BEAUTIFUL NEW HYTHE DEMOISELLE

I spent half an hour again today searching the stream for a New Hythe Beautiful Demoiselle. I think I found two. I've pictured one of the little beauties above and below.

The weather was more suitable for damsels on the wing today, it was sunnier and less humid than it was yesterday. Some of them though had other things on their minds, like the pair of Blue Tailed Damselfies (i think) below.........................

.....................and this pair of Banded Demoiselles below, who were also intent on making sure there would be another generation waiting in the wings for next year.

Another species to put in an appearance was the Red Eyed Damselfly below. It was a bit of a distance shot but those eyes stood out like a sore thumb even in the bright light.

The sunshine also brought out a couple of Orange Tip butterflies, the male of which also had a certain basic instinct on his mind. I should have given this post an X certificate I think, don't let your kids see this!

I think she has made it quite plain that she wasn't in a 'romantic' mood but he chooses not to understand. He hovered above her with his undercarriage lowered...................

................... and with wings flickering and no doubt whispering sweet nothings in her antenna, he gently descended to try and change her mind.............

.................But the lady wasn't for turning, and he settled for a bit of nectar instead.

**Thanks to Marianne and Greenie for pointing out that the female Orange Tip was actually playing hard to get and rebuffing the males advances and not, as I first thought, the exact opposite. It's just as well i'm not a butterfly, I could get into real trouble if I was! I have now re-written parts of this post and re-classified it from an X certificate to a PG.**

NEW HYTHE THURSDAY 5TH MAY 2011

I may have misheard but I thought the weather forecast for today was similar to yesterday, sunny and blue skies, but a few degrees warmer. As it was, I stood at hoopoe corner with Terry, John Davies, Martin Coath, Martin Warburton and Flossie, in my shirt sleeves and nearly froze to death under a grey sky and distinctly chilly breeze. I wouldn't have minded but there wasn't much to get excited about at the time. No sign of yesterdays purring Turtle Dove, although Martin C. thought he may have caught a fleeting glimpse across the river. I've since seen though that Alan Woodcock found it while out on the early shift. That'll teach me to arrive on site at the crack of noon.

John, Martin and Martin went their separate ways leaving Terry and me feeling cold and slightly dejected with a list that included distant Kestrel, high altitude Sparrowhawk, wheezy Greenfinches, scratchy Whitethroats and Grey Herons that matched the sky perfectly. We tried the old morale boosters like, 'things can only get better', and 'anything could turn up in a minute', and 'think positive', then we decided to call it a day.

We trudged in near silence on the raised ground adjacent to the eastern edge of Brooklands lake on the way back and only paused to see if a Common Tern might be around to help save the morning but you can't always judge a bird by it's name even if it does have common in it. Then suddenly, things looked up, well actually we looked up, and saw a small bird flying around in circles above us which finally landed in the top of a Hawthorn bush and confirmed our suspicions that it was.............a Linnet! Just a Linnet, but Terry needed this humble species for his New Hythe year list, well, they're not common here, like the Terns. Spirits were lifted, and a few minutes later they were on the top floor when Terry got a call from Martin to say they were watching nothing less than an Egyptian Goose (below) further up the river at the southernmost end of the site.




Neither of us have ever seen this species at New Hythe so it was about turn and quick march with everything crossed, which isn't easy, in the hope that it would please stay until we got there and not leave on the rapidly rising tide. We reached our destination in record time and after a few seconds were able to locate our Egyptian quarry which was hanging around with a couple of Canada Geese, very international. With the inclusion of Feral Pigeon, yes, they do count, this bought my New Hythe year list very nicely to 100 species, imagine bells ringing and champagne corks popping. Before we left the river a Grey Wagtail did a suitable flypast to add to the moment. What a turn around to the day!

Although it was still grey we decided to have a look at the east scrub in the hope of repeating yesterday's success with Grizzled Skippers. Needless to say they weren't playing ball, there were hardly any butterflies to be seen anywhere apart from a couple of Green-veined Whites later on. But I did find another difficult damselfly which I gallantly rescued from a ferocious spider's web. It's pictured above, but doesn't really do it justice. I think it must be an immature Red Eyed Damselfly like the last mystery which I posted earlier in the week.......or maybe not.
I think it was Martin Coath who found the strange caterpillar pictured below but this is not such a mystery, it's the caterpillar of the Mottled Umber moth.

Finally, a quick update on the Blue Tit camera box. She finally gave in, after nearly a week, to the males constant attention and has now produced some eggs. The three in the picture have now increased to at least four possibly five. Hopefully there are more to come. Compulsive viewing, and easily the best thing on TV at the moment.

