Paul's Birding Diary

Sunday 25th July 2010 At Slade Bottom, near St. Briavels, today, a Spotted Flycatcher was at SO564055. The main interest though was the butterflies including two White-letter Hairstreaks (above) , a Silver-washed Fritillary , a Red Admiral , 5+ Peacocks , 4+ Commas , two Common Blues and many Green-veined and Small Whites . Later at Great Doward, near Symonds Yat East in Herefordshire, a Golden-ringed Dragonfly was hawking in a private garden.

Saturday 17th July 2010 This female Silver-washed Fritillary (above) at Cannop posed nicely basking in the sun for me, the males were a lot more flighty (below, near Lightmoor Colliery) ; I saw about six in total around the Cannop and Yewtreebrake Inclosure areas. Other butterflies seen were Marbled White , Meadow Brown , Gatekeeper , Speckled Wood and Large Skipper . Birds of note included an adult and three juvenile Green Woodpeckers at Cannop (below) , a family of Tree Pipits at Gorsey Tump, two Siskins at Lightmoor, and two pairs of Ravens . Below: Mandarin at Cannop Ponds

Saturday 10th July 2010 After initially disappointing many who had travelled from far and near, the WHITE-TAILED LAPWING re-appeared at 9.00am this morning when it dropped into the Holden Tower pool (above) after a brief appearance on the Tack Piece. There was only half a dozen of us in the Holden Tower when it appeared, but as news spread, it quickly became standing room only. It stayed there until 9.20am giving much closer views than yesterday , before it headed back to its favourite spot on the Top New Piece, giving nice flight views. More photos:

Friday 9th July 2010 I got good views of the WHITE-TAILED LAPWING at Slimbridge this afternoon, showing well from the Zeiss Hide (above and below) , what a cracking bird! I'd already had a good afternoon in the forest, with a Firecrest at Lightmoor (below) , three Black-tailed Skimmers and Common Blue , Blue-tailed and Azure Damselflies on the ponds nearby, and three Golden-ringed Dragonflies on the Cannop Brook. Three Silver-washed Fritillaries were also in the area.

Saturday 3rd July 2010 The morning's excursion with Mark started off with at least three Turtle Doves at Ruardean Hill at Ruardeanhill Plantation, plus a Willow Tit . Next, the highlights of my late breeding TTV at Redbrook, SO51F, were a pair of Wood Warblers with recently-fledged young in tow, a family party of Marsh Tits , a Dipper on the River Wye and several Banded Demoiselles . We rounded the morning off at Lightmoor Colliery in the forest looking for Firecrest, unsuccessfully, but did note a Wood Warbler , which was singing, and a Golden-ringed Dragonfly (photo above ) and three Silver-washed Fritillaries .

Saturday 26th June 2010 A SCARCE CHASER (above) was the highlight of the afternoon Land Rover safari at Slimbridge WWT today. This was a slightly tatty though not fully mature male, and was seen over the salt marsh near the sea wall. Another probable was seen a bit further towards Middle point. In 29 o C temperatures it was very quiet on the bird front so the main interest was the Odonata. Other dragonflies seen were Brown Hawker , Emperor , Black-tailed Skimmer and Ruddy Darter plus numerous Azure Damselflies . Shoals of spawning Roach in the entrance rhyne were also impressive.

Thursday 10th - Saturday 12th June 2010 Swallowtail, How Hill I spent a few days in East Anglia last week, with two nights camping at Yaxham, near Dereham. The location of the campsite was chosen for being roughly equidistant between Lakenheath Fen RSPB reserve, and the Norfolk Broads; the trip being primarily to see Golden Oriole and Swallowtail respectively. In terms of those two species, my success rate was 75% - i.e. I didn't actually see an Oriole, they were just too elusive, but I did hear one in full song, that was magical in itself. The Swallowtail butterflies were superb and much more cooperative. Here are the highlights of the trip: Thursday 10th Mainly cloudy and breezy. Lakenheath Fen RSPB Reserve c2:30pm-5:00pm 6+ Marsh Harriers , two Bitterns - one booming and another in flight, three Cuckoos , c15 Reed Warblers , three Sedge Warblers , a Cett's Warbler , five Reed Buntings and, eventually, 1-2 GOLDEN ORIOLES calling from the western Poplar plantation but not ...