Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Blashford Lakes

I took the girls out on Sunday to Blashford Lakes. I was hoping to pick up Green Winged Teal at the same time as earning some much needed brownie points from the wife ready for when the season starts. Unfortunately the weather was terrible – raining hard, freezing cold and with a slight wind that was cutting. To placate the girls and to get warmed up a bit we started off in the woodland hide. It was good timing as we managed to set up by the only set of windows that opened just before a coach tour arrived. Unfortunately the best feeders – those that were attracting Brambling and Redpolls and Siskins were placed almost out of reach of my lens so I had to try and focus through misted up Perspex or settle for the “commoner” species visiting the feeder directly in front of me. The girls loved it ticking off the birds they were seeing and the highlight was a bank vole that kept popping up to take advantage of spills from the feeder."Cheeky monkey" it was named by my younger daughter.

We then tried our luck at the Ivy Lake hides but the Green Winged wasn’t at the South hide despite there being good numbers of ducks (Pochard, Tufties, Gadwall, Shoveler and Wigeon) and checking every single Teal I could find. At the North hide it could have been there but you couldn’t see through the rain splattered and misted up Perspex. So dipping we made our way homewards. Back at the car I found the open boot to be a useful rain shelter/hide with the added advantage that the girls were snug and dry inside and happy to sit and chat while I got a few more shots.

Hopefully I’ll be able to head back here later in the week and with better weather so the search will be easier. Failing that it’s only a “race” really (it's not but I keep telling myself that to avoid the disappointment of dipping) and there might be something else around by then.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ChrisC]

didn't know if you knew about this wurzel http://blashfordlakes.wordpress.com/

Chris

[MikeOxon]

I had to try and focus through misted up Perspex

I agree that the hides at Blashford are very frustrating for the photographer. What few opening windows there are, are of little use, unless you have a monster lens. On the other hand, it is a great place to watch winter finches, etc., and I have had my best-ever views of Water Rail there. I have twice arrived at one of the hides to be told that a Bittern had been parading in the open, just a few minutes earlier!

Good luck with your next visit

Mike

[Wurzel]

Cheers Chris - if you'd have asked me that question a couple of weeks ago then I wouldn't have known anything about it but it's how I get my "inside information" now

Cheers Mike - the winter finches are the reason that I try and get to Blashford at least once in a winter - I went again yesterday and lets just say that your comment about the Bittern was very apt

I also got an unexpected bonus today as I was driving back from Ikea Southampton, just about to drive into Wellow and I slowed down becasue of the speed camera. Really glad I did as I caught sight of 20+Waxwing busying themselves in the Rowan (I think) trees there

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Another day at Blashford...

It actually started off when I dropped the girls at their Nannies. On leaving the village of Sixpenny Handley I thought I’d check out the pumping station area just down the road. As I drove along the single track road to the car park I noticed a few people about with scopes so I pulled over and asked one bloke what was about. He told me it was a Great Grey Shrike, and I squinted out across the field and could just make out a whitish blob. I quickly parked, got my gear out and then headed back to share the bird. It was a cracking sight I’ve seen them in Poland along with Red Backed and also Lesser Grey and Woodchat in Kefalonia but this was my first British GGS as it’s always been a bit a bogey bird. This is a good site though as the rough ground around the tumuli offers plenty of food and the fencing, small shrubs and trees offer a multitude of perching sites. Over the course of the next hour I drank in all that I could; side, front and rear views, noting how the white on the breast changed from pure white to pink to yellow as it caught the light from different aspects. I really enjoyed its behaviour, flying with 7 or 8 flaps, disappearing form view and then reappearing back on a perch.

Still I was supposed to be heading out to Blashford...so off I went. On arrival I headed straight to the Ivy North hide where the Green Winged is supposed to hang out. No joy despite checking every single duck be it Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Wigeon or Shoveler. Further out there are a few Pochard visible as well as some Great Crested Grebes in spring finery and a couple of Egyptian Geese. At one point as I’m watching a Wren creeping along a tiny branch a Kingfisher flashes by before the real reason I came puts in an appearance. It too, like the GGS before it offered the full range of views; head up pretending to be a reed, skulking low and hunting, offering tantalising glimpses of its tail, back or the top of its head before finally it came out into the open. I swear you could have heard the cameras clicking in Ringwood! So, not to be left out I too had a go (again cursing the bloody Perspex windows!).