NEW HYTHE TUESDAY 3RD MAY 2011

There have been some good waders dropping in and over New Hythe this past week so I set off from the car park at Brooklands with high hopes this morning. I met Terry Laws and Alan Woodcock at the bucket by the river, where Terry had already had Common Sandpiper, a species that was still missing from my NH year list. Unfortunately it still is as it didn't make another appearance. With an absolutely bitter NE wind blowing straight across the river, Alan sensibly went on his way and left us to brave it. We were soon rewarded when I spotted a raptor flying high across the valley, it was a Peregrine, which was joined by two probable Sparrowhawks who drifted away just before the Peregrine performed the most fantastic stoop. I don't know what height it was from, maybe four or five hundred feet, but it dived so fast it was hard to follow it, I didn't see the outcome but a flock of pigeons flew up in panic from the area, probably minus one of their mates.
A short time later Terry spotted another good bird, a Mediterranean Gull, not a common sight here and only the third i've seen in the last two years. By now the wind was almost unbearable so we moved round to the sunken marsh in search of shelter. We parked ourselves just opposite Hoopoe corner and watched a large mixed flock of Hirundines and Swifts feeding over Brooklands lake. This has easily been the best Hirundine day of the year for me and the arrival over the weekend of the Swifts was very welcome and seemed a long time coming. Other birds seen from here included Reed Buntings flying to and fro across the river, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, a couple of Jackdaws, a single Lapwing and best of all three Common Terns crossing over from the Brooklands lake area. It's not very often I see three at a time here.

The tide was very low so we moved to the southern end of the sunken marsh to scan the mud for a possible wader. We didn't find any but Terry was pleased when I spotted a Little Egret flying over, a species which had eluded him at NH so far this year. This was no sooner in the bag when I noticed three waders flying NE, I couldn't ID them with binoculars but thankfully Terry was able to get them in his scope and confirm three Whimbrels! My first ever at New Hythe, what a great tick to take me to 97 species, just three to go for the magic ton.

Again the wind eventually moved us on and we made our way to the sheltered area just past the raptor viewpoint. Here in the warmer conditions we found a couple of moths, the first shown below is a Common Carpet and the second pictured at the top of the post is a very striking Angle Shades.





Butterflies were unsurprisingly few and far between but I did manage to get a shot of this Green Veined White and a poor shot of a Red Admiral. Apart from a Speckled Wood and my first NH Green Hairstreak, that was about it really.

There were still some Nightingales and plenty of Whitethroats and Blackcaps singing around the site, not least being at the east scrub where a search for Skippers proved fruitless, as did our attempt to find some Water Voles in the usual ditch. There has been a Garden Warbler down the millstream so we headed back in that direction, only to be disappointed again, I still need this for the year list. But we did find a few damselflies like the Large Red below, as well as a couple of Hairy Dragonflies patrolling over the stream and a decent sized Pike patrolling in it.

A final look at Brooklands lake failed to produce a hoped for Black Tern or Alpine Swift, well, you never know do you! But just as we were leaving I noticed an unusual looking damselfly, pictured below. These things, much as I like them, do my head in. Terry is suggesting possible recently emerged, green form, female Variable. As for me......i've got a headache! Any other bids?

In all 44 species were noted to start the May list for New Hythe, it should have been more but today was quality not quantity so i'm more than happy.

Garden and New Hythe 10th July

I've noticed recently that something has been eating the leaves of one of the Acers in our garden. This morning while standing on the patio clutching a mug of coffee I saw the culprit. It was a Leaf-cutter Bee (Megachile centuncularis) pictured below. I watched it land on a leaf and cut a semi circle off, deftly curling it up as it did so and then fly off with it.

LEAF-CUTTER BEE

These are fascinating little bees. They use the pieces of leaf to form a small cell where an egg will be deposited along with some pollen and nectar into a tunnel which will have been excavated into rotten wood usually. About a dozen or so cells are deposited in the same tunnel and then the tunnel is sealed with leaves and then abandoned. The eggs hatch as larvae and feed off the pollen and nectar, then they hibernate and pupate into bees the following year.

I managed to find where our bees were building their tunnels, they were excavating into a rotten branch in our old Cherry tree (see below). The Acer's not looking too good, but i'll happily put up with it.

