Pearl Bordered Fritillary, Dunsford Woods

Monday 21st May was the last day of my holiday and an early start saw me heading off on the train to Exeter and then the bus to Steps Bridge and Dunsford Woods for a walk on a sunny and surprisingly hot day.

I had hoped to see wood warblers but was out of luck, they seem to be very scarce this year and I have probably now missed my chance of catching up with one this spring.

I did see some good birds though on my 3 hour wander through the woods with the highlights being a male great spotted woodpecker, 2 fledgling ravens flying over, songflighting siskins, singing pied flycatchers, a marsh tit, a dipper, a grey wagtail and a female goosander with just 1 fluffy duckling.

 Steps Bridge

 Dipper

 Goosander with Duckling

 Goosanders

Goosanders

There were plenty of insects around too and I spent a lot of time watching my footing as there were oil beetles and bloody nose beetles galore on the footpath. Broad bodied chasers were buzzing about and beautiful demoiselles were flitting about and brown silver line moths, speckled yellows and a common heath were also seen. Butterflies were very much in evidence with brimstone, peacock, speckled wood, large white, a wall brown, green veined white, orange tip and a holly blue noted but the highlight were the pearl bordered fritillaries fluttering about, a few nectaring on the flowers in the woodland glades and warming up in the sun and many more fluttering over the bracken slopes above the woods in the building heat of the day.

 Oil Beetle

 Oil Beetle

 Beautiful Demoiselle

 Broad Bodied Chaser

 Common Heath

 Common Heath

 Beautiful Demoiselle

 Peacock

 Wall

 Broad Bodied Chaser

 Broad Bodied Chaser

 Broad Bodied Chaser

Brown Silver Line

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Bluebells, yellow archangel and ramsons were all in full bloom with the heady smell of garlic from the ramsons being very noticeable and I found a few early purple orchids too.

 Bluebells

 Yellow Archangel

 Yellow Archangel

Early Purple Orchid

I caught the bus back to Exeter at 12:30 and it had become incredibly hot in the sunshine and so I decided to jump off the train at Dawlish Warren on the way back to Plymouth for a quick look around. It was bakingly hot by now and a look for sand lizards along the dune ridge only gave me my usual brief view of a lizard species scuttling across the sand into cover as I think it was too hot even for them. I found the lone green winged orchid again in the same spot as last year but it had gone over but there were plenty of southern marsh orchids beginning to flower.

 Dawlish Warren Dunes

 Grass Sp.

Southern Marsh Orchid

Bird wise it was quiet with a Canada goose, 2 little grebes and a pair of moorhen with 2 chicks on the main pond with chuntering reed warblers in the reeds, an immature male eider and a few gannets offshore with 2 Sandwich terns, oystercatchers and shelduck in the estuary and linnets and a skylark in the dunes.

A few butterflies were on the wing including 2 small copper and a lovely male common blue, my first of the year.

Common Blue

The heat eventually got the better of me and I headed home to Plymouth on the train, having had a great day out despite dipping on the wood warblers.

Lakenheath Fen and Fowlmere

Wednesday 16th May and after visiting antiques shops and meeting up with my Aunty Maureen for a coffee we headed off to RSPB Lakenheath Fen for a walk. On the drive there I saw a brief flyby turtle dove which was a nice surprise and 2 red legged partridge crossing the road in front of us but unfortunately the weather was grey and cold with a strong breeze and so Mum and David stayed in the visitors centre while I headed off for a quick whizz around the reserve.

I walked out to the Joist Fen Viewpoint where common cranes are often seen but I was out of luck today but I did see a pair of tufted duck, 2 pairs of marsh harriers, 2 oystercatchers, chuntering reed warblers, swifts, swallows, house martins and 6 distant common terns. At least 5 hobbies were dashing around the reed beds catching insects despite the chilly breeze with 1 bird perching up in a tree right by the footpath and making sorties right over my head - I thought it may have been curious about me but more likely it was catching insects I was disturbing from the footpath as I was walking along but I had some amazing views of it.

 Hobby, Lakenheath Fen

 Hobby

 Hobby

 Hobby

 Hobby

Back at the visitors centre I had a closer view of a common tern flying over a lake and a flyby cuckoo along with a kingfisher and a stoat, both of which Mum and David had been watching while drinking hot chocolates.

Kingfisher

Thursday 17th May and it was time to head off to Aylesbury for the night. Along the way David visited the Imperial War Museum at Duxford for a few hours after dropping me off first at nearby RSPB Fowlmere, somewhere I haven't visited before. Fowlmere was originally a water cress farm centred on a natural spring but was taken over by the RSPB and made into a reed bed. A footpath through woodland circled the reed bed with 2 hides giving views over the reeds and another hide overlooking a tree lined pool and it was a very pleasant walk in sunny but breezy conditions.

Warblers were seen and heard - willow, Cettis, reed and sedge warblers and whitethroat, chiffchaff and blackcap - with greylag goose, a spotted flycatcher, a little grebe with a chick, 2 hobbies dashing around over the reeds, a male marsh harrier quartering over the reed bed ( a pair are nesting here this year) and a red kite flying over being mobbed by a carrion crow also being seen. There was no sight or sound of any turtle doves despite 2 pairs breeding here this year but I did flush a red legged partridge from the surrounding fields as well as startling a muntjac deer and a small herd of fallow deer. A burnet companion was a surprise find and holly blue, orange tip, brimstone, peacock, speckled wood and green veined white were also noted along with a male broad bodied chased, hairy dragonfly, large red damselfly and blue damselfly species.

