Thursday 2 June 2011

Thursday 2nd. June 2011

Two hard days fencing up on the Greensand Ridge , produced another female Roe Deer , but this time running at full tilt down the field we were fencing , and no chance of a picture .
Today I decided to return to Ashdown Forest , for the birds and also hoping for Silver-studded Blues , which have started to emerge on other sites , but no sign at all in their usual site there . A strange day birdwise , with just 31 species recorded , and surprisingly , just one raptor all day , although I did find another Great Spotted Woodpecker nest with young being fed .
The highlights of the visit were ,male and female Stonechat ,Tree Pipit , singing his heart out ,and still singing as he parachutes back down ,a few Linnets were found , including this male ,the only raptor found all day was this Kestrel , whilst hoping to find a Cuckoo on the wires ,male and female Common Redstart ,a juvenile Common Redstart , part of 3/4 family groups seen ,
two singing male Woodlarks heard outside the reserve , and a pair collecting food .
Disappointing numbers of Odonata ,but several male Emperor Dragonflies recorded , and a female ovipositing , female Broad-bodied Chaser ovipositing , and just one Four Spotted Chaser recorded .
A couple of moths for the man , the first might be a Wave of some sort , but I will be interested in the second , as I think I have found this species before , but never been able to identify it .

7 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Redstarts, Tree Pipits, and Woodlarks, What a trio of special birds Greenie, good to see the Redstarts breeding well.

Great emperor photo :-)

Phil said...

As soon as I saw the header photo on my sidebar I thought, Greenie's been to Ashdown Forest.
Warren's right, that's a great trio. Nice shot of the Emperor, dragons seem to be in short supply like butterflies at the moment. Very few of either at Stodmarsh today.

Kingsdowner said...

That's as good a bunch of birds as you're going to get in the breeding season - I must get down to the forest soon.
It is indeed a strange season - early and profuse flowers have left a barren mostly colourless landscape, while butterflies and other insects have disappeared almost completely. I think we had May in April.

Paul said...

A great selection of photos there Greenie, as Warren said, some nice birds seen too. Looks like your trip was another success.

PS. If you check out my latest blog, could i have your opinion on the ID of a Butterfly please mate, cheers in advance.

Mike H said...

Hi Greenie,

Seems like another place I need to go. If poss would you e mail me with where to park and where to walk etc. Would be grateful.

Anonymous said...

Greenie, i`m pretty sure that the first moth is a Grass Wave and the 2nd is defo a Clouded Buff.

ShySongbird said...

What an excellent selection of birds you saw in just one visit Greenie! You are doing well for GSW nests too :)