June 30, 2009
Monday 29th June . 2009
A quick look around the Woodbury Commons this afternoon never got me much but I did see a nice GREEN WOODPECKER , on the Butterfly side it was a bit better with lots of Small Pearl Bordererd Fritillary , Silver Studded Blue & Ringlet seen & quite a few Silver Y Moths as well .
I then had a look at the Bystock Ponds & saw some Azure Damselfly , a Four-Spot Chaser & this Downey Emerald .
June 28, 2009
The Ashclyst Forest
Welcome to the bird-less south west where the only things worth looking at are Butterflies & these were seen today at the Ashclyst Forest on the edge of Exeter !!!
Numerous Ringlet & Meadow Brown , 4 Silver-Washed Fritillary , 3 Marbled White , 2 White Admiral , 1 Painted Lady , 1 Gatekeeper & a Golden-Ringed Dragonfly was also seen .
June 24, 2009
Woodbury Commons
Today the weather was great so I went up onto the Woodbury Commons for a look & saw 2 GREEN WOODPECKER & heard another 2 & a family party of WREN .
I then looked for Butterflies & there was still numerous Silver-Studded Blue , Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary & Small Heath , 5 Dark Green Fritillary & 3 Painted Lady & also seen was Bee Orchid & Common Spotted Orchid .
June 21, 2009
June 19, 2009
Large Blue
An afternoon trip up to Collared Hill in Somerset today to look for a new Butterfly for me a Large Blue & the trip was well worth it as I saw around 8 of these superb Butterflies , also on the wing were quite a few Marbled White & Meadow Brown , 3 Ringlet , 2 Common Blue , 2 Small Tortoiseshell & a Large Skipper .
The following Orchid were also seen Greater Butterfly , Pyramidal , Common Spotted & Common Twayblade .
GREATER BUTTERFLY ORCHID . COLLARD HILL . SOMERSET . 19 / 6 / 2009
June 15, 2009
Orchids
A look on Woodbury Common this afternoon for Orchids turned out very good with Bee Orchid , Common Spotted Orchid , Southern Marsh Orchid & a new one for me Early Marsh Orchid of the white form Pulchella , also seen were the following Butterfly , numerous Silver Studded Blue , quite a few Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary & 3 Small Heath .
EARLY MARSH ORCHID ( Pulchella ) . WOODBURY COMMON . DEVON . 15 / 6 / 2009
Sunday 14th June . 2009
As you all know migration is over & the birding is all but dead ! so its a good time to look at Butterflies & these two where new ones on the year list .
LARGE SKIPPER . BOWLING GREEN MARSH . TOPSHAM . DEVON . 14 / 6 / 2009
June 12, 2009
Wednesday 10th June . 2009
A quick look at Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham this morning only got me a 2nd summer MEDITERRANEAN GULL & a few HOUSE MARTIN , so I then went up to the Lympstone Common to look for Butterflies & I saw numerous Silver-Studded Blue & Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary , 6 Small Heath , 3 Painted Lady & a nice Green Hairstreak .
SILVER-STUDDED BLUE . THE LYMPSTONE COMMON . DEVON . 10 / 6 / 2009
June 9, 2009
Damselflies
This afternoon I went over to the Exeter Canal to look for Damselflies but I am not very good with these so was glad that local expert Dave Land was there to lend me a welcome hand & he put me on White-Legged Damsefly & Red-Eyed Damselfly & these were new to me , also seen were Azure Damselfly , Large Red Damselfly , Blue-Tailed Damselfly & a female Hairy Dragonfly .
WHITE-LEGGED DAMSELFLY ( Male & Female ) . THE EXETER CANAL . DEVON . 9 / 6 / 2009
June 8, 2009
Summer Plumaged Wader
This is the bird that was named a Baird`s Sandpiper at the Black Hole Marsh reserve in Seaton this morning but after photo`s were taken & looked at the opinion now is that it is a summer plumaged LITTLE STINT still a superb looking bird !
Later in the day I went up to the Ham Walls reserve again with two mates Andy & Ken as they wanted to see the male LITTLE BITTERN & after a short wait the bird flew from the reed bed giving good views & at one point I was lucky enough to get the bird climbing up the reeds with its red bill pointed in the air , also seen was a GREAT BITTERN & a MARSH HARRIER , before we headed home we went across to the Mear Heath reserve where we saw distant male & female GARGANEY .
June 7, 2009
Little Bittern
A trip up to the Ham Walls reserve in Somerset today in hope of seeing the male LITTLE BITTERN that was found there yesterday & after a four & a half hour wait I ended up getting fabulous views of it in flight , it was also calling quite a lot & that helped to pinpoint it in the reeds .
Also seen were 3 GREAT BITTERN , 2 BLACK TERN , a COMMON TERN & a nice BARN OWL , there was also plenty of Four-Spotted Chaser & a Hairy Dragonfly .
FOUR-SPOTTED CHASER . THE HAM WALLS RESERVE . SOMERSET . 7 / 6 / 2009
June 4, 2009
Wednesday 3rd June . 2009
A trip down to Cornwall this afternoon with Andy Bond & Ken Montandon to look for the AMERICAN BLACK DUCK that has been seen at the Colliford Reservoir , but the viewing was a bit distant & not very good at all but after searching for quite a while through numerous MALLARD we got the bird ok in the end , also seen was a GREAT CRESTED GREBE , a LITTLE GREBE & a CUCKOO was heard calling !
AMERICAN BLACK DUCK . COLLIFORD RESERVOIR . CORNWALL . 3 / 6 / 2009
June 1, 2009
Gull-Billed Tern
The luck was with me today !!!!! as I had gone down to Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham at high tide in hope that something may come onto the marsh but all I could see was a few LITTLE EGRET , 3 BLACK-TAILED GODWIT & a mass of BLACK-HEADED GULL , so I walked down to the viewing platform that looks out over the Clyst Estuary but there wasn`t a lot to be seen & after a while I was joined by some visiting birders from London & we were looking at the gulls & the SHELDUCK with there young that were showing on the mudflats as the tide was dropping when I picked up a bird flying down the Clyst & I could see that it was an adult GULL-BILLED TERN the bird carried on flying & went down the Exe Estuary as far as Exton but then turned around & started flying back up the Exe , in my Excitement I was shouting to the others what I had & they were able to get on the bird as well before it was lost from view behind the Riversmeet House , making it a lot more pleasurable for me !!