SATURDAY
AUGUST 31 - 2019
Emsworth
to Warblington
Peter
Milinets-Raby wandered around both the Emsworth and
the Warblington shore from 7:30am until 9:30am - low
tide. His report follows . . . .
Beacon Square: 1 Whitethroat and 17+ Goldfinches in
the back gardens, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Grey
Plover, 1 Little Egret.
Emsworth Harbour: 4 Greenshank (B//R + GB//- Very hard
to confirm the colours on this bird, what a silly
combination!), 4 Pied Wagtail, A Redshank with colour
rings (-//G + G//YG), 43 Black-tailed Godwit, 10
Canada Geese, 2 Little Egrets, 1 Swallow and 1 Meadow
Pipit over
Nore Barn at 8:17am: 3 Teal, 2 Greenshank.
Warblington: 1 Swallow, Ibis Field: 1 Whitethroat.
Conigar Point: Hedgerow behind Conigar Point. 2 Willow
Warblers showing very well in the trees (see photos).
1 female Blackcap. 2 Common Gull. 1 Grey Plover.
Off Pook Lane: 24
Knot, 5 Grey Plover, 2 Greenshank (RG//- + YY//-), 6
Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Little Egrets.
Egret
Roost
On Thursday
evening Peter Milinets-Raby did a count of the Egret
roost at Langstone Mill Pond.
I had a poor total of 128 Little Egrets and 8 Cattle
Egrets (5 adults - 4 flew in to roost and the last 3
recently fledged juveniles almost certainly from Nest
1 were still hanging around at the rear of the pond
with a single adult - These birds will certainly leave
soon and join the wedge on Thorney Island ). Other
birds of note on the pond were 1 Little Grebe, 4
female type Tufted Duck, 6 Teal, 1 Gadwall and 3
Shoveler.
Mandarin
Duck
Richard
Germain saw this rather handsome male Mandarin Duck on
Langstone Mill Pond this morning, unusually missed by
Peter Milinets-Raby!
THURSDAY
AUGUST 29 - 2019
Late
summer
I had a couple
of nice late summer sightings while walking down to
Lillywhite's Garage to collect my car. Going through
Brook Meadow I came across a rather pale coloured
Painted Lady fluttering around the cuttings
tip. Few have been seen on the meadow this year,
though many have been reported in gardens feasting on
Buddleja flowers.
Moth Mullein is
still flowering on the roadside to the south of Peter
Pond. There has been several plants of this tall
attractive plant in this area this year.
Meanwhile I stopped to
admire a lovely show of Rose hips on the bushes on the
east side of this pond by Gooseberry Cottage.
WEDNESDAY
AUGUST 28 - 2019
Warblington
shore
Peter
Milinets-Raby had a wander along the Warblington shore
late in the afternoon from 4:35pm to 7:02pm - tide
out.
Unusually, I had some
good birds to report. The first was an Osprey that
scared all the gulls off the mud at Conigar Point. It
circled around, drifting inland, before heading off
westwards. It had a fish held like a torpedo in its
talons (see crummy photo).
The next best bird was
a cracking male Redstart sat at the side of the main
bush in the SSSI field (See photos) It shared the bush
with 2 Whitethroats and a Robin.
In the SSSI field were
two juvenile/female type Wheatears (See
photo).
Out on the mud off
Pook Lane were 16 Knot, 13 Grey Plover, 27
Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Greenshank and a single
Dunlin.
At Langstone Mill Pond I had one adult Cattle Egret
and one fledged juvenile (See photos)
Also on the pond were
35+ Little Egrets, 7 Teal, 3 Shoveler, 2 Gadwall, 2
Tufted Duck, a single Sand Martin amongst 9 Swallows
and a Kingfisher dashed across the pond. Also had a
Fox in the field behind Conigar Point (see
photo).
Not a bad little
outing
MONDAY
AUGUST 26 - 2019
Emsworth
Show
The Brook
Meadow Conservation Group had their usual stall at the
Emsworth Show - this year at the New Life Church site
on Thorney Road. This was an exciting new venture for
the Emsworth Horticultural Society on a much larger
site with plenty of car parking, but out of Emsworth.
However, a 15 minute shuttle bus service was provided
to and from Emsworth which lots of visitors (including
myself and my wife) were pleased to make use of on
such a hot day.
My main contribution was a bucket crammed with 21
species of wild flowers that I had collected earlier
in the morning from Brook Meadow. I dropped off the
bucket of flowers on the doorstep of Debbie Robinson
who had kindly offered to take them down to the show
ground. A big thank you should go the Brook Meadow
volunteers who erected the stall and manned it
throughout a very hot day.
