A few sightings from the past week at Stags Lodge CVP

Buzzards can be seen quite frequently flying across the patch often being chased by a corvid or 3. A good place to see them is perched on the dead tree at the top of Stags Lodge.

 Warblers are a common visitor to the patch with up to 5 Chiffchaff (top) calling across the patch. Blackcap (below male) are a little harder to come across though I have seen up to 4 at any one time and mainly frequent the wooded area across the river lostock. I have only seen the Reed Warbler (bottom) twice on the patch with this one arriving on the 3rd July and hopefully staying longer than the week one stopped last year. It is very elusive but can be heard calling in the left reedbed next to the bench at the pond.

 The Reed Bunting (below) is a rare visitor to the patch with this male being only the second one I've seen here. I first saw it in the trees at the side of the pond and later in the reedbeds.

 Dragonflies etc are a rare visitor to Stags with only a handfull of sightings throughout the year so when I came across these Banded Demoiselle (female above male below)  hawking flies over the river lostock I was glad I had my camera with me. It's only the first time I've seen them on the patch though they may breed along the river somewhere as there are several sites suitable that are close to where I saw them.

 Butterflies have been low in numbers across the patch with numbers only reaching a handfull on any of my recent vists. The Orange Tip is currently the most common sighting (female top and below) with the much larger and stronger flying Peacock (bottom) seen in ones or twos.

Local Patch, Warblers & Butterflies - 29th April 2011

I managed a few trips up to the local patch the first being on the way back from an early walk with the dogs at Cuerden Valley Park. On the way up I’d heard a Willow Warbler calling by the top kissing gate and more were heard on Cuerden itself as well as a Whitethroat calling near the paddock and Chiffchaff calling around the park.
On the way back through as well as the usual calling Chiffchaff there were 2 calling Whitethroat and 2 other Whitethroat in the area where 2 successfully nested last year which was a good sign and prompted a return visit with the camera.
Though I heard 2 Whitethroat calling the nesting pair were very elusive and it took a 45 minute wait sat in the long grass before I got the few shots shown.

ABOVE AND BELOW WHITETHROAT

Though the wind was up there were several species of butterfly in evidence and I came across a single Blue-tailed Damselfly which I think is a little early for them and the first dragonfly/damselfly I have seen this season though I have been checking the Dragonfly Pond at Cuerden regularly.

ABOVE AND BELOW MALE ORANGE TIP, THE FEMALE LACKS THE ORANGE TIPS

ABOVE WORN PEACOCK BELOW SMALL TORTOISESHELL 

ABOVE SMALL WHITE BELOW BLUE-TAILED DAMSELFLY

Brockholes Nature Reserve LWT - 10th April 2011

BROCKHOLES VISITORS CENTRE

With the weather being the best it has been all year I decided to head down to Brockholes in hope of getting some passing migrants and re-build my collection of phototgraphs after loosing my hard drive recently. Though I heard a Chiffcaff there was no sign of any other warblers though Willow, Blackcap and Whitethroat have all been reported so far this year. No1 Pit had 2 Ringed Plover and 2 Common Sandpiper on the spits as well as Greater Black Backed Gull, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Lapwing and Greylag. I deceided to take a walk down to the Ribble in the attempt of getting some Sand Martin shots with not much luck. The one below was about the best of the 50+ I took of the c50 Sand Martins that were present. No sign of any Wheatear though a few have been reported but there were several Reed Bunting males and Tree Sparrow as well as a male Kestrel mobbing a Carion crow.

ABOVE SAND MARTIN BELOW MALE REED BUNTING

ABOVE TREE SPARROW BELOW MALE KESTREL

Butterflies are starting to appear more frequently with Small White, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock, the latter being very aggressive towards the other species.

