A Very Hot Day

A very early morning Red Admiral in the back garden was my first of the year here in Nythe. I first spotted it at 7:30am on the Buddleia and then later at 8:25am when I managed a few photos. As the temperature rose, lots of Drone Fly's arrived to feed on the Buddleia along with a lone Small Tortoiseshell.

An early morning Red Admiral.

My first in the garden this year.

Lots of Drone Fly first thing this morning

In hover-mode

And feeding on nectar

Just the one Small Tortoiseshell this morning

On the Bramble a Small Cabbage White butterfly settled momentarily before fluttering over the fence and to the neighbours cabbages. I'm assuming it was a Small white as it was a lot smaller than a Large White.

I'm sure this is a Small White and not a Green-veined. And it was too small for a Large White!

Around the garden White-tailed Bumblebees were on the Purple Loosestrife and joining them were a couple of bees which I'm unsure of and a Marmalade Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus.

White-tailed Bumblebee

Bee sp. smaller than a Honeybee

Same bee different angle!

A very white looking bee but smaller than the Shrill Carder-bee I saw a couple of days ago.

Marmalade Hoverfly in hover-mode

Settled

And just taking off

And this evening a beautifully marked Common Emerald flew into the living room.

Common Emerald

Swiss Puma

More aircraft in today (Thu 10 Jul) with a Swiss Air Force Super Puma overhead. This is a AS332M1 Super Puma transport helicopter. Not a brilliant shot, it was at altitude but you can just about make out the Swiss Flag underneath.

Plus a big thank you to Malcolm Royal who sent this photo in from Fairford of the Puma landing. Nice one.

Super Puma coming into land at Fairford. Photo courtesy of Malcolm Royal.

More on this helicopter Here

Butterflies and Swifts

If it was a bee day yesterday, then it was definitely a butterfly day today, as several Small Tortoiseshells descended on the buddleia. One pair were trying to mate, but the wind kept breaking them apart.

A pair of Small Tortoiseshells

Lining up for take off.............

A birds eye view from the Clothes Line.

On the Buddleia

Feeding on the nectar

Sunning itself on the warm pebble path

Not only were the Tortoiseshells out in force, but there was another influx of Swifts again with a good dozen or more over the estate.

One of the many Swifts today over the estate

This an amazing bird, after fledging it will be on the wing for up to 3 years before reaching a mature age to land and breed. Yep this bird eats, sleeps and drinks on the wing, and in the breeding season it will use a ledge under the eaves to make a "nest", I use the term loosely as the nest is just a flat space covered in feathers and other materials caught on the wing.

Long wings, short tail with a slight fork.

Swept back wings

Very fast and very difficult to photograph

Plane Spotting Again

This afternoon a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III flew over the house. I was a bit confused as I thought I'd read RAF 342 on the tail, turns out it was KAF - Kuwait Air Force. Funny route it took as well, most of the aircraft going into Fairford (for the Royal International Air Tattoo) pass the front of the house which faces north. However this beast of an aircraft took a flight path further south, which was great as I had a terrific view of it from my deckchair in the back garden. I managed a few photos of it as it dropped down to the north east. More on this aircraft Here.

Looking at the RIAT Website this aircraft wasn't confirmed as coming to Fairford, but was invited. Hope the guys in Air Traffic Control are aware it's inbound......................

A Bit of A Bee Day

With the weather not knowing what it was doing, I thought I'd stay at home and have a go at identifying some of the bumblebees that were collecting pollen from the Purple Loosestrife. No sooner had I photographed a few and come indoors, than the heavens opened up and the rain began to fall. Such timing!

But I did manage to photograph 3 different species and spot a Honey Bee, which flew off before I could photograph it. It must have sensed the rain coming.

The Bumblebees were mainly Early Bumblebees (Bombus pratorum) and Red-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus lapidarius), plus a single Shrill Carder-bee (Bombus sylvarum).