I then headed round to the Woodland hide to try and get some shots of Siskins etc. But again the Perspex windows meant I couldn’t get as close I’d have liked. My favourite shots of the day were achieved using the tried and tested butterfly technique i.e. focus, click, one step closer, focus, click etc etc.

The Ivy South hide had all the usual ducks but no Green Winged Teal – although I’ve since discovered where it likes to hang out so I might try and get back there next weekend. Ibsley water saw me adding Goosander, Goldeneye and Pintail to the list but it was all too soon time to be heading back to Sixpenny Handley to pick the girls up.

I was supposed to be picking the girls up at flourish and as I drew up to the large roundabout I had about 20 minutes to spare to instead of turning right I went straight over – I’d just have a quick peek down at the pumping station for GGS one last time. There were more people in the car park this time and the GGS was still there but further away and a photographer stalking it was driving it further and further away. “I really better go” I told myself so scope back in the car I reversed starting my three point turn and everyone was looking into the opposite field. I jumped out of the car and got my scope set up again as a male Hen Harrier was quartering the ridges in the field, at one point flying above the horizon in silhouette. Stunning!
Still back to the car, scope away and something caught my eye – bins up and onto a Short Eared Owl. Well my scope was away by now but having found the bird (or “re-found” as it had been around before I’d arrived) a kind lady let me have a look at it through hers as it perched on a fence post. Stunning take two! I really had to go and almost as if to taunt me it flew lazily along the tumuli parallel with my journey. Stunning take three!
So no lifer, but a British tick and a day which produced the most quality for a very long time, possibly ever!
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[MikeOxon]

Congratulations on both Bittern and Great Grey Shrike! I'd be well pleased with those Bittern shots. I get the impression there are more GGS around over the last couple of years - certainly the case in Oxon, where we've had several

Mike

[Wurzel]

Cheers Mike There do seem to be more great Greay Shrikes around now than before and there're turning up at sights regulary - Morden in Dorset, Sixpenny Handley and the Blackgutter Bottom area of the New Forest (near Godshill) all seem to have had them the last couple of winters. It was certainly a cracking day and then with Waxwings out of the blue, a Red Kite yesterday and today Sparrowhawk, Corn Bunting, Grey Partridges and my second ever Ring Ouzel (really early but there has been a male wintering in gardens in Salisbury as recently as last year, and when you see a Ring Ouzel you know that's what it is) the birding is certainly continuing to offer some solace over the winter months. Now if only I could see and get to photograph some butterflies

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Gibster]

Hello mate,

have you any more pics of that bright Redpoll from Blashford Lakes? I'm thinking it looks like a 1st winter male Mealy. Pics of the wingbars, undertail coverts, mantle would be especially useful...

Cheers,

Gibster.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Gibster if you mean the one on the feeder I might have some more...I'll have a look now...

No luck on the Redpoll sorry Gibster all my shots are from the same angle and the only difference is that it turned it's head side on which isn't much use in looking for Mealy amongst lesser.

Paper Kite

The Paper Kite is also known as the Large Tree Nymph or the Rice Paper Butterfly and scientifically as Idea leuconoe (Erichson, 1834). It is a relative of the Monarch with 24 subspecies flying from SE Asia to Australia in lowland and coastal forest and Mangroves.

In terms of butterfly enclosures some of their behaviour needs consideration. First they are attracted to the colour red which is useful for getting a shot. Also useful to now is that the males will often perch in sunny conditions ready to intercept a female and in cooler temperatures it is less active, perching for longer periods – so check the temperature on the way in. Finally when feeding they will often flutter their wings so getting a sharp shot can be difficult.
The common names often refer to the slow, graceful and gentle flight of the butterfly which is thought to highlight and advertise the distinctive patterning of black and white which looks almost translucent with a yellow tint near to the body. But why advertise? Again, as with so many of the butterflies I’ve researched, it comes down to toxicity. Being a Danaine it contains alkaloids that make it distasteful and these are passed on sexually...

