cuckoo and Hobby were both in evidence though, and I counted a total of 54 active Cormorant nests on Mons Pool island. 

Today saw me on a site inspection in Netherfield in the morning, allowing a quick visit to Netherfield Lagoons. The Great Reed Warbler found there this morning struck up its mechanical song a couple of times whilst I was present, but refused to show - indeed, it sounded like it hadn't shown for anyone at that point. 

Rather than going back to Netherfield after work, another patch visit was in order. There were 4 Greenshanks on the pools on the west side of Ferry Lane Lake - hopefully a Wood Sand or Temminck's Stint will take a fancy to this area at some point soon! I also located a Kingfisher nest, and topped things of with the first returning Turtle Dove of the year - always a relief when they're back.

Away from the birds, I had a look for Grizzled Skippers on Saturday afternoon, in seemingly ideal conditions; I guess it was still slightly early in the season, as I could find none on the disused railway south of Cotham, but did locate one at Staunton Quarry. Others were seen on the verges by the Sustrans route at Cotham Landfill and at Flawborough Footpath. 

A butterfly hat-trick

My cousin's wedding in Oxfordshire provided the perfect excuse to take the day off work on Friday and visit some sites in that part of the country in search of three butterflies that I've never seen in Britain before. First up was Otmoor, where a walk along the Roman Road just beyond the reserve carpark produced (with a little work) a Brown Hairstreak, which sat up briefly in some blackthorn before disappearing. A good start; unfortunately a tight schedule meant we couldn't explore the reserve itself, so that will have to wait for another time. 

Brown Hairstreak

The Roman Road at Otmoor

It was then on to Aston Rowant, a super site rather spoilt by the M40. However, the short, flowery grassland not far from the carpark, on the northern part of the reserve, yielded my second target, Silver-spotted Skipper (of which there were at least two), plus several Chalkhill Blues.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Chalkhill Blue

Aston Rowant NNR

Aston Rowant also has Adonis Blue (since 2012), but a chance encounter with a local, Chris Bottrell, saw us decide to relocate to a new site, Yoesden Bank. Chris very kindly offered to lead the way, with another local, Peter Law, joining us so. Chris left us once we arrived at the site, but myself, Amy and Peter (who has this blog) had a wander up the site, and although it had rather clouded over by now and was a little breezy, a brief sunny spell brought the hillside to life - Meadow Browns, more Chalkhill Blues, a Common Blue, and target number three, three male Adonis Blues - little stunners.

Adonis Blue

Yoesden Bank

So a very productive afternoon. Aston Rowant and Yoesden are beautiful sites - oh for some chalk grassland in Notts! And always good to meet nice, helpful, like-minded people. I now have five (regular) species outstanding on my British butterfly list - Heath and Glanville Fritillaries, Swallowtail, Lulworth Skipper, and Mountain Ringlet; so some more excursions to nice parts of the country will be required to clean up on these!

The mid summer doldrums

Its that time of year on the patch where its slow going on the birding front... However, I enjoyed a leisurely 6 hours on the patch this afternoon, finding a few interesting bits and pieces, including a female Gadwall with 4 ducklings on Mons Pool (not an annual breeder) and my first young Little Egret of the year (which had evidently escaped the ringers earlier in the year). Nearby, a single Turtle Dove was purring near the works, and a Curlew flew east over the site - the first for a while.

Meering was pretty quite, but I enjoyed my fish and chips listening to a purring Turtle Dove, which was then joined by a second purring bird and a third individual. I've not had two purring birds at this site before; could the second individual be an unpaired bird from Collingham Pits or Girton trying to find a mate?

Modest numbers of butterflies were on the wing, but included my first Small Skippers (3), Red Admirals (2) and Ringlet (1) of the year, plus a Painted Lady. Various parts of the site were looking splendid with swathes of bird's-foot trefoil humming with little bees (red-tailed bumblebees I think). I found a big new patch of Southern Marsh Orchids at Meering (80+), along with at least one Common Spotted Orchid and several big hybrids, and saw three foxes (including a vixen with a cub) and a couple of brown hares. 

So all in all, a very pleasant day, only spoilt by noting excessive verge cutting around the site, and on the Notified Road Verge on Westfield Lane which had been mown, destroying the flowering wild clary (which inly grow at a handful of sites in Notts). Grrr. 

Skippers, orchids and a gull

A fun day out today; it began with some successful Grizzled Skipper surveying at various sites in south Notts; we found a new location for the species at a site where we have been expecting to find it, which was great, and also found a three eggs at another site - one on cinquefoil, and two on agrimony; the first time I've seen eggs on the latter plant.

Whilst looing for skipper, I saw my first common twayblade of the year, plus a large popultion of southern marsh orchids at Cotham Restored Landfill, with around 200 flower spikes - I've not seen them here before, but they must've been here a few years!

Finally, a quick look at Kilvington Lakes produced a 3cy Yellow-legged Gull with a GBBG and 2 LBBG's. In addition, there were two Mute Swan families, and a pair of Shelduck with 12 ducklings.

Grizzlies

Mons Pool held 7 Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin this morning - the latter also present last night with a single Ringed Plover. The best bird of the weekend, however, was a Spotted Flycatcher briefly along Northcroft Lane on Sunday - my first ever spring patch bird. There have been plenty of Swifts around of late too, with 300+ on Saturday and c.100 on Sunday. 

This afternoon, I went looking for Grizzled Skippers. Numbers were slightly disappointing, despite the warmth; however, the rather breezy conditions probably didn't help. Nevertheless, I found 4 at Staunton Quarry, 2 on the ramp at the southern end of the Cotham Sustrans route, and 1 at Cotham Station - but there I couldn't find any on the disused railway line between Cotham and Kilvington Lakes.

