Paul's Birding Diary

Friday 27th - Sunday 29th July 2012 The adult Long-billed Dowitcher at WWT Slimbridge I made a third visit to WWT Slimbridge for the LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER on Friday afternoon, hoping to see it more active than it was last Sunday and on Tuesday evening. It was asleep again most of the time, but thankfully did perk up for a few minutes, long enough to get some half-decent photos at least. The Dowitcher in the company of Redshanks and Black-tailed Godwits Having a scratch On Saturday, news of a PURPLE HERON had me heading for Coombe Hill Meadows. By the time I was able to get there after earlier duties, it had become quite elusive. Although mainly concealed, somewhat distantly amongst vegetation, it did make regular short flights providing nice views of this juvenile bird. Purple Heron - barely a record shot! Below is a few photos from a sensitive forest site, where I connected with two male RED-VEINED DARTERS along with an Emporer, a Four-spotted Chaser and severa...

Sunday 22nd July 2012 Purple Emperor - it floated down as some horse riders went by, and landed right beside the path - this was a  female - larger than the male and it certainly looked huge Mark and I had an excellent time at Oversley Wood, Warwickshire, this morning looking for butterflies. In all we had one PURPLE EMPEROR , six White Admirals , 4+ Purple Hairstreaks , 10+ Silver-washed Fritillaries , a Marbled White , a Large Skipper , a Small Skipper , three Red Admirals , two Green-veined Whites , 1+ Small Whites , 1+ Large Whites , three Meadow Browns and many many Ringlets . There were also a few hawker dragonflies; one I saw perched was a Southern Hawker . This White Admiral was very obliging, perching nicely in the sun White Admiral - fantastic insects - I became mesmerised watching them glide around us Another shot of the exquisite underwing of the White Admira Male Purple Hairstreak The Purple Hairstreak crawled around in the mud for some time ...

Friday 13th - Sunday 15th July 2012 Lulworth Skipper on Marjoram, Corfe Castle I spent a long weekend in Dorset with Linda staying in Swanage, and although the weather wasn't brilliant, we did get some reasonably bright, even sunny spells. On Friday we visited Lulworth Cove. The well worn popular path to Durdle Dor produced just one butterfly in rather breezy conditions, but it was a good one - a LULWORTH SKIPPER . Clinging on to a thistle flower, it didn't want to go anywhere and was still there on the return walk! I also year-ticked Stonechat  here too. Lulworth Skipper, near Durdle Dor The Lulworth was almost getting blown off its Thistle Photography was a challenge in the wind, but a fast shutter speed brought order to the photos! On Saturday we took the Swanage Railway to Corfe Castle where a Spotted Flycatcher  was hawking insects near the path between the village and the visitor centre. At the centre car park, the sun came out for 10 minutes, just long...

Saturday 7th July 2012 Musk Orchid, a scarce species nationally I tried Wardens Wood first off this morning for Gropper, without success, but Willow Warbler , Blackcap , Whitethroat , Lesser Whitethroat , Tree Pipit , Yellowhammer and Linnet were all in fine song. This was just a stop-off on the way to the northern end of Cleeve Common looking for Musk Orchids , which I located above the wash-pool. I am grateful to Ian Ralphs for his directions as these small orchids with their yellow-green flowers are easy to overlook. Once I got my eye in I found a good number here and also near the top of the opposite spur. The only butterflies were two Ringlets and two Small Heaths . A close-up of the tiny flowers - you have to get your nose close to take in the sweet scent The flower spikes are only a few inches high The stony slopes above the wash-pool Another musk - the nodding flowers of Musk Thistle The attractive flowers of Viper's Bugloss decorate the quarry ca...