During mating the male and female will fly together eventually perching close together. The male then extends 2 long organs from his abdomen these are called the “hair pencils”. These brush the females’ antennae releasing pheromones encouraging the female to mate. In the chemical mix of these pheromones and also in the males sperm is the toxic compound Danaidone. So the male passes this on to both the female and her eggs protecting them by making them distasteful. This is further bolstered when the larvae feed on their host plant in a similar fashion, I guess, to Milkweed and the Monarchs. Despite their biological chemical weapons they seem to be increasingly vulnerable due to the destruction and degradation of their habitats.

It was nice to write about something other than mimicry for a change...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

New Home...

We’ve been in our new home for three weeks now and today we had to do the final clean at our old rental property. Going back there today I didn’t feel anything and I was glad to get back to our new place but one thing I did miss was looking out of the window into the garden. The old place had some cracking stuff in it and I could always find something of interest. My new garden by contrast is approximately 2 metres square of concrete and apart from when Lady is taking the air there isn’t anything to see.
To get out of this blue funk I wrapped up and took walk, within 1 minute I was watching a skulking “Redcap”. Then I crossed the road into Lizzie Gardens (as it’s known locally) and crossed the bridge to the Harnham path looking over the water meadows. I was greeted by a stunning view...

Also enjoying this view was a female Blackbird.

On the walk back a flock of gulls passed over head and I loved the way they made strange patterns in silhouette, beautiful shapes in the sky.

The snow was trying it’s best to fall and the cold had crept up on me and was biting at my fingers and toes, plus I couldn’t feel my nose so I turned back to the warmth. Still no butterflies but this cold spell is hopefully a sign that things might be a bit more normal this year – with a perfectly timed spring to come and a dry, warm summer to follow? Or is that too much to hope for?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Philzoid]

Thanks for all the great info on the Paper kite Wurzel . That name and Rice paper Butterfly seem more apt than Tree Nymph which is the label given to it at Wisley.
I have seen this butterfly during courtship flight but haven't noticed it being attracted to the colour red . Also its slow flight makes it probably the most ideal butterfly house species to shoot in Sports Mode with a chance of getting a reasonable freeze on the image. Trouble is you're more likely to see it roosting than flying, particularly with our recent dull weather we've been having . Here's hoping as you say that the cold winter weather means we're in for a good summer.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Philzoid It's getting harder and harder to find out information about the exotics and I'm starting to run out of shots...I just hope I've got enough to see me through until the "proper" butterflies arrive. This winter does seem to be dragging on a bit now...

Parides arcas – True Cattleheart

I did have trouble identifying this particular species and it was only after Mark Colvin pointed me in the direction of the genus Parides that I finally found some images which matched the shots I had. Members of the genus Parides are commonly called the Cattlehearts and are characterised by having elongated blackish forewings with green or yellow markings and rounded hind wings which have scalloped outer margins and scarlet on the underside. They are from the Papilionidae and there are about 34 species in the genus. They aren’t true “Swallowtails” and in fact belong to the tribe Troidini along with the bird-wings of Papua New Guinea.

I was happy with my identification of this as Parides arcas until I did some Googling not just to find images to match my shots but to start finding out the information about it. At first it could indeed be called Parides arcas (Stoll, 1781). The only problem is that I then found out that in 2004 Gerardo Lamas combined P.arcas and P.timias into P.eurimedes leading to him to further describe 8 subspecies . So now I had to try and fathom which sub-species it was – or rather I didn’t as I was happy with the information I was turning up for P.arcas . Give it a few years and I’m sure some other taxonomist will have had a look at it and decided that perhaps it can be “clumped” or “split” differently depending upon what the trend is at the time. All this has been going on for some time now in the birding world with Redpolls, Chiff-Chaffs and Rock Pipits to think of just a few species that a decade ago were represented by a single tick and now have two or three “versions”. Still it certainly keeps it interesting! If only these subspecies/race/populations/variants were treated with the same importance as “species”.

Back to the True Cattleheart... It is found in tropical forests from Mexico to South America where it feeds on flowers on the edges of the tree line or in light gaps and occasionally it will mud puddle. As so many of the tropical butterflies it is noxious to birds and mammals and gains it’s toxins as a larva from its host plant and this is perhaps why it is relatively common and widespread.

