Bank Holiday Weekend, Butterflies

We had a thunderstorm in the early hours of Sunday. I slept through it. This didn't bode well for a day out butterfly hunting, and when Colin arrived it was rather damp, cool and misty again.
Things hadn't improved much b y the time we got to Noar Hill, and I had a sense of deja-vue, as last years visit was abandoned and we had what turned out to be a nice visit to Wisley garden. However it was a lot warmer this time so we persevered. Singing Yellowhammers, Whitethroats and Blackcaps was a good indication and it wasn't long before the sun came out. Took a long time to find any butterflies though.
Most of the Early Purple orchids had gone over, the Common Spotted orchids were just emerging, but the Twayblades looked good. For quite a long time the only butterflies we saw were Common Blues which seemed to be on every sunny bank. Eventually a few Green Hairstreaks put in an appearance and Colin found a Small Blue, a species we hadn't seen here before. Eventually three Duke of Burgundies were found, rather tatty individuals. A search of the northern fence line produced a single White  Hellborine in flower and a couple of blind plants. With hindsight we should have perhaps searched for Frog orchids as well as they are out in places.

A quick stop off at Bentley Wood was productive. Its dried out considerably since our previous visit, but I was concerned at the lack of flowering plants with only a few bugles and bluebells out. However  in a short space of time we saw at least six Pearl Bordered Fritillaries and met up with a couple of guys watching a Marsh Fritillary.

The afternoon was spent at Martin Down. I had realised by then that I had forgotten to bring my tablets with me. Not a serious problem, but with the heat and humidity building up I was starting to tire rapidly so we didn't spend a lot of time taking photos.
My intention was to take the track from the Sillen Lane car park, walk south west and then head north along the dyke, but we soon changed our minds when we heard Turtle Doves to the south. We walked south to the farm fields, and could hear maybe five birds purring, but could we see any? No, and neither could the couple we met who had been searching for them in the thick hedges and copses here. We did get a tip from them and headed of to the high slopes to the west where we saw hundreds of Greater Butterfly orchids spears over several acres-a great sight.

Butterflies were abundant everywhere. Lots of Common Blues of course, a few Small Coppers and various whites and Brimstones. Down at the dyke, Adonis Blues, Small Blues and Brown Arguses were seen regularly, with Small Heaths and a couple of Marsh Fritillaries.  Once we reached the Burnt orchids (four plants, three with single spikes and one good one with nine flowers) we decided to return to the car. The chalky track back was where we saw even more Small Blues-dozens at times, with a few Grizzled and Dingy Skippers and one Red Admiral.
In total we had 17 butterfly species over the course of the day, but missed a few things like Speckled Wood, Comma, Peacock and Tortoiseshells.

Bank Holiday Weekend, Amwell.

As usual after a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show, apart from recovering from a very exhausting day,  there was a lot of work to do in the garden-new plants to pot up, seeds to sow and various other things to do. Good job I had the Friday off as well.
The weather over the weekend was a bit gloomy and damp, certainly not the scorcher of the previous long weekend. Saturday started of dull, misty and cool, so I thought there might be a possibility of Black Terns inland, or maybe a wader or two, so I headed off to Amwell. I was rather surprised to only see Barry's car there-presumably everyone else had gone travelling.
As it turned out is was a rather dull day from a birding perspective. There were a small number of Swifts and Swallows around, one Oystercatcher was on the island, apparently on a nest, and there were a few Common terns around. At one point I heard a sandpiper call overhead but never got onto it-Barry said that there was a Common Sandpiper present that morning. The small group of loafing Lesser Black Backs had one third summer Herring Gull and the regular  juvenile  Yellow Legged Gull.

Around 10ish, it started to brighten up and the temperature rose slightly so I went looking for dragonflies. The lily pads on Tumbling Bay held a lot of Red Eyed Damselflies, with a few Azure Damselflies. A couple of Four Spotted Chasers and Hairy Dragonflies were also present. Hopefully not too long before Norfolk hawkers and Scarce Chasers emerge.
Hollycross turned out to be pretty quiet with Azures, and a couple of Large Red Damsels. The orchid pen seemed to be poor this year with fewer than usual numbers of flower spikes. Butterflies were almost non-existent with a few Green Veined Whites and my first Red Admiral of the year.

