Birdwatcher’s Diary No.311

Published on: 3 Sep, 2024
Updated on: 5 Sep, 2024

By Malcolm Fincham

Once again, despite south-westerly breezes and low pressure systems traversing across the Atlantic, south-eastern regions of the UK avoided the worst of the rainfall that had been delivered to more northern regions of the country, during the latter weeks of August.

In Surrey, although breezy at times, temperatures remained in the low to mid 20c allowing reasonably good opportunities to get out and about locally in my spare time with the hope of adding a few new sightings and photos.

Brown hairstreak butterfly, Pewley Down.

A visit to Pewley Down on August 17 in the company of Bob and Dougal gave us the opportunity to find our first brown hairstreak butterfly of the year, as we walked the line of blackthorn on the summit of the south-facing downland.

Thus taking my year’s tally of butterfly species seen and photographed to 40, with 39 of which seen in Surrey.

Gatekeeper butterfly, Pewley Down.

Meadow brown butterfly, this one seen at the Riverside Nature Reserve.

By now butterflies were generally starting to decline as the height of summer began to wane. Gatekeepers and meadow browns could still be viewed, but now dwindling in their number.

Common blue butterfly, Pewley Down.

Although a poor year for common blue butterflies, a few could still be seen.

Mountain ash, (rowan), Whitmoor Common.

On Whitmoor Common at Worplesdon, mountain ash trees (rowan) seemed more noticeable this year.

The wet spring seemed to have been favourable to produce pumper crops of their bright red berries weighing down their branches. Glowing in colour as they grew between the variety of trees within the woodland area.

Whitmoor Common with heather in bloom.

Out on the heath, the heather was in full bloom.

Silver-studded blue, butterfly, Whitmoor Common.

And a few silver-studded blue butterflies could still be found about the blossom.

Hornet, Whitmoor Common.

Attempts to get photos of a few passing hornets left me wanting, eventually getting a few slightly out of focus shots.

Stonechat, Whitmoor Common.

Out on the heathland several families of stonechats continued to be found.

Juvenile stonechat, Whitmoor Common.

The youngsters still looking much duller in colouration.

Dartford Warbler, Whitmoor Common.

And Dartford warblers, although mostly silent, could be glimpsed flitting low across the heather.

Kestrel, Whitmoor Common.

Once again, a resident kestrel could be viewed, both perched as well as hunting.

Swallow, Whitmoor Common.

And family groups of swallows were starting to pass through, a few even perching up for a while.

Can you spot the nightjar roosting on Whitmoor Common?

My prize sighting, as about this time last year, was a nightjar – perched up in one of its daytime roosts, close to one of the main paths.

Nightjar roosting on Whitmoor Common.

Although quite distant to view by eye, with the aid of a powerful lens I was able to capture a few reasonable photos without any disturbance.

Very soon these birds will be making their return flight back to their winter home in Africa.

Just down Salt Box Road at Britten’s Pond I continued to get more photos of the kingfisher that had returned earlier in the month.

With some patience, one of two kingfishers that had eluded me for a photo just a few days earlier, made an appearance.

Kingfisher, Britten’s Pond.

Viewing from the “oven swim” it first appeared perched on one of the posts by the reed beds. Then shortly after reappearing on the floating platform. Zooming in for a photo revealed it to be a female as it showed the orange lower mandible of its beak.

Common buzzard over Britten’s Pond.

In the meantime a common buzzard drifted over the pond.

Grey heron, Britten’s Pond.

And the resident grey heron could be found watching out from one of the islands.

Swallow, Britten’s Pond.

Small groups of swallows appeared from time to time to feed over the water as they passed through.

Chiffchaff, Britten;s Pond.

While around the overhanging sallows the constant contact calls of chiffchaffs could be heard.

Long-tailed tits, Britten’s Pond.

On hearing the arrival of “squeaky-pram-wheel” like sounds of a family of long-tailed tits, I was able to capture a few of the half-a-dozen or so as they passed though.

Purple hairstreak butterfly, Britten’s Pond.

A few purple hairstreak butterflies could also still be seen, flitting about the oak trees.

Robin.

Several robins had now returned to sing at a number of places I visited, including Britten’s Pond, having now gone through their summer moult.

Stoke Lake at the Riverside Nature Reserve..

On August 23 I visited the Riverside Nature Reserve near Burpham, on this occasion entering via the Slyfield industrial complex.

Gulls lined up on a roof at the Slyfield recycling centre.

On walking past the recycling depot an assortment of gulls could be viewed perched and flying, mostly herring gulls in their varying stages of plumage.

Red kite over the Slyfield recycling centre

At least two red kites continued to be present, drifting about the gulls, unperturbed by their presence.

Kingfisher at Stoke Lake.

At the lakeside I was able to pick out another kingfisher. Although perched up at some distance, unlike the one I had recently photographed at Britten’s Pond, this one I could conclude to be a male, recognised by its pure black bill.

About the margins at the water’s edge a few dragonflies hovered.

Common darter dragonfly.

These included a common darter.

Migrant hawker dragonfly, Riverside Nature Reserve.

And what I believe to be a migrant hawker dragonfly.

Goldfinches, Riverside Nature Reserve.

Out in the meadow at the southern end of the lake, a group of 20 or more goldfinches could be seen feeding on the thistles that were now starting to go to seed.

Stonechat, Riverside Nature Reserve.

While a pair of stonechats were also noted.

Greenfinch.

And a few greenfinches could still be found about the reserve.

Kestrel, Riverside Nature Reserve.

A pair of kestrels made an appearance capturing one with my camera as it flew overhead.

Tufted ducks over Stoke Lake.

My first two tufted ducks of late summer could be seen flying over returning from their more northerly breeding grounds.

Although fewer in number, a few species of butterfly could be found.

Comma butterfly, Riverside Nature Reserve.

These included a comma butterfly.

Speckled wood butterfly. Riverside Nature Reserve.

A couple of speckled wood butterflies.

Green-veined white butterfly.

Also adding a green-veined white.

My most prized sighting of the visit had to be finding at least two brown hairstreak butterflies egg-laying in the line of blackthorn that lines the meadow at the southern end of the lake.

Brown hairstreak, Riverside Nature Reserve.

Although already having seen one on Pewley Down, it was the first I had seen at the riverside since my first sighting of one there back on August 30, 2018.

And getting photos of both her upper and lower wings of these rather elusive critters.

Finally, an interesting find while tidying my garden was what I identified to be a female gypsy moth. A first for me!

Gypsy moth, (female).

Gypsy moths are sexually dimorphic with the males much darker in colour.

While the whitish, cumbersome females are much larger than the males, and cannot fly well.

Gypsy moth, (female).

According to research on the internet, but not wishing to fall subject to any new misinformation rules!: “The caterpillars can be found from April to late June after they have overwintered as eggs and young caterpillars are dispersed by the wind and can be carried for several miles.

“In the early part of the 19th century, this was a common species in the East Anglian and southern fens, but by about 1900 had become extinct as a breeding species.

“For a period it was just occasionally recorded as a migrant species with perhaps one or two males per year on average. Since 1995 the species has been resident in small numbers in parts of London, where it was subject, apparently, to an attempted eradication campaign led by Defra but is now resident in small colonies across the south east.

“The larval food plants are a range of deciduous trees and in continental Europe the species is considered a common pest. But unlike oak processionary moth hairs. gypsy moth caterpillar hairs do not cause server adverse side effects to human health.”