Tuesday 6 July 2021

Local Wildlife Sightings July 2021

 New spikes of common spotted orchid (a very pale spike - see below) and pyramidal orchid were seen on The Heath near the trig. point, early in the month. A hummingbird hawkmoth was taking nectar from my red valerian plants on the 2nd. I didn't see any chalkhill blues until the 5th, when a couple of males were seen east of the Therfield Road. None were seen on Church Hill until the 9th, but I did find a pristine (and therefore very late) male first generation Adonis blue butterfly at the bottom of Church Hill on the 5th. I found some peacock butterfly caterpillars eating nettles near my house - photographing them makes a change from photographing butterflies!


Common Spotted Orchid (Very Pale Specimen), Therfield Heath, 1 July


Peacock Butterfly Caterpillar, Royston, 2 July


Male Chalkhill Blue, Therfield Heath, 5 July

Holidays took me away from The Heath for over a week. When I returned on the 18th, in the middle of a heatwave, numbers of chalkhill blues on Church Hill had dramatically increased with probably 125-150 males fluttering in quite a small area there and several females in the grass (which, due to the bizarre weather conditions that we have had this year, was much higher than usual). Small and Essex skippers and gatekeeper butterflies were all on the wing now and I saw three male silver-washed fritillaries (the latest butterfly species to adopt The Heath as its home) in Fox Covert and Jubilee Wood. Small numbers of second generation brown argus butterflies were also on the wing. The only one of the 29 species that was left to be recorded on The Heath was the migrant clouded yellow, which I don't see every year. Incidentally, two colonies of small blue butterflies have been found on private land in the Royston area this summer by Butterfly Conservation members. If only they could spread on to Therfield Heath, this would make a nice round total of 30!


Female (top) and Male Chalkhill Blues, Church Hill, 21 July

Away from The Heath I found silver-washed fritillaries both at Rokey Wood (Reed) and at Scales Park, near Anstey. In the latter woodland I was lucky to see a female laying eggs on a tree trunk, presumably close to patches of the food plants (violets), as well as the spectacular duetting courtship flight of a male and female, up and down one of the woodland rides. I also found white-letter hairstreaks flying above an elm tree close to my house and purple hairstreaks at a new site between Reed and Barkway.

Moths and Dragonflies
I have taken an interest in finding and photographing day-flying moths, for possible inclusion in a Royal Photographic Society panel that I'm working on. July and August are the best months for finding these mini-beasts, but photographing most of them is far from easy as they like burying themselves away in the long grass. However, some like to nectar on the profusion of field scabious and knapweed flowers that are at their peak in July and one species, the brassy longhorn, is entirely dependent on the former plant and is surprisingly common in the Royston area. Six-spotted burnet moths were very common on my local wild flower meadow, with up to three being seen on each field scabious flower head, and I was also able to photograph dusky sallow and brown line bright-eye moths on knapweed heads.


Brassy Longhorn (Micro-) Moth on Field Scabious, Royston, 21 July


Six-spot Burnet Moth on Field Scabious, Royston, 23 July


Dusky Sallow Moth on Knapweed, Royston, 23 July

Dragonflies are far from numerous in the Royston area, mainly down to the almost complete lack of water here. However, in the second half of July I saw azure damselfly, migrant hawker, southern hawker, emperor and common darter dragonflies - all on or within half a mile of The Heath.

Things were very quiet on the bird watching front. There was no sign of spotted flycatchers in the woodland on The Heath, and therefore no evidence that any young had fledged. The begging calls of young buzzards were heard in several places and whilst I was at Scales Park I was left in no doubt by the resident red kites that I was very close to their nest site. Tawny owls could be regularly heard from the house, hooting or calling at night, and one was also heard in woodland in Reed, during the afternoon. Three little grebes (two adults and a juvenile) were on Mardleybury Lake on the 28th, providing evidence for successful breeding again here.









UK Wildlife Sightings July 2021

 I visited Hockley Woods, near Rayleigh in Essex, on the 2nd. My target was heath fritillary butterflies, a species that I have previously seen only at Blean Woods in Kent. However, the introduced colony is a shorter (80 minute) drive from Royston and I don't have to go through the Dartford Tunnel to see them! I reckon that I saw 35 to 40 heath fritillaries, as well as at least five silver-washed fritillaries. Whilst trying to photograph a heath fritillary I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a very large butterfly with a pronounced white band across its wing, make a short flight high between trees - a purple emperor! Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get a photo. Whilst in Essex I took the opportunity to nip up to Abberton Reservoir, where I was able to add red-necked grebe (in summer plumage, but sadly too far away to be photographed) and a female ruddy shelduck to my UK year list.