LEAF-CUTTER'S TUNNELS

Other winged delights in the garden this morning were a Chiffchaff which silently flitted around the trees and bushes, and three Goldfinches which tinkled merrily away as they had a breakfast of Sunflower hearts. A juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker chose peanuts off the menu and surprisingly a Stock Dove down the bottom of the garden was a new tick. I checked the bird books because i'm aware of impostors in the Pigeon game but it seemed to be the genuine article.

Brown Hawkers and what i'm certain were Emperor Dragonflies criss crossed the garden, sometimes settling momentarily, but just the usual blue species represented the Damselflies although Carol has recently seen a Banded Demoiselle in the garden.

CINNABAR MOTH CATERPILLAR

I got itchy feet this afternoon and headed off for an hour down New Hythe lakes. I parked at the waterworks entrance and immediately noticed the Cinnabar caterpillars pictured above on their favourite plant, Common Ragwort.

A bit further on a footbridge crosses the Millstream and this is home to a few Banded Demoiselles, a female of which is pictured below. Bizarrely, I noticed that the males looked their usual blue colour on one side of the bridge but when they flew to the other side they appeared green! Honestly it's true and no, I hadn't been on the Pimms.

FEMALE BANDED DEMOISELLE

I didn't venture further than the Bittern corner of Streamside lake for reasons that I won't bore you with. Suffice to say the exuberance of youth, the barking of dogs and the consequences of lager feature heavily. But never mind, I amused myself taking some more pictures of Red eyed Damselflies (below) which I confess are becoming a favourite of mine.

RED EYED DAMSELFLY

And finally............

I couldn't help firing off a couple of rounds at this juvenile Great Tit. It seemed to want me to, it did everything except smile.

GREAT TIT

New Hythe Lakes 1st July

COMMA

Following the news of a recent sighting of the mythical Turtle Dove in the sunken marsh I decided to have a quick couple of hours down New Hythe in the hope of turning it into reality for myself.

I cannot believe how the vegetation has grown this year. Some of the grasses and thistles are now taller than me and trying to make headway around the river path adjacent to the sunken marsh proved impossible. I could have got lost in there until Autumn if i'd ventured further so discretion, or common sense won and I retraced my steps and took the wider footpath around the western edge, past the mound. There was plenty of avian activity in the form of Whitethroats, Blue Tits, Chiffchaffs, a Kestrel and a couple of fairly large parties of Long Tailed Tits which signalled their presence in the dense bushes and trees with their usual excited chattering. A Grey Heron flew lazily over the marsh, it's kraarking call seemed to fit the sultry atmosphere even at 8.30 in the morning.

I climbed up the precipitous east face of the mound, without the aid of ropes or a safety net, to gain a better view across the marsh and while I was there I noticed a Red Admiral butterfly flying towards me. It flew past and landed on the trunk of a smallish Oak tree directly behind me and then crawled or walked, whichever it is that butterflies do, to the back of the trunk and stayed there with it's wings closed. A couple of minutes later a Comma flew past me and posed on an Oak leaf, pictured above, and then did exactly the same as the Red Admiral. The odd thing was that it seemed to want the exact same spot, except the Admiral was having none of it and seemed to flick it's wings in what I took to be a threat pose and the Comma moved away slightly. The picture below shows Red Admiral top, Comma bottom beating a retreat. What was all that about................?!

RED ADMIRAL AND COMMA

I headed from there to the corner of Abbey Mead lake to look for Red Eyed Damselflies and it wasn't too long before I found some. I took the picture below from above, obviously, and while in flight. And I quite like the result. It looks like a helicopter. I like the way the males defend their territory so aggressively, anything and everything is given short shrift. They must be tired out by the end of the day.

RED EYED DAMSELFLY

LOOK INTO MY EYES!

I found this moth (below) under the canopy over the railway path. Any ideas as to what it's name is?

Further down the path I came across this very young Green Woodpecker. He could fly pretty well but wasn't so adept at standing on his legs it seemed. He flew off to a small stand of Silver Birchs close by where I got one more shot before leaving him alone to be reunited with Mum hopefully.

JUVENILE GREEN WOODPECKER

IN A MORE COMFORTABLE POSE

From the railway path I crossed a quiet East Scrub, that's apart from the lady who decided that here was a good place to bring her dog for a lesson on how to be shouted and bawled at incessantly.

So I progressed down the Millstream where again the vegetation all but blocks out access and views of the water. But never mind there's always another butterfly and here it is in the shape of a Meadow Brown I think.

MEADOW BROWN

And finally, surely, only a mother could love this little chap! And what of the Turtle Dove? The stuff of legends I say.