Bugboys mission

[Wurzel]

Great set of bird shots Bugboy - especially like the posing Bittern - you don't often see them like that

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Impressive line up of birds there, BB, although it's a little strange to see a parakeet amongst them.

How big is the population round there?

[Neil Freeman]

A great selection of bird photos recently Bugboy, always interesting to see what is about in other parts of the country.

... although it's a little strange to see a parakeet amongst them.

How big is the population round there?

I believe they are now widespread in the south-east and there are quite a few around south Birmingham these days. I know a local birder who has been keeping count of their roosts in some parks around here.

Cheers,

Neil.

[bugboy]

It is a good place isn't it Essex, and surprisingly easy to forget you're in the middle of London too
Thanks Wurzel, that Bittern was particularly posey, I think he knew he had an audience !
Thanks David, the Parakeets down here now are about as common as Feral pigeons with several communal roosts numbering into the thousands I believe. You can go into Hyde park with food now and instead of having Pigeons landing on you, you get the parakeets. The RSPB website states there's 8600 breeding pairs in the UK..... a report I found in the Daily Mail gives a figure of 50,000 whatever the truth is, there's a lot of em!
Thanks Neil, I shall continue with the birds until the butterflies return, hopefully only a few months... but not too soon like last spring, 20 degrees in February just isn't right!

November (continued)
As much as I’ve wanted to, I’ve been unable to make a trip to Bookham to check up on the hibernating White Admiral larvae and do some Hairstreak egg searches, so my recent trips out have continued to be primarily birding.

I stayed local with on the 17th November with a couple of hours wandering around Walthamstow Marshes. Now winters arrived there’s a lot less people around and I feel a lot more comfortable walking around pointing a camera in various directions. Bird wise there wasn’t a great deal around, many of the winter visitors don’t seem to have arrived yet, no winter thrushes around but there might have been a few White Wagtail mixed in with our resident Pieds.

Elsewhere the only thing that sat (or didn't swim to fast) for me was a Dabchick (or Little grebe in new money).

On the 19th I went up to Chestunt for a couple of hours exploring the lea valley wetlands up there. Again there wasn’t a great deal around. Great-crested Grebe were in their less flamboyant winter dress, the odd cormorant would get spooked as I walked round a corner but the best spot of the day was a pair of Treecreeper. Sadly I was losing the light by then so the resulting cropped pics aren’t the best in the world!

On the 20th I had a dentist appointment so once again I had to stay local. Another wander round Walthamstow Marshes gave me a few more targets to point my camera at. A Song Thrush enjoying it’s morning bath

The Pied/White Wagtails were still around but today had been joined by a flock of Linnet.

Before leaving for the horrors of my impending appointment I had enough time to pop my head into the adjacent Walthamstow Wetlands. It’s a popular hangout for the resident population of Cormorant (their big feet really aren’t made for perching)

And a Heron took off at the wrong moment, immediately being mobbed by a particularly persistent and angry looking Black-headed Gull.

I'm also happy to report my day had a happy ending, the appointment was swift and pain free

[Wurzel]

More great bird shots Bugboy Pick of the bunch for me is the second Treecreeper - bloody hard to capture on film they are as they're so small, seem to send all their time in the canopy and are so mobile

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...the Parakeets down here now are about as common as Feral pigeons with several communal roosts numbering into the thousands I believe...

Wow! I bet the local orchard owners aren't amused. Funny that they haven't spread to south Wales yet; our winters are very benign.

Nice work with the Treecreeper, by the way.

[bugboy]

Thanks guys, I think I got lucky with that Treecreeper, it seemed to have found something rather interesting in a crevice and stayed there pecking away long enough for me to move around and find the clearest view. It's mate was as fidgety as normal

4th November
Finally a day off with good weather and the opportunity to get down to Bookham to check on some immature stages. It certainly had a wintery feel out in the sticks, Jack Frost had been doing the rounds and Brown Hairstreak egg searching had to be left until things had defrosted a bit.

Wandering through the wood, heading for the White Admiral nursery, a few birds were getting ready for the day and the Holly was looking very Christmasy.

Blue Tit

Jackdaw

Great Tit

Good news awaited me, both Pete and Dave were safe and sound, little spikey butts still on show.

Pete

Dave

It’s interesting how they don’t seem to retreat fully into the hibernaculum. Nature doesn’t do anything by accident and my own theory is that contrary to what one may think, it protects them from being discovered by hungry birds. If they retreated fully inside then they might leave a dark hole, perfect for a hungry Tit to go nosing around in. The spiny rear end seems to avoid this and blends in with the general dead leaf look.

Now things had warmed up I wandered back to see what eggs I could find, stopping to catch a few more birdies on the way.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Coal Tit

Eggs were rather thin on the ground though. I couldn’t find any Purple Hairstreak eggs and only four Brown Hairstreak eggs. My searches are however very much of a casual affair and I’ve realised I really need to have my reading glasses with me now to do these searches, old age is creeping ever closer !

[millerd]

Good to see my namesake is surviving the winter so far, though I definitely keep myself completely under the duvet, unlike that caterpillar...