Heath Fritillary, Hockley Wood (Essex), 2 July


Ruddy Shelduck, Abberton Reservoir, 2 July

In the early evening of the 5th I visited Balls Wood near Hertford, looking for white admiral butterflies. Unfortunately the weather was deteriorating as I drove there and, although white admirals had been seen earlier in the day, I saw very few butterflies and no white admirals. However, I always look around the ponds that lie between the wood and Hertford Heath, where I park, and I was able to find and photograph a single darter dragonfly - my first of the year. Examination of the photos revealed it to be an immature female common darter and not a red-veined darter - a rarity, which I had photographed on Therfield Heath last year.


Immature female Common Darter, near Hertford Heath, 5 July

On the 8th I joined a 'Naturetrek' day trip on Salisbury Plain. In the morning we were in the capable hands of the Great Bustard Group on private land, and I was lucky to see my first UK great bustards and the first anywhere for nearly 30 years. The birds were introduced to the UK some time ago. The introductions have continued and the birds have since bred and are roaming free. I saw 13-14 birds, both on the ground and in flight. I was lucky to also see stone curlews both here and on an afternoon walk on the plain, when several whinchats were also seen.


'Record Shot' of two Female Great Bustards, Salisbury Plain, 8 July


Male Whinchat, Salisbury Plain, 8 July

The following week my partner Helen and I spent our first holiday together since 2019, on the Isle of Wight. Of course wildlife featured at times, and we had views of the resident red squirrels (no greys on the Island - great to be away from them for a week) and the wall lizards at Ventnor Botanic Gardens. There are many chalk downs here, and it was therefore not too surprising that most of the plants and all the butterflies (19 species) that we saw are also present on Therfield Heath. We were too late in the year to see the Island's speciality butterfly - Glanville fritillary. However, a superb male golden-ringed dragonfly was seen on our final full day on the Island. Several white-tailed eagles have been released on the Island in the last few years and we were told that around a dozen were currently here, but none were seen during our stay.


Wall Lizard at the Ventnor Botanic Gardens, 15 July


Male Linnet, near Freshwater (IOW), 12 July

I made a third visit of the year to Thursley Common in Surrey on the 22nd, targeting various dragonfly species as well as silver-studded blue butterflies. On the last very hot day of a heatwave I managed to find and photograph all my targets, adding small red damselfly, emerald damselfly, black darter, common darter, brilliant emerald dragonfly and keeled skimmer to my year list. The male black darter is a particularly attractive insect, with its yellow and black markings, and several had recently emerged from pools on the north side of the reserve. My images didn't do them justice! Unfortunately the boardwalks through the marshy area of the reserve are still closed off after the recent fire, but there were still plenty of dragonflies to see and photograph.


Male Black Darter Dragonfly, Thursley Common, 22 July


Female Silver-studded Blue in Heather, Thursley Common, 22 July


Mating Small Red Damselflies, Thursley Common, 22 July

Bird watching tends to take a back seat during the summer months, but news of a 'mega' American wader, western sandpiper, at RSPB Snettisham, enticed me to visit on the 27th. I arrived at high tide (9.00am), in the hope of seeing it on the shore where it had given great views the previous day, but there was no sign although I was able to see and photograph an adult white-rumped sandpiper (another American wader, which is a rare but annual visitor to the UK) in amongst the hundreds of dunlin that were roosting and flying along the shoreline, as well as seeing my first turtle dove of the year. However, as the mud flats became exposed the western sandpiper was found there amongst well over 1000 dunlin and assorted other waders, gulls and terns. I was able to get decent, albeit distant, views of this 'lifer' for me, but it was too far away to photograph.


White-rumped Sandpiper (left) with Dunlin, Snettisham, 27 July


White-rumped Sandpiper (Near Centre, the only Bird with the White Rump!) in Flight with Dunlin, Snettisham, 27 July

Later in the same week I took an opportunity to go to the other side of The Wash at RSPB Frampton Marsh, where another rare wader (Pacific golden plover) had been discovered. The plover showed well, albeit distantly. Wood, green and common sandpipers were amongst an impressive number of wader species seen on this excellent reserve.


Pacific Golden Plover, RSPB Frampton Marsh, 29 July


Wood Sandpiper, RSPB Frampton Marsh, 29 July