Tree down

 

Thursday at QECP  these two mating Tenthredo thompsoni,  Scaeva  selenitica (only the second with the first being here two years ago) and the common harvestman Phalangium opilio - look at those massive chelicerae!! Good fry-up and coffee on the first outing for four months(!!) but little else of note in pretty grey, but dry conditions.

At home the tree was getting out of hand and causing issues so was removed and stump ground leaving a nice big hole into which to put a tall bird feeder although I suspect House Sparrows and vermin may be the only takers - time will tell.

Friday, another charmless grey August day but thankfully windless, saw a first visit to TH since 2/11/20, non-birding, but with many Common Terns (over 600 counted in the roost by other birders) and 40+ Turnstones, doing just that,  with four on the roadside beach and the rest roosting beyond the yacht  club. Today would have been a better day to visit  with Osprey, Black Tern and Sabines Gull reported.

A local walk today only produced a fresh juvenile Sparrowhawk, presumably the offspring of adult birds seen this year. It popped out of the willows and  flew very low and slow just inches off the water - maybe it's too young to realise fish aren't  on the menu!!

Zonaria 3 - Inanis 1

Which reminds me of this from Alas Smith and Jones:-

Football Results

The geese seem to have departed as quick as they arrived but yesterday's four Mallard Ducklings were still all present and correct. Overhead one or more Swifts were still screaming albeit invisible to me, a Great Spot was calling and three Swallows were coursing LOW over the newly mown field. Maybe a handful of Willow/Chiffs but no other migrants. Butterflies limited to Holly Blue, Speckled Wood x4 and a Comma; not a single brown or white today.

Three species of Volucella today as in the title but including a very fresh pellucens (and a horrible admission that it was a year tick!).

Noises from the reed patch which attracted the mixed flock a few days ago was from something rather larger - a Fox in broad daylight snuggling down in the sun on a raised patch of vegetation. Sadly the camera battery had died and I had no spares.

Westbourne came out to restart the car successfully - let's hope it doesn't go flat again overnight prior to tomorrow's hospital visit. Just need an excuse now to 'roadtest' the new Blue Badge.

Marbles

 Pleasant weather, ideal for a local walk, sadly produced little. Ten Canada Geese had arrived since  yesterday with the lone Barnacle and its white 'farmyard' friend.

Sky watching produced zero so maybe yesterday's single Swift might prove to be the last of the summer. Butterfly-wise Browns have now vanished as quickly as Skippers did two weeks ago. Today's  Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Comma and Speckled Woods (×3) were at least all pristine. On the hover front 'Batman' was the commonest and most obvious with their territorial nature, especially on Hemp Agrimony whilst a single female V.zonaria was on Meadowsweet not a plant I normally associate with any insects!

Just one adult winter plumage Med Gull in the roost field and elsewhere a few typically silent Phylloscs dashing between patches of cover.

The juvenile Great Black-backed Gull was still present.

The local Herring Gulls seem to be constantly calling but never alerting to passing raptors sadly.

SC visit again

 

Yesterday, locally, despite good weather saw only a dozen butterflies of five species with three summer generation Holly Blue the best. The small patch of Hemp Agrimony (just a couple of feet square) in the sunshine was popular with hovers - Eristalis, Sphaerophoria, Helophilus and this V. zonaria, with a couple more of the latter on bramble elsewhere.

A small mixed tit flock around the pond (Blue, Great, Long-tailed) was augmented with a handful of Phylloscs which all seemed to be Chiffchaffs, some scruffy adults and some very fresh individuals, presumably 1cys. Great Spotted Woodpeckers were audible both sides of the field with them or others near the tennis courts and over the pond heading off westward.

Today, after a hospital blood test, a visit to SC for lunch (and very nice too!!) where lots more butterflies (thirty of ten species) included three fresh Common Blues and this Painted Lady. No time to check but at least four male Phasia hemiptera on one plant.

Just audible Nuthatches, Greenfinches and Green Woodpecker.

 

Weather worsens and butterflies 'fall off a cliff'

 The weather has been uniformly rubbish both spring and summer and no obvious signs of improvement for the last half of the school summer break. Last week the skippers along 'Butterfly Alley ' fell off a cliff going to zero virtually overnight.  Just a few whites and browns left. And the local warblers have all gone quiet with this year's young presumably having headed south already. 

With the local swan's having vanished/died, despite being almost adult size, the locals contacted the council and the remaining two were removed.  Click here for more swan info.

A Sparrowhawk was up being hassled by noisy crows and magpies but seemed to shake them off as it was circling high over the pond 20 minutes later. The gull loaf today was just 50 odd moulting BHGs.

Below Eriothrix rufomaculata, Eristalis arbustorum and Ptychoptera contaminata

Lunch, brunch and two outings

 

(Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Common Blue, Gymnosoma rotundatum, Rutpela maculata, Phasia hemiptera)

First outing away from base to SC for lunch with family saw a few insects, all above, plus a few other bits and pieces. A Red Kite over the access road, a calling Nuthatch, a few Phylloscs, some twittering Swallows overhead but otherwise quiet.

Today's second outing was to QECP (no camera)  where still virtually no birds despite nice weather but 10 species of butterfly (at least) the best being Dark Green Fritiliaries and Chalkhill Blues. Plenty of hawkers, all appearing  to be Migrant, and a single Slow Worm in the usual spot. The open areas near the fenceline were too overgrown for Adders. Plenty of insects on umbellifers but not enough time to check them out.