I made my annual visit on the 3rd to Wilstone, to find and photograph dragonflies and damselflies on the Grand Union Canal and Wilstone Reservoir. Lesser emperor dragonflies (a rare continental vagrant) had been reported flying on the reservoir at 'Cemetery Corner' a few days beforehand (and the following day!), but I could only find emperor dragonflies here and elsewhere around the edges of the reservoir. Neither could I find the female garganey here, in amongst the many teal on the reservoir, although I did see a kingfisher. I had better luck along the canal, where I was able to photograph a variety of damselflies including white-legged and willow emerald. Other insects seen along the canal included the rather attractive figwort sawfly.
Male White-legged Damselfly, Grand Union Canal near Wilstone, 3 August
Figwort Sawfly, Grand Union Canal near Wilstone, 3 August
On the 10th I paid my annual visit to Aston Rowant nature reserve (Oxfordshire), where I looked for and found my target butterfly - silver-spotted skipper. I travelled back via Ruislip, where I looked in vain for brown hairstreaks amongst the numerous blackthorn bushes in a nature reserve close to the perimeter fence with Northolt Airfield. I haven't seen brown hairstreaks for many years, but they are spreading in Middlesex. Maybe next year I'll go on the Butterfly Conservation walk (brown hairstreaks were seen here on an organised walk the following day).
Silver-spotted Skipper, Aston Rowant NR, 10 August
As the weather deteriorated again from mid-month onwards I switched my attention to birds, visiting RSPB Titchwell on the 12th where I saw an Arctic skua chasing terns off Thornham Point. On the way back I called in at Dersingham Bog where, apart from the ubiquitous stonechats and a red-banded sand wasp, I did manage to see a couple of grayling butterflies in flight. The butterflies roost here on the trunks of the scattered trees, but I was unable to find any to photograph in deteriorating weather.
Grey Plovers and Knot in Flight, Thornham Point, 12 August
Red-banded Sand Wasp, Dersingham Bog, 12 August
On the 24th (a rare bright day) I returned to RSPB Titchwell, looking for waders that were coming through on passage. I was able to add juvenile little stint and curlew sandpiper to my year list, whilst whimbrel and spotted redshank were also seen amongst nearly 20 wader species present on the reserve.
Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper (right) with Lapwing, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 24 August
RSPB Local Group field trips started up again on the 29th with a morning visit to Kingfishers Bridge reserve, a relatively new reserve which is located between Stretham and Wicken in Cambridgeshire. We saw lots of waders (including greenshank and dunlin) on the main lake. We only saw one raptor during our visit, but it was a good one - a juvenile osprey!
Juvenile Osprey, Kingfishers Bridge NR, 29 August
I very rarely do long distance twitches, but the appearance of a 'mega', a white-tailed lapwing, tempted me to drive up to the RSPB Blacktoft Sands nature reserve near Goole in Yorkshire - a site that I haven't visited for several years - on the 31st. White-tailed lapwings are a big, gangly wader that breeds in western Asia and is seen on passage in far eastern Europe, so this waif is a 'mega' in the UK, with fewer than 15 records. The last 'twitchable' bird here was seen in 2010 and, not surprisingly, this was a 'lifer' for me. The bird performed well, albeit fairly distantly, during my visit and even flew briefly, revealing large white wing patches. An image of this yellow-legged wader is shown below. I hope that it manages to find its way back to its breeding/wintering sites, although it is so off-course that I doubt that it ever will......
White-tailed Lapwing, RSPB Blacktoft Sands, 31 August
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