Birdwatcher’s Diary No.141

Published on: 30 Jul, 2017
Updated on: 30 Jul, 2017

By Malcolm Fincham

An unsettled spell of weather set the theme for the last weeks of July. And with slightly below average temperatures too giving, at times, an autumnal feel to the air.

The rain, however, was welcomed by local gardeners in the southern regions of the UK, as well as a great relief to some of our wildlife.

‘Here I stand, frog in hand.’ Click on all pictures to enlarge.

Young frog-lets, encouraged by damp grassland, were now leaving their ”nursery” ponds, in the hope of escaping predation by fish. Though only to face other pillaging prey.

Resident garden birds, some now raising second broods, were quick to realise and take advantage of softer soil now under their feet, feasting on worms and grubs, brought to the surface by the rain.

Blackbird collecting food.

These included blackbirds seen on garden lawns, digging with their beaks for invertebrates.

Mistle thrushes.

While mistle thrushes could be seen, feasting in fields, where the grass was short.

Green woodpecker.

Green woodpeckers could also vary their diets more, having spent the long dry spell feeding on bugs in wood bark and raiding ant nests.

Song thrush collecting worms.

Song thrushes took preference to eating snails, in the hope they weren’t ones laced with slug pellet poison, unwittingly put out by gardeners.

Newly fledged song thrush.

A juvenile song thrush looked rather vulnerable, having popped out of its nest and too young to fly.

Although restricting my opportunity to ”wield” my camera on the ”wetter” days, there were plenty of sunny spells too, allowing me a rather mixed bag of photos to complete another interesting month of wildlife sightings beyond my front door.

Girl looking rather disgruntled about a juvenile robin.

A juvenile robin perched on a small statue depicting a scene of children on a lawn, with one looking on seemingly amused to see the droppings it was depositing on the other’s head.

House martin.

Having shown swallows in the process of fledging in my previous report, I stumbled on a local sight where several families of house martins had set up their summer homes in the eaves of an old building.

House martin fledgling in nest.

With young now close to fledging, I was able to get a several ”in-flight” shots as the adults flew back and forth, feeding their young.

House martin soon leaves again to hawk for insects.

By the last days of the month they seemed to have all fledged too.

Nightjar.

Revisiting a local common, I also got what I believe are some of my best ”in-flight” photos of nightjars.

Watching them appear from their heather-clad daytime roosts where they could remain incognito from predators.

Nightjar in flight.

Honoured to watch them display overhead, just as dusk started to fall around me.

Nightjar perches on a tree stump.

Perching to rest and churr for spells on dead silver birch stumps.

Nightjar showing its wings well.

And getting some stunning views of their butterfly-like wing beats as they flew close by me around the heathland.

Often at this time of the year there are mistaken claims of lesser spotted woodpecker sightings. A glanced view of their red caps can often be confused with juvenile great spotted woodpeckers.

Juvenile great spotted woodpecker.

The white shoulder bar and red base to its body are the better ID clues to confirming it as a juvenile great spotted.

Male great spotted woodpecker have a distinctive red patch on the back of their heads.

Whereas adult male great spotted woodpeckers have a red nape.

Female great spotted woodpecker.

And females have no red at all on their heads.

In spite of inclement spells of weather, especially during the last week of July, butterflies were still in good numbers in the countryside around Guildford.

Silver-washed fritillary.

Although a few ”weather-beaten” silver-washed fritillary were now looking rather tatty, I was still getting photos of some still recognisable.

White admiral.

White admirals were also starting to look a little past their ”sell-by date”.

Small copper butterfly on ragwort.

Some of the new ”kids” on the block were small copper butterflies, seen locally most days at various locations during the last week of the month.

Common blue butterfly.

A new emergence of common blues had also taken to the stage.

Chalkhill blue.

While chalkhill blues could now be viewable on my visits to Sheepleas and Denbies Hillside.

Wild flower meadows at Sheepleas between West Horsley and Shere.

View from Denbies Hillside, Ranmore Common, near Dorking.

Gatekeeper butterfly.

Where gatekeepers were also out in good number.

Red admiral.

And red admirals were looking rather admirable too.

Thursley Common.

A brief visit to Thursley Common with friends Bob and Dougal gave us our first sighting of grayling butterflies this year, counting at least six on what was an overcast day.

Grayling butterfly on Thursley Common.

As Albert Einstein once said: ”The more we learn in life, the more we realise how much more there is to know.”

Peacock butterflies overwinter in the UK, as well as other insects are susceptible to being eaten by small birds, particularly blue tits. To reduce their likelihood of being eaten by predators, peacocks have evolved in a number of clever ways.

Peacock butterfly with wings closed.

Well camouflaged with wings closed they strongly resemble dead leaves, making them very difficult to see.

Peacock butterfly with eye spots revealed.

Secondly, when peacock butterflies are disturbed, they flip their wings open so their dramatic eye spots are suddenly revealed. This is usually referred to as the “startle display”, proven to be very effective at intimidating would-be predators.

Surprisingly, peacock butterflies have evolved a third line of defence: hissing. When it flicks its wings open it produces an acoustic display as well as a visual one. Special sections of the fore-wing and hind-wing rub against each other making a hissing sound audible to humans as well as ultrasonic clicks.

Marbled white butterfly at Sheepleas.

Coming to the end of their reign, were marbled white butterflies, some showing little red dots on their abdomens.

Marbled white carrying red mite parasites.

These are a type of red mite parasite that live on various species of butterflies and moths.

It’s said that they prefer to infest the ”ears” of moths, although only in areas where there are no predatory bats!

In areas where bats thrive, however, they only attack one of the ears, so the moth is still able to detect the bat’s acoustic and take avoiding action.

And that’s just a brief synopsis of two of natures wonders! ”If only we could realise and all see life through real eyes”, the wonders of nature.

Other significant sightings, along with rather pleasing photos-shots that I collocated into my collection as another month began to wane, were:

Painted lady butterfly.

A painted lady butterfly, that briefly came to visit in my back garden on July 27.

Common buzzard.

Common buzzards could be seen daily around the local countryside, while their fledglings could regularly be heard calling to their parents for attention.