Wednesday 30 May 2012

A bit of a mix

The past week has brought a couple of new birds for the year with TURTLE DOVE (91) finally showing up on the 24th. The following day 2 REED WARBLERS (92) sung from different hedgerows as I ambled round. Other birds this week have included more sightings of KINGFISHER, a build up in numbers of SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS now upto 5 or 6 birds and Steve had a HOBBY over at 5am yesterday (29th) morning. One of the features of this week has been finding another two Woodpecker nests I've now found 4 nests, 2 each of Green and Great Spotted no luck with a Lesser Spot yet.
This Wren fed it's young constantly as I recorded the moths early one morning


Sorry, can't get enough of Yellowhammers!

Insects have certainly come to the fore this week with hotter weather the number of moth species has started rise with around 50 species being found on mornings when we have been recording, highlights include LIME HAWK MOTH, MULLEIN, PUSS MOTH and SCALLOPED HOOK-TIP among many.
Pale Prominent (left) and  Scalloped Hook-tip

Poplar Kitten

Bloodvein

I've also enjoyed seeing more Butterflies and Dragonflies, DOWNY EMERALD has been in good numbers around the edge of the main lakes a BROAD BODIED CHASER and HAIRY DRAGONFLY were in the wood while the small pond held good numbers of LARGE RED, BLUE TAILED and AZURE DAMSELFLIES battling for airspace.

Large Red Damselflies

 Butterflies and Flowers provided most excitement as a visit to east Kent gave me two new species of Butterfly and 3 new Orchids, I was sort thinking of going on Saturday but laid in! and then when I woke up Sunday the planned visit to the local patch was shelved, as the morning was so stunning! Arriving in east Kent LADY ORCHIDS were in full bloom as were what I think were MAN ORCHID (not Man Orchid, Common Twayblade, thanks Greenie) also just one lone GREATER BUTTERFLY ORCHID was in flower with others budding in the area.


Lady Orchid

Man Orchid, I think. actually Common Twayblade! thanks Greenie :-)

The first new species of Butterfly here was DINGY SKIPPER (re- Marianne), although in this post originally I said Grizzled Skipper as I had mis-ID'd it!!, the star though was DUKE OF BURGUNDY FRITILLARY about 6 were spread over two locations, lovely little flutters, much smaller than I imagined. A GREEN HAIRSTREAK was also a nice addition to the day.
Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Thanks to Marianne this is Dingy Skipper not Grizzled as I thought!!

Lastly a visit to Bedgebury with Martin, Chris and Gavin on Monday evening was really enjoyable with WOODCOCKS roding, NIGHTJAR churring a couple of TAWNY OWLS, SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, MANDARIN  and an accompaniment of WILLOW WARBLERS. A memorable last few days indeed :-)
A view of Sissinghurst Castle

27 comments:

Marianne said...

Great stuff. The Lady Orchid is glorious! Love the insect pics too, though I have to point out that your Grizzled Skipper is actually a Dingy Skipper!

Alan Pavey said...

Thanks Marianne, I didn't consider any of the other small brown Skippers at all!! i'm pleased with Dingy though, better do some editing! Thanks again :-)

Ana Mínguez Corella said...

Hi!!!... great shots and beautiful pictures.. Superb... Cheers!!!...

Marc Heath said...

Great photography Alan.

Greenie said...

Alan ,
Great mix of interesting shots , especially like that Wren .
I'm afraid your Man Orchid isn't , from here I would say Common Twayblade . If you can remember back , if it had just two large leaves at the base of the stem , that would confirm it .

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Greenie, thank you, maybe I should stick to birds :-) it's a good learning curve, I'm glad there are some people with better knowledge than me out there to help out, thanks again. Twayblade is new for me too!!

Millhouse Photography said...

A cracking mix Alan. I think the Wren with his bounty and the yellowhammers are stunning shots.

Phil said...

Sounds like a great few days Alan. Looks like it too!

Ingemar Pettersson said...

Hi!
Absolutely stunning serie, i realy like the first one of the wren.
Greetings from Sweden
/Ingemar

Ornitocampero.blogspot.com.es said...

Incredible cstle and the yelowhammer a treat for me!
Saludos!

Warren Baker said...

Hi Alan, what a great post today, superb photo's, especially the Wren.
Good to see you have Turtle Doves, they are real scarce now :-(

Tess Oostvogel Fotografie said...

Wouw! The first picture is very nice!

Mike H said...

Hi Alan,

Good to see the number of visitors to your patch building up. With so many bird, damsel and dragonfly additions a revisit is definitely overdue. Glad to see you enjoyed the visit out to East Kent.I did a visit to another site today whwere the Heath Fritilliary are now flying 5 today.See my Flickr site later today.On a pure technical note the Duke of Burgundy is not a Fritilliary, being of the species Hamearis(Riodinidae) and not Melitaea (Nymphalidae) hence the small size.

Brian King said...

Gorgeous photos, Alan! The wren shot is excellent! Love the butterflies and dragonflies!

ShySongbird said...

Hi Alan, lovely photos as always. I particularly love the one of the Wren, really beautiful! The Duke of Burgundy is a beauty too, I have never seen one. The Orchids are very pretty also.

Martyn Wilson said...

Superb photos Alan, good to see your numbers building, keep plugging away.

Lasse said...

Excellent photos Alan, and the little Wren is not easy to catch on pictures, at least not for me :)

Rachel J said...

Great wren. Wow, nice Duke of Burgundy too! Great that you picked up turtle dove at Sissinghurst, sadly hasn't been one on the farm at the back of ours this year.

Joop Zand said...

Alan your pictures are really beautiful,
my compliments.

greetings and a nice evening, Joop

Rohrerbot said...

Your pictures as always are stunning.....the Yellowhammer is great. I love how clear all your shots are. Really nice clarity. Hope you have a great weekend!

ort said...

spectacular images of nature, but the Yellowhammer is my favorite
best regards

Helma said...

Hello Alan, what a beautiful photos you have posted here. A variable that is very beautiful color and clarity, and where many people enjoy. Very beautiful. Greetings, Helma

Jerry said...

Lovely pictures - reminds me of what a sunny day used to look like!!

Magia da Inês said...

❤♡
Olá!
Passei para admirar suas fotos.
Bela serie de clicks.
Bom domingo!
Boa semana!
Beijinhos.
Brasil.
•.¸¸✿⊱╮¸¸.•

Richard Smith said...

Hi Alan, superb wren, excellent images,I enjoy reading your blog, its a learning curve for me to, smashing !

Noushka said...

WOW!
What a great series of pics!
I love all dragons and butterflies!
I have never seen those orchids, great to discover them thanks to you!
Cheers!

Brian King said...

The wren shot is fantastic! So are the damselflies. They're beautiful!