Purbeck area, Dorset - 11 July 2013

Today's run down to the Purbeck area of Dorset was a quest for Lulworth Skipper, potentially a little early for seeing any in great numbers as the first sightings were only last week at Lulworth Cove. First stop off was Durlston Country Park, which initially seemed low in butterfly numbers but as it warmed up more became visible, though it was obvious that the Lulworth Skippers though out and about were not in large numbers as yet, with possible 20 odd being seen, mainly males, along Small Skippers, a couple of very tatty Grizzled Skippers, an Adonis Blue, Small Heath, Large Skipper, Meadow Brown, Meadow White and a few old Common Blues.

Small Skipper

Lulworth Skipper - male

 Grizzled Skipper - very worn

There was not much sign of any migrant birds, but a few Guillemots were on the cliffs, together with a juvenile female Peregrine, a couple of Gannets and three sandwich Terns offshore and a family party of five Stonechats.

Next stop was Ballard Down for more Lulworth Skippers. Again around 20-30 were seen, along with similar species as the Country Park with two Adonis Blues, but with the addition of around seven Dark Green Fritillaries. A group of three Ravens spent most of the time flying and tumbling around the Down during the visit.

Adonis Blue

 Dark Green Fritillary

 

 Lulworth Skipper - male

 Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Then a final visit to Studland Heath for a few Silver-studded Blues and sighting of a single Greyling.

 Silver-studded Blue - male

 Silver-studded Blue - female

Stanwell Moor - 10 July 2013

We arrived on site to find the wind much stronger than forecast and worse than the surrounding area. This sometimes happens at Stanwell - and we put it down to the effect of different temperatures of the air associated with the lake, motorways, reservoirs and the soil mounds. We expected it to be a poor showing and weren't wrong. As usual the Starlings were rather unsettled due to the wind and as often happens on rather windy evenings hirundines were conspicuous by their absence.

Starlings coming in to roost

The only birds caught were a couple of 3J Reed Warblers, ringed on consecutive numbers, on the 5th. They were again caught together. Ah well, look on the bright side - it won't take long to put the data in IPMR.

 

The lake nets

Total: 0 (2)

Reed Warbler - 0 (2)

Black Park - 10 July 2013

Another visit, this time seven Silver-washed Fritillaries were seen along with five White admirals, but still no PEs...............

White Admiral - female

Silver-washed Fritillary

Broad-bodied Chaser

 Small Skipper

Black Park - 9 July 2013

A visit to the our local Country park was mainly aimed at seeing White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary and trying to see Purple Emperor. The first two were achieved with two White Admirals and a single Fritillary being see.

 Meadow Brown

White Admiral

 

Large White

Stanwell Moor - 8 July 2013

ESA and RMA joined us for the evening, hoping for some Starlings,Sand Martins and Swallows. But the evening was rather slow with just three birds in advance of the roost - although one was a 4F Reed Warbler with BP4, Y980125, from the group's Great Meadow Pond site. This bird had only been done in June as a breeding female and is apparently already on the move.

The Starlings put on bit of a show but stayed well clear of the nets.

Starlings

We attracted a small roost and managed to add six more hirundines to the season's total.

Total: 7 (1)
Sand Martin - 2
Swallow - 4
Reed Warbler - 1 (1)
Chiff-chaff - 1
 

Black Park - 9 July 2013

Today was a short journey to the nearby country park at Black Park, where White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary can be found, together with the odd Purple Emperor. Another bright sunny day and soon two or more White Admirals were seen and after a while they eventually came down to nectar. A single Silver-washed Fritllary was seen, together with three Comma, a few Large Skippers and one Large White.

 White Admiral

 

Large White

Bradenham - 8 July 2013

This is a site is made up of a series of fields left to wild flowers and contains mainly meadow species and what was moderate population of Dark Green Fritillaries, which this year seems to have boomed and during my visit, whilst it is difficult to count, there were potentially around 80 on the wing, all active, but odd ones landing to nectar allowing good photographic opportunities, though they were reduced to one camera as the other had no battery as it was at home! They can be seen in small numbers around the fileds but are mainly concentrated on the field just below the woodland.

Dark Green Fritillary

mating pair

Marbled White

Meadow Brown