7th July - As Cute As Ever But They Never Get 'em Wet

Summer has returned again this week, pleasant at the start, but then becoming hot and humid towards the end of the week.  In the Scots Pine by the cattle grid at the base of the footpath in Rotherfield Park, the Tree Pipit was still singing as I drove past in the week.  A notable record was of 12 Mediterranean Gulls over the garden on Saturday afternoon, a garden tick!

The garden is still very busy.  The Robins seem to still be feeding young, probably the third brood.  The Blackbirds seem to have finished, but on the down side we found a dead juvenile in the garden.  It was hard to see what could have caused the death, but a pattern on the patio window, that could, by size, have been made by a Sparrowhawk, may have had something to do with it.  

The Goldfinches are now bringing their young to the feeders.  It was amusing this morning to watch a young Goldfinch totally confused as to how to settle on the perches!  Another family coming to the feeders has been the Bullfinches, the young birds missing the black caps for now, this is a first for the garden.  As well as the Sparrowhawk, the other bird of prey has been a Red Kite seen regularly drifting over the house and garden.

One bird though seems to have an excellent year, part in fact probably to the fact that they have learnt to follow the Blackbird, and nip in and take the mealworms.  They also hide in the densest part of the trees and almost always seem to be watching and immediately we appear they are about looking for food.  There are at least four pairs around the houses, and this cock sparrow is just above the kitchen door.  The garden is alive to chirps of these cocky little birds.

Helen and I this week had two evenings walking through Old Down, the first on Monday was without a camera, and as you would expect I almost immediately regretted it as when we entered Old Down from the Gradwell footpath, a White Admiral was flying around the sunlit Bramble flowers.  Yet another butterfly that was the earliest record for the patch, this time by five days.

So when we went out on Wednesday evening I had to take the camera with me, and we took the same route, into the wood by the Gradwell entrance.  This time, though no White Admiral on the bramble by the entrance, but a little further along where there was bramble in a much more open site, and in full sun, I found one, flying around at first, and then finally settling on the bramble.

Either the butterfly we saw on Monday was been subsequently damaged by a bird, or this is another one.  It didn't stay long, as it was buzzed by a Longhorn beetle.

Finally it settled again on a broad leaf in the sunshine.

We saw two more as we walked through the wood, both of these along the main path towards Old Down cottage.  This is good news as last year I was not able to find any in Old Down at all, and this year there is at least three, maybe four early in July.

The bramble here was very productive with, as always, many Meadow Browns, with also several Small Skippers.

For the time of day there were a lot of butterflies about, but it would seem that when it is very hot, the butterflies are not seen, as the heat of the day drops they appear and that was certainly the case this evening.

As well as the Small Skippers there were Large Skippers.

The evening sunshine throwing golden light, but also creating lovely dark backgrounds, which highlight the sun catching the wings of the butterfly.

Walking down the main pathway the butterflies were on either side of us, coming up out of the grass and from the bramble.  A Small White made a nice change.

Also a male Brimstone moved from bramble flower, again the dark background highlighting the insect.

A more typical Brimstone pose.

A pair of Red Admiral circled around us, with one finally settling on the leaves.

The Brimstone continued to sit in prominent positions.  This one shows the full shape of the wings like a leaf.  The dark background again highlighting the delicate features of the wings.

You tend to ignore the Meadow Browns, because there are so many of them, but every so often one or two provide a lovely composition, and this was one of those occasions

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More Large Skippers on the bracken.

And also a couple of Comma.

We finally left the wood and stopped at the pond to have a look.  A pair of Mallard were on the water, the male now in eclipse plumage.  It is quite possible this was the female that had ducklings this year, and consequently lost them.

The Moorhen were also present, two adults and the juvenile out feeding on the water.

Despite the time of day, there was an Emperor dragonfly flying in circles over the lily pads, and I found this female Large Red Damselfly on the reeds.

