Isle of Wight Weekend 15th-17th May

Sarah, Tobias and I had a weekend on the Isle of Wight to catch-up with my family but I also hoped to get out and about a little. After a hideous wet day on 15th I decided to head for St. Catherine's Point early on the 16th for a bit of seawatching even though the wind was firmly in the west, this was a last ditch attempt to see Pomarine Skua this spring after several failed attempts at Hurst Spit and Milford on Sea but it was not to be and the spring could well be Pom-less. There was little moving in the two hours that I gave it, 125 Gannet, six Manx Shearwater, two Sandwich Tern and four Kittiwake all moving east. I decided to have a stomp around the bushes but again it seemed pretty quiet with two Lesser Whitethroat, a Reed Warbler and a single Spotted Flycatcher. A Red Squirrel showed very well at the top of the lighthouse road, a species I have only seen on a handful of times at St. Catherine's.

The 16th was spent with my family and I had a very welcome lie-in for a change. I was back at St. Catherine's Point on 17th in a south-west and again didn't expect to see a great deal - although the hope for a Pom was ever present. One Manx Shearwater moving west, a handful of Gannet and six Common Scoter east was all that was seen in two hours of watching so I gave up and wandered the bushes but it was very slow going. I decided to have a quick dash in the now sunny conditions to one of my favourite butterfly spots and one that I have been visiting for around 20 years now, Brook and Compton Downs. This site is a fantastic expanse of chalk downland owned and managed by the National Trust. I parked in the small car park near to Brook Hill House at SZ 3947 8506 and walked west along the foot of the downs to approximately SZ 3853 8513. The track running along the foot of the downs faces south and rapidly warms in the morning and it is an excellent location to see many of the species present. The first section of path supports a colony of Wall Brown, a very localised species in Hampshire now, and it was good to see around five on the wing. Dingy Skipper were abundant with perhaps 35 seen.

Wall Brown

Dingy Skipper

Buzzard - Two at Brook Down kept an eye on what I was doing

Stoat - This animal ran up the path towards me and was a little shocked to see me standing there 

At my most westerly location at SZ 3853 8513 there is a small quarry and this is an excellent location for Small Blue and around 15 were present, some of which had clearly very recently emerged. This is a good location for Adonis Blue but despite hunting high and low none were to be seen, my first Common Blue of the year was a welcome sight though. Walking back to the car, I followed one of the many livestock paths that contours the down. I scanned the bramble bushes and eventually picked out a Green Hairstreak, this is a species that is relatively common on the scattered scrub on the downs but can be somewhat elusive unless one knows the traditional patches of scrub where they occur.

Brook and Compton Down looking north-west to Freshwater Bay and Tennyson Down

Small Blue

Common Blue

Green Hairstreak

I spent the last 30 minutes in the quarry by the carpark, this is a fantastic little spot for a diversity of butterflies and have have spent many hours here in the past. Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Common Blue, Adonis Blue, Small Heath, Peacock and Wall Brown were all on the wing here.

Grizzled Skipper

Adonis Blue

Odds and Ends from the Last Two Weeks

I have been really busy at work of late and barely had time to get into the field or to add to my Blog but here are a few bits and bobs from the last few weeks.

Sarah and I spent the weekend of the 12th July on the Isle of Wight seeing my family. I snuck off for a few hours on the morning of 13th July visiting Newtown and Town and Walters Copse but it wasn't until I got to Brook Down that the sun shone. This is a stunning piece of downland with amazing views of the west coast of the Island and was one of my favourite butterfly sites when I lived on the Island. It was great to visit again. Highlights of the visit included Chalkhill Blue, Clouded Yellow, Dark-green Fritillary, Small Copper, Wall Brown, Downland Robberfly Machinus rusticus and thousands of the scarce pyralid moth Mecyna flavalis. I remember seeing Mecyna flavalis at the site in small numbers previously but never in the profusion that I saw on this visit with tens being flushed with each footstep through the chalk sward.

View of Compton, Freshwater and Tennyson Down from Brook Down

Male Chalkhill Blue - Brook Down

Underwing of male Chalkhill Blue - Brook Down

Female Chalkhill Blue - Brook Down

Ringlet - Brook Down

The Robberfly Machinus rusticus - Brook Down

Small Skipper - Brook Down

Pyramidal Orchid - Brook Down

On the 14th July I popped into Bentley Wood on my way to a survey to see if I could finally get decent views of Purple Emperor. I even went armed with over ripe bananas to place in cunning places around the woods but to no avail, just the usual tree top views that I always get. However, arriving early I was probably the first on the 'switchback' trail and saw two juvenile Goshawk, hunting in the grass and over a log pile, I can only assume that they had a prey item cornered which had taken refuge in the log pile. It was odd seeing these large predators running around on the ground. Other than this I saw little although there were many Purple Hairstreak flying around the oaks as well as small numbers of Dark-green Fritillary. Willow Warbler chicks were out in force foraging through the undergrowth but otherwise the woods were quiet. I soon had to head off to my survey in Nailsea - what a contrast from a beautiful oak woodland to a 1970's shopping centre.

Juvenile Goshawks - Bentley Wood

Willow Warbler - Bentley Wood

The usual treetop view of a Purple Emperor, and…..

The usual treetop view of a Purple Hairstreak

On 21st July I was working in the New Forest for much of the day so popped into Pennington Marshes before my first survey. Wader passage continues to gain momentum with now around 150 Dunlin, 8 Greenshank, 120 Black-tailed Godwit and 9 Little Ringed Plover present on the lagoons but little else of note. The first returning juvenile Black-tailed Godwit were present but the majority of birds were adult birds in summer plumage.

Adult Summer Black-tailed Godwit - Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Pennington Marsh

On 23rd July I was working in Chelmsford so could not resist an early start to have a go for the Collard Pratincole at Minsmere. I have not seen any Pratincole species in the UK so the extra 1.5 hour drive was too much to resist but alas it was not to be. I waited in the East Hide from 09:30 until 11:15 before having to leave to find out that the bird was seen flying from the East Scrape to the South Scrape at around 11:30, the bird was then seen on and off for much of the early afternoon on the South Scrape - bugger! There was a good selection of birds on the East Scrape with 4 Greenshank, 9 Spotted Redshank, 12 Dunlin, 6 Knot, 6 Common Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 3 Ruff, 4 Sandwich Tern, approximately 120 Common Tern and 4 Little Tern. The highlight was a flock of around 70 Little Gull, this is easily the largest flock that I have seen in the UK previously and consisted of a range of ages, many of which were in moult.

Greenshank - Minsmere

Part of flock of around 70 Little Gull - Minsmere

Nesting Sand Martin - Minsmere