Lockdown Lepidoptera

Well where did that week go?  Normal-ish life resumed for me last Monday as I had to work from the office for the week - but it went like a flash!  I should be off again now for a few weeks so hopefully there will be a bit more life in this blog again.

This is actually a post I was going to put up at the start of last week, but the delay has given it a bit more content.  It's not about birds either!

As we all know, except for the blip at the end of April, we have been blessed with some incredible weather during lockdown.  And as a result our daily walks have revealed good numbers of butterflies, although as we often take the same/similar route variety has been limited.  It's always good to appreciate the commoner species though, and it's given me ample opportunities to introduce Harry to some of them... 

The shade-specialist; Speckled Wood

A tad tatty - but it's not just wear that's shaped those wings; Comma

Seem to be very numerous this year; Holly Blue (a female judging by amount of black on forewing)

Sadly I never managed a pic of Harry's apparent favourite species - the Orange-tip.  I think it's the striking colour of the males that has attracted him to this species, but not one would land for me! Actually thinking about it, maybe they are Harry's favourite because of all the laugh's he's had watching Daddy running off down a track after one! 

Just before I went back to work, we did go on a different walk and headed down to the Harbour.  This revealed a whole new selection of butterflies, and whilst Harry and Mummy watched the mullet in the harbour, Daddy went off for a little bit more a walk...

There were really good numbers of Dingy Skippers around, always nice to see, along with my first Common Blues of the year.  I recorded at least five different Wood Whites as well, although in keeping with my luck with white butterflies during lockdown, not one posed for a photo!  I also spent time looking for Small Blue, as historically this has been one of our two local sites for this rare species (see HERE).  Sadly though Karen has since told me this site was lost to storm damage in c2015ish, likewise our other local Small Blue site.  So that's Small and Chalkhill Blue both gone from patch now, just shows how vulnerable these small isolated populations can be.  Plenty of their food plant remains though so fingers crossed they will eventually recolonise.

Managed a double-figure count of these; Dingy Skipper

My first of these recorded on 2nd May; Common Blue

A view of the underside; mating pair of Common Blues

Although not one Wood White landed for me, I managed to grab this absolutely dreadful shot as two flew close past by.  They are such a beautiful butterfly, such a delicate and fluttering flight.  Not that you can tell in this abysmal effort...

Does kind of show wing shape in two different positions - if you squint; Wood Whites

I have done far less well for Odonata, which is surprising considering we are going to the Wetlands almost daily.  I did see an extremely early Beautiful Demoiselle back on 9th April in Colyford, my earliest ever and not something I was at all expecting to see - I hadn't even seen a Large Red Damselfly before then! Later I read online a few other early emerged adults of this species had been seen, including one in Kenton (South Devon) the previous day. 

I saw my first Broad-bodied Chaser about a week later, also in Colyford, and yesterday was hoping to add Scarce Chaser to this list as I walked to the upper reaches of the Axe near Colyford - a reliable site for them.  But nothing, which is a shame because the colour of immature and females Scarce Chasers is one of my favourite colours in the natural world.  All I saw were a couple more Beautiful Demioselles, a few Large Red Damselflies and one Common Blue Damselfly.

Oh it's so good to be back in regular blogging land. Stay safe everyone...

Long-tailed Blues

I've got quite a bit of catching up to do!  Since my last post I've seen quite a few birds, not seen even more birds, and enjoyed a couple of really productive moth nights.  All of that must wait though, because the contents of this blog post, quite simply, deserve its own post...

Late afternoon on Saturday 24th, news broke on Twitter of at least two Long-tailed Blue butterflies at Axmouth Harbour, from Lloyd Evans. Here is the very tweet...

What a tweet!

All this came as quite a shock.  I was stuck at work, but Kevin quickly followed it up and saw two an hour later. They were feeding & egg laying on a small patch of pea plant just to the east of the river mouth.  

