Butterfly heaven at Tyttenhanger

After working on sunday morning decided to have a wander around Tyttenhanger seen if anything intresting was around, on the bird front the hightlight was seeing a kingfisher speeding away along the river colne and then further along at the top end of the pit. Also around were one Redshank on the spit and lots of Common Terns fishing over the pits.

On the insect front had a White-letter Hairsteak feeding on a Ragwort along the river Colne which was there feeding happily for least half an hour and was still there when i left. By the hides there were lots of Red Admiral and Comma buzzing around mainly feeding on the Buddleia along with the Gatekeepers, Large Whites and Meadow Browns and 2 Holly Blues. Along the pit stretch by the farm had Black-tailed Skimmer, Brown Hawker, Migrant Hawker and a female Emperor Dragonfly laying eggs. Other insects of note by the farm was a Purple Hiatstreak, Common Blues, Ringlets, Specked Wood Small Tortoiseshell and 1 Small Heath a very good insect count.

White-letter Hairsteak feeding

White-letter Hairsteak showing wing pattern

White-letter Hairsteak in the depths of the Ragwort

Wiltstone Reservoir

On saturday spent a pleasent afternoon at Wiltstone Reservoir with good numbers of Common Terns fishing from the steps and a few Swallows overhead though well below their spring peak, Also on the main water were Tufted Ducks, Mallard, Great Crested grebe. Then went around to the hide where on the spit had 4 Common Sandpipers and 1 Green Sandpiper feeding on the shoreline, good numbers of Lapwings, Common Tern youngster still being feed by their parents, 3 young Redshanks, 2 Little Egrets, a few Grey Herons Flying over and a family of buzzards in the distance. The real hightlight though was seeing a young hunting Peregrine Falcon over the waders on the scrape before being chased by the Lapwings and Gulls.

Green Sandpiper and Redshank

Week in yorkshire

Had a lovely week in yorkshire with my friends mainly staying in Whitby such a wonderful little town with such character and busy managed to explored alot of the town and the abbey though the 199 steps can be quite hard on the legs!!. Nature wise in the town in the morning off the pier had Gannets, Razorbills, Guillemots, Sandwich Terns and Kittwakes .

Later on in the week got out on to the moors on one day but after exploring Goathland (the village made famous by the TV series Heartbeat had a nice walk over the moors to the waterfall of Mallion Spout.
Also Explored Robin hood Bays which is such a pretty village espically as on the day we went it was wonderfully sunny. Then we walked back the seven or so miles back to Whitby where on route back saw annets, Razorbills, Guillemots, Sandwich Terns, Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit. Linnet and a Kittwakes coloney

Bricket Wood Common

On sunday morning went on the local Butterfly Conservation trip to Bricket Wood Common started off quite Grey but we saw a few Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Gatekeepers and from afar Purple Haistreaks dancing in the oak trees to start off.

Then further along we had good views of at least 4 Silver-washed Fritillary flying along the path and feeding on the brambles along with a Peacock a fresh one mostly likly a new brood. Futher along along the main ride we had sightings of more Silver-washed Fritillarys, 2 White Admirals, Marbled White, Brimstones, Large White, Green-veined white, all 3 Skippers, a few moths and a possible Emerald Damselfly.

On the heathland we came across a fresh looking Purple Hairstreak down on the ragworth most likly due to the weather. Then along on the heath had quite a few Marbled white feeding in the overcast conditions a lone Holly Blue and a Small Tortoiseshell. Then in the afternoon we went to the Purple Emperor Tree where despite the condition had at least 2 sightings of 1 flying over though sadly not the greatest view but a good field trip overall.

Purple Hairstreak with wings over

Purple Hairstreak underside

Broxbourne Wood and Hatfield Aerodrome

On saturday morning went on the local Butterfly Conservation trip to Broxbourne Woods to look for Purple Emperor and at first a no show with just Meadow Brown, Ringlets, Large and  Small Skippers showing with lots of Purple Hairstreaks flying around the oak trees. In the grass discovered a fresh Brown Argus happy to sit in the grass due to the conditions and then a fresh looking Female Silver-washed Fritillary appeared and landed giving good views before flying off for a while before coming back and laying at least 1 egg on a oak tree. Then we a bit of sun we had at least 2 flying Purple Emperor in the trees with one being a female a good result for the morning.

Female Silver-washed Fritillary

Brown Argus in the grass

In the afternoon decided to see what butterflies i could find at Hatfield Aerodrome so walking along the hedgerow near the main road by the garden centre had quite a few Ringlets, Skippers (all 3), Meadow Brown ,Marbled White, a few Gatekeepers and 1 Fresh Small Cooper in the flower section by the new trees. Then walking along the hedge section had 1 White-letter Hairstreak flying high in the elm further along had quite a few Red Admiral and 1 Emperor Dragonfly flying around and quite a few Grashoppers around.

Small copper in daisy field

Meadow grasshopper

Sharpenhoe Clappers

Had a lovely walk with the bedforshire branch of Butterfly Conservation to Sharpenhoe Clappers on the 3rd of Julywhere we started out looking at Chalkhill Blues which is surprsing early as they usually out in august bur due to the butterflies appearing early there were out already. Next we visited the main grassland section of the reserve were we had good number of Dark Green Fritillary around 100, Marble White around 80, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Large skippers and lower numbers of Small Heath Green-Veined White, Small white, Small, Essex Skipper and 1 Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly.

Also in the meadows we had Coommon spotted Orchid, Southern March Orchid, Chalk Fragrant-orchid and quite a few Meadow Pipits and Goldfinchs. After walking through the meadows and enjoying the butterflies there we walked backed through the woodlands and had nice views of Large Whites, Comma and Red Admiral.

Chalkhill Blue

Marble White feeding

Small Heath

Dark Green Fritillary feeding

Essex Skipper

Dark Green Fritillaryfeeding on thistle

Transect and Symondshyde Great Wood

Record transect day at Heartwood forest with both Marbled White ) and Small Skipper 12 highest for the site and the marbled white actually beat last years total also 2 Essex Skippers, 8 Large Skippers,8 Gatekeepers, 4 Small Tortoiseshells, 3 Commas, 40 Ringlets, 81 Meadow Browns, 34 Large White, 3 Green-Veined and 1 Small White.

Marbled White at Heartwood on section 2

Then headed for Symondshyde Great Wood to have a hunt for White letter Hairstreaks no luck with them but had good afternoon with good views of a pair of Blacaps feeding young somewhere in the undergrowth and big tit flocks with Great, Blue and Coal espically nice to see the Coal tit in good numbers. Butterfly wise counted 6 Silver-washed Fritillary 1 White Admiral, 1 Holly Blue, 3 Small Tortoiseshells and a few Whites and Meadow browns.

Female Blackcap at Symondshyde Great Wood

Silver-washed Fritillary at Symondshyde Great Wood