In search of Birds, Odonata, Lepidoptera & Orchids

June saw the weather improve and start to make thing seem more like it was summer at last.  What does seem concerning is the lack of insects generally, it seems the wet winter and spring has had a detrimental effect on the early emerging species.  Nonetheless Jackie and myself haven't done too badly connecting with this season's butterflies and dragonflies.

First we will start with the birds we managed 92 species in June and added 7 species to the year list though one of them doesn't officially count as it isn't accepted as a sustainable introduced population yet, but were still very nice to see, that being Great Bustard.

Our first visit was local on the 2nd out to Arne which turn out to be a pretty quiet day best was a view of an Osprey over Shipstal.

Osprey over Shipstal Beach © Nick Hull

Also carried out a reptile survey on the 3rd though it started cool then it turned very hot by the time we finished, we had a little luck with finding one or two Smooth Snake, Common Lizard and Sand Lizard. After this we spent time trying to find interesting inverts for the Spring Watch film crew.

Common Lizard - Arne © Nick Hull

Smooth Snake - Arne © Nick Hull (taken under license)

A walk with friends in Wareham Forest on the 4th we added a Common Crossbill which was chipping merrily as it flew over us. It was here that we found our first Bee Orchids of the year which are always nice to see.  

Bee Orchids - Wareham Forest © Nick Hull

Next day (5th) we headed up onto the northern chalk to Martin Down, again with friends, the morning was a little clouded and cool so not brilliant for butterflies.  We headed out and walking down to the Burnt-tip Orchids area we were seeing lots of Skylark, a few Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer and a handful of butterflies.  Small Blue was the first then Common Blue, Meadow Brown and Small Heath. We had passed the rifle butts and possibly halfway to the orchid location when Jackie said "there's a Marsh Fritillary" 

Marsh Fritillary - Martin Down © Nick Hull

This was a butterfly we missed last year so we was very pleased to have found one and it was only another hundred metres to the orchids.  Just a small stand and we were a bit late for the best show but one or two were still looking ok. We also saw Common Spotted and Fragrant Orchids.

Burnt Orchid - Martin Down © Nick Hull

On the return walk to the car park we added a few other butterflies such as Dingy and Large Skipper, Small and Common Blue, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.  We also had good views of a Corn Bunting singing his dangling keys song.

Corn Bunting - Martin Down © Nick Hull

Jackie and I stayed on having a picnic lunch and visited Kitts Grave area afterwards the sun came out and the warmth brought all the butterflies out.  We added Brown Argus, Green Hairstreak, Brimstone, Small Copper, Green-veined, Small and Large White and added a couple of day flying moths Mother Shipton and Five-spot Burnet.

On the 6th I was out again with Terry searching for wildlife locations for the tv camera crews as they thought they would do something on dragonflies and damselflies.  We found quite a few but they didn't make the cut like so much but it doesn't take away the fact we had a great day finding odonata and getting a few shots for ourselves.

Four-spotted-Chaser_L.q.praenubila - Arne © Nick Hull

Small Red Damselfly - Arne © Nick Hull

On the 10th we headed up on to Salisbury Plain along with a few friends who wanted to see the Great Bustards which have been reintroduced and seem to be doing very well.  We were informed that there were nine females on nests this year.  Whilst we were there we also saw Grey and Red-legged Partridge, Stone Curlew and several Red Kite.

Female Great Bustard © Nick Hull

Male Great Bustard © Nick Hull

After visiting the plain we headed over to Bentley Wood where we had lunch and a walk for butterflies.  Here we added our first Grizzled Skipper of the year and a varient of Five-spot Burnet (Z-trifolii-palustrella) which was an interesting find.  We ended our day here with a pair of Spotted Flycatcher and singing Firecrest in the car park.

Variant of Five-spot Burnet - Bentley Wood © Nick Hull

Grizzled Skipper -Bentley Wood © Nick Hull

On the 16th we did our Osprey watch and had a excellent display from a pair of Hobby feeding over the fields which I have to say was a little distracting from the job we were doing.

