The first half of my walk was largely unremarkable, I picked up 38 species in a little over two hours, but the tenth species on the list was a new one for July, a LESSER WHITETHROAT ( 49) it was quietly feeding in a tree along Ashes Lane.
The SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS in the College Grounds were observed for a while, to try to establish whether they have bred or not, but no fledgelings or food carrying was recorded.
The second part of my walk around the Wet Woods and Lakeside Scrub area, initially proved to be as quiet as yesterday, just 7 more species were added to the daylist, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, NUTHATCH, BULLFINCH, LONG TAILED TIT, TREECREPER, COAL TIT, and GOLDCREST. However, one of the best sightings of the day came in the form of a Butterfly when at least 4 Purple Hairstreaks were seen amongst the oaks in the scrub area, I love these little butterflies! The insect life got a bit more interesting than the bird life as it got hotter, both Four Spotted Chaser ( only my second on my patch) and Black Tailed Skimmer were seen. All these sightings took a back seat though, for as I walked the edge of the Wet Woods along Marchants Field, I noticed a black and white looking butterfly, I watched it flitting quite high up in an oak, and it eventually came to rest, revealing its identity to me - a White Admiral - Fantastic! Not just a patch tick, but a butterfly I have never seen before, a most unexpected visitor but most welcome one :-).
After getting a few photo's of it, I lost it in the canopy, and that was the last I saw of it, what a record. Just to make happier, as I crossed the Tree Nursery on the way home, I recorded another new bird for the July list, a SAND MARTIN (50), a family of SWALLOWS were giving it a hard time as it passed through on its way south - the Autumn migration starts as of now.
Below are the Photo's of the White Admiral, the best I could do as it was quite high up.
Below is a Purple Hairstreak - you'll see more pics of these, I love 'em
Below is my second ever Four Spotted Chaser for my patch
Lastly the Black tailed Skimmer
11 comments:
Warren ,
Well done indeed on the White Admiral , good to see a PH at last , and two good Odonata species too .
The insects fill in nicely at this time of year .
Warren,
Really envy you the White Admiral, no chance of one of those over here.
We've had your hair dryer here all day - hot with a near gale force wind.
Quite envious of the butterfly shots Warren, we don't seem to have as many over here yet - might have something to do with the concrete / landscaped gardens which are popping up all over the place :-(
Very nice shots and lovely site.Have followed yours and will add to my blog list. If you have time would be pleased if you could view mine sometime.Anthonyswildlifephotos.blogspot.com.Thanks
Anthony
More purple Hairstreak pics please - they are vindeed fine butterflies (not that I've ever seen one close up).
Yeh, well done with the White Admiral, Warren. I`m very envious of that one.
Cracking record and cracking shots of the White Admiral Warren, not at all easy to photograph. Let's hope Purple Emperor isn't too far behind!!
Excellent inverts Warren - 4spot came saw and conquered a few years ago but b-t skim is still a bit of a rarity up here. Totally envious of those butterflies
Lucky devil!
Cheers
Davo
Well done on all those Warren especially the White Admiral! I don't think I have ever seen one and I definitely haven't seen a PH.
Hi Warren never seen one of these butterflies are they rare? they are great shots.
Are you now fully conversant with all bird song?
A White Admiral! Never even heard of one before. You certainly get some great species in your area.
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