Awesome Butterflies

After reading Zac's blog post about his trip to Arnside Knott and Warton Crag on Tuesday (see here) where he saw 23 Butterfly species I couldn't resist a trip back up there so I asked Ash and Aaron if they wanted to come along and they willingly agreed. The weather forecast was for brightening conditions as the day progressed although the temperatures wouldn't be great, only around 16 degrees which could put the dampeners on seeing many species. We arrived at Warton Crag around 12:30 and set off up the right hand side of the crag where we quickly added Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small White to the day list but after this it was pretty quiet till we came out onto a steep incline surrounded by short grass and bramble patches. Here we saw several Peacocks, Red Admiral and a female Common Blue which briefly tricked us into being a Northern Brown Argus! Zac had told me about a meadow after a path through the woods where he had seen most of his species, so we were looking for this however had no idea where it was. We walked around for about half an hour in search of what we had dubbed "The Fabled Meadow of Warton" as we completely failed to find it and followed a path back down to the bottom of the crag that actually brought us about a mile along the road from the car park! The walk back produced Green Veined White and Large White, and when we got back to the car park my dad pointed out a Grayling on the path. Whilst watching both of the resident Peregrines flying around in the company of a Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and 2 Ravens I rang Zac and got directions to the meadow we were looking for, so a quick drive down the road and a short walk up the hill found us walking out into a clearing that looked perfect for butterflies. Despite the forecast being for only 16 degrees after walking up some pretty steep sections for over 2 hours we were boiling and the temperature was actually creeping over 20 degrees which had a dramatic effect on the number of butterflies flying around. We met a guy going a butterfly survey who told us there were several Brimstones around and whilst Ash spoke to him me and Aaron spotted this stunning Small Copper that gave brilliant views, only my second ever and definately one of my favourite species!

Speaking to the guy he pointed out a very worn High Brown Fritillary that flew past us and also several Gatekeepers in the area. I spotted what looked like a very worn Ringlet however he said he had never seen one up there so that made me doubt that I had seen one. He pointed out an area that was good for Brimstone so Ash went and had a look whilst me and Aaron stayed where we were. Whilst chasing a small brown butterfly I felt my phone ringing and new it would be Ash and sure enough he said he had just found a Brimstone so we ran to where he was and was greeted by a gorgeous male that was so much brighter than I was expecting, a brilliant yellow colour. It was so close that it was hard to photograph especially with the glaring sunshine, and whilst we were watching this I spotted a fresh Ringlet flying behind us that eventually landed on Aaron's hand! We added Small Skipper to the day list here and then headed off to Leighton Moss where we saw a juvenile Cuckoo (yeartick) from the Eric Morcambe Hide along with 3 Greenshank and a female Marsh Harrier which flew over.

After a quick stop off at the visitor centre to get a drink and look for Marsh Tit (unsuccessfully) we went to out final stop of the day, Arnside Knott where we hoped for Scotch Argus butterfly. Walking up the hill we saw a battered and then a pristine Dark Green Fritillary flying around before a dark butterfly caught our attention and after a brief chase it settled and allowed us to confirm it was a Scotch Argus, result! As it happened they were everywhere on the Knott and we must have had at least 75 in total, along with several Comma and a few more Graylings. So overall we got 18 species of Butterfly, 2 of which were new for Ash (Brimstone and Scotch Argus), 3 new for me (+Ringlet) and 4 new for Aaron (+Small Copper). I will post more photos tomorrow once I have sorted them out.

Mixed Bag of Birds

A Pectoral Sandpiper had been seen at Martin Mere for the past week although showing intermittently, so yesterday I went to take a look with my dad and also Ash and Aaron joined us as it would be a lifer for all of us. We went to the Infocus shop first to ask if anything had been seen and the guy who was working there told us that it hadn't been reported that day could still be around, however that he had just got a report off a birder that he had seen a Green Sandpiper that had a dark rump, which would point to a Solitary Sandpiper! He said it had been seen from the Hale hide so we headed there where there were 3 Green Sandpipers present which we watched for a while before they allowed us to see their white rumps, which was slightly disappointing to say the least.

