July Wildlife

July continued as June finished with a number of surprises the first of which came in the guise of a Golden Oriole on the 4th.  Jackie was in the conservatory and I'm in the office inputting moth records.  When Jackie come to my door and says I can hear a Golden Oriole in the wood opposite.  Rush to the front door and listen a sure enough there was a Golden Oriole making it's characteristic fluty calls Jackie made a recording using the Merlin app.  The audio was good enough to claim the record but not really good enough to reproduce here.  I put my NocMig recorder on that night and had it calling again the next morning but we never heard it again after that. Unfortunately Shaun and Ian who tried for it in the morning failed to hear it.  This was a second record of Golden Oriole for the Lytchett Bay patch.   

Because I set up my nocmig recorder I thought I would keep in recording as I usually do not start the autumn recording until the end of August.  It turned out that this was a good idea as just a few days later on the 9th July I was analysing the night of the 8th/9th July and came across the distinct call of a Quail flying by.  Though I can't count it for my year list as I didn't physically hear it like we did with the oriole, but it counts for the patch nocmig list. On the 11th in an attempt to get quail on our year list we visited various location from where they had been reported with no luck at all.  

Two Owls · Common Quail

I suggested as we were in the Cranborne Chase we should try Wyke Down as it was getting late afternoon which turned out to be a good decision as we eventually heard Quail and Grey Partridge.

On the 22nd Jackie and I met with friends at the RSPB's Winterborne Down's reserve. Our aim here was to see Stone-curlew.  Walking up from the car park Jackie and I stopped and both said simultaneously Stone-curlew calling.  From the view point I think it was Fran who spotted the first Stone-curlew and then a second was found.  Views were ok but we had some heat haze to contend with as the temperature was rising. 

After our visit here we headed to Langford Lakes Nature Reserve a location Jackie and I hadn't visited for sometime in fact we twitched a Red-footed Falcon there in 2021.  By the time we arrived it was lunch time so into the the cafe we went.  We had a very nice lunch and headed out on to the reserve to see what we could find.  It wasn't until we arrived at the main hide that we saw anything other than the usual species. 

Green Sandpiper - Langford Lakes © Nick Hull

 From the hide we found two Green Sandpiper and two Common Sandpiper, Canada Geese, Coot, Lapwing and ended with an adult Little Ringed Plover and its juvenile.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover © Nick Hull

I also added three species of Dragonfly to my annual list. The first was Blue-eyed Hawker or giving it its old name Southern Migrant Hawker which are a stunning species which were on the home patch.  The shot below shows why they are named Blue-eyed Hawker.

Aeshna affinis - Blue-eyed Hawker - Lytchett Bay © Nick Hull

Then Jackie and I visited Silverlake and added Scarlet Darter/ as they are known now Broad-scarlet Darter and Red-veined Darter, Lesser Emperor and Small Red-eyed Damselfly.

Pair of Red-veined Darter mating in a tree -Silverlake © Nick Hull

Broad-Scarlet / Scarlet Darter - Silverlake © Nick Hull

We ended the month on 184 for the year we seem to be very slowly adding species this year.

On the Butterfly front Jackie and I saw 28 species in July adding Grayling, Purple Hairstreak, Silver-washed Fritillary, Brown Argus, Clouded Yellow, Adonis Blue, Small Blue and Dark Green Fritillary.

Clouded Yellow - Silverlake © Nick Hull

The moths have been pretty good this month though not quite hit the level of The Latin I caught in June but I've had some good migrants and some good species for Dorset.

I often catch Birch Mocha and Maiden's Blush and occasionally Dingy Mocha and Clay Triple-lines but over the last month I've added Blair's Mocha and the rarer Jersey Mocha to the Cyclophora family list just leaving me one more to catch to complete the set False Mocha. 

Photographs © Nick Hull

I've also been catching a variety of migrant some are annual but others are dependent on weather condition and good breeding years etc.  Cydia implana, Rush Veneer and Rusty Dot Pearl are micro moths and Vestal, Small Mottled Willow and White Point are macro moths.  

Photographs © Nick Hull

I also caught a species which I've been looking out for since moving here in 2012 as I commonly see it's relative the Mint Moth Pyrausta aurata around the garden but I have never seen or caught Purple & Gold Pyrausta purpuralis In fact over the last couple of traps I've caught three individuals of this stunning little moth.

Common Purple & Gold Pyrausta purpuralis © Nick Hull

This hot weather has brought a variety of moth species some have been pretty rare over the last couple of month and I'm not sure if it will continue hopefully it will. Though we do desperately need rain but if it keeps bring the good moths to add to the Lytchett Bay list at least that's some kind of consolation.