Birdwatcher’s Diary No.143

Published on: 27 Aug, 2017
Updated on: 27 Aug, 2017

By Malcolm Fincham

Forty-five not out! Playing a ”straight bat”, yet not expecting to add any more to the total of my year list of butterflies.

On August 8 at Bookham Common I finally caught up with and managed to get a few reasonable pictures of a brown hairstreak.

Brown hairstreak at Bookham Common. Click on all pictures to enlarge in a new window.

Even more delightful it was a female! The female is particularly beautiful, with fore-wings that contain large orange patches. It was once considered to be a separate species known as the golden hairstreak.

Male brown hairstreak butterfly.

Having only seen and photographed the male of, what is, one of UK’s most elusive butterfly species a few years ago, this was a real treat, since it spends much of its time resting and basking high up in tall shrubs and high in the canopy of trees, or hiding in hedgerows.

It is worth looking up at prominent ash trees along woodland edges at this time of the year to see if small clusters of adults may be flitting around.

Female brown hairstreak with wings partly open.

The brown hairsteak is the largest hairstreak found in the British Isles. It is a localised species that lives in self-contained colonies that breed in the same area year after year.

Purple hairstreak at Bookham Common.

By good fortune we also stumbled upon a purple hairstreak near by. Typically, it was sitting on an oak-leaf, of its favoured tree, feeding on the honeydew. This was also a good find, although I had had a few distant views already this year. Looking a little tatty around its edges and not being obliging enough to open its wings, the pictures of this one are the best I have got so far.

Holly blue butterfly.

Adding to my photographs of butterflies also sighted there were holly blues.

Silver-washed fritillary at Bookham Common.

And even a silver-washed fritillary that had continued to survive the previous day’s rainfall.

Chiffchaff.

There were a variety birds, discreetly flitted throughout the hedgerows. Most were too difficult to ”nail” with with my camera, although eventually a few chiffchaffs were kind enough to oblige.

Sparrowhawk circles overhead.

Overhead a sparrowhawk circled briefly.

Common Buzzard.

While a noisy young common buzzard passed through just over the canopy of trees around us.

Thursley Common in bloom.

A visit to Thursley Common is always a treat, especially at this time of the year when the heather is in full bloom. If it’s only to take in the scenery and fresh air, so any new discoveries are a bonus.

Grayling butterfly on Thursley Common.

My first finds there, early in the afternoon on August 14, were grayling butterflies.

Although I had seen a few there on my previous visit, just a few weeks before, they were now more abundant, counting at least 15 without trying, getting a few photos along the way.

Hornet robberfly (Asilus crabroniformis). Large ambush predator and a good find. It its eggs in herbivore dung.

While in the process, a large insect flew past settling on a bare stump of wood. On close inspection I realised it to be a hornet robberfly.

Although there were spells of glorious sunshine, it was uncannily bereft of bird sound there.

So quiet it was, I was beginning to have concerns about a humming sound I was continuously hearing and began to fear that I was developing some form of tinnitus. Only to be alleviated as I realised it was actually coming from the myriad of bees feeding on the of purple heather blossom that carpeted the landscape.

Adult male common redstart on Thursley Common.

Getting my eyes and binoculars into focus around the heather-clad area surrounding me, I caught sight of an adult male common redstart.

Young redstart.

Close examination across the purple blossom also revealed a few of this year’s youngsters, spread out, low in the heather.

The occasional Dartford warbler would briefly pop out from “cover”.

Male stonechat.

While, as always, the stonechats there tended to be bolder.

Bee-wolf wasp (Philanthis triangulum) – a honeybee predator that used to be rare but has increased dramatically.

Along the sandy tracks spectacular species of solitary wasps showed themselves.

Burrowing into the loose soil places, sometimes in large “wasp cities” and preying on honeybees. The wasp was once considered an extreme rarity but has undergone a huge increase.

A resident stonechat with a whinchat (to its lower right) on Thursley Common.

Having missed out on seeing any whinchats passing through earlier in the year, I was finally able to add one to my year list as it perched near to a stonechat in an area where cattle grazed.

Water lilies on the Moat pond at Thursley.

At the Moat pond water lilies were now in flower.

I was fortunate to catch some interesting sightings around the Surrey countryside in the days surrounding the middle of the month.

Common darter (Sympetrum striolatum).

Among dragonflies I photographed was a common darter.

Papercourt Lock.

Common whitethroats.

A visit to Papercourt Lock and its meadows near Send on a pleasant morning on August 19 included sightings of a family of common whitethoats.

Goldfinches taking a bath.

Families of goldfinches grouped together with adults taking their young down to a small steam, teaching them the rudiments of washing.

Spotted flycatcher at Papercourt water meadows.

A surprise sighting, for me there was a spotted flycatcher, flitting back and forth, feeding on flying insects.

I am 99% sure this is a pied hover fly (Volucella pellucens. The white area looks translucent with sunlight above it as it hovers.

Hover flies had become noticeably a more common sighting for me this year. Grateful of some help in identification (thanks Harry), I discovered this one to be a pied hoverfly (Volucella pellucens).

Swallow on a wire.

On wires in the villages surrounding Guildford, groups of swallows, both young and adult, could be seen.

Swallow feeding one of its fledglings on wires.

Adult swallows often taking flight, leaving their young behind, only to return with a feast of flies to feed their fledglings.

Juvenile great-crested grebes following their parent on Stoke Lake.

On Stoke Lake, an adult great-crested grebe could be viewed with two juveniles close by.

Juvenile great-crested grebe on Stoke Lake.

Preening themselves and stretching their wings as they traversed the lake.

Long-tailed tit.

Around the lake, long-tailed tits had already started to gather into small flocks, often joined by other members of the tit family, with an occasional chiffchaff joining the gathering.

Fungi now appearing.

A notable sign of summer coming to a close were the variety of mushrooms and fungi now beginning to appear.

Parasol mushroom.

These included parasol ones.

More fungi.

As well as many others of various shapes and sizes I was unable to identify.

Tree Rat.

Probably my most unusual sighting during the past few weeks was when I heard a rustling in a tree close by me while out on one of my many walks. Expecting it to be a grey squirrel. Often locally ”tagged” with the name of ”tree rat” I was most surprised to find it was actually a real one.

[Editor: Malcolm Fincham is now tweeting his wildlife pictures on Twitter. To follow him click here, or go to @malcomsdiary.]