Maurice Lillie has
written the following report of day's activities to
which I had added a few photos . . .
We had
a really good day. I arrived shortly after 09.00 and
David, Kathy and Debbie had started to unpack the
gazebo and sort out the poles. At 10.30 it was erected
and furnished with tables, chairs, display board,
Brook Meadow banners, Kathy's craft table and a
fabulous collection of wildflowers that Brian had
collected earlier from the meadow.
Dave
McVittie had brought round 11 bags of 5 recycled
tennis balls that he has been collecting up, hand
washed and disinfected for sale. Dan brought loads of
dog poo bags too.
Lots of volunteers attended to help on the stall,
Tony, Terry, Reg, Brian and his wife as well as the
above. Sorry if I have missed anyone. Pam was busy
treasuring, I believe Colin was on car parking duty.
Dave McVittie popped by to enquire after sales of
balls and I was able to tell him that 14 found new
homes. Dan also sold lots of his dog poo bags. Quite a
few members renewed and some generous donations
received.
Maurice, Tony and
David keeping cool in their different
ways
Terry
with a visitor
Finally, I cannot help
but mention that my grandson Joe won a 1st prize for
his photo of a Bumblebee feeding on Thistle flowers
taken on Brook Meadow a few weeks ago. Joe's sister
Lisa, is in the prize giving queue just behind Joe.
She got a second prize for her photo in an older
group.
PS - My photo of a
Painted Lady sadly did not get a prize!
SATURDAY
AUGUST 24 - 2019
Magdelen
Down
Tony Wootton
reported on this mornings walk by the Friends of
wildlife Group. 7 of us went to Magdelen Down near
Winchester this morning.
This is one of
Butterfly Conservation's premier sites, mainly never
cultivated chalk down land. It was a beautiful
morning, gentle breeze, virtually a cloudless sky,
temperature nudging 30 degrees. Considering all this I
found it surprising that there was hardly any
visitors, certainly no 'spotters ', and more
worryingly very low numbers of butterflies. Species ok
but actual butterflies not so good.
We saw, red admiral, meadow brown, large white,
common, holly and chalkhill blues, a flash of one
possible adonis, brown argus, painted lady, and
brimstone. Brown Argus and Holly Blue in photo.
Identified insects
were mother shipton , mint moth and one of the robber
flies.
Brian's
note: This is a great shot of a Hornet Robberfly
(Asilus crabroniformis) which is said to
be rare and declining, and scattered in parts of
Southern England. The species is identified by the
yellow tip to its abdomen, usually covered by folded
wings at rest. This magnificent creature is the
largest fly in Britain, hence its common name
'Hornet', though, of course, it does not sting. It
sits and waits for other insects which it catches and
sucks them dry with its proboscis. The 'beard' on the
face protects the eyes from struggling prey.
Birds were, buzzard,
kestrel, herring gull, wood pigeon, green woodpecker
(heard), skylark, swallow, house martin, grey wagtail,
robin, redstart, black bird, blackcap, chiffchaff,
willow warbler, goldcrest, spotted flycatcher,
longtail blue and great tits, carrion crow, raven and
goldfinch.
Thanks as always to
Ros for supplying me with the flower list. Hop
trefoil, wild basil, doves foot cranesbill, dandelion
, daisy, birds foot trefoil, majoram, creeping
thistle, meadow vetchling, woody nightshade, bramble,
white clover, smooth sow thistle, upright hedge
parsley, agrimony, ribwort plantain, herb robert,
prickly sow thistle, creeping buttercup, red
deadnettle, red bartsia, black meddick, wild clematis,
black hoarhound, rosebay willow herb, wild carrot, St.
John's wort, yarrow, creeping thistle, white campion,
field bindweed, mugwort, hedge bedstraw, melliot,
meadow cranesbill, field scabious, common toadflax,
tufted vetch, knapweed broomrape, eyebright, small
scabious, ragwort, hemp agrimony, great willow herb,
wild parsnip, teasel, knotweed, field speedwell,
hawkbit, vervain, welted thistle, bladder campion,
harebell, ladies bedstraw, mouse ear, fairy flax,
clustered bellflower, mignonette, birds eye trefoil,
musk mallow, sainfoin, rock rose, devils bit scabious,
autumn gentian, hogweed, greater knapweed, black
knapweed and scarlet pimpernel. Phew, thanks Ros, and
thanks everyone for coming.
Photo shows . . .
Robin's Pincushion and Clustered Bellflower
But the days highlight
was around 20 yes 20 argiope bruenniche- wasp spiders,
all in one small area.