Hobby - Careys Secret Garden - © Nick Hull

On the 17th we were over to Durlston Country Park where we had a very nice walk but it was fairly quiet bird wise.  Even the butterflies were thin on the ground but we did add Lulworth Skipper to our year list, found some more Bee Orchids along with many Common Spotted Orchid and Pyramidal Orchid. I managed some nice shots of the Fulmar cruising along the cliffs at eye level.

Lulworth Skipper _ Durlston CP © Nick Hull

Pyramidal Orchid - Durlston CP © Nick Hull

Northern Fulmar - Durlston CP © Nick Hull

After getting home I was checking out the bee hotels which I found to be pretty well full and spotted a small bee on the post so quickly took a couple of shots and from these photos I was able to identify it as Hylaeus communis_(Common Yellow-face Bee) a new species for the garden.  Around ten minutes later I saw a wasp with a long ovipositor fly by me and land on the front of the bee hotel.  I took a series of shots and again checking the reference to confirm my thoughts it turn out to be Gasteruption jaculator a parasitic wasp species. Amazingly the ovipositor is more or less the length of its body. In fact it was a species that I've wanted to see for a very long time and to get it in the garden was perfect.

Common Yellow-face Bee - Home Garden ©Nick Hull

Gasteruption jaculator flying in to land on the bee hotel © Nick Hull

Gasteruption jaculator on Bee Hotel © Nick Hull

On the 18th Jackie had arranged for us to pickup friends to go and see the Roseate Tern pair that were nesting at Normandy Lagoon near Lymington.  So we decided on a little earlier start than usual to get there before there were to many people walking the coastal path.  We made good time and found a parking spot and headed out along the coastal path to where we could see three birders with scopes.  As we joined them and set up they kindly directed us to the location of the nest.  The sitting bird was somewhat concealed by vegetation but we patiently waited until we picked up a adult Roseate flying in across the lagoon towards the nest site and we watched a change-over at the nest and the sitting bird leave and fly out towards the Solent.  We stayed and watched another change over sometime later and this time the bird that was relieved flew around the lagoon and dropped into the water and had a bath giving good scope views.

Roseate Tern landing at the nest Normandy Lagoon © Nick Hull

Roseate Tern following a Common Tern out to the Solent © Nick Hull

Whilst we were there we noticed that every now and again the odd Little Tern would fly in and then leave again and I managed to get a few shots of one and caught it in a very odd position.

Little Tern aerobics Normandy Lagoon © Nick Hull

Little Tern - Normandy Lagoon © Nick Hull

I also managed to catch a few of the other species that were around the lagoon such as this Redshank who lived up to its name of warden of the marsh giving its alarm call not long after we arrived.

Common Redshank - Normandy Lagoon © Nick Hull

This pair of Avocet had a couple of growing chicks just out of view and deemed this Little Egret was getting to close and went into attack mode.

Pair Avocet chasing off Little Egret © Nick Hull

This next shot I quite like it was as the Avocet was coming back after seeing off the Little Egret calling as though it was pleased with the job he/she had done.

Avocet - Normandy Lagoon © Nick Hull

On the 26th and the 28th I was out doing some surveying for rare inverts Stag Beetles. We found none of the latter but came across some interesting species some being recordable, such as the Mottle Bee-fly. 

Mottled Bee-fly Purbeck Heathland © Nick Hull

Terry, who I do many of my surveys with, found this little pot which is the cell made by the Heath Potter Wasp which places a caterpillar inside and lays an egg and the developing larvae will eat the caterpillar and then unseal the pot and away to start the process again. This pot is still sealed so the wasp larvae hasn't left yet.

Heath Potter Wasp Pot Purbeck Heathland © Nick Hull

We also came across the very pink nymph grasshopper which we think will be a Field Grasshopper when grows up.

Pink nymph Field Grasshopper © Nick Hull

Debbie one of the other surveyors found this caterpillar I have to admit I didn't know what species it would be but Terry had seen one before and it turns out to be the caterpillar of the Red Sword-grass moth.

Red Sword-grass Caterpillar © Nick Hull

One of the last finds was this white crab flower spider Misumena vatia we were hoping to find the pink variant or even a white and pink striped but we had to make do with a very nice white individual on a foxglove. 