Early Bumblebee, Bombus pratorum

Early Bumblebee, Bombus pratorum

Red-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius

Red-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius

Shrill Carder-bee, Bombus sylvarum

Other things of note from the back garden were 100+ Starlings, most of which were juveniles. They landed on the neighbouring houses and Leylandii before something spooked them and they shot off.

Two of the 100+ juvenile Starlings

Also about were 5 Goldfinches (2 pairs and a single bird), a pair of House Martins that were passing through, 3 Carrion Crows, 2 Pied Wagtails, 11 House Sparrows, 3 Wood Pigeon, 13 large gulls with certainly 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in amongst them, a Greenfinch and a pair of Swifts. A Small Tortoiseshell was also noted, but wouldn't  land and instead flew back and forth from my garden to the neighbours.

Those Were the Days

Okay so its not a bird flying, but the sound of a Canberra flying over the house got me grabbing for my camera and well I got a shot, albeit from a great distance. The Canberra was the Mid Air Squadrons PR9 XH134, which performed at Bournemouth last Friday and will be at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), Fairford this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So beware you A419 users, the road is going to be busy.

Canberra PR9

The PR9 was one of the aircraft I did my Air Photography training on, back in 1976 at RAF Cosford. The cameras I worked on were the F49,  F52 and F96. A long time ago. One of the other aircraft I practised my skills on was the Javelin.

The photographs below were taken by my good friend Ed Wilson who was at RIAT

Canberra PR.9 (G-OMHD)/XH134

Canberra PR.9 (G-OMHD)/XH134 with nose open

From Ed
Lots to see at RIAT of course. You would have been especially interested in the Canberra PR.9 from Kemble where it is flown by the Midair Squadron with military marks XH134 under exemption (it is properly G-OMHD). It first flew just about this time last year. On Saturday it was displayed in the static area with the PR nose open (though you could not see in) and I took shots of it for you to bring back memories!

An Early Morning Walk

It was an early start for Dawn with her new job, so we were up at 4:30am and away to work at 5:30am. I dropped her off and headed to Nightingale Wood. My last visit there was cut short when the rain started to fall. Not this time though and having arrived at 6:00am I set off on a 3½ walk. When I arrived someone was just leaving and I thought I was early.

As I set off the bird song around me comprised mainly of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs. A Song Thrush was quite audible and other birds noted in quick succession were Garden Warbler, Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Dunnock, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Mistle Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Goldfinch and Greenfinch. And I hadn't even left the car park!

As I made my way down towards the Hide at Brook Meadow a pair of Roe Deer crossed the track in front of me and disappeared into the wood on my right. Further down just past the Log Run another Roe Deer watched me from the cover of the trees and them wandered off further into the trees.

Roe Deer

In the meadow yet another Roe Deer was feeding and also here were 2 Willow Warblers, a Reed Bunting and a Common Whitethroat singing. Just beyond the hide a Chiffchaff was singing but with a few extra notes added in.

Click Here for Chiffchaff Video

Around at the pool a juvenile Moorhen was lurking and as there wasn't much else to see there I headed off down towards the River Cole, following the Brook on my right. Not surprising really but there were very few insects about and my first butterfly of the day was a Meadow Brown half way down the brook at 6:55am. Still quite early for butterflies but it was warm and sunny. This was quickly followed up by a Beautiful Demoiselle, but both were pretty reluctant flyers. Along the brook were lots of White-lipped Banded and Common Amber Snails.

White-lipped Banded Snail

Common Amber Snail

At the river I turned left and made my way through the meadow, but after covering about 100 metres something caught my eye. A white butterfly. suspecting Marbled White I walked across the field to the hedgerow on the other side. The "Marbled White" if it was one, wasn't anywhere to be seen, but I did come across a Comma, Ringlet and another Meadow Brown. As I headed back across the meadow a small flock of Starlings landed on the telephone wires next to me, having just come off the recently mown field by the Pond.