THURSDAY
AUGUST 22 - 2019
Garden
sightings
I had two good
sightings in the garden today. First, a Painted
Lady was with us for most of the day, fluttering
around the clusters of purple flowers of Perennial
Verbena (V. bonariensis) - the first Painted Lady I
have seen in the garden for several years. This is a
good year for this lovely migrant butterfly.
Incidentally, Perennial Verbena is a great plants for
attracting butterflies, bees and other insects. It is
native to tropical South America but grows very well
in this country, in fact, it pops up everywhere 'just
like a weed'!
The second good
sighting was of a juvenile Sparrowhawk
(distinguished from the adult by its overall brownish
plumage) which was perched on our Ivy hedge for a few
minutes, allowing me time to get my camera out and
take a few shots of which the following was the best.
Blackberries
and dragonflies
My wife and I
went over to the meadow with our grandson Joe this
morning mainly to pick Blackberries which are coming
along very nicely on the northern edge of the north
meadow where Martin Cull has cut right to the edge of
the bushes.
We picked a pot of
berries which together with an huge apple from Tiers
we made into a two very nice blackberry and apple
crumble pies (one for Joe's family and one for us).
They were excellent!
On our way for lunch
in the Lord Raglan, Joe spotted a red bodied male
Common Darter resting on the metal hand rail on
the small footbridge to the north of Peter Pond.
Joe was particularly
interested to see whether he could tempt the insect to
rest on his hand. It did not . . . but it did allow
Joe to move his hand almost to touching distance.
One final bit of
excitement was we witnessed a police chase (with armed
police!!) which went through next door's garden! They
caught the fugitive! No picture, sorry!
Orchids
Jill Stanley
went, with a friend, to Hayling yesterday to look for
the Autumn Lady's Tresses orchids near the golf
course, and were lucky! . . . "We found, I would
think, at least 50 in various stages of maturity. They
are very small orchids and not easy to spot, being a
dull green stem with tiny white flowers spiralling up
it, and mostly under about 10cms tall."
Pied
Flycatcher
While cycling
through Westbourne yesterday morning, Caroline French
saw this dead bird in the road, confirmed as a Pied
Flycatcher. It must have been hit by a vehicle. Only
the second she has seen in this country and quite a
scarce passage migrant in this area.
TUESDAY
AUGUST 20 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I had a nice
experience while walking down the main river path on
Brook Meadow this morning. A fine young Grey Heron was
perched somewhat precariously it seemed on a thin
branch of a tree over the river. Young Herons appear
much greyer than adults with dark grey legs and
forecrown (white in adult), dark upper mandible and
duskier grey face and underparts.
As I approached, the
bird turned and, after a few moments of wary eye
contact with me, it launched itself into the air with
slow clumsy looking wing beats and off it flew. Come
back again.
It was also very nice
to meet up with Susan Kelly who was walking the meadow
as a welcome change, she said, from her regular walk
at Nore Barn. We had a little walk together during
which we stopped to admire the hoverflies and other
insects feasting on the white flower heads of Wild
Angelica and Hogweed. Here is one such fly called
Syrphus ribesii (I think) that I snapped
earlier as it was feeding on Hogweed.
MONDAY
AUGUST 19 - 2019
Nore
Barn
I had a walk
around Nore Barn Woods this morning which was very
enjoyable. I have not been here for a while. The
weather was fine and sunny with a strong SW wind. As
expected, there were no birds in the stream but for a
couple of Black-headed Gulls. But . . . maybe in a
month or so we shall see the return of the famous
Spotted Redshank for its 16th winter running!! Here's
a little taster of what might be to come!
I had a browse around
the saltmarshes to the west of the stream where Sea
Aster is in full flower.
I also noted several
other regular saltmarsh plants including Common
Cord-grass (Spartina anglica), Sea Purslane,
Glasswort, Sea Plantain, Annual Seablite,
Common Sea-lavender and Sea Wormwood.
Common
Cord-grass (Spartina anglica) . . . Glasswort,
Common Sea-lavender . . . Sea Wormwood.
A few small patches of
Lesser Sea-spurrey were scattered around the
grassy area near the picnic table.
I walked along the
beach where the seawall was lined with Golden
Samphire. I really like this plant when its
flowers turn a rich chestnut brown. Also on the
concrete foreshare I was interested to see several
clumps of Rock Samphire which I do not recall
having seen in this location before though they are
fairly common around the south coast. Rock Samphire is
a yellowish-green flowered umbellifer with fleshy
leaves, which are strong smelling when crushed. These
Samphire plants should not be confused with the
Samphire sold by fishmongers to flavour fish which are
actually Glassworts.
The Blackthorn,
Hawthorn and Bramble bushes along the shore were
adorned with good crops of sloes, haws and
blackberries respectively. The Butcher's-broom is
looking healthy on the south path.