 Muntjac Deer, Fowlmere

 Burnet Companion

 Large Red Damselfly

 Blue Damselfly

Hairy Dragonfly

While waiting for David to come and pick me up I wandered along the reserve entrance road and spooked a pair of red legged partridge which flew off over the fields. Even better was a male corn bunting which flew in and landed on a bush very close by, singing for a short time before flying off - I had seen 2 birds perched on telegraph wires on the drive to the reserve but was very pleased to get a much better view of one.

Corn Bunting

David duly arrived and had found an angleshades in the back of the car which I photographed before releasing into the hedgerow and we drove on to Aylesbury, seeing red kites soaring over the town buildings as we arrived at our hotel.

Angleshades

We stayed at The Bell, a Wetherspoons hotel which was actually very nice but it was a little strange eating breakfast by the bar while various assorted gentleman knocked back pints at 9 o'clock in the morning. After breakfast we drove to Waddeson Manor, a National Trust house and estate once owned by the Rothschilds that David wanted to visit. The grounds and gardens and house looked stunning in the beautiful sunshine but the house interior, while interesting, was for me a little soulless and staged. 

Waddeson Manor

Red kites were regularly seen soaring overhead as we wandered around the garden and I also saw holly blues, mistle thrushes and a "singing" spotted flycatcher high in a copper beech tree.

 Red Kite

 Red Kite

Red Kite

The drive back to Devon was ok with a traffic snarl around Oxford made more bearable by watching red kites flying over and 2 hares in a field and we eventually arrived back in Plymouth having had a great time away.

Caspian Gull at Minsmere

Sunday 13th May and it was off on the long drive to Suffolk for a few days away visiting family and doing a bit of birding. The journey was uneventful with the usual road kill seen along the way - roe deer, fox, pheasent, badger, rabbit, hedgehog, woodpigeon, muntjac deer, etc. - but more pleasant fare were swifts overhead, brimstones fluttering along the verges, a red legged partridge in a field along the A303 and 3 red kites (1 over the M3 and 2 together over the M25).

Monday 14th May and we visited the National Trust house and gardens at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge with Mum and cousin Claire who was celebrating her birthday. We visited Anglesey Abbey a few years ago on a winters day when we only saw a small part of the gardens and a few rooms in the house and so it was nice to revisit for a better look around.

The wildflower meadow in the house grounds was full of cowslips while the surrounding woods held a few holly blues, my first of the year. 2 muntjac deer were as surprised to see us as we were to see them as they ran across the footpath in front of us before disappearing into the trees giving a dog like bark as they went.

 Cowslip, Anglesey Abbey

 Holly Blue

Fungus Sp.

Tuesday 15th May and I managed to wangle a day at Minsmere, well 3 and a half hours anyway. David dropped me off at the reserves reception at 11:30, a little later than I had hoped for, and I was picked up at 3pm but I made the most of my short time and enjoyed some great birding.

I began my walk along the North Wall to the East Hide, seeing sand martins hawking overhead and hearing reed warblers chuntering in the reeds on the way. At the East Hide 2 green hairstreaks were flitting about in the trees by the path, looking stunning in the bright sunshine but chilly wind and creating quite a bit of interest from passers by.

Green Hairstreak, Minsmere

A cacophony of sound from the nesting black headed gulls on the scrape greeted me as I sat in the East hide scanning around. Waders present were a female ruff, avocets, black tailed godwits, a common sandpiper, redshanks, lapwings, a ringed plover and 3 dunlin with gadwall, shelduck and shoveler representing the ducks. Kittiwake, black headed gulls, Mediterranean gulls looking stonking in the sunshine with jet black heads, bright red bills and ghostly white bodies, lesser black backed gulls, greater black backed gulls and herring gulls were noted but there was no sign of the reported little gull. Common terns were flying around with 3 little terns also seen - a pair with the male busily catching fish to feed to the female resting nearby with both birds vigorously chasing off another passing bird.

The Scrape, Minsmere

Black Tailed Godwit

Avocet

Redshank

Gadwall

Common Tern

Common Tern

Common Tern

Little Tern

The highlight was a 1st summer Caspian gull which was flying around and resting on the islands, a striking bird but not as much as the 2 other birds I have seen in the past and with a smaller looking bill. It kept to itself and lesser black backed gulls nearby kept out of its way when it came near to them before I lost track of it amongst all the birds flying around.

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Carrying on around the Scrape to the South and West hides added a flyover grey plover, a bar tailed godwit, 5 knot, 2 turnstone and 2 oystercatcher to the wader tally and mallard, a male teal and a male wigeon to the duck list along with greylag, Canada and barnacle geese and 4 Sandwich tern.

From the Island Mere hide 5 hobbies were dashing around catching insects and 2 singing sedge warblers showed very well from bushes amongst the reeds. Also seen were 2 pairs of marsh harrier flying over the reed bed, a good view of a flyby bittern before it landed in cover and a few brief flight views of pinging bearded tits over the reed tops before it was time to head back to the reception for my lift home.

Sedge warbler

I could have done with more time but it had been a very productive visit with a small copper, a calling cuckoo, sticklebacks, hairy dragonfly, large red damselfly and ant lion larva devouring hapless insects in their sand pit traps adding to the great sightings of the day.

Small Copper

Pheasent

Pheasent