Frustratingly the following day didn't allow me any chances to see them, but three were present and well reported on social media, pulling in visitors from far and wide.  Then Monday came around, and thankfully - finally - I managed to spend my lunch hour with them.  What a treat...

Female Long-tailed Blue

What wonderful little butterflies, clearly smaller than Holly Blues, and I found them really hard to keep up with thanks to their distinctively jerky and rapid flight.  They were oddly sporadic in their appearances too, with one period of 20+ minutes of nothing, and then a flurry of sightings right up until I left.  This one spent a lot of time underneath the flowers, so often the views were like this...

Easily to overlook - but once seen so distinctive

This female showed by far the best, resting on flowers and egg laying on the nearest patch of pea to where I was stood...

It actually has long-tails!

As can be seen in the above pic though, she has a deformity on her right wing. Also viewable in this pic...

A cracking underwing pattern - but what's with the wing...

This is a defect caused when the wings are being pumped up during emergency, which begs the question, was this butterfly born and bred here!?  Well personally I think not.  Despite this damage it was flying around just fine, and considering there has been a national influx of this species within the last week or so, I think the chances are it arrived as part of this influx.    

Not easy to see the upperwing - just about managed a shot of it here

As you can see, this conclusively sexes this insect as a female - but when flying around on two occasions I heard others announce it as a male due to how blue it appeared.  When comparing it to the second Long-tailed Blue that was flying around however, this was understandable. The second individual was a really drab, brown and tatty female - presumably the one pictured by others in previous days lacking any tails.  I did see a third insect in flight on two occasions, and this one really did look proper blue, sadly never saw it settled though.

There is a previous patch record of Long-tailed Blue, I know of at least one recorded on Goat Island (where there is lots of pea plant - so there could be a load out there now!) but it's great to have some 'gettable' ones!  Whilst at the harbour I also saw Common Blue, Painted Lady, Silver-washed Fritillary and a couple of smart male Clouded Yellows.

As I said earlier there has been something of an influx of Long-tailed Blues into the UK - in fact it's looking likely to prove the biggest influx ever!  For more details have a read of this excellent BirdGuides article; https://www.birdguides.com/news/look-out-for-long-tailed-blues/

And I will finish by ending on a similar note to the article-linked above.  Go out and search your local pea plants, you may not find an adult but there's every chance you could discover some eggs. And if you do then keep coming back and you never know you may just witness a UK bred Long-tailed Blue emerge or take its maiden flight. Something I hope to do in about a month's time...

Insects

With a lack of bird (and baby) news to blog about, I may as well catch up with some insect sightings from the past few days.

Today's warmth encouraged my first two Scarce Chasers of the year to emerge at Lower Bruckland Ponds this afternoon...

The above two photos are of the same insect. Personally I think Scarce Chaser is one of the few Odonata species that look best when they are immature - they are just so orange!  Didn't see any other larger insects at Lower Brucklands, just heaps of damselflies. 

A few visits to Axe Cliff lately have shown a couple of Silver Y and Painted Ladies, one Clouded Yellow and several Wall Browns...

Hopefully I will see a few more birds before spring is out. Unless it is already out...

Osprey, Waders and Sunshine!

Well I just have to start this post with what has just happened. Basically every single day for the last three weeks I have been expecting an Osprey, especially during this current spell of amazing sunny weather. They've made land fall east and west of us, and finally just before 18:25 this afternoon all the sky scanning paid off. 

I was actually incredibly fluky to be honest.  I'd just arrived home with Jess, stepped out of the car, heard the gulls alarming, looked up and there was an Osprey cruising east!  Awesome.  By the time I had got Jess on it and reached for my camera it had become distant so I thought this was going to be my only photo of it...

Yes I know that is a Wood Pigeon - look above it!