Misumena vatia - Crab Flower Spider © Nick Hull

This bring the summary of June nature watching to and end roll-on July..

Catching Up after the Holiday

After the the holiday I think Jackie and I suffered from holiday blues and we didn't manage to get out birding until the 6th when we went on our Osprey watch at Carey. It wasn't until the next day when we joined friends at Blashford that we started to add some species to our year list, having being away we needed to catchup and get the year list running again as we had dropped behind our annual target.

Our morning visit to Blashford added two species with Garden Warbler and Common Tern. This must be one of the best places to see Garden Warbler as they are everywhere and an excellent location to compare their song to Blackcap. It's even better when they sit out in the open and sing for you so you can get a shot of one.

Garden Warbler - Blasford Lakes HWT Reserve © Nick Hull

On the 8th we were out again this time around Morden Bog and had nice views of Woodlark and heard our first Cuckoo of the year.  On the 9th I did my heathland bird survey at Holton Heath and added Whimbrel.  It wasn't until the 12th when Jackie and I had a trip up around Dorset's northern chalk area of Wyke Down and Wimborne St. Giles that we added our first Swift, House Martin and Common Whitethroat for the year.  Though I have to say these species were far more common around the area twenty years ago.  We visited the area again on the 15th after visiting friends and added Grey Partridge and Sedge Warbler.  

Sedge Warbler - © Nick Hull

On the 19th Jackie and I had an overnight stay down on the Somerset Levels visiting Greylake and Ham Wall RSPB, Shapwick Heath and Westhay Moor NNR.  It was a shame that where we stay hadn't any extra nights available for us.  Though in the short time we had we were able to get Bittern, Yellow Wagtail, Pochard, Hobby and Cattle Egret on our year list.  Plus lots of odonata a few butterflies and our first Grass Snake of the year amongst all the other super wildlife found in the area.

We went to Greylake RSPB first we were hoping for a view of a Montagu's Harrier which had been visiting on and off for a week or two but unfortunately it didn't turn up for us. But we had some nice birds and I photographed a soldier fly which I had seen before and looking it up it was an Ornate Brigadier Odontomyia ornata. As flys go it was rather attractive looking.

Ornate Brigadier - Greylake _ © Nick Hull

We spent the morning at Greylake and went off to the Avalon Marsh cafe for lunch and then onto Ham Wall for the rest of the day.  The most obvious animal that could be seen was the large numbers of Four-spotted Chaser that were around. There must have been a large emergence over the last week or so, as they were everywhere.  

Four-spotted Chaser - Ham Wall © Nick Hull

We also had around four Bittern booming here and at least four Hobby speeding around hunting the over the reedbeds.  There were several sightings of Great White Egrets and Grey Heron moving back and forth from their nesting colony. It was also here that we caught up with Pochard which we had missed during the winter as fewer numbers now visit Dorset in the winter.

Summer plumaged Great White Egret © Nick Hull

The shot above of the Great White Egret shows it is in full summer plumage showing the black bill and the green lores and red blushed legs as it comes into land into the reedbed.

Next morning we decided to do Shapwick Heath first thing then decide at lunch what we would do before heading home in the afternoon.  Well Shapwick produced lots of odonata many of which we had already seen at Ham Wall.  One that was nice to catch up with was a damselfly which has become much easier to see over recent years the Variable Damselfly or Bluet which is the new name for them. Some authorities say they are a variant of Azure Blue but even though they look similar they have a few features that are different. The antehumerial stripes are broken and they often rest with the wings splayed as the one below shows. They also often show a blue bar between the two blue spots on top of the head which Azure do not.  This is a species that is doing well in the UK and certainly one to look out for in Dorset.

Variable Blue Damselfly © Shapwick Heath © Nick Hull

Another damselfly that we came across which is one I can't remember seeing in the UK before, well knowingly anyway, that was Large Red-eyed Damselfly (E.najas) though only saw two individuals this male and a female later, both looked very fresh so not long emerged.

Large Redeye or Red-eyed Damselfly _Shapwick Heath © Nick Hull

We met Terry at lunch at Ham Wall, Terry is my reptile survey colleague who was also down for the day trying to photograph the Four-spotted Chaser at roost.  He mentioned to us he had seen the Grass Snake at the bridge so we headed off to the bridge and Jackie found the Grass Snake basking on the vertical cage of a gabion which makes up part of the bridge foundation.

