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It’s been a good week for lepidoptera at home, with a fly-by Marbled White adding itself to the house list and two new moths, at opposite ends of the spectacular scale.  The first, a Small Dotted Buff, isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but the Scarlet Tiger is the moth of the year.  There was a good supporting cast, including 11 Hawkmoths last night (and five species for the week).

A couple of walks on the downs had loads of butterflies, with Painted Ladies in abundance, a few Ringlets and a Dark Green Fritillary.  It took us ages to find Little Owl this year, but now I know I regularly walk past a nest site, I see one most weeks.  On Friday one finally posed for the camera (its mate was less cooperative).

A day Barn Owl ringing produced a mix bag of full and empty boxes, but there were enough chicks for me to ring my first.

Phoenix

Small Dotted Buff

Corn Bunting

Little Owl

Marbled White

My first ring. This chick was very small.

An older chick

Karen gets a turn

Barrie gets the details from mum’s ring

A herd of elephants: five Elephant and four Small Elephant Hawkmoths

Privet Hawkmoth

Poplar Hawkmoth

Scarlet Tiger

We took a step into the unknown yesterday evening, helping a bird ringer check some Barn Owl boxes.  It was in at the deep end straight away: I was sent up the ladder, extracted two chicks, and then Karen got to put a ring on one of them.  The next box was empty and the last had a Stock Dove in.

No doubt there will be more pictures as we do a bit more, but thanks to Nick and Claire Oliver for taking these.

The perfect cure for fear of heights: you’re so terrified of damaging the blighter or getting skewered by her that you forget you’re teetering around on the top of a ladder.

A picture of concentration

Taking a chick out of a bag

We had a trip to Somerset this weekend to finally find a Large Blue butterfly.  There were a good number at Collard Hill, including a pair mating, which were the only ones that cooperated for the cameras (blue pictures indeed).  There was a selection of orchids there too, including a Wasp Orchid, a variant of the much more common Bee Orchid.

At Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath nature reserves Great White Egrets were all over the place and at least one Bittern was booming and another eventually showed itself.

Large Blue

Wasp Orchid

Bee Orchid

Common Spotted Orchid

Greater Butterfly Orchid (Former Butterfly Orchid, more like)

Great White Egret

Marsh Harrier

Bittern

A late post from last week when we had a day out in the New Forest.  At Acres Down the Goshawks were active but distant, and we did see Honey Buzzard, but it was a poor view.  A 16 mile walk around Bolderwood, High Corner and Fritham was quiet but pleasant, with a number of smart Redstarts and at least one Wood Warbler.

Stonechat

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

This Wood Warbler was too busy to pose.

Baby Linnet

We had a week in Yorkshire over the bank holiday, bombing around the place as well as seeing family and friends.

Scar House reservoir had horizontal rain, but also a pair of Ring Ouzels.  A twitch to Hornsea Mere delivered the Baikal Teal, eventually, but the views were poor.  The Strid was excellent, the highlight being a singing Wood Warbler, which is becoming harder to find these days.  A walk up Simon’s Seat produced Red Grouse and chicks and another Ring Ouzel as well as beautiful views.

Out east a trip to Spurn produced a Serin early on and a few more common migrants.  Hornsea was shut, so no more views of the Teal, but my first night in Bridlington since I left when I was three at least had good beer.  Bempton and Flamborough had more Puffins than I’ve ever seen there.  It was still awkward to get a photo on the ground, but I got many flight shots.

At Arkengarthdale the Black Grouse lek seems to have moved, but there was still one there and the road to the Tan Hill inn had a few Curlew chicks: something new for me.  The beer in Masham is as good as ever!

At Harrogate, the wildlife stars were a Hedgehog demanding food with menaces and a bonkers Tawny Owl, which seems to like sitting on lawns in daylight.  Of course that only happens to other people, and our views were at dusk, but they were still good.

A female Ring Ouzel gathers worms

Female Goosander

The Strid

Nuthatch

A cooperative Dipper for a change

Mandarin Duck

Red Grouse

Not famous yet

Karen’s been watching Free Solo

Female and chick with male in the background

Looking towards Harrogate from the Lord’s Seat

Meadow Pipit

The elusive waterfall in the Valley of Desolation

Avocets on Beacon Ponds at Spurn

Puffin on Flamborough Head

Gannets at Bempton Cliffs

Fulmar

Here come the Puffins

If you’re missing the Jeremy Kyle Show, try Gannets

Guillemot

Curlew chick

It’s busy at the Tan Hill Inn

Grey Partridge

Tawny Owl

After a two year absence it’s nice to catch a Poplar Hawk Moth in our trap again.  Also our second ever Lunar Marbled Brown and Scorched Wing.  Under the roofing felt, Sid the Snake is still doing well.

