It Must Be Autumn

On Colyford Common this morning I saw this...

... it must therefore be Autumn. 

On Black Hole Marsh there were just six Common Sandpipers and a single Dunlin and on Stafford Marsh three Green Sandpipers, so nobody's told the waders yet.

Something Worth Blogging About

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't updated my blog for a week now, this has mainly been due to a week of full on hardcore housework, but also in some small part, a lack of anything to say. There have been a few new moths and a couple of interesting insects in the garden but that's about as exiting as it got. Well until yesterday that is, with all the housework done and no work either I was foot loose and fancy free. I decided to go over to the New Forest to look for Bog Orchid. I popped over to Bun's first and looked through the moth catch and then we set of for Hampshire at about 5.30. Why so early for a plant? You may be thinking (Steve). Well, it was simply to get to the New Forest and out again before the hoards of holidaymakers surfaced and the traffic built up. I had been given directions to a site for the Bog Orchids and we saw one within a couple of minutes of leaving the car, which was nice! If they were ( a lot) bigger we'd have been able to see them from the car! I didn't manage to get them on my blog yesterday though because I couldn't get a 'look in' on the computer. Martha has discovered that amazingly people are (via a certain auction site) prepared to part with actual money to get their hands on items of her discarded useless tat. Or quality collectibles if you prefer, I don't. Anyway I've got on it first this evening and so can delight you with photos of small green plants. If any of you don't like plants ( unthinkable though that is) keep reading on as there's a brilliant butterfly still to come.

This stick was marking one of the orchids, which is the teeny yellow thing about halfway between the stick and the left edge of the photo. To give a idea of scale the stick was about 30cm tall.

The diminutive and rather plain, but none the less lovely Bog Orchid.

The flowers show the typical orchid structure when seen up close.

I was also thrilled to see  loads of Sundews. 

I know they are pretty common in bogs but I don't spend a lot of time in bogs!!

I don't think I'd seen a Sundew for about 26 years!

Today I popped over the border to a site in Somerset to see something even nicer than a Bog Orchid ( if you can imagine such a thing). That something was a butterfly, the White Letter Hairstreak which would be a new butterfly species for me. The site I visited was simply superb and in the sweltering sun I counted no less than eighteen species of butterfly! I saw three different individuals of WLH each of which I was able to photograph, they were all looking a bit 'battered around the corners' and past their prime but I'm not complaining, I know how they feel!

Although this third one had lost a big piece from the forewing it had a full compliment of 'tails'.

In case you don't know why it's called the White Letter Hairstreak, it's due to the white line on the hindwing resembling the letter W. 

I mentioned at the start of this post that there have been a few new moths this week, these were Small Rivulet, Tawny-barred Angle ( both too worn to warrant a photo) and Yellow Shell.

Yellow Shell

I also photographed a few more micros

 

Meal Moth

This moth is usually only found in and around buildings where grain is stored. Goes to show how much bird food Bun has stashed around the place!

Agapeta zoegana

Aethes rubigana

Finally, just a couple of miscellaneous photos from this week. Firstly, while I was slaving away in front of the kitchen sink I noticed something peeking over the top of the garden fence in front of the window, it was this splendid set of antennae, I knew who they belonged to.

And these two photos from Bun's garden. They aren't the clearest photos because I had to take them through glass.

Feathers maketh the Robin, No?

Anyone fancy a stroke?

White-tailed Lapwing....At Last!

Last weekend when I dipped the White-tailed Lapwing at Slimbridge I thought that was it, I'd never see it....unless... if by some miracle it stayed at Dungeness until Sunday, because on Sunday my beloved children and one of their friends were going to the London Film and Comic Con at Earls Court. Rob and I were going to drive them as far as Hounslow from where they would take the tube the rest of the way. We hadn't  yet planned on going anywhere for the eight hours or so that they would be at the convention, so (if the bird was still there) Dungeness it was. Once I'd received the news from Bun that the bird was still present on the ARC Pit we continued on to Dungeness, only another couple of hours driving. Rob was thrilled! I had read on Birdforum that over the last couple of days the bird had been distant, I wasn't put off by this though. I wouldn't have cared if it was so distant I needed the Hubble Space Telescope to see it!! As it happens it wasn't distant at all, just further away than it had been and subsequently a 'bit distant' for photographs. It showed well at times but was often lost in the thick vegetation. Not looking directly into the sun would have helped too but I can't complain with the views I got. A superb bird, well worth the effort in the end. We spent around an hour and a half on Denge Marsh Road but weren't lucky enough to see the Purple Heron. We did see the Great White Egret, several times and enjoyed watching a female Marsh Harrier hunting over the marsh for some time. I suppose we should have given it a bit longer but left early to be back at Hounslow in plenty of time to pick up the kids.

Rob Woolley: An extremely rare sight on my blog (can usually be seen out at sea somewhere).

Rob is rubbish at twitching and thinks that after driving for five hours there will ample time for a 

coffee and cigarette before we look for the bird. Wrong! I left him to it and hotfooted it down the track to the ARC pit pronto.
( If you are a fervent environmentalist and have spotted that our Land Rover is the Petrol V8 version, well fear not, it has been converted to run on LPG, thank goodness!) 

The 'most beautiful' ARC Pit.

Another scenic shot.

 The ARC Pit is over the bank to the right. In the extreme distance you can see the assembled birders.

My two 'better' efforts. 

The Art Deco Hounslow West tube station, the nicest thing I spotted in Hounslow.

The Hounslow West tube station carpark. Thrilling eh?

We spent over two hours here waiting for the return of the 'young adults'. The plane in the background was a constant feature. I donned my best anorak and timed their arrival, they came in at one every 90 seconds! 

Bun had the moth trap running last night and it caught another two new moths for the garden, those being

Scarce Silver Lines. Very nice too!

Devonshire Wainscot. A scarce local speciality moth.

There were also a couple of these beasts, not new but I can't get enough of the Four-spotted Footman.

I love those electric blue legs!

Next,  just to show I'm open to requests, a couple more micros especially for Dean ;-)

Garden Pebble

Garden Grass Veneer: Chrysoteuchia culmella 

This afternoon I went to Trinity Hill Woods to see if I could see any Silver-washed Fritillaries, there were at least two males on the wing along with lots of Ringlets, and Small Skippers. 

A few other Invertebrates

Strangalia maculata

Oedemera nobilis

Volucella pellucens

Drone Fly: Eristalis tenax