Paul's Birding Diary

Saturday 26th July 2008 A hot, sunny day with temperatures reaching 26 o C plus. I spent the morning at Slimbridge WWT , joining the morning Land Rover safari. The safari was excellent, and many thanks to Reserve Warden James Lees for making the experience so enjoyable. Highlights of the visit were: Martin Smith hide - A Snipe ; Robbie Garnett hide - Two Green Sandpipers and a Common Sandpiper ; Holden Tower - Two Green Sandpipers , two Common Sandpipers , a Little Ringed Plover , two Reed Warblers , a Stock Dove , eight T eal and two Foxes ; South Lake - 12 Redshanks , 11 Black-tailed Godwits , a male Ruff and a Sedge Warbler ; Land Rover Safari - Two Yellow-legged Gulls , nine Whimbrels , three Stock Doves , a Little Egret , a Grey Heron , two Common Sandpipers , a Skylark , a Hobby , two Kestrels , two Little Grebes , a singing male Linnet , two pairs of Common Terns with young, a Buzzard and many Curlew on the river, plus several species of dragonfly: Emperor Dragonfly , Bla...

Friday 25th July 2008 Cud Hill, off the B4073 between Upton St Leonards and Painswick, is a beautiful spot to spend an hour or two on a warm, sunny evening. Three male Yellowhammers were singing, and at least five were present in total this evening, plus the resident Kestrel . The scarp is very colourful at this time of year, thanks especially to the Field Scabious , Greater Knapweed and Spear Thistle . (Photos: Field Scabious, top, male Yellowhammer, below, view towards Painswick Beacon, bottom). This Small Blood-vein moth was in the house this evening (below) :

Sunday 20th July 2008 A diversion from birding today as I concentrated on butterflies in a survey for UKBMS in SO7713 around Clarke's Farm in Hardwicke. The results were as follows: - Butterflies: Large White 7 Small White 23 Green-veined White 8 (Photo above) Small Tortoiseshell 2 Comma 2 Gatekeeper 8 Meadow Brown 17 Ringlet 3 Moths: Yellow Shell 1 Dragonflies: Common Darter 1

Saturday 19th July 2008 The highlights of a morning's birding around Frampton-on-Severn with Andy and Mark were: Saul Warth: 10 Green Sandpipers , 50+ Dunlins , 30 Black-tailed Godwits , 18+ Redshanks , 24+ Lapwings , 140 Black-headed Gulls and a Hobby . Frampton: A Goshawk , a Hobby , a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel over Nebrow Hill , a female Tufted Duck with five young, a Kingfisher and two Common Terns on the the canal south of Splatt bridge and two Whinchats , a Little Grebe and two Common Terns on the WWT 100-acre viewed from Green Lane. Whinchat brings my county year list to 190.

Sunday 13th July 2008 At last, more like Summer! Sightings in Stank Lane, Ashleworth Ham, this morning included five Redstarts , including a recently-fledged juvenile (below) , three Chiffchaffs (second photo below) , a pair of Blackcaps , a Whitethroat , two pairs of Bullfinches and a Great Spotted Woodpecker , also up to eight male Green-veined White butterflies mud-puddling together (third photo below), a Southern Hawker dragonfly (above) and an Azure Damselfly . At Rodborough Common this afternoon I spotted three Skylarks (below) , two Meadow Pipits , and several species of butterfly including Green-veined White , Large Skipper , Ringlet , Small Tortoiseshell , Marbled White and Meadow Brown , also a Dark Bush-cricket ( Pholidoptera griseoaptera - middle photo below ) and lots of Pyramidal Orchids including a pure white specimen (bottom) .

Saturday 12th July 2008 Just a short visit to WWT Slimbridge this afternoon, as the showers diminished, and the first-summer Mediterranean Gull (above and below) was still on South Lake until 3:15pm, preening among the Black-headed Gulls . Also present were a Common Tern and two Oystercatchers .

Friday 11th July 2008 Another day of showers, some heavy. I carried out my final Bird Atlas TTV survey of the season this morning in SO81Y Brockworth, the two hour visit producing: Mallard 1 Sparrowhawk 1 Stock Dove 1 Woodpigeon 28 Collared Dove 5 Swift 10 Green Woodpecker 1 Grey Wagtail 2 Wren 13 Dunnock 9 Robin 7 Blackbird 27 Song Thrush 1 Blackcap 5 Whitethroat 4 Chiffchaff 3 Goldcrest 1 Long-tailed Tit 4 Blue Tit 8 Great Tit 10 Treecreeper 1 Jay 2 Magpie 12 Jackdaw 1 Carrion Crow 1 Starling 6 House Sparrow 25 Greenfinch 3 Goldfinch 3

Sunday 6th July 2008 Another day of dodging the showers, but the afternoon was very pleasant and a trip to Slimbridge WWT was rewarded with a Wood Sandpiper from the Holden Tower, also 10 Green Sandpipers , a Common Sandpiper , a Greenshank and two Little Ringed Plovers . Two Green Sandpipers and a Kingfisher were at Robbie Garnett hide and from Zeiss Hide three more Green Sandpipers , three Greenshanks and two Ruffs (a well-marked male and a reeve). (Photos, Wood Sandpiper top and and first three below, Green Sandpiper next and male Ruff bottom) BTO Atlas survey This morning, a two-hour BTO Atlas count in SO81D Hempstead produced 39 species: Little Egret 1 Grey Heron 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 Stock Dove 1 Woodpigeon 25 Collared Dove 4 Swift 25 Green Woodpecker 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 Skylark 3 Sand Martin 12 Swallow 3 House Martin 1 Pied Wagtail 1 Wren 8 Dunnock 9 Robin 9 Blackbird 8 Song Thrush 5 Sedge Warbler 1 Blackcap 3 Lesser Whitethroat 1 Whitethroat 3 Chiffchaff 4...

Saturday 5th July 2008 A two-hour count in SO81B this morning produced the following counts: Moorhen 3 Herring Gull 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 Woodpigeon 23 Collared Dove 7 Swift 12 Pied Wagtail 1 Skylark 2 House Martin 2 Swallow 5 Wren 15 Dunnock 2 Robin 20 Blackbird 54 Blackcap 6 Whitethroat 3 Chiffchaff 6 Long-tailed Tit 4 Blue Tit 1 Great Tit 4 Magpie 14 Jackdaw 3 Carrion Crow 14 Starling 29 House Sparrow 70 Chaffinch 4 Greenfinch 6 Goldfinch 2 Bulfinch 1 Also Pyramidal Orchids in flower along Naas Lane and in the field to the SW of the railway bridge. This afternoon at Prestbury Hill Butterfly Reserves, a walk around the Masts Extension before the rain set-in produced several each of Dark Green Fritillary (below) , Marbled White , Large Skipper (top) , Small Skipper , Ringlet , Meadow Brown , and also three Chimney Sweeper moths (bottom) . In the garden this evening, a juvenile Song Thrush capitalises on the abundance of snails in the rain and learns it's trade (below) ...

Thursday 3rd July 2008 A male Lesser Whitethroat (above) was singing again on the local patch this morning near the canal between Clearwater Drive and Highclere Road. Also a Whitethroat still and a Willow Warbler at the Clearwater Drive wetland.