Sid

Poplar Hawk Moth

Scorched Wing

A walk around Cissbury, Chanctonbury and Lancing Rings, with pauses for butterflies and birding, yielded very few butterflies and a few common downland birds.  (Happily Corn Bunting is common here, if nowhere else.)  The highlight was a couple of Spotted Flycatchers, including one that was quite showy.

Later we walked to a nearby site where both Barn Owl and Little Owl nest.  Knowing we would probably have a bit of a wait, we took a bottle of wine with us.  After an hour it was getting distinctly cooler and I was beginning to wish we had taken soup.  Soon after, just as the light failed, we heard a Little Owl calling and could just see it, followed a few minutes later by the Barn Owl’s emergence.  Both were our first of the year (taking my on-foot list to 154).

Skylark

Small Copper

Spotted Flycatcher

Corn Bunting

The owl vigil begins

A return to the Turtle Doves yesterday evening had two main differences: we drove rather than walking, and the birds cooperated.    I’m not sure whether it’s better to hear the wonderful purring or to see the beautiful bird.  It’s best to see them purring.  One was hiding in the bushes, but there were enough holes to get a picture through.

Later on at the heath at Pulborough, absolutely nothing.  Utterly dead on a perfect evening for heathland birds.

While looking at our small pond yesterday, camera on my shoulder, a Sedge Warbler flew in and landed within five feet of me.  Unfortunately its self-preservation instinct reacted faster than my eye for a photo, so I missed it.

Later on, on a walk around Ambersham Common, we encountered a close Hobby, which flew as soon as it saw us.  A fantastic view, but missed it again.

Anyway, it was a good walk around a variety of downland and heaths.  Here are a few things that didn’t get away.

Early Purple Orchid

Dingy Skipper

Duke of Burgundy

Stonechat

Not the best path for a hayfever sufferer

Fallow Deer

After a lazy day on Saturday, we were back out yesterday after Turtle Dove.  Unfortunately they’re now classed as a rare breeding bird, so we shouldn’t tell you where we were, but moods will help a famous clergyman find the way.

The 9 mile walk over the Downs and along the river gave us nice views of Corn and Reed Bunting.  There were plenty of Cetti’s and Reed Warblers, including one that did a perfect Common Tern call, but they were not photographable.  A Whinchat moving on a line of fence posts was a nice surprise, but again it was too cold for Hobbies.

Arriving on site, it was noisy: Nightingales (at least four), Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats were in full rawp, but no Turtle Doves, although we knew they were present.  So we waited… and waited.  I was patrolling up and down the stream that they frequent, whereas Karen stayed put.  A very distant perched bird was probably a Hobby, but too far away to identify with confidence.  There was a marked lack of Cuckoo, and still no Turtle Dove.

After four hours Karen decided to check down the other end, leaving me to watch at the place we had them last year.  Within minutes she phoned to tell me that she had one purring.  I dashed down but arrived 20 s after it had been flushed by a dog walker.  Aaaargh!  Quarter of an hour later it briefly purred, but low behind the thickest hedge in Sussex.  On the list, but you want to see a beautiful bird like that.  A long silence ensued, and we assumed that it had moved on but the moment I walked down the track it started up again, and eventually popped into view, vanishing as soon as I raised the camera.

Now to walk back and find a Barn Owl on the brooks (our plans of having a meal in a pub first were history).  Almost immediately we found a distant Short-eared Owl: normally I’d prefer that to a Barn Owl, but I’ve seen loads this spring.  No Barn Owl, despite another 2.5 hours of waiting and patrolling the river bank.  Eventually, cold and somewhat miffed, we started the long trek home, arriving at just before 11 pm.

The constant patrolling upped the distance to 25 miles, a bit more than I had bargained for.  Even so, it was a good day, if laden with frustration.

The fat bird of the barley

Reed Bunting

Whinchat, still where we left it five hours later

Lesser Whitethroats in spring are difficult to see, preferring to rattle in deep cover. This noisy chap didn’t get the memo.

A distant Short-eared Owl gets our hopes up