Earlswood Ternage

Common Sandpiper

Common Tern

Common Tern

Clearly bossing the water marker

Great Crested Grebes

Common Tern

Grey Heron

On Monday, I wanted to try a few flight shots on the camera and there is no better species to try and captures than a Tern so I thought Earlswood would be a good idea. It seemed like everyone else had the same thought (perhaps not for tern photography) as it was packed with people.

In truth the camera seemed to struggle with the birds in flight especially when there was any sort of background. I'm going to do an article on the P900 is coming weeks covering the benefits and areas that can be improved upon.  

Sightings included my first Common Sandpiper of the year, 6 Common Tern, a Little Egret & many great Great Crested Grebe.

Wood Whites emerge at Grafton Wood

Wood White

Beautiful Demoiselle

Wood White

Broad bodied Chaser

Peacock

Wood White

Wood White

My final stop of the weekend was a walk along the public footpaths with Mrs D at Grafton Wood which is only fifteen minutes from home to see if the Wood White had emerged. No dangers on this front as we saw over 20 without a good deal on searching. All credit to the amazing team of volunteers that work tirelessly at this wood all year round.

Duke of Burgundy at Rodborough Common

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

I love this pic

Duke of Burgundy

Green Hairstreak

Adonis Blue

Rodborough Common

Nice views towards Slimbridge

Part two of our jolly to Gloucestershire was Rodborough Common, some stunning open space with beautiful views. Ready for lunch, we sat down and tucked into our snacks out of the wind. Once again Dave had taken me to an amazing hotspot. A Green Hairstreak was the first butterfly we saw then my 44th UK lifer when four Duke of Burgundy emerged. The Dukes were smaller than I expected but certainly did not disappoint. To round up the day, Dave found an early Adonis Blue. Whilst we saw the butterfly in flight, he won't pose with wings open as the temperature had dropped.

A absolutley cracking day out, many thanks to Dave & Sue who led the way around enabling some fantastic views of two species I'd never seen before. Very grateful.

Marsh Fritillarys at Strawberry Fields

Marsh Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary

Just the start of the walk with Sue & Dave leading

Dingy Skipper

Small Blue

Small Blue

Starting point (this takes some finding)

The Strawberry Bank

When I first started to look at Butterfly guides the Marsh Fritillary was definate top three on my most wanted list. The butterfly is a stunner and has a 'under threat' status in the UK. To see this beauty I would have to head to Strawberry Banks in Gloucestershire. It was great that Butterfly Dave could join me with his wife Sue for the day to show me the area. This was Dave's first outing after his health scare, he could have certainly picked an easier place to get to and walk, thats for sure. There is no signage and very narrow roads so I was very grateful I was following Dave & Sue. 

Once parked we made the ski slope decent down to the reserve. How anyone finds this without being with someone I will never know. The temperature had dropped and it took us around 15 minutes until we found our first couple of Marsh Fritillarys buried in the grass. It took another 20 minutes before any took flight and then more emerged every minute providing us with a feast of opportunites to get some pleasing photos.

In addition we recorded small number of Small Blues & large numbers of Dingy Skippers. 

Studley Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

 

Spotted Flycatcher

Grasshopper Warbler

Spring views

Studley Castle

Young Roe Deer

"I think I've got a Flycatcher", now that's a text I like to see on our local sightings group. This was quickly confirmed as a Spotted Flycatcher in the south grounds of Studle Castle. 

With the Castle closed due to COVID-19 we all managed to get up and enjoy the bird at close quarters.  Studley is having a fine year with 88 species recorded in a small area. The Grasshopper Warbler is also still present within a couple of miles. It was great find by Mark Clarke who had never seen the species before.

Similar story at the pits

Testing flight shots on camera

 

First cygnets

Thundering Ditch Cuckoo

Feckenham Jackdaw

Swift over main pit

Common Blue

Thundering Ditch

Oystercatchers

A pretty quiet week at the pits. There have been plenty of visits between us all. Mark observed the Yellow Wagtails which was a nice sighting as they have not been seen often with the change in habitat. Below are Jon's full counts from Sunday which is pretty consistent with most days.

8 pairs of Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 2 Grey Herons, 10 Mute Swan (including one nest and one brood), 54 Greylags, 79 Canada Geese (plus one brood), 13 Gadwall, 105 Mallard (plus 7 broods), 93 Tufted Duck (same as my last count on March 8th!), 1 Red Kite, 1 Sparrowhawk, 10 Buzzards, pair of Oystercatchers, 2 pairs of Little Ringed Plovers, pair of LBB Gulls, 4 (two males and two females) Cuckoos, 250 Swifts, 50 House Martin, 20 Sand Martin, two Green Woodpecker territories in area, male Wheatear , 1 Raven, 1 white-winged crow (seems to have moved up from the village. Counts of territory singing birds included 4 Song Thrush, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Sedge Warbler, 35-40 Reed Warbler, 8 Common Whitethroat (no Lessers), 11 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 3 Goldcrest and 12 Reed Bunting.

I'm trying to mix up my days at the pits with other local spots. I've visited Feckenham a couple of times a week and today I recorded yet another Cuckoo at Thundering Ditch.