31st May I had intended on going to Dorset yesterday but I had decided to go today as the forecast was for less wind which should hopefully make for a more pleasant day. I left home at 4.45 and arrived at Hod Hill near Blandford at 7.15 and found no wind what so ever, the weather was stunning. It took a little time before I saw anything but after 40minutes searching with the sun getting higher I located a couple of 'worn' Marsh Fritillaries in an open meadow on the other side of the hill. I then found a basking 'fresh' individual which seemed to be fairly new out and was in pristine condition. I spent a little time with this fella getting some stunning images. After he had warmed up and became active I walked along the shelter gully where there were many more Marsh Fritillaries, all very active. I also racked up a good number of other species along here providing one of the best overall butterfly days of the year. Here I logged numerous Green Hairstreaks, Grizzled, Dingy and Large Skippers, 49 Marsh Fritillaries, Painted Ladies, a Clouded Yellow, Common and Small Blues and Large Whites along with Mother Shipton Moths and immature female Blue Featherlegs/damselflies. This was fantastic in a great setting and will be on the list for a return visit next year.
I decided to head back home rather than going to Bentley Woods which could have raised the days butt list even more but that would be for another day.
30th May A mid afternoon walk around Doggetts Pits didn't produce the large number of hoped for Painted Ladies, only one was noted. A male Orange-tip was a pleasant surprise whilst two species of damselfly were seen, Common Bluetail and Azure Bluetail. Paglesham Lagoon afterwards still had Painted Ladies but numbers were down with only five in the same place as last week. More impressive were the 50 or so Swifts that were zooming over the embankments close overhead a a stunning Mother Shipton Moth which posed for the camera.
25th May With the forecast looking good, clear skies until mid afternoon at least in Sussex, I set off early to arrive at Park Corner Heath for 9am. What I found was not weather that was predicted, it was tipping down. I spent the next hour sat in the car cursing the weather man, they can't get the forecast right when the weather is actually happening. Eventually it stopped and wander the woodland with few butterflies to be found, plenty of Speckled Yellow moths though. Birds were present with at least two Garden Warblers, two Spotted Flycatchers, a male Bullfinch, numerous Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs and a singing Nightingale. This held me over until the sun finally broke through and I was started getting the butterflies. Painted Ladies were abundant and I ended up with a fine tally of around ten Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries. Rather than chasing around after them I located a favoured feeding area close to the information hut and sat it out waiting for them to return, which upto 4-5 did every five minutes or so. Excellent. It was actually really hot by lid afternoon when I left with further butterflies in the bag, one Grizzled Skipper, one Large Skipper and several Brimstones and Peacocks. There were a number of fine Broad-bodied Chasers around as well.
From here I went to Windover Hill and on the walk up the hill I could see dark clouds looming my way. By the time I reached the top I was sweating buckets but I had my target, Small Blue. There were at least 10-12 in the longer grass and many Painted Ladies were around. With claps of thunder and lighting flashes and the first drops of rain I had to leave soon after getting to the top but I had seen my days targets. The drive home along the A21 was dreadful with 10miles and hour top speed in many places, traffic was horendous.
24th May An afternoon visit to Paglesham Lagoon in the glorious sunshine didn't produce much in the way of birds with two different female Marsh Harriers being the pick of the bunch. I did however have a bunch of Painted Lady butterflies so I had at least seen some of the influx happening across the UK. Also in the same small area were two Small Heaths, a number of 'whites, 2 Common Blues and a couple of Peacocks whilst a Lattice Heath Moth showed well on a nearby path. Sweet.
17th May Despite only being back from Scillies a few hours I headed off to Grove Ferry with Lee Ebbs for the long staying Black-winged Pratincole which unfortunately proved to be the most difficult pratincole I've ever seen in the UK with the briefest and poorest of views obtained. Still my first Black-winged since 1992.
9th -16th May Its now been three years since I was on the Isles of Scilly in spring so this week with the wife would be a welcomed return. I'm not going to do a day to day summary but detail the overall highlights of the week. The weather during the weather varied from sunny and warm to wet and windy but this brought a number of good southern species. Most notably during the week was the lifer I had, the female Little Bittern that showed well from the Stephen Sussex hide at Porth Hellick Pool and the two Scillies ticks, the Red-rumped Swallows and the Great Reed Warbler which were also at Porth Hellick. A total of three Red-rumped Swallows were seen well and the Great Reed ended up showing right in front of the hide on several occasions.
Elsewhere on St. Mary's a Iceland Gull was seen several times at the rubbish dump and at Porthlow Beach and a Hobby or two were noted. Summer migrants were scarce but included birds not usually encountered in October, such as Grasshopper Warbler and Cuckoo.
All of the off islands were visited with St. Martins producing a find in the form of a Golden Oriole whilst Bryher had a nice male Woodchat Shrike and St. Agnes had a stunning summer plumaged Red-throated Pipit. Tresco by contrast had little other than a smart Golden Pheasant which couldn't be counted as wild.
Wagtails were in evidence at Porth Hellick on St. Mary's with a female type Blue-headed, a possible male Ashy-headed and a couple of White Wagtails, all performed mere feet away.
It was a great week and October is now hotly anticipated.
2nd May Despite not getting home till 1am from yesterdays twitch I was up and out to drive half way back for some butterflies. I started the day at 9am at Noar Hill near Selborne in Hampshire where I managed to get at least fifteen Duke of Burgundy's. There were a few Dingy Skippers knocking around but in general the commonest butty was the Dukes. After spending a good few hours rattling off pictures and headed off to Bentley Woods for my other hoped for butterfly, the Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Over the course of the next few hours from mid afternoon I had at least ten but most were very active in the heat of the day but I still managed some excellent images. Also here were a good few Brimstones as well as a Speckled Yellow Moth and a singing Tree Pipit.
I think I will take it easy tomorrow.
1st May What a manic couple of days. Following the Crested Lark twitch to Kent yesterday with Mike Bailey and I were on our way for the Collared Flycatcher at Portland when Mega alert informed us of an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler at the same site. This was even rarer than the flycatcher we were travelling to see. The journey down was fraut with difficulties with Bank Holiday traffic slowing our progress at every turn and there was much frustration. Things got worse as the predicted weather front was clearly moving in ahead of us and there were fears this would prevent us from seeing the birds. We eventually made it to the site at 6.15, an hour and a half later than we should have been there. We dashed to the warbler first and after a ten minute wait I picked up the bird moving through the sycamores and the bird eventually gave good views to those gathered. We then charged off to the nearby flycatcher which again we had to wait for about ten minutes before seeing the bird but what a stunner. With the weather gone from clear blue skies to wind and rain we were fortunate to get both birds and see them well. However all was not done as we stopped off for the Hooded Merganser at Radipole Lake which we saw at 8.10pm sat on a shingle island opposite the visitor centre, a bird of dubious origin.
The drive home was much better in every sense, clear roads and jubilant atmosphere as we had scored both mega birds and I had had three, four if you count the duck, in just two days and considering I'd not had a tick in 15months that was going.