Chelsea Flower Show 2018

Paid my annual visit to Chelsea yesterday. For once, the weather forecast wasn't ideal, though it turned out well in the end.
I left Stevenage on the 0717 train, in fairly steady light rain and arrived at the show slightly less than an hour later. It was still drizzling which wasn't too bad but eased off over the next hour. This enabled me to visit the Artisan gardens in complete peace, with only a few other visitors present. I was able to chat to one or two of the designers as well. Out in his own space, the Japanese designer Mr Ishihara had his usual superb garden, with a dramatic waterfall, his signature use of maples and a lovely garden house. With only a few visitors around I spent a while here studying the details and the overall design.
Out on Main Avenue, a couple of gardens stood out for me. The Savills garden with its sunburst sculpture in a framed vista was good. It was marked down by the planting which was a bit bitty in places but the overall effect was good. The Trailfinders South African Wine Estate was one I was looking forward to as the fynbos plants are a group I am interested in. Shame I cannot grow all that many myself. The combination of proteacea, restios, heathers was quite good, with the burnt areas planted with emergent bulbs contrasting with the intact rocky areas. I also liked the planting in the Cornish garden-tree ferns underplanted with fatsias and gunneras was bold to say the least.
My favourite was the M&G garden. In some ways it was reminiscent of the Maltese garden last year, being a dry garden planted very naturalistically with Mediterranean plants contrasting with the pale red gravel and large walls in the same colour. The stacked tiles creating screens were a nice touch too.
Another good garden and very thought provoking was the Lemon Tree garden based on the concept of a Syrian refugee garden, and this proved very popular with the crowds. More gardens with the intention to challenge and make you think were along the north side, with the backdrop of the Royal Hospital. I had these pretty much to myself for a while when the heavens opened and most of the crowd sought shelter, but the rain soon eased off and it gradually got warmer and sunnier.
The Marquee was tough going though luckily not hot this year, and I spent a good 2-3 hours in it. It took a couple of circuits to ensure that I dint miss anything. Had time to talk to a few of the people I know, met a few new ones (mainly those interested in carnivorous plants and orchids). I came unstuck on the Fernatix stand where a rather nice looking tree fern bought my eye. Unfortunately it was tender, and after 100 years had only produced a one foot trunk. Needless to say there was no pint in asking for a price. I did however come out of there with a couple of impulse buys-two hardy orchids, a Calanthe and a Cypridium, both of which are being micro propogated on a scale sufficient to make them economical. I also came back with various carnivorous plant seeds which could prove interesting if I can get them going.
I left as usual around 2pm having spent six hours at the show, walked almost six miles and was absolutely shattered by the time I got home.
Here are some quick edits of a few of the photos.

Rye Meads

Cup final day usually means its a great day to be on the (quieter than usual) roads-in the past we would have a long day down in Devon, visit several sites and still be back home at a reasonable time. With a well publicised wedding as well today, it should have been great. Unfortunately I didn't have a good day yesterday so had to reluctantly call a halt to any plans, and hope that tomorrow would be ok.
I wasn't feeling too bad today so went to Tye Meads for a couple of hours. Since the Kingfishers have  fledged, it seems like everyone with a camera had the same idea and even by 9.30 the car park was filling up. We've had a couple of rather cold nights, but I was hoping to see some dragonflies and butterflies and maybe a migrant wader or two.
Draper scrape was very busy, Black headed Gulls everywhere, with a few Common Terns on the quieter patches of mud. Lots of Gadwall and Mallards of course, with a few Stock Doves in the barn owl box. There seem to be a few pairs of Lapwing here and elsewhere so hopefully they are nesting. Two Cuckoos were calling around the site.
The trail around the back of the reed bed and beside the Lea is open again, so its nice to have a wander around an area we don't usually get to see. A few Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps here along with some Sedge and Reed Warblers-not as many as usual, which seems to be the case with many summer visitors this year.

I stopped at the Kingfisher hide for all of a minute-too crowded and noisy and carried on to the Meads where I sat in the warbler hide for a while. Took a bit of time but eventually one of the Hobbies put in an appearance though it kept it's distance. Outside I found a few Azure Damselflies and two male and one female Hairy Dragonflies.

