Silver-washed Fritillary

In the last couple of years, I'd heard reports of Silver-washed Fritillary butterflies in Whitwell Woods, about half an hour away from my home. They are believed to be from an unofficial introduction. Today, I decided to pop across to see if I could see any.

The weather on arrival wasn't great, being grey and overcast, but thankfully, the sun came out for a bout five minutes, and I was able to see two different butterflies, a female and a male.

Silver-washed Fritillary (female)

Silver-washed Fritillary (male)

Other butterflies seen today were: Speckled Wood (1), Common Blue (1) and Ringlet (c.15).

Linacre - 22nd July 2020

I had a couple of hours at Linacre this afternoon. When I arrived at 12.30pm it was grey, overcast and just 17 degrees. I started down at the bottom reservoir where I was very lucky to see a Kingfisher fly up from the river, over the wall and along the water. Also on the water were 20+ Mallards and a breeding plumaged Black-headed Gull. This gull was a very unexpected sighting, as the first ones don't usually return until September or October! One adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was also present on the top reservoir.

Black-headed Gull

About half way round, the sun came out, and so did the insects! 8 species of butterfly were seen: Large White (1), Small White (2), Green-veined White (1), Ringlet (2), Meadow Brown (c.10), Gatekeeper (2), Comma (2) and Peacock (1). A new species of day-flying moth, 6-spot Burnet Moth (3), was also seen, as were 2 species of damselfly: Common Blue Damselfly (c.3 pairs in cop and ovipositing) and Blue-tailed Damselfly (1 male and 1 female of the "rufescens" form).

Common Blue Damselflies in cop

Blue-tailed Damselfly (female)

Other insects seen included my first Volucella pellucens (Great Pied Hoverfly) of the year (2), 2 Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetles and several species of bumblebee and droneflies.

Great Pied Hoverfly

Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle

Return of the Gulls!

After my visit to Frampton Marsh yesterday, I decided to stop off at Rufford CP on my way home. I was hoping to see if any of last winter's ringed gulls were back, and ...... I was very pleased to see 2 returning birds!

There were about 70 Black-headed Gulls present and the first ringed bird I saw was EUM3, a 3 year old, Dutch-ringed gull that I first saw here on 3rd February 2019 (see here), and on pretty much every visit last winter - a very site faithful bird!! As you can see, it still has a near full brown hood.

EUM3

The second ringed bird was 230A, a bird ringed, as an adult, at Center Parcs, approximately 2km away, in February 2019 by Birklands RG and Sorby Breck RG. My first sighting of this bird was in September 2019 (see here), and, again, Rufford appears to be a regular wintering site, with sightings through to March 2020. Unfortunately, there haven't been any records from its breeding grounds....yet.

230A

Out of the c.70 Black-headed Gulls present there were 10 juveniles, in varying degrees of moult. This bird was the least advanced, showing just a few adult feathers.

Black-headed Gull (juvenile)

As well as the Black-headed Gulls, there was also one Lesser Black-backed Gull present, which  I think is a 3rd winter bird (born in 2017?) - please let me know if it's not!

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Caspian Tern!

I spent a few hours at RSPB Frampton Marsh yesterday, primarily to see a Caspian Tern that has been present for a few days. I've seen this species once before, in Spain, but this was my first encounter in Britain!

My first sighting was on the main reedbed, viewed from the path to Reedbed Hide, and was quite distant. I did, however, manage to get a record shot.

Caspian Tern

Later during the visit, I got another view, as the bird flew straight over my head! Along with the tern, there were also lots of other species about, and, by the end of my visit, I'd notched up a stunning 14 "year ticks", including a juvenile Black-necked Grebe. In addition to the tern and the year ticks, there were also 14 Spoonbills present.

Spoonbills

It was quite windy whilst I was there, but I did manage to see a new dragonfly species, a Ruddy Darter.

Ruddy Dater

Year List update:
 139 – Caspian Tern

140 – Shelduck

141 – Dunlin

142 – Common Sandpiper

143 – Black-tailed Godwit

144 – Bar-tailed Godwit

145 – Avocet

146 – Spotted Redshank

147 – Ruff

148 – Yellow Wagtail

149 – Black-necked Grebe

150 – Little Egret

151 – Ringed Plover

152 – Knot

Baslow Edge- 19th July 2020

Jayne and I had a walk from Curbar Gap up to Baslow Edge on Sunday. Bird wise, it was pretty quiet, with just the usual Meadow Pipits and a few Crows flying around, but we did enjoy some butterflies, moths and dragonflies.

