Wood Sandpiper and Lesser Emperor

It's been good to spend a bit more time out today, and I'll start with the birds.  A mid morning visit to Black Hole Marsh was timed exceedingly well, as Ian Mc had just found a Wood Sand...

Wood Sand and two Dunlin

Not just any old Wood Sand - a breeding plumaged adult!

Remained distant so was a good test for the P900

I've had a look back through my blog and notes, and am pretty sure this is my first every June Wood Sand on the Axe.  We don't usually see the first returning autumn ones until mid July at the earliest, and all spring birds have been in April and May.  Not only is it the earliest, but it's the least worn adult I've seen too - still in pretty much full breeding plumage. So so different to the pale brown juvs we see in August, nice.

Also on Black Hole Marsh were numerous Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank (one juvenile), two Dunlin, three Teal and a Green Sandpiper. A little later Sue Smith also had a Little Ringed Plover and a Greenshank - autumn seems to be starting early this year.  Although saying that, many of the Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank never actually left us!

A Black-tailed Godwit looking like this can surely only be an adult, so why not even bother going north?

A little later an enjoyable tram ride showed additions in the form of a Greylag Goose on the Estuary and a Lesser Whitethroat singing at the north end of Colyford Common.

I also found time for some dragonflying this afternoon, which was nice because during the last month weather and work has not allowed for much of this.  I spent an hour and a half at Lower Bruckland Ponds dreaming of finding a Vagrant Emperor (been an influx of these to the east coast), so when I spotted a mostly brown Emperor with blue restricted to segment two I thought I'd only gone and done it....but not quite!  I soon realised it was a male Lesser Emperor, still a cracking insect and a really exciting find, but I can't help by feeling just a little short-changed!

Male Lesser Emperor Lower Bruckland Ponds

This is the fourth male Lesser Emperor I've found here (16th July 2006, 10th Aug 2012 and 19th June 2017) but easily the most enjoyable, because it was actually showing well. Hence why for the first time I actually managed to get photographs!  The other three were all brief flybys with Emperors in hot pursuit, but this one seemed to have found its own territory and spent the half-hour I was there patrolling - I even watched it fly up and pluck a Common Blue out of the air before feasting on it.  Amazing!  

Male Lesser Emperor again - showing blue on side of seg 2 (unlike Vagrant Emperor)

Out of focus but still so recognisable!

Other Odonta on show included my first couple of Small Red-eyed Damselflies of the year, at least 16 Scarce Chaser (one female), eight Four-spotted Chasers and excellent numbers of the other usual species.  This is such a great dragonfly site.

Now I know I have posted plenty of Scarce Chaser photos on this blog before, but as they are one of my favourites I just can't help but post a few more...

Scarce Chaser male

Scarce Chaser male from underneath

Scarce Chaser mating pair

What a top late summer day! 

Small Copper and Lesser Emperor Update

I think Small Copper is one of my favourite common butterflies. I prefer the upperwing but today you'll have to make do with an underwing shot...

Whilst on the insect theme, I found out today that my male Lesser Emperor of last month at Lower Bruckland Ponds wasn't the one day wonder that I thought it was.  I saw it on Monday 19th June and on Sunday 2nd July Roger Harris (@chardbirder) saw it on three occasions.  Sadly neither of us managed to photograph it though.  He's got a great blog by the way, well worth a look especially if you like spiders and other insects; http://threecountieswildlife.blogspot.co.uk/.

It won't take me long to update on my bird sightings because I've not seen that much lately, well not much new anyway. A Whimbrel was with the Curlew flock yesterday morning on the Estuary, as was the usual dull first-summer Med Gull.  Black Hole Marsh will likely go a bit quiet for a few days now as the water levels have risen...

Rain in the forecast... White-winged Black Tern anyone?

Lesser Emperor

Wow what a stunning few days we've had. Not so great for a three and a half week old baby, but great for dragonflies which is why I had a wander around Lower Bruckland Ponds this afternoon.

This proved a great move with a stunning surprise in the form of a male Lesser Emperor at 3pm over the top pond.  This is the third Lesser Emp I've found here (previous being 16th July 2006 and 10th August 2012) and turns out this afternoon several have appeared in the UK.  Sadly no pics as it didn't settle, and I last saw it being chased by an Emperor towards the next pond down. Fingers crossed it hangs around, all my previous have been multi-observed and I'd like to keep that record up!