As an adult it is relatively short lived lasting only 8 days so in collections they often appear quite fresh looking. They show sexual dimorphism with the males having green and the females’ yellow spots on the fore wings. Once emerged males will patrol for females generally mating in the late afternoon. Once copulation is complete the male plugs the female’s genital opening with a sphragis. This is a sperm plug, a quick setting and hardening mucus like material that prevents further copulations leaving sperm donations. So evolution by natural selection came up with the chastity belt before we did

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Spring is just round the corner...Happy March

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Yesterday I managed to find a spare 40 minutes to have a quick walk around the local area. I headed to the park and from there along the Town Path to Harnham. The water meadows on either side looked like they would hold avian treasures but the wire fence and the fact I had my new shoes on kept me from seeing what was hiding in the ditches. There were a few Redwings around and a solitary Little Egret that put on a great show for me, stalking prey, preening and then doing a slow fly past. I thought that I had some great shots in the bag but I had made the heinous mistake of not checking my camera was set up. All of my shots were more or less out of focus as I’d been clicking away thinking “isn’t autofocus great” when my lens was in manual. I just about managed to salvage one shot.

I then walked on from Harnham to a local butterfly transect site.

It has a football pitch marked out and a few goal posts but there are clearly large areas that are left and I’m sure Marbled Whites and Smessex Skippers could be found here in season. Apart from a rocketing Snipe that shot overhead on my arrival it was pretty quiet here today and the hoped for sun didn’t appear and neither did my first butterfly sighting. Still I consoled myself on the way home by spending some time watching a pair of Grey Wagtail. One of my favourite birds and almost the complete package; attractive appearance, charisma and present throughout the year to brighten up your day .

Despite the cold nip in the air and the dull grey skies I started to feel full of the joys of spring, the sap’s rising and the flowers are starting to show well. If only I could find a few butterflies I’d be made up...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Some great shots there, Wurzel. Has Nigel Kiteley been coaching you lately?

[Wurzel]

Cheers David I would like to say that I have been practising with advice from those that know - but it's still just a matter of finding stuff and pointing and shooting

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[MikeOxon]

Loved the Grey Wagtail in flight pic. Be warned - photographing birds (and butterflies) in flight is highly addictive

Mike

[essexbuzzard]

Sun hours for last week in London:3.5 hours. In Manchester:24 hours!
No wonder we're not seeing any butterflies down south yet Wurzel!!

[Wurzel]

Cheers Mike I know what you mean about the "flight shots" being addictive - they're defintiely something I'm going to work on this year.

Cheers Essex I noticed last year that living in Salisbury I got the worst of both worlds. When there was glorious weather in the South and South East we were covered in the same cloud as the South West. Then when it turned nice in the South West we were clobbered by whatever was in the South East! Mind you it fwelt like it was non stop rain from April until July last year...

On a more cheey note...Despite being stuck at work today I did manage to pop out over the lunchtime to the wildlife area. Whilst it's left pretty much to it's own devices there aren't too many nectar sources so I wasn't hoping for too much. As I walked up to the large wood chip pile a Small Tortosieshell took off and was gone before I'd even raised the viewfinder to my eye! Still I'd actually seen my first butterfly of 2013 - 17 days later than in 2012 now I need to try and get shots of one.

Just as I was recovering form the shock/surprise of seeing my first a flash of vivid yellow caught my eye a male Brimstone, it was flying fast, too fast to settle so I grabbed a few Sports mode shots before it disappeared through the security fence and then from view.

Before I headed back in I peeked over the embankment and there flying along the railway line was another male Brimstone. I decided there and then to try my luck on the way home as well as popping in to Five Rivers for a quick walk around. Alas it wasn't to be. I did get to leave early but only so that I could get the girls from school as my wife is really ill In a way I'm glad that the weather doesn't look to good over the next few days as I won't be able to get out much what with work and nursing at home.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Cracking shots Wurzel

Unfortunatly I missed out on the weather today, by the time I left work the sun was dropping and it was turning chilly again

I have got a couple of local spots in mind to visit when I get a chance where I saw load of Commas, Red Admirals and Peacocks last year. The weather forecast is not looking too good but then again we were forecast a grey and cloudy weekend last weekend and that turned out nice in the end.

Cheers,

Neil.