We then headed to the Ron Barker Hide where the Pec Sand had been seen the most but on arrival a few guys already present told us there was no sign and it turned out to be the case for the whole day. However despite this there were plenty of good birds to see including great views of a Short Eared Owl that was patrolling the marshes behind the pools. Also from this hide were a pair of Ruff, a young bird that was pretty brown overall and a stonking male bird that was mainly white and black and was very striking. Other good waders here were a family party of 2 adult and 5 young Little Ringed Plovers and 4 Avocets that spent their time chasing everything around that came onto their patch of mud. After a while a ominous sheet of rain started to make its way towards us, swallowing up the view as it advanced till it reached us and unleashed a torrent that limited the view from the hide so much we gave up birding completely. It carried on for 45 minutes during which time we were stuck in the hide with a few other birders and got so bored I ended taking photos of the rain on the windows!Eventually the rain subsided so we headed to the other side of the reserve checking in each of the hides as we went. Between the wooden beams in some of the hides we found Peacock butterflies sheltering from the weather giving great views, and in the Harrier Hide we found a Small Tortoiseshell that landed on our hands for a while before eventually finding the windows. We also found loads of moth wings scattered over the floor of some of the hides, obviously some bird has been visiting them at night looking for food. In the United Utilities hide we found several that we could identify such as Drinker, Spectacle Yellow Underwings, Wainscots, Dark Arches and some Carpets. We also found 2 alive moths that had survived the attack, an as yet unidentified micro and a Copper Underwing. On the bird front it was pretty quiet apart from the Tawny Owl that was showing in the entrance of it's nest box near to the UU hide. On the way out we stopped to look at some of the captive species including one of my favourite of all, the Red Breasted Geese.

Rebuilding my Records

A slight glitch in my computer whilst saving my moth records database a few days ago resulted in it saving something else over the database instead meaning I lost all of my moth records and all my lists from the past 3 years. Luckily I send my monthly records off to Graham Jones at the Lancashire Moth Group each month so he was kindly able to send them me back and after lots of sorting through photos and other lists I have finally managed to complete it back to how it was previously. I have also managed to add species to my list including Gothic and Double Lobed a few nights ago, and have been catching several Large Yellow Underwings recently, one of the staple species at the moment.

Surprises on the Patch

My parents decided to go for a walk round Marton Mere yesterday afternoon so I joined them as I haven't been down recently and was interested to see what was around. There had been 3 Common Terns on the 30th however terns never stick around on the mere so I assumed they would have gone, so I was very surprised to see a single bird fishing around the west end when we arrived. We walked round to the Fylde Bird Club hide where Maurice was already set up and watching the other 2 terns on the wooden posts in front of the hide giving great views as they defended their perch from gulls that tried to land on it. This is only my second ever sighting of Common Tern on the mere following a single bird in 2006, and what was very interesting to see was that 2 of the birds were obviously a pair and on 3 occasions what we assume was the male passed a fish to the female and performed part of the courtship display. It is surely too late for them to try breeding now but maybe next year? Another good sighting was a Water Rail that scuttled in front of the hide between the areas of reed, a rare sight here in the summer and it is my first August record at the site, it was for Maurice as well.

Getting Repetitive

Recently the days are starting to seem rather repetitive in the terms of the insect and bird life I am seeing. Apart from occasional highlights it feels like I'm just seeing the same stuff over and over again. Today I did a brief seawatch off Rossall with the only birds seen at all were 3 distant terns (probably sarnie) and an even more distant Cormorant, so I changed tact and instead went to Fleetwood Nature Reserve to look for butterflies and dragonflies. I was hoping for Wall Brown butterfly but despite looking at plenty of brown butterflies that were present they were all Meadow Brown instead, so my search for Wall goes on. There were also plenty of Common Blues around however due to the warm weather they were only very occasionally landing and so I failed to get a photo. There were plenty of Common Blue Damselflies and also a pair of what looked like Broad Bodied Chasers appropriately chasing each other. There were plenty of gulls coming to bathe on the pools including a couple of huge Great Black Back Gulls, but these were about the best birds around so I headed home slightly disappointed with the lack of interesting species, but hopefully it will pick up a bit before I go away on the 8th.

Whats that Noise

This morning the local male Sparrowhawk was hunting around my garden, narrowly missing a juvenile Starling before sitting on the fence for a few minutes giving great views. Both of the adult birds have been visiting my garden recently and the surrounding area but I have never been able to find the nest site.

Well today whilst walking into Poulton I heard a high pitched cry coming from an area of trees next to the path, so I went in to investigate what was making the noise. After a short search I spotted a juvenile Sparrowhawk in the tree above me, and nearby a second juvenile was also sitting out in the open. They were very active flying around between different perches and different patches of trees, and I managed to spot the nest near to where they were favouring, although it looked empty now. The adult female bird came back for a short period with a prey item so I assume that the birds have only recently fledged. I'm really happy to have found the nest as I can now go back and watch them more closely, and hopefully try get a few shots as well.

Black Redstarts - Preston

On Sunday a local birder spotted a male Black Redstart in Preston town centre in similar area to where a pair bred last year, and yesterday Zac Hinchcliffe and Nick Patel found both male and female carrying food. So this evening I took a trip down to the area they have been seen in and after a short search found the female bird, which was quickly joined by one and then two recently fledged juveniles which were very vocal so easy to locate. This is only my third sighting of this species in Britain and my first decent views after a brief flight view of a bird at Fleetwood Docks in 2008, and similarly brief views of a male bird at Flamborough Head in 2009. Rubbish record shots as they remained pretty distant and the light wasn't great.