High Brown Frits at Arnside Knott

On the way up to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games on Friday, we stopped at Arnside Knott, the aim being to see High Brown Fritillary (a species I failed to see in this area last year, although not at this site). Arnside is a great site (and Silverdale is a lovely area worthy of more exploration), and the HBF's were not too problematic, with one showing fairly quickly near the topograph, and another by the path on the way up to the trig point on a patch of betony.

The path up from the carpark

HBF habitat

The first HBF was actually a bit confusing, as its upperwing pattern (i.e. the third spot form the apex of the forewing) looked to my eye more like what you'd expect on a Dark-green Frit, but the underwing pattern removed any doubt. The second individual looked much more like what I expected on the upperwing.

HBF 1

HBF 1

HBF 2

HBF 2

As well as HBF, we saw several Graylings and a couple of Scotch Argus; no Northern Brown Argus though.

Frit twitchers

Looking north towards the Lake District

Fantastic frits

Monday allowed me to bag a Notts butterfly tick in the form of Silver-washed Fritillary; I was in the vicinity of Gamston Wood (near Retford) for work, and took an early lunch break for a quick wonder round in search of this species, which I found in the central north-south ride - and not just one, but at least 3 and probably 4. There's something special about fritillaries, and I enjoyed these little beauties enormously; unfortunately the only one I could get any half-decent shots of had damaged (or malformed) wings! Some Broad-leaved helleborines were an added bonus.

Up to today (Thursday) I've also had two quick trips to Collingham Pits. The first Wigeon of autumn are back (2 so far), with single Green and Common Sands present on Tuesday night.

July WeBS

My WeBS count at Girton toady was pretty quiet. Best were a female Tuftie with a brood of 5 ducklings and a fully grown juvenile Great Crested Grebe, plus 4 Egyptian Geese and single Wigeon and Green Sand. The non-wildfowl highlight was a Turtle Dove on the track down to the Trent, which then perched up and preened. It didn't sing, so I should really go back one evening and confirm there is a territory here (rather than it being a visitor from Meering). 

Turtle Dove

The non-avian highlight was a Purple Hairstreak on the north side of the A1133 Pit, in the same place where I first found this species two years ago. 

No Emperors

Saturday began at Collingham, where the drake Scaup was still present with the Tufties. Elsewhere around the site, there were 3 Curlew on the Silt Lagoon and 2 purring Turtle Doves. Butterflies included single Common Blue, Small Copper and Brown Argus along the footpath on the east side of the Silt Lagoon. 

Scaup

Scaup

The afternoon saw us head to Cotgrave Forest, in search of the Purple Emperors seen there recently. Unfortunately there was no sign, and the two other butterfly seekers we encountered hadn't seen them either; at least it saves me the quandary of deciding whether they're genuine or releases. No fritillaries either, other than a rather distant and rapid fly-by - presumably one of the Dark-greens. I did pick out a Purple Hairstreak though.

Cotgrave Forest

An unseasonal duck

Today was spent birding and pulling Himalayan balsam (my arms are still tingling from the nettle stings...). The birding was fairly slow, although Collingham held 2 Green Sandpipers (at Mons Pool) and a Hobby, and a Turtle Dove was purring on Northcroft Lane; another was at Meering. However, things picked up when I had a second visit to Collingham this evening, with a male (Greater) Scaup on Ferry Lane Lake; presumably this is the bird that's been at Holme Pierrepont recently? 

Scaup with a Tuftie

Turtle Dove

I also looked at the sightings book for the first time in ages. It transpired that I have now missed two Wood Sands this year - the bird on 2 June (which I knew about), and one on 3 July (which I didn't know about, and doesn't seem to have been reported, which I a bit disappointing).

Aside from birds, there were lots of butterflies around today; Small Torts especially seem to be having a very good year, and I counted 35 in one small thistle patch on the west side of Ferry Lane Lake. I also saw my first Essex Skippers of the year at Collingham, and 2 Purple Hairstreaks at Langford Lowfields next to the carpark. 

Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

Essex Skipper

More purring on the patch

It was a lovely evening on the patch tonight; lots of butterflies, including my first Gatekeeper of the year, plus some nice birds; the first Yellow-legged Gull of the year (an adult on the Silt Lagoon), plus single adult LBB and GBB Gulls; 3 Green Sands (all on Mons Pool); single Curlew, Redshank and Ringed Plover; and not one, but two Turtle Doves, purring in close proximity to each other on Northcroft Lane. Whilst one is undoubtedly the Heron Island bird, I'm not sure where the other has come from - maybe the Works Pond bird that I heard early in the season..?

Red Admiral

Gatekeeper

Yellow-legged Gull and LBB Gull

Earlier, I'd had a quick wander across Newstead Meadow (near, as its name would suggest, Newstead Village). This is a really nice little meadow, albeit in increasingly urgent need of some management, with Common Spotted and Southern Marsh Orchids, and their hybrids (Dactylorhiza x grandis), many of which were displaying 'hybrid vigour'.

Some huge Dactylorhiza x grandis

Back to yesterday, work took me to the Teversal Trails. As usual, I looked for the Frog Orchids in their usual spot, but could only find three in flower (plus a fourth non-flowering individual). Despite knowing more-or-less exactly where they grow, they can be very diffiuclt to spot (small green plants growing amongst taller green vegetation). There is a chance I overlooked some, but even so, I found 10 last year so this is a big dip in numbers. 

Frog Orchid

Elsewhere, I heard two Willow Tits - one on the Skegby Track and one on the Brierley Branch, where there were good number of Ringlets on the wing (at least 70). 

Ringlets