Thankfully though it dropped down into the river valley, so I legged it inside and upstairs to watch it from the bedroom window.  It was at this point that I really wished I was sat in the Tower Hide, as it caught a fish right in front of there! Gripping. Holding its fish it circled up and up, and then dipped behind the big hill above Axmouth. I wouldn't be surprised if it landed behind there somewhere as it had to eat its catch...

Sorry for the quality but it was distant!

With fish. The adults are so much better at fishing that the autumn immatures!

From appearing to disappearing the Osprey was in view for about eight minutes. This is so typical of a spring Osprey, they are almost always untwitchable, you just have to be in the right place at the right time. If you're not then you've probably missed it.

And now to the waders. The only obvious passage that has been taking place during this clear and sunny weather has been wading bird passage. Every day something new has appeared, and three of these have been year ticks for me.  Today I saw the two Bar-tailed Godwits (one a lovely summer plumaged bird) and a Whimbrel, and since Tuesday a Greenshank has been feeding on Black Hole Marsh (which is still looking amazing and teaming with birds!)...

I love spring Greenshank they are so smart

The other recent regular sighting on Black Hole Marsh during the mornings has been the six Cattle Egrets.  They seem quite happy just sitting around on the islands of the marsh for the first few hours of the day. Most of them have been showing orangey heads for a couple of weeks now, but in recent days they're developing orange on their neck sides and fronts, and their bills are turning increasingly redder. Nice. I do hope they stay a bit longer as full breeding plumage Cattle Egrets are amazing looking things.

Three species of Heron!

Passerine migration has been so dire that I really can't believe it is the 8th of April!  There's basically nothing about but a few Swallows and Willow Warblers.  Still it was nice to visit Axe Cliff for the first time this spring this morning...

Looking towards Beer Head

Surely this qualifies as art?

Seeing as they've been so scarce this spring, two male Wheatears in a ploughed field were a real highlight. Otherwise as with recent days there was just a few Willow Warblers and four Swallows.

Butterflies have really benefited from this warm weather. In the last week I have seen so many Orange-tips, Peacocks, Holly Blues, Specked Woods, Small Tortoiseshells, plus a few Painted Ladies and Green-veined Whites. Still waiting for my first Odonata of the year though, I really hope it is a Vagrant Emperor...

Some Nice Butts

Butterflies are the last thing on my mind at the moment as I sit in my house with rain beating down on the windows and neighbouring trees swaying in the wind.  But there has been some sunshine over the last week and I've not just been looking up...

I wanted to see if there were any Chalkhill Blues hanging on in the corner of the patch, but sadly I couldn't find any so I think the answer is no.  There were lots of Common Blue, one Holly Blue, and highlights in the form of three Wood White and several Dingy Skipper...

Wood White - they look so much better in flight!

Dingy Skipper with Honey in the background!!

I've also been trying to locate Brown Hairstreak at a local site where one was reportedly photographed last year.  Nothing yet, but it is still early days!

This Week

It's been a frustrating week. I've had two 5am wake ups with the hope of ringing on Beer Head, and both morning's I've gone up there with good intentions.  Tuesday though it was far too foggy with clear skies above, so I knew it wasn't worth it and came straight back home, and then today, the promised cloud cover came over too late and there was quite a breeze which would not have been good for mist netting.  I did have a walk around this morning instead of ringing, and am pleased I didn't bother with the nets as it was very very quiet. So basically it's now Friday and I am completely knackered for no good reason. Got an even earlier wake up tomorrow, but at least I know this one with be worthwhile...

The other reason this has been a frustrating week is because despite all my efforts, I haven't seen anything remotely scarce. Hoopoe's are flooding in to the UK at the moment, along with a nice assortment of other spring overshoots,  I have looked looked and looked....and seen nothing of note.

Wednesday morning I almost killed myself (and the dog!) by flogging Beer Head to Branscombe and back in the scorching heat. Ironically the best bird I saw during this three hour slog was the Yellow Wagtail that flew over me as I stepped out the car right at the start! Otherwise all I saw were half a dozen Willow Warblers and a couple of Wheatears.  At least the Wheatears were kind to me...