As we walked along Kitwood I finally found the other butterfly that should be about at this time of year, the Gatekeeper.  In contrast to all the others this year, this record is late this year.  Sometimes known as the Hedge Brown due to where it is normally found it is a quite pretty little brown butterfly with a nice orange pattern on the upper wings.

With all the hot, still and humid weather I thought that Thursday evening would be a good time to put the moth trap out.  The result was a full trap this morning with a good mixture of interesting moths, and good numbers of the commoner moths, all proof the conditions were good.

So what was of interest, first up two green moths, this the Small Emerald.

And in contrast a Large Emerald.

Not a moth, but something I have not seen before, an Orange Ladybird.  Apparently they like Sycamore, we have maple almost similar.  There are sixteen white spots.

This is a new moth for the garden, but I have seen one before away from the garden, the Vapourer.

A Grey Dagger.

Last time I had a Coronet I commented on the fact that they can vary in colour, then the moth was green, today we have a grey specimen.

This moth the Early Thorn escaped the trap, but I was able to find it on the patio.

There were a lot of these, the Ribband Wave.

And similar, the Clay Triple Lines.

Like the Grey Dagger, but a little paler, and with less markings as if just dusted with flour, the Miller.

Now the more spectacular, this the Swallow-tailed Moth.

And then the hawkmoths, another Poplar Hawkmoth.

And finally for the first time this year, the Elephant Hawkmoth, so called for the caterpillar that looks remarkably like an elephant's trunk.

The adult though bares no resemblance to an elephant at all, and here in a more natural scene.

This then was my 500th post.  When I started this blog back in January 2012, I never considered I would reach that number.  I am also about 2,000 views from 100,000 which too in just 5 and half years is a good number.  In that time I have increased the bird list to over 100, recorded 26 butterfly species and well over 100 moths.  I have seen the village change, fields disappear and be replaced by houses, trees cut down and the space allowed for wild life reduced.  Some species that were about frequently in 2012 have been harder to find such as the Barn Owl, and others have become more frequent like my good old friend the Tree Pipit.

So on to the next 500, I wonder what I will have achieved when we get to 1000?  What I do know is that once again the village will be a very different place.  Thank you to all those who have come with me on this journey, some have been all the ay and some have just found me.  I hope you enjoy reading and looking at the photographs in the same way that I enjoy writing and taking the pictures.

25th June - All You Gotta Do Is Walk Away And Pass Me By

For several reasons my plans changed today.  The forecast had not been brilliant and the days started overcast, but around midday the sun came out, and I was in Winchester!  When I got home it was still quite warm, and there were still patches of blue sky about, but not as much as around midday.  However I decided to take a walk around Old Down, the lesson I have learnt during the recent short heatwave is that butterflies do not need hot weather, it just has to be warm.

I parked at the pond and walked around checking the damselflies, but there were only Azures.  I walked from the pond towards Old Down.  Above the bramble on the left hand side I saw what I thought were two Small Tortoiseshells, but as one settled back on the bramble it was definitely bigger, and the wing colour completely wrong.  It was in fact a rather pristine Painted Lady, definitely not an arrived migrant.

It didn't stay long, and was off over into the field, and after walking around to the other side I couldn't find it.

Not a bad start.  As I stood on the edge of the field I watched a distant Kestrel carry prey off to a loud calling young bird somewhere in the trees around the pond.  Above me a Yellowhammer called from the wires, and it was carrying a caterpillar, there must be a nest nearby.

Then over the pond I picked up a Swift, It flew over.  Swifts are not a common bird around Four Marks, there are breeding colonies in Alton and Alresford, but we only see them as they pass through.  At this time of year this is probably either a failed breeder or one that has finished for the year and is now on the return migration.  To back this up there have been several reports of birds heading out to sea from Portland in the last week.

I headed into Old Down and noticed that at the end of the field there was a large covering of daisies, I walked around here but couldn't find any other butterflies than Meadow Browns, but I was taken by this Hover Fly.

