Friday Flutters.

My butterfly transect walk earlier this week through the woodland glades on Ashtead Common only produced two species; Brimstone and Speckled Wood (see image left) plus views of several Speckled Yellow, a day flying moth patrolling the open tracks; so on Thursday I decided to wander the southern chalk downland slope at Denbies Hillside.

Before tackling the downward slope I wandered across the upper meadow; the track-way lined with buttercups; and spotted numerous Five-spot Burnet moths amongst the grasses.

Five-spot Burnet.

A mating pair.

Descending the slope towards the gate provided my first view this year of a Common Blue perched low down in the grassy sword keeping out of the north-easterly breeze.

A few Brimstone and a solitary Orange-tip were also seen patrolling the field edge.

I was also delighted to see decent numbers of our commonest grassland species, the tiny Small Heath, which from past experience rarely perch for very long but I found one individual that sat just long enough for the lens to focus on it.

Small Heath.

My peripheral vision locked onto another inconspicuous and well camouflaged species, a Green Hairstreak, also hiding deep in the hillside vegetation. 

Green Hairstreak.

Deciding to take a rest and eat my packed lunch close to a bare patch of chalk was a good choice as I was shortly able to enjoy decent views of a fresh male Adonis Blue.

Adonis Blue (male).

On reaching the bottom of the slope I eventually came across a female Adonis Blue (see below).

Adonis Blue (female).

Finally a shot of the hillside resident that is a very important grazing species on the downs, necessary for creating very fine, short turf that is required by the rare Adonis Blue and other downland species.

Linking to:
Saturday's Critters

ECP Patch Roundup.

There has been very little visible avian activity on my local patch walks around Epsom Common Pond during the past week with most of the breeding birds staying hidden so I thought I would include some other residents as well as a few of the regular bird species.

A Chiffchaff regularly uses the same perch  and often gives me a quick burst of song as I climb the steps up to the Great Pond.

One chance sighting was finding a juvenile Grey Wagtail hiding in the branches close to the water but one press of the camera button and it flew away! My previous patch sighting of this species was back in 2010 so nice to see one around again, albeit briefly.

The Great and Stew Pond regulars include breeding Mallard, Canada Geese, Coot, Moorhen and Mandarin Duck plus the visiting Grey Herons. With such high water levels I haven't seen any evidence of a wader dropping in for a visit so far this year.

Mrs. Mallard taking a rest from her parenting duties.

There have been a number of male Tufted Duck and one female on the Great Pond since mid April but I haven't noticed any evidence of breeding so far this year.

Very few Odonata species logged this week include Large Red, Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies. 

Large Red Damselflies in tandem.

It's a well known fact that Grey Squirrels tend to scramble around a tree to hide from possible predators on the opposite side but this individual obviously didn't know the 'watcher' was behind it!

Whilst Canada Geese are regular breeders Greylag Geese sightings are very infrequent on the patch and I recently only just got a glimpse as one flew away calling for its friends.

During my wanderings I am often aware of the movement of Deer feeding throughout the woodland and sometimes a Roe Doe will appear from behind the lush vegetation, stop and stare at the 'watcher' who copies her action until she feels confident that I'm not a threat and slowly ambles onward.

 

Alongside the hedgerow close to the car park is the best spot to do a bit of Rabbit watching. They rarely let me get within 20 yards before disappearing into deep cover.

Butterflies recorded included Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Ringlet, Meadow Brown and Large Skipper.
At two other sites I captured images of Marbled White and White Admiral which you can view on FABirding.    FAB.

Linking to Nature Notes and Our World Tuesday.

Kent Marshes (Northwood Hill)

After dropping off the camping trailer at 8.15 a.m. in Northfleet we headed to Northwood Hill RSPB Reserve somewhere we had never visited before. The reserve is situated on a ridge overlooking the Thames Marshes and our first port of call was the woodland which was full of birdsong; Blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Whitethroats and Chiffchaff but most individuals were hidden from us by the lush dense foliage.

With fierce sun overhead it was great to be walking in dappled shade with Red Campion and Bluebells lining the pathways.

A view outside the woodland over the adjoining farmland.

Our route eventually led us to the edge of the ridge with this expansive view over the marshes. The building on the left was used for communicating with the U.S.A. during World War 2.

While Anita rested her feet, listening to the intermitent calls of Cetti's Warbler, Nightingale, a distant Cuckoo and the constant sounds from various corvids I headed downhill to check out the reed fringed small waterways and listened to the rythmic song of a Reed Warbler and the scratchy sounds from a Sedge Warbler.

Our return route to the car was an uphill slog but interupted with views of this docile 'bunny' and a very noisy laughing Green Woodpecker.

We then drove to the main car park at Bromhey Farm where a large party of school children were also enjoying the various wildlife delights of butterflies, bugs and of course the birds under the guidance of RSPB staff.

Clockwise L to R...ARB, Cuckoo, Chaffinch and Whitethroat.

We found a convenient seat to eat out packed lunch while watching Whitethroats, Linnets, a Yellowhammer, Chaffinch with the constant calls from a Cuckoo who eventual alighted on a very distant tree. Other sightings included Grey Herons, Little Egrets, Greylag Geese, Shelduck and Tufted Duck plus we also saw a few butterflies but I'll leave these for a later post as this one is already too long! Just after lunch the mobile rang and we returned to pick  up the trailer, now in full working order...next job is to repack all our gear so it is ready for an outing somewhere next month.   FAB.