Comma

Ringlet

Starlings

I followed the track between the river and pond and though there were no demoiselles to be seen, I did come across a Scorpion Fly. In this area there were both Sedge and Reed Warblers clamouring away, plus a few squawks from a Moorhen.

Scorpion Fly

Leaving the pond I made my way through the woods and as I approached the clearing where the trees were felled last month, there were juvenile Common Whitethroats and Garden Warblers being fed by their respective parents all along the hedgerow to my right. In amongst them was a pair of Dunnock and close by a Great Spotted Woodpecker was inspecting the fallen logs.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The wood is about midway and I started heading back towards the main wood, passing the cattle on my left in the field with the tall aerial. As I walked down the track with Roves Farm behind me I caught a flash in my eye and there parked/abandoned in the trees half-way down the field was a green Peugeot 206. It certainly wasn't parked "properly" and being concerned that it had been abandoned by joy riders I gave the police a quick call just in case someone was missing a car this morning. As I was calling them a Small Tortoiseshell landed on my mobile and was quite happy to stay there while I spoke to the police desk at Devizes. The feedback I got was that there hadn't been any cars reported missing but they would let me know if anything came up. If that wasn't bizarre enough, the Small Tortoiseshell was still on the phone when I hung up and moved onto my hand when I put my mobile back in my pocket.

Small Tortoiseshell

I carried on down the track and turned into the wood towards the cottages, as I did so a Fox shot across the path and disappeared into the brambles. That's the second time I've seen a Fox in this area, which is hardly surprising as there were dozens of rabbits everywhere.  Once pass the cottages I took the path to my right which almost double backs on yourself and takes you on the other side of the cottages. I've seen Marbled Whites here before by the wooden posts and sure enough there was one albeit half asleep and looking very worn.

Marbled White

From here it was just a case of following the path around to Roves farm, pass the dog dip pool and back to the car park. As I did so I came across a pair of Lesser Whitethroats, Red Admirals, Small Skippers, Gatekeepers, a Volucella pellucens Fly and a Ichneumon Wasp (Apechthis compunctor). A surprise was finding a Beautiful Demoiselle in the wood so far from water. All in all this was a lovely walk with a lot of interesting things found!!

Hogweed Bonking Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)

Beautiful Demoiselle

Ichneumon Wasp (Apechthis compunctor)

Hoverfly (Syrphus ribeshi)

Fly (Volucella pellucens)

Large Skipper

Red Admiral

Drone Fly

Birds Recorded: 2 Moorhen (1 adult and a juvenile), 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Collared Dove, 1 Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, 4 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Skylark, 2 Swallow, Dunnock, Robin plus a juvenile, Blackbird, Song Thrush, 5 Mistle Thrush, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, 5+ Garden Warbler, 5 Common Whitethroat plus 3 juvenile, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 14+ Blackcap, 15+ Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, 10+ Bullfinch and Reed Bunting.

Butterflies Recorded: 5 Red Admiral, 2 Green-veined White, 2 Large White, dozens of Small Tortoiseshell, Ringlets and Meadow Brown, 8 Large Skippers, 1 Marbled White, 5 Gatekeepers and 2 Comma. No Peacocks or Speckled Woods seen.

Damselflies and Dragonflies: 3 Beautiful Demoiselles, 1 Banded Demoiselle and a Broad-bodied Chaser.

Mammals: 5 Roe Deer, a Fox, dozens of Rabbits, 1 Grey Squirrel and a Shrew.

Other Invertebrate: Grasshopper sp., Hogweed Bonking Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva), Scorpion Fly, Blue Bottle, Cluster Fly, Fly (Volucella pellucens), Flesh Fly, Drone Fly, Hoverfly (Syrphus ribeshi), Ichneumon Wasp (Apechthis compunctor), White-tailed Bumblebee, White-lipped Banded Snail and Common Amber Snail (Succinea putris).