Thursday 3 June 2010

I had no intention of going down the lakes today but I happened to be passing the entrance to Brooklands and being unashamedly weak willed, I decided to call in for an hour. I thought today might be the day to find a Turtle Dove and thereby banish my ever growing belief that it is in fact a mythological bird.
The pair of Mute Swans were on Brooklands lake minus any cygnets, although I'm told they hatched successfully while I was in Scotland I haven't been able to see them so I can only assume they have lost them somehow which is a real shame.

DOG ROSE
I made my way to the sunken marsh path which is so overgrown now that a machete wouldn't go amiss. Here I saw a party of juvenile Long Tailed Tits, heard a Cuckoo calling from the other side of the river and bagged my first Red Admiral of the summer at New Hythe although despite chasing it up and down for a few minutes I couldn't get a picture. I did however get a picture of the Dog Rose which is coming into bloom around the site with no chasing whatsoever. Apart from a fleeting glimpse of a Common Tern over Abbey Mead avian interest was pretty scarce so I began to cast my eyes downwards for a while and soon noticed some of these small beetle like insects feeding on the Buttercups. I believe it to be Oedemera nobilis, no common name listed, which feeds on pollen and I think this is the female of the species.
OEDEMERA NOBILIS
Back at home I walked to the bottom of the garden to see if our Blue Tit chicks had finally fledged, I immediately saw one of the adult birds fly into the nest box and could hear the youngsters cheeping loudly so they hadn't flown then and they still haven't at the time of writing. It'll probably happen tomorrow when i'm not around to record the happy event I expect. As I walked back up the garden I heard the shrill piping of Kingfishers coming from the lake and I looked round just in time to see one fly through the bottom of the garden and another fly over the trees just the other side of the fence, what a treat.

HOLLY BLUE
I saw this butterfly on the ivy in the garden and managed a quick shot, I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's a Holly Blue due to the fact that there is no orange on the underwing.............I've got my fingers crossed! I also saw a Red Admiral in the garden this afternoon so that's two today.
And the Turtle Dove? I think it's a myth!


7 comments:

Warren Baker said...

My limited knowledge of Butterlies would tell me you are quite right about the Holly Blue Phil.

I used to here TD's along the path from the railway crossing to the river, but that was a dozen years ago :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Phil, I usually find Oedemera nobilis in Bindweed flowers but haven't seen one yet this year. Last year I found it has the common name Thick-kneed Beetle on account of the male's swollen back legs.

ShySongbird said...

Yes, that definitely looks like a female Oedemera nobilis to me Phil (commonly known as Fat-legged Beetle, Thick-legged Beetle and Flower Beetle) as it lacks the 'swollen' thighs of the male. I would also agree that the butterfly is a Holly Blue.

Well done on the Nightjars (on your previous post), there was a nice piece about them on Springwatch on Wednesday. Lovely photos of the Greylags and the Lizard too.

I too think the Turtle Dove is a myth :)

Steve said...

Definitely Holly Blue. Similar pic from a week ago on my blog. Keep holding out for the Turtle Dove......while you are at it find us a New Hythe Spotted Flycatcher. Don't know about you I have only seen one there since I started watching there over 12 years ago. Got them in Birling since middle of last week.

Phil said...

Steve, I had great views of a Spotted Flycatcher late last summer down the railway path.

Steve said...

Did you Phil....blimey. Ring me if you find one this year!!!!

Phil said...

Will do Steve.