Grass Snake - Ham Wall - ©Nick Hull

The Grass Snake looked very comfortable resting on the face of the gabion, believe me the photograph doesn't show how vertical it was. (Terry later had three there).

Before going off to Westhay we grabbed some lunch back at the Avalon cafe.  As we approached the Westhay reserve I noticed a white bird in the field to our right, stopping and taking a quick look it turned out to be our first Cattle Egret of the year, later we had two others in flight.  We walked a different trail this time from previous visits and again here we had Bittern booming and good numbers of odonata which included two Scarce Chaser which we get at home but not so numerous so are very nice to see.

Scarce Chaser - Westhay Moor NNR © Nick Hull

We also had glimpses of Bearded Tit which were obviously feeding young on an island in front of the hide and good views of Reed Warbler.

Reed Warbler - Westhay Moor © Nick Hull

We ended the day taking a scenic route home.

April Part 2 - French River Cruise

At the end of April Jackie and I flew out of Gatwick to Lyon to take a river cruise on the Rhône River. This wasn't going to be a birding trip but would include a few visits to areas where we might see some birds plus anything along the river that should show itself as we passed.

Our flight took us one hour five minutes and after picking up our luggage we were met by the agent and boarded our coach for a 45 minute drive to our ship the MS Lord Byron.  On reaching the ship we had a few minutes to stow our baggage and freshen up and we were off to the dinning room for our evening meal.

Our Ship the Lord Byron

Our first destination was Mâcon where we travelled to Cluny Abbey, Saône-et Loire, a Benedictine Monastry built in the Middle Ages it became the biggest Abbey to be built.  Though much of it has been destroyed over time it was still a pretty impressive building. In its heyday around 1100 there were over 10,000 monks and 1,500 monasteries across Europe which came under the authority of Cluniac order and remained so until the construction of St-Pierre-de Rome in the 17th Century.  Much of the buildings were demolished during the French revolution.  

Cluny Abbey Saône-et Loire, France © Jackie Hull

Jackie and I had a look around the village though there didn't seem to be many birds around Jackdaw, Collared Dove were plentiful and we did have a singing Serin, a Black Redstart and this Blackbird collecting food for its young.

Male Blackbird collecting food for young

We then went off to a local vineyard for a little wine tasting after which we travelled back to the ship via the Rock of Solutré which stood at 495m in altitude which became famous after former President François Mitterrand walked to the top every spring to respect a promise to his brother-in-law when they were in the resistance in WW2.

La Roche de Solutré © M.Jeandeau

We sailed overnight further north to Chalon-sur-Saône the gate way to Burgundy. It was as we were sailing north and leaving Mâcon we were sitting having coffee in the rear lounge when I caught sight of an Alpine Swift passing just behind the ship. I called to Jackie and she rushed out on deck and managed to see four Alpine Swift feeding with many Common Swift over the river a French tick for us.

Day 3

Our coach took us through the wine growing villages of Meursault, Volnay and Pommard at the village of Beaune (pronounced 'Bone') we had a break and had a tour of the Hospices de Beaune plus some free time to explore the old village.

Hospices de Beaune © Nick Hull

Hospices de Beaune © Nick Hull

The Hospices de Beaune or the Hotel-Dieu de Beaune was a former almshouse. It was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin chancelllor of Burgundy as a hospital for the poor.  Permission was granted by Pope Eugene in 1441 and the building was consecrated on 31st December 1452 and Rolin established the "Les sœurs hospitalières de Beaune" religious order. It remained a hospital until 1971.

The Hospital beds

A model showing the plan layout of Hospices de Beaune

They believe that the Flemish architect Jacques Wiscrère oversaw the building of the hospital.

It was then back to the ship and we sailed back to Lyon.

On route that afternoon Jackie and I were in the stern lounge and I looked up from my coffee and there circling in the sky were a group of White Storks.

