Tuesday 3 May 2011

I spent a pleasurable couple of hours over at the Lakes and Scrubby Woods this afternoon after work, mainly to try and find the 3 bird species that should already be on the May list, but have been very elusive, they being Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Coal Tit, I also wanted to see if any Garden warblers had arrived.

Upon reaching the woods, I saw something go scurrying past me, and saw that it was a Stoat carrying one of it's young, thinking it was probably relocating the whole litter, I sat and waited, and sure enough over the next ten minutes I saw it take 3 more young ones to a new whole, each time it managed to speed past me with the camera poised!

I checked out the lakes first, and found 14 CANADA GEESE, the family of 5 was now reduced to 4, I would be surprised if any more than two make it to adult hood. I also scanned the reedmace where the COOTS are nesting, for any sign of young, but none yet, just one adult was seen, apart from 2 MOORHEN and a pair of MALLARD that was it for the water.

In the Scrubby Woods, bird song was limited, but I heard CHIFFCHAFF, BLACKCAP, SONGTHRUSH, BLACKBIRD, WREN, ROBIN and CHAFFINCH, as well as TURTLE DOVE, of which 4 flew up from a clearing - quite a gathering for this species nowdays! I didn't find any of the target species though, the Garden Warbler may not arrive at all this year, just one pair bred here last year, and I may just have to be content with recording this species as an Autumn migrant :-(

I couldn't resist walking past the spot where the TAWNY OWLS were yesterday, they had of course moved, but I relocated one of the adult birds further in the woods - thats it below :-)


After 90 mins or so I moved off to check out the Tree Nursery, finding this Immature/female Blue Damselfly before I left, not sure what species it is, but Dean or Greenie will :-)



Just as I was exiting the Wet Woods to cross the field to the Tree Nursery, I heard the call, then the song of a TREECREEPER (56) so at least I did get one of the target species today!




In the Nursery the only bird of note was the KESTREL, which I watched successfully catch a vole. I spent more time chasing the Brown Argus butterflies that I found yesterday, and as promised here are the photo's of them, plus the other species I found.




Above and below a freshly emerged Brown Argus, looks like a male





Below is a Holly Blue





The last two photo's are of a Small Copper








19 comments:

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Warren, Nice selection of butterfly pics and another lovely Owl, great :-)

Anonymous said...

Warren, i think the Damselfly is a female Azure.

Warren Baker said...

Cheers Dean, I suspected so ;-)

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Have looked long and hard at your damselfly , and even after all that , would not put money on the species . It is impossible to see the markings on segments 1 & 2 , which doesn't help .
Like Dean , I think female Azure is a contender , the black abdomen being right for the green form of female which make up a very high percentage of the population , but the blue/black thorax should be green/black .
The dark form female Variable Damselfly would also come into the frame , but the blue/black not green/black thorax says no again .
On balance I would lean to female Azure , like Dean , but would remain uncommital on this one , sorry .
Now there's another iffy one on Phil's post .
Only had a female Wheatear whilst working up on the Greensand Ridge today .

Marc Heath said...

Lovely butterfly shots and you have got the Owl bug, it gets everyone in the end.

Phil said...

I'm very envious of your Stoats Warren. Pity you couldn't get a picture or two.

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

Crackin coppers there Warren

Cheers

Davo

FAB said...

Good selection of flutters Warren. I'll leave the 'experts' to battle over the damsel!

Jann said...

I just love the tawny owl shot, as well as the brown argus and copper, quite sharp.

Unknown said...

Love the Brown Argus photo Warren, I don't think that I have seen one before! I will be keeping my eyes peeled from now on.

Kah-Wai Lin said...

The owl looks cool!

Pete Woodruff said...

Some 'good stuff' here Warren, I'm particularly keen on the Azure Damselfly.

Mike H said...

Some nice shots today Warren particularly like the coppers.

Ken. said...

Hi Warren.
What a great shot of one of my favourite birds, the Tawny Owl. You did well locating it, also lovely shots of the Butterflies and Damsels. I would love to see a Stoat relocating with it's your, only ever seen it on television.Great day Warren.

Ipin said...

Nice collection of butterflies Warren! Better than my efforts trying to photograph Orange Tip this afternoon!

Kelly said...

Oh my gosh, Warren, the owl is fantastic, and the Brown Argus is so vibrant...the orange on the Copper is crazy! :-)

kirstallcreatures said...

Lovely set of pics Warren, what a super trip out. Lovely to see the Brown Argus and the Tawny Owl is always a welcome sighting. Linda

ShySongbird said...

Lovely butterfly photos Warren. Your Tawny Owl is very accommodating! I thought I had found an Owl yesterday but it turned out to be a very large bunch of old Ash keys :)

Nice encounter with the Stoats too.

Andy said...

Hi Warren

Interesting to read your daily accounts and to see the species list. I'm now regularly covering my patch with most of my visits since the beginning of March. My year to date list is in the low 90's but if you add ours together we are now in the combined region of 110 for the year, not bad for two patches within 3-4 miles of each other.

Cheers

Andy