Other notable Odonata on show this afternoon included my first Small Red-eyed Damselflies of the year, with at least five males on the smallest two ponds, am pretty sure these are fairly early too. Also still at least nine Scarce Chaser on the wing, seven lone males and an ovipositing pair. The more usual fare included 15+ Emperor, 20+ Black-tailed Skimmer, five Four-spotted Chaser, three Beautiful Demoiselle, two Banded Demoiselle, one Broad-bodied Chaser and the usual damselfly species.  And now for some pretty pictures...

Here's two different Small Red-eyed Damselflies...

Three different male Scarce Chasers...

A Four-spotted Chaser...

A Beautiful Demoiselle...

And VERY unusually for this blog - a flower! A rather long-stemmed Common Spotted (I think!?) Orchid...

And I just had to photograph this Coot chick on its completely exposed nest. Most Coot nests here are nicely tucked away...

I have also got a bit of birding news to catch up with.  I've already enjoyed three early morning wanders around the Axe Wetlands with Harry...

Each time I've heard singles of singing male Common and Lesser Whitethroats from the field to the south of the entrance track to Black Hole Marsh.  Interestingly the Axe Estuary Ringing Group recently trapped a breeding female Lesser White on Stafford Marsh as well, which is great news.  There certainly seems to be plenty of young passerines about this year too which is encouraging - it looks to have been a good breeding season for many species.

Sometime last week I has a Hobby from the back garden, not before time as they have been regular around here this summer. Red Kites are also clearly still around in some number, I had one over Colyton on Wednesday of last week and received emails informing me of low flying birds over Musbury (two) and Colyford on different days within the past week.

Apologies for the lack of posts lately guys, a mostly awake sometimes crying baby hasn't helped the cause. Although actually tonight he really did help...

 

Mostly About Things With Wings

Well what a few days!

I'll start back with last Friday, when I enjoyed showing Vic Tucker, one of the authors of 'Where to Watch Birds in Devon and Cornwall', around the patch.

The main destination was Black Hole Marsh, but apart from 27 Dunlin, two Ringed Plover and 18 Black-tailed Godwit it was quiet. The weather was stunning, and Vic requested a look around Lower Bruckland Ponds - so that was where we went next.

Before we arrived I jokingly remarked how we could be on for a Lesser Emperor, as a couple had been seen in the country the previous day. Ten minutes into our wander and a stunning male Lesser Emperor flew past us! Amazing!! The second for the patch, I've found them both, and both in exactly the same place - and I mean EXACTLY the same place! I was standing on the same edge of the same pond on 16th July 2006 when a male Lesser Emperor whizzed past.

We only saw it for about 30 seconds, before an Emperor chased it off. Pleasingly though, within the next few hours it was seen another four or five times by others in roughly the same spot. No photos I'm afraid as it moved so quickly!

On the lower couple of ponds, it was nice to see c10 Small Red-eyed Damselflies. The larger ponds don't look suitable at all now due to the lack of surface vegetation, but it's great to see they are hanging on where they can...

My first for a few years - mostly because I haven't tried hard enough!

Rewinding the day back a little, I had a moth trap to go through - and it was crammed full! There were 241 moths of 45 species in the trap. 31 of these moths were Willow Beauties, with Riband Wave, Brimstone, Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and Dark Arches also represented in double figures. The highlights for me were...

Black Arches - a stunning moth

Magpie - common yes, but still a looker!

Marbled Green - caught four of these

The Fern - there were three of these, all resting on adjacent walls

Mullein Wave - a coastal species

So Friday was a successful day! What about Saturday then...

Well Jess and I decided to go west from Seaton, and we ended up here...

Jess and the entrance sign to Bystock Ponds!

The main pond - looking lovely

So, what is it we were looking for...

'in action!'

Well it wouldn't be found here, although we did see this...

A Terrapin!

After a bit more walking, and some useful directions from Chris Townend, we got to here...

That looks more like it!

Nearly, just a little too large....

Bingo! We saw at least five Small Red Damselflies - amazingly a first for me!!!

And on the way back to the car, we saw a couple of these...

Common Lizard

And that brings me to today, and the end of this post.