At least I saw a few butterflies, with two Clouded Yellows, two Specked Woods, a Holly Blue, a Brimstone, an Orange-tip, a Red Admiral and several Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells.

There has been a few more waders about on the Estuary this week, since midweek I have seen Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Greenshank and four Ringed Plover. There's also been two Ruff kicking about since Tuesday but I haven't caught up with them as yet.

The only other notable birds I've seen this week include my first Sedge Warbler of the spring (a singing male) on the Borrow Pit, Seaton Marshes, on Tuesday morning, and this morning yet another Red Kite.  This one had clearly roosted in the valley, because at 06:50 it circled up from the woods above the Estuary and flew off west.  Also six Manx Shearwaters flew west during a quick look at the sea just prior to the Kite.

I'll sign off with a dawn photo from Lower Bruckland Ponds taken late last week. Let's hope next week is a bit kinder to me...

Insects Save Otherwise Photo-less Post!

Beer Head showed a bit more variety this morning, with the bushes giving me my first Garden Warbler of the autumn, two Whitethroat, three Blackcap and 15 Willow Warbler. Two Wheatear were the only birds of note in the open areas.  It was nice to see a Wall Brown whilst wandering around - this is one of the few places left on patch where you can see this species...

Showed well too!

I also saw my first Clouded Yellows of the year today, with two at Lower Bruckland Ponds. They didn't stop moving though, and when one did it was playing hide and seek...

Peek-a-boo!

The reason for my visit to Lower Brucklands was to look for Small Red-eyed Damselflies. Sadly there is almost no suitable habitat for them on the ponds now, with a distinct lack of floating vegetation. There's just one small pond which does have lily pads and weeds, and after a short while I eventually spotted a single male. Only the one though...

Hang in there buddy!

To get this post back to bird news - the female Tufted Duck remains here.

Mid morning I had a look around the marshes, with the highlight being a Wood Sandpiper on Colyford Marsh scrape, along with a Greenshank and two Green Sands.  The Wood Sand appeared only for a couple of minutes, had a preen and wing stretch, then flew off NW. Good chance it was a new bird as I don't think the two last week have been seen all weekend? I may be wrong though.

On Black Hole Marsh there's now 40 Black-tailed Godwit, the Ruff still, but much smaller numbers of Dunlin and Ringed Plover than last week. 

And that's that short post done and dusted. Hope to give Beer Head another look in the morning - I want a Whinchat...

Black Hole Marsh, Butterflies and a Balearic

Black Hole Marsh looks EPIC at the moment. There's lots of mud and it absolutely stinks, which means there's lots of lovely flies and bugs for wading birds to eat.  This afternoon Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Common Sands were spread about all over it - as were Green Sandpipers, 13 of them (with a 14th on Colyford Marsh).  Highlights were a stunning juv Ruff, and this juv Little Ringed Plover...

It's been here several days now

Two Med Gulls included an adult and the usual juv...

Starting to moult into first winter plumage

Yesterday morning the wading bird situation was pretty similar, just with the addition of a Turnstone which flew around calling for a few minutes as I was leaving. There were also three Teal (come on Garganey!).

Before yesterday's visit to Black Hole Marsh I had a 45 minute sea watch. I would have stayed longer but I just couldn't get out of the wind! Numbers were represented by Gannets (lots, with birds going both ways) and Common Scoter - 17 of them. There were a few notable singletons too, with a Balearic Shearwater west, a Bonxie east (my first Skua of the autumn) and a Turnstone that flew out from the Estuary. 

It's not been hard to notice the excellent numbers of butterflies flying since the suns reappearance, I thought I'd photograph a few of them too...

Peacock

Painted Lady - such a stunning underwing

Gatekeeper

The underwing of a Comma - and that's why they're called Comma's!