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

2019 highlights (part 1)

This year I planned to slow down a bit on my travels. Well I failed with that, once again I was out at every opportunity that (the weather) God gave me. Whilst recovering from minor surgery back in January I’d cheered myself up by booking a short break in southern Spain in March to kick start my season. Global warming/climate change had other ideas though and ridiculous temperatures of 20 degrees in February woke stuff up and I was already up to six species before the end of the month! (although the Peacock and Small White would escaped my camera for a few weeks)

Spain however didn’t disappoint. This was my first foray into continental butterflying and my nine days away gave me lots to point my camera at. twenty two species of which twelve and half were lifers (the half being the southern form of the Speckled Wood ). I thought I had 23 but my Chapmans Green Hairstreak was unfortunately relegated to Green Hairstreak by people far more knowledgeable and experienced than me!

Bath White

female Black-eyed Blue

male Black-eyed Blue

male Cleopatra

Geranium Bronze

Green Striped White

Iberian Scarce Swallowtail

Female Lang's Short-tailed Blue

Provence Hairstreak

male Provence Orange-tip

male Red Underwing Skipper

male Southern Blue

Spanish Festoon

Speckled Wood (continental edition)

[Wurzel]

Those Festoons and POTs Continental butterflying is brilliant I'm glad you counted the 1/2 - that will make my tally (when I get round to it) slightly more respectable

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Love your bird shots Bugboy, I've had trouble in my garden feeding the birds, three cats have been a nuisance , plus three young Squirrels taking the food and a couple of Sparrow Hawks circling round haven't helped, they've kept the birds really spooked
Goldie

[Pete Eeles]

I think that is the most orange Speckled Wood I've ever seen! Very nice

Cheers,

- Pete

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, those continental Specklies look so different they fully deserve the half point
Thanks Goldie. Unfortunately Squirrels and Sparrowhawks are both very quick to learn about a free lunch when we put food out in the garden
Thanks Pete. They were all that orange down there, took me a few days to get my head round, kept thinking I was seeing Walls flitting around woodland edges and glades for the first couple of days

2019 highlights (part 2)

Back in Blighty April arrived and so did some more UK species, adding another nine species to the yearly tally. Local trips gave me plenty of opportunities to catch up with the adult hibernators whilst further afield the springtime Skippers and Green Hairstreaks drew my attention, all with a sprinkling of Pierids and Speckled Wood.

A real highlight though was coming face to face with a young Common Seal on the River Arun. A youngster who had most likely got lost swimming upstream, silly sausage!

May welcomed the silly season. Another eleven species gathered to the tally as I galivanted across southern England. Highlights were swarms of Small Blue and a trip to a legendary hill in Wiltshire to see Marsh Fritillaries for the first time in 4 years.

Of course no May is complete with some Dukes and Duchess’s

[Wurzel]

Another cracking set of images Bugboy - all of those Small Blues a right festival that was Good to see the hill still producing the goods - hopefully 2020 will be a slightly better for them so they'll be even easier to see Is the Wall the ab. anticrassipincta?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

A delightful couple of sequences there, BB. I'm hoping to get out to southern Spain myself next spring and your images provide further incentive.

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, I think the Wall is an ab. alberti, anticrassipincta is apparently restricted to females.
Thanks David, good luck in Spain if you make it

2019 highlights (part 3)
Moving into meteorological summer, June ended up being a rather cool and somewhat damp affair. Despite the weather I still managed to rack up another fourteen species though. June gap? what June gap! it's becoming more of an extension of the silly season these days. Amongst the commoner species I once again caught up with the Essex Heath Fritillaries, a couple of species of Hairstreaks and the Silver-studded Blue.

The meadow-land butterflies started to emerge en-force and a trip to Wrecclesham found plenty of fresh fresh Glanvilles

And by the end of the month the woodland butterflies were starting to show well too.

However the standout highlight of June was on the 1st when a day trip to Norfolk provided oodles of British Swallowtails to point my camera at. A few evenings were spent whittling over 900 images down to 250 to keep but that still makes for a brain frying choice to pick out any favs though.

By July the number of new species to find was running out, only 6 more but the woodland species continued to put on a good show. In particular the Purple Hairstreaks were once again raining from the treetops in the mornings at Bookham, and later broods of the multibrooded species also made their presence felt.

Purple Emperors on the other hand (after a couple of vintage years) played hard to get and I only saw males in the treetops. I did however catch up with an Empress loitering around some Sallows towards the end of the month.

other highlights included a visit to Daneway, when a later than usual trip gave several worn females and a single pristine stunner.

A wonderfully placid fresh female Dark Green Fritillary

And the many SWF and WA abs, most likely caused by the cool, damp spell in June.

[trevor]

I think the Swallowtails were the highlight of 2019, we hit them just right.
But the mrgreen is not reserved for them, but for that gorgeous open wing
male Purple Hairstreak shot . I saw one posing like that, but it
was the one that got away!.

Have a great Christmas, Paul,
and a happy new Decade.

Trevor.

[Goldie M]

Love your Swallow Tail shots, it's a few years since I've seen them, they brought back lots of Happy memories Goldie

[Wurzel]

Another cracking selection Bugboy - those abs at the end just seal off the selection - but those Swallowtails

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Wonderful, BB. You've seen some good stuff this year in the UK, so much so that you must surely be yearning for another trip to the continent in 2020 to further diversify your sightings.

I wish you all the best with it.