This is Helophilus pendulus and its scientific name means "dangling marsh-lover" (from Greek helo-, "marsh", -phil, "love", Latin pend-, "hang"). It is a very common species in Britain, where it is the commonest Helophilus species; it occurs as far north as the Shetland Islands, and also has a common name 'Sun Fly' although this is probably based on a mis-reading of helo- as helio-.

Walking into the wood I was greeted by the first of what would be many Meadow Browns, but amongst them was an orange butterfly.  Commas this year had been hard to find but it appears that the second flight are easier to see.

I turned off the main path walking through many more Meadow Browns.  I was heading for the Kitwood path in the hope I may be able to find a White Admiral.  However the sun went in, and there was little moving.  The Meadow Browns were in amongst the lovely grasses that were alongside the main path.

One female Meadow Brown, which unusually looks a lot better than the male sat up on a leaf with a nice dark background.

I checked the bramble along the Kitwood path, but still only Meadow Browns.  Then the sun came out and the butterflies took off, and were joined by a Southern Hawker dragonfly chasing them.  While it chased them it never made any effort to catch them.  Getting close then turning away as if realising that maybe they were not what it wanted.  Finally it settled on a bramble flower and you could see the distinctive black stripes on the thorax that tell it apart from the similar Emperor dragonfly that had been present at the pond earlier inthe month.

With the sun out another butterfly species appeared on the dry path in front of me, a Speckled Wood.  When it took off it too was chased by the Southern Hawker, and again rejected when it got close.

I walked down to the main path, and here there was a small triangle of grass in seed.  Once again many Meadow Browns, but also a Green-veined White which eventually settle on a nettle leaf.

I was about to walk on when a large butterfly buzzed me, and then flew strongly around the grass.  It was a Red Admiral, and was very busy buzzing around the grass, alighting and then moving on quickly as if testing to see if there was anything in the grasses, maybe a suitable mate.  At one point it briefly settled on my shoulder, before continuing its search.

I walked down towards the West End of the wood, disturbing many Meadow Browns once again from the bramble and the grass around the footpath.  I don't recall ever seeing so many butterflies in Old Down, there were literally clouds of them rising in front of me as I walked, quite an amazing sight.

As I reached the open area at the end of the path there was a bit of variation, a Comma sat, wings closed on a leaf, The shape of the wings has a sort of surreal look about, like the head of a tree person.  It was also possible to clearly see the white "C" that for some reason gives the butterfly its name 

Another view from the other side, like the trees in Lord of the Rings.

At the end of the path I stopped to look out over the field of wheat, what you don't get from the still photograph is the movement in the ears of wheat, and the sound as the breeze rustles them.

I walked back through the clouds of meadow Browns, and then headed back towards the pond.  Another Comma was sitting on a leaf, this time with teh wings open, and it looked like a butterfly once again.

Before i left, I thought it only right to at least photograph another Mesdow Brown to acknowledge the vast numbers present today.  Impossible to count but there must have easily been hundreds.  This is a female again, this time with wings open, sitting, waiting, for the advances of one of the many males around her.

With all the Meadow Browns I had probably overlooked any Ringlets, but I finally found one as I was about to leave the wood.  It settled, wings closed in amongst the leaves.

Back home with the clouds now fully covering the sky the House Martins were busy catching insects around the trees.  The young in the nest above the back garden have fledged and I noticed the House Sparrows inspecting the nest the other day, but I suspect the House Martins will raise another brood there.  At the Front of the house the young are still calling loudly and must be close to fledging, the parent busily bringing in food.

Despite no bright sunshine it was warm and muggy, and this probably contributed to the numbers of butterflies about, albeit many brown ones.  Nevertheless, it was an interesting walk with some lovely photo opportunities.  This was my 499th post on this blog, will the 500th be able to deliver something special?