We started out walk on Clodhall Lane and walked across to the small pond. Here we had a very brief view of a hawker dragonfly, possibly Common. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see it again, so couldn't clinch the id. We did, however, see a couple of Emerald Damselflies and a couple of Common Darter. Walking on from there, towards the Wellington Monument, we sat by a small stream to watch a fantastic male Golden-ringed Dragonfly that was patrolling a small stretch of water by the path. He also perched up on the rocks allowing us some superb views and  a photo.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

The butterflies seen were Ringlet (10+), Small Tortoiseshell (3), Small Heath (5+), Red Admiral (1), Gatekeeper (1), Small Skipper (3), Large Skipper (1), Meadow Brown (5) and best of all, a Painted Lady (our first record for 2020). 

Painted Lady

We also saw 2 species of day-flying moth, 3 Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet Moths and a Yellow Shell.

Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet Moth 

BEARDED VULTURE!!!

An immature Bearded Vulture was seen over Alderney on the 20th and 21st May this year. It then appeared to go over to The Netherlands, before reappearing on the 26th June flying over the West Midlands. The same bird then relocated to the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire where it has been present ever since (at time of writing), roosting on a cliff side on Howden Valley (South Yorkshire).

I went to see this bird on 11th July, and found it roosting on the cliff side. I was able to watch it preening and enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Bearded Vulture

This is the second British record of this species, and is thought to be a bird from either the Alps or Pyrenees.

Year list update:

137 - Bearded Vulture

138 - Wheatear

Linacre WeBS - 11th July 2020

On Saturday, I walked around all three reservoirs for this moth's WeBS count. Highlights for me were a pair of Great-crested Grebes with 4 well grown youngsters (and another pair on a nest), and my first Linacre Oystercatcher record since 2018, when 2 flew over the top reservoir calling.

Great-crested Grebe and chicks

Totals for all waterfowl were: Mallard (72), Moorhen (11; 8 adults and 3 juveniles), Coot (5; 3 adults and 2 juveniles), Tufted Duck (17; all adults), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult), Grey Wagtail (4), Cormorant (1) and Mandarin (19; 15 adults and 1 brood of 4 ducklings).

Other birds seen and heard were: Swallow (12), House Martin (2), Stock Dove (heard), Chiffchaff (4 singing) and Blackcap (1 singing).

After the WeBS walk, I had an hour in the ringing site, where I saw 1 Ringlet, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Tree Wasp, a Marmalade Hoverfly, a Sphaerophoria scripta (Hoverfly) and 1 Meadow Brown. The first Cinnabar Moth caterpillars of the year were on Ragwort by the top reservoir.

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar

Year List Update - 5th July 2020

Wow, I didn't realise just how long it had been since I last updated the Year List!! As you can see, it's increased quite a lot since the end of Lockdown. Obviously, the there many "common" species there, but the best one, by a long way has to be the adult Rose-Coloured (Rosy) Starling that I saw, in Barnsley, back on 6th June.

Rosy Starling

Other highlights include the Wood Warbler ( a beautiful singing male seen in Padley Gorge), a reeling Grasshopper Warbler (on Leash Fen) and the adult and juvenile Spoonbills seen at RSPB Fairburn Ings last weekend.

Year List update:

109 – Red Grouse

110 – Curlew

111 – Reed Bunting

112 – Hobby

113 – Sand Martin

114 – Reed Warbler

115 – Sedge Warbler

116 – Wood Warbler

117 – Redstart

118 – Spotted Flycatcher

119 – Little Ringed Plover

120 – Tree Pipit

121 – Stonechat

122 – Rose-coloured Starling

123 – Whinchat

124 – Lesser Redpoll

125 – Grasshopper Warbler

126 – Long-eared Owl

127 – Spoonbill

128 – Common Tern

129 – Tree Sparrow

130 – Gannet

131 – Razorbill

132 – Guillemot

133 – Puffin

134 – Fulmar

135 – Kittiwake

136 – Great Skua

RSPB Bempton Cliffs - 4th July 2020

Most years, Jayne and I try to get up to RSPB Bempton Cliffs near Bridlington to see the seabird colony there. Normally, we go up around Easter time, but, for obvious reasons, we didn't get there this year, so instead, we went up yesterday.

One of the main reasons for this year's visit was the see a Black-browed Albatross that had been seen on Friday. Unfortunately, there was no sign, so instead, we enjoyed the fantastic Gannets, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Puffins, Herring Gulls, Tree Sparrows, and two new species for us at this reserve, Long-eared Owl  and  Great Skua.

Gannet (adult)

Gannet (Sub-adult, possibly born in 2019, or 2018)

We don't normally see many mammals here, so a couple of very active Weasels by the side of one of the viewpoints was a very nice sight.

Weasel