PEACOCK

Brockholes Nature Reserve - 24th July 2010

Okay I thought I'd start the post with this juvenile Robin as I haven't posted much about birds lately on what started out as a birding blog and it looked kinda cute sat amongst the undergrowth. More about birds later, the reason for this trip down to Brockholes NR was again to try and see the White-letter Hairstreak. The sun had been out all morning but by the time I managed my visit it was still warm but the sun was behind a mass of white cloud so spotting one was going to be difficult. The caterpillar feeds exclusively on the leaves of elm and the butterfly feeds on the honeydew in the canopy of elms only occasionaly coming down to feed on brambles or thistles in the warmth of sunlight. On my walk up to the area they had previously been sighted I counted 20+ Meadow Browns amongst the grass as well as several Gatekeepers, Small Tortoiseshell and Green-veined White. As I approached the brambles several species were feeding and taking in the warmth and while l scanning through them a single White-letter Hairstreak flew from the bottom of the brambles and perched on a high branch.

ABOVE AND BELOW WHITE-LETTERED HAIRSTREAK

Other species on the Brambles including those already mentioned were Coma, Peackock and Small White.

ABOVE PEACOCK BELOW COMA

BELOW SMALL WHITE IN FLIGHT AND 2 GATEKEEPERS

Bill and Mike joined me but as Mike arived the White-letter Hairstreak flew back into the woods not to return on our visit.

Text had been coming through over the last few days about a Hobby that has been hunting around the M6 end of pool No1 so this was the next stop with the hope of seeing my first one of the year. Nick Green (who later spotted an Osprey breifly over the Ribble) and several other birders were watching the Hobby as it sat on the top of a lamp post. I managed a few record shots including a poor one in flight but it was just to far for my 300mm lens.

ABOVE HOBBY ON ITS REGULAR PERCH AND BELOW POOR FLIGHT SHOT

Once the Hobby flew off I spotted a female Common Darter which thankfully stayed around while both Mike and I photgraphed it.

TOP, MIDDLE AND BOTTOM FEMALE COMMON DARTER

A single Small Skipper few from under the undergrowth, the first I'd seen but not much different from the Large Skipper I photographed a few weeks ago here.

ABOVE AND BELOW SMALL SKIPPER

Stags Lodge, Cuerden Valley Park

I wouldn't call myself a patch birder but if I was to be asked what my local patch is I'd have to say Stags Lodge. I spend most evenings and a few mornings there usually walking my 3 dogs but do manage to see what goes on even though I don't always blog it. Its not one of the best patches but does have a few nice birds our favourite of this year being the Whinchat that made an appearance earlier in the year. At the moment there are warblers calling again, Chiffchaff, Willow and Whitethroat which look to have bred successfully this year with 4 young on show with 2 adults this evening. On the pond the Coot have done well with 2 pairs raising a total of 5 young though no Moorhen this year we can't forget the large Mallard brood. Across the park we regularly see Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Magpie, Rook, Carion Crow, Greater-black Backed and Black-headed Gull, Coal, Long-tailed, Great and Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Swallow, Wren, Robin, Jay, Woodpigeon, Collard Dove, Kestrel, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron and even the odd Buzzard from time to time. During the week though I found what I believe to be a young Sparrowhawk, what has taken it I'm not sure but possibly a Peregrine.

YOUNG SPARROWHAWWK FOUND DEAD ON THE PARK

The meadows were cut just over a week ago which caused me some concern not only beacause of the lack of flowers for the Bees and Butterflies but also beacause the meadows contained Common Spotted Orchid. A number of plants still remain in a ditch and a few more in the wilder part of th every bottom meadow which is usually left to grow its course so hopfully we will see them in future years here.

Butterflies can still be seen on the park with much smaller numbers of Meadow Brown than some weeks ago, a couple of Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell, Coma, Green-veined White and a single female Brimstone.

ABOVE COMA BELOW FEMALE GREEN-VEINED WHITE

ABOVE PEACOCK CATERPILLAR ON ITS FOODPLANT THE COMMON NETTLE

All photo's on this post taken with my Sony Ericsson C905 mobile phone (who needs a fancy camera?)