White Stork over the Rhone River © Nick Hull

Day 4

We had a coach tour of Lyon which ended at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière which overlooks the city.  The Romanesque and Byzantine architecture was designed by Pierre Bossan.  The interior has some amazing mosaic art.  Though the building was started in 1872 and finished in 1884 the interior was only completed in 1964. 

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière_Lyon

The dimension of the building is 86 metres long 35metres wide it has four towers each of 48metres high.

The interior of the main nave of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

View across Lyon from the Basilica

Day 5

After Lyon we sailed down river to Le Pouzin, here were we were going to one of the places Jackie and I really wanted to visit the Ardèche Gorges.  The views here were spectacular and we also picked up a handful of bird species. 

A small part of the Ardèche Gorges © Nick Hull

The Vallon-Pont_d'Arc in the Ardèche © Nick Hull

As we were traveling to the park centre we caught sight of a vulture we only had a brief view as it flew up over the coach but it was long enough to know it was a Black Vulture and shortly after we had a Peregrine.  

A few of the Ardèche Wild Goats © Nick Hull

At the centre birdlife picked up a bit as we exited the centre to see the prehistoric cave I heard a Common Redstart singing and in fact there were two one from above the cave and the other in a Judas Tree.  Where we saw our first butterfly a male Scarce Swallowtail Iphiclides podalirius,  just after I had brief views of a Provence Orange Tip Anthocharis eupenoides but it disappeared over the edge into the gorge.  Flying around the gorge we had Black Kite, House Martin, Crag Martin and Alpine Swift.

Scarce Swallowtail on the Judas Tree © Nick Hull

Alpine Swift - Ardèche Gorges © Nick Hull

We rejoined the ship at Viviers and then sailed south to Avignon.

Day 6

Jackie and I took time out from the tour and did our own thing and walked part of the old town.

Avignon, is a city in southeastern France’s Provence region, is set on the Rhône River. From 1309 to 1377, it was the seat of the Catholic popes. It remained under papal rule until becoming part of France in 1791. This legacy can be seen in the massive Palais des Papes (Popes' Palace) in the city center, which is surrounded by medieval stone ramparts.

Palais des Papes Avignon 

The bell tower of the Palais des Papes © Jackie Hull

After Lunch we in the coach and off to the Pont du Gard Roman aquaduct build in the firsr century AD to carry water over 50km to the Roman colony of Nemausus now Nimes. It crosses the river Gardon near to the town of Vers-Pont-du-Gard and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Pont du Gard Roman aquaduct

We saw a few birds here, Common Redstart, Crag Martin and Swift, we also had an eagle sp which was either Booted, Short-toed or Bonnelli's but unfortunately I spotted it too late and my photographs are inconclusive to to the angle and lighting. 

male Common Redstart Pont du Gard © Nick Hull

Crag Martin Pont du Gard © Nick Hull

Day 7

We woke moored at Arles and it was heavy rain so Jackie and I decided to take time out in the morning  and in fact Jackie took the whole day off from excursions but as the afternoon promised to be fine I joined the excursion to the nearby town of Les-Baux-de-Provence and then on to the Olive Oil farm.  

Les-Baux-de-Provence was situated on the top of a hill on the site of a old fortification and the commune part of the Alpilles Regional Natural Park. Traces of habitation have been found here dating back to 6000BC.  It certainly had an amazing view of the surrounding area.

In the village I managed to get a shot of a super smart Black Redstart a species that seems to turn up in most French villages and towns.

male Black Redstart Les-Baux-de-Provence  Nick Hull

Where we learnt about the change from the traditional methods of crushing the olives with a mill stone to the more modern centrifugal method of extracting the oil.  We also tasted the oil produced on the farm and how to know if it is Extra Virgin of second press by the taste.

The grandfathers wheel for crushing the olives before the
olives first press that make the extra virgin oil.

Bottle label of the Olive Oil of the Farm

Day 8
This was another of the tours that Jackie and I was interested in doing to mainly to get an insight of what the Camargue was like and if it was worth us making an effort to drive down and tour the area in the future. 

We were at our moorings and were listening to Nightingale and Golden Oriole when two Glossy Ibis flew over and shortly after a single Greater Flamingo both were new for our French life list.