The north lagoon has been filled somewhat presumably to aid nesting birds so there isn't much in the way of mud and rock for waders. However I did find a Common Sandpiper, and later two Hobbies appeared and were actively feeding on insects as several out of focus camera shots showed.

There weren't as many butterflies as expected. The commonest were Green Veined Whites-maybe ten, with a few Orange Tips, and singles of Brimstone, Holly Blue Peacock and Speckled Wood. Odontae were also scarce. Azure Damselflies were around in very small numbers, there was one Banded Demoiselle and one Large Red Damselfly. I would have thought that I would have seen a chaser of some kind and maybe a Blue Tail but it was still fairly cool by the time I left.

The other obvious things missing were hirundines-no Swallows, House or Sand Martins and no Swifts. The impression seems to be that large numbers failed to get out of Africa courtesy of bad weather in the Med and sand storms.
One curious sight was Alan Harris, a ringing bag and a rather large ladder. Thinking that maybe he shouldn't put the nets up so high in he reed beds, he explained  that they had been ringing Magpie chicks up a tree.

Bank Holiday pt2-Amwell

Still very warm and sunny on Sunday morning at Amwell. All the usual suspects were there of course.
Heard a Cuckoo on the way up to the crossing, and up to two were seen occasionally flying around. One seemed to do a circuit from the Bittern pool, flying over the view point down to the southern end of the lake and then (with a second bird) flying back up over the woods opposite. The only other new birds for me were five Common terns. One Redshank, one Little Ringed Plover and one Oystercatcher, plus the usual pair or two of Lapwings were the only waders present. Five Little Egrets were feeding around the lake edge. Raptors were a bit thin with singles of Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Red Kite, and three Buzzards. Hobbies have been seen in the valley, so it was pity that none were present while I was there.
I spent a long time on the Hollycross boardwalk and managed to find three Large Red Damselflies (had one in the garden on Friday). Conditions looked good, but everything is still running late this year. Butterflies were a bit more noticeable, with a lot of Orange Tips and Green Veined Whites, several Large Whites, a few Peacocks and Speckled Woods, and one each of Brimstone and Comma.

Bank Holiday pt 1-Dorset

A long Bank Holiday weekend, and I kicked off with a trip to Dorset with Colin on Saturday.
Our first port of call was Longham lakes on the western side of Bournemouth. Having read up a bit on the site, parking and access turned out to be reasonably straightforward from the southern end. Got my first House Martins of the year here, over the gardens, and there were a few warblers singing in the hedges surrounding the fields. It didn't take long to pick out the sub-adult Bonaparte's Gull as it was the only small gull on the south lake. Unfortunately it stayed a fair way off, and despite the occasional flight it was hard to photograph due to the reed bed in the way. I spent a lot of time scanning the Tufted Ducks as  drake Scaup is also present but I couldn't find it.

I had hoped to visit Portland before now, as its had a pretty good spring, and we normally end up with a decent selection of migrants and residents. The sunny blue skies were not ideal though.
First stop as the car park a Cheyne Wears. Last year i discovered it was one of the few sites for Wall Lizards and the weather was ideal. Not many bird around, though we did hear a Garden warbler and a couple of Whitethroats. A few Swallows were flying over the cliff-hirundines were still coming in from the continent. I found a lizard on the cliff face used by the climbers, but it was a bit too far for the cameras, but luckily one was found in the car park itself. Lots of butterflies here as well-all Wall Browns.

Portland Bill was of course very busy with lots of day trippers and very few birders. West of Pulpit Rock, we found the usual assortment of Razorbills, Guillemots, Cormorants, Shags and Fulmars. No sign of any Puffins while we were there-assuming they still, exist here. A few Gannets were flying off-shore in the light winds. No Purple Sandpipers, but a lovely singing Rock Pipit was nice to see.

A walk up to the Top Fields was a a bit strenuous as the heat was building. Lots of hirundines going through, and several pairs of Linnets and Stonechats. Three Wheatears was good, but the Whinchats were a lot harder and we only managed to find one which wasn't approachable.

With the lack of activity and news we called it a day and headed off for home, with a diversion to Bentley wood mid afternoon. It was hoped that the warm weather would have brought out the butterflies, and a couple of Duke of Burgundies had been  reported. Unfortunately we didn't see much at all apart from Brimstones, Peacocks and Green Veined Whites. The Fritillaries were still a few days off by the looks of things.