Greater Flamingo Camargue France © Nick Hull

Once the coach came we headed off on a tour around the general Camargue area en-route to the Camargue bird centre.  Its not the best way to see the areas birds but it gave us an insight to the region.  We recorded more Flamingo, in fact they were everywhere.  Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, Whiskered Tern, Black Tern, Little and Cattle Egret to mention just a few.  We also saw the famous Camargue Horses and the Camargue Black Bulls.

Camargue Black Bulls © Nick Hull

These bulls are different to the Spanish Bulls in the horns point up instead of forward as these bulls are not killed they have ribbons tied to the ends of the horns and the young men have to take the ribbon off the horn without being run down by the bull.

Camargue White Horses © Nick Hull

We saw many of the Camargue White Horses they take around four years before they are white the young fowls are a dark brown rusty colour.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the centre it was very busy it was half term and there were many Italian and French families and it gave the reserve a kind of Slimbridge feel about it.  The first thing you notice once inside was the mixed heronry Cattle Egret and Grey Heron.  There was also a Stork nest and Glossy Ibis were flying in and out.

Herony/Rookery of Egrets and Grey Heron © Nick Hull

Cattle Egret - Camargue Centre © Nick Hull

White Stork - Camargue Centre © Nick Hull

Glossy Ibis - Camargue Centre © Nick Hull

Greater Flamingo coming into land showing off their colour © Nick Hull

In the garden of the Centre's Lodge we had singing Bonelli's Warbler and a female Pied Flycatcher all this was accompanied by the background sounds of singing Nightingale.  In the the small lake opposite there were a couple of Black-winged Stilt and more Flamingo.

Female Pied Flycatcher Camargue © Nick Hull

Black-winged Stilt - Camargue Centre © Nick Hull

We didn't have time to explore the whole reserve before we had to leave to go to Saintes-Marlies-de-Mer a small town on the Mediterranean before heading back to the ship for lunch.

Day 9

Woke to rain and Jackie wasn't feeling too good and she decided to take the day out to rest so I went off to take a look around Orange a Roman city which turned out to be very interesting. The theatre is thought to be one of the best surviving Roman  theatres in Europe, with its 103m long facade.

Outside of The Roman Theatre in Orange © Nick Hull

A wide angle shot of the inside of the Roman Theatre in Orange

The Roman Arch below was built between 10 and 25AD is one of the most interesting surviving examples of a provincial triumphal arch from the reign of Augustus commemorating the establishment of the Pax Romana.

TheTriumphal Arch and the old gateway to the Roman city 

In the afternoon it was a trip out to the Maison Bouachon Chateauneuf-du-Pape Winery for wine tasting. The most expensive bottle was certainly the best we tried was a red costing €30.

Maison Bouachon Chateauneuf-du-Pape

The copy of the poster below show the variety of grapes that are used in the Chateauneuf-Du-Pape region 

The map    below shows the Côtes du Rhône and the Rhône Valley vineyards in the dark grey areas. The northern area produce mainly white wines where in the south they produce more red wines and some Rosé.  

During our cruise lunch and dinner was served with the wines of the region which was good as some were very nice indeed and others were perhaps not to ones personal taste but I have to say most were very quaffable indeed.

We sailed overnight towards the north and Lyon where we arrived around lunch time. En-route whilst resting in our cabin with the window open we listened to the many Nightingale that were constantly singing from the scrub along the river bank. We also watched the Yellow-legged Gulls, Cormorants and Black Kite which were common along the length of the Rhone and seen every day.

Yellow-legged Gull - Rhone River © Nick Hull

Cormorant over the Rhone River © Nick Hull

One of many Black Kite seen through the Rhone River Valley © Nick Hull

It wasn't until the afternoon once moored at Lyon that we picked up Common Terns feeding over the river and then from nowhere right in front of our window was a Black Tern a few minutes later another then we had three going south.

Common Tern - Lyon © Nick Hull

Black Tern - Lyon © Nick Hull

Day 11

Holiday over and it was just to catch our flight and travel back home though the weather wasn't the best it could have been we saw a new area of France and met some lovely people and had a great time and saw around 73 species on  a non-birding holiday some of which were french ticks for us.