A came across a
Painted Lady on the stoney beach sheltering from the
strong wind.
I walked back through
the woods which were very peaceful.
I noticed tree removal
in one area to open up a glade for wild flowers.
Plenty of
Acorns on the ground. It was nice to see small
patches of Selfheal along the paths which were
also dotted with bright pink jewel-like flowers of
Herb-Robert. I saw a few flowering plants of
Rough Chervil, similar to the spring flowering Cow
Parsley, but with stiff rough stems. I was looking for
sedges, but did not find any. Remote Sedge should be
around somewhere.
Cattle
Egret news
Peter
Milinets-Raby visited Langstone Mill Pond last night
from 6:30pm to 8pm - tide very low. His report follows
. . .
On the
pond were 3 Gadwall, 6 eclipse plumaged Teal, a female
Tufted Duck with her three juveniles and the Mute Swan
family. Off shore were 19 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Grey
Plover, 3+ Med Gulls and a Greenshank.
On arrival there were 3 juvenile Cattle Egrets in the
trees at the rear of the pond with 11 roosting Little
Egrets. These three juveniles are probably the
occupants of Nest 5. Eventually, on the main Holm Oak
3 juvenile Cattle Egrets emerged from the canopy and
sat in and around the Old Grey Herons nest (Probably
from Nest 2).
At
6:48pm the adult with missing primaries in the left
wing flew in from the east and dropped onto Nest 1.
The number of chicks on this nest increased to THREE
and after being fed all three cute looking chicks
wandered out of the nest for a minute before returning
to the safety of the nest. I think this may be the
final count, though Cattle Egrets do occasionally have
four young!
At 7:43pm three adults flew in low from the east and
flew straight to the roosting trees.
And
that was it, not much else to report. The juveniles
were flying around more tonight and I suspect that
they will soon leave for the green fields of Thorney
Island. And on that Sussex isle, the 10 Cattle Egrets
were again seen on the Thorney Deeps, but this time
they had 2 juveniles with them. These two are almost
certainly the occupants of Nest 4. Over the coming
days and weeks, I expect this feeding flock on Thorney
to eventually contain 10 adults and 11 juveniles (the
result of four successful breeding attempts). However,
I hope there is a late surprise in the tale of
Hampshire's first breeding occurrence of Cattle
Egrets, with the sighting of a few "extra" juveniles
which will confirm the presence of the mythical fifth
pair!
PS Barry Collins had
his first juvenile Cattle Egrets at Thorney Deeps
yesterday morning. There were 12 Cattle Egrets feeding
in amongst the cattle 10 adults and 2 juveniles. He
expects to see more as the week goes by. You can keep
track of more sightings on the SOS web site recent
sightings page.
SUNDAY
AUGUST 18 - 2019
The
Trundle
Nicola Hammond
reported on yesterday's walk by The Friends of
Wildlife Group. Ten met for a walk around The Trundle
this week. Derek was taking photo.
The
strong breeze kept many birds hunkered down out of
sight but as we arrived a kestrel was hovering close
by. We were also treated to views of wheatear and a
redstart. A yellowhammer perched on a fence
with food in its mouth and we watched as it finally
flew low down into a bush, presumably to feed its
young.
Later
on buzzards soared overhead and corvids enjoyed the
thermals.
The
short turf had surprisingly few wildflowers and we
presumed this was due to heavy grazing by cattle (who
had left their mark!). Flowers of note included
clustered bellflower, harebell, dwarf, musk and
carline thistles
Round
headed rampion, small scabious, wild parsnip,
toadflax, squinancywort and eyebright. Wild
basil, marjoram and mint were also seen.
We
walked along a woodland path to the side of The
Trundle for some respite from the wind and were
greeted by a party of long tailed tits. We also saw
fungus which we couldn't identify. In the longer grass
along the tracks surrounding the Trundle we saw meadow
brown, large & small white and painted lady
butterflies. Finally we had wonderful views of
chalk hill blue butterflies and watched as one
nectared on a carline thistle, which showed that it
isn't only colourful flowers that attracted
butterflies. It was a very companionable walk, as
always.
For more details about
this local wildlife walking group go to . . .
http://familyfellows.com/hwg-index.htm
SATURDAY
AUGUST 17 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I had a walk
through the meadow this afternoon. The orchid area is
now a blaze of yellow flowers of Common Fleabane and
Hoary Ragwort, plus the pink of Hemp Agrimony and
white of Wild Angelica with its distinctive red stems
- as shown in the photo below. A great sight. There's
no sign of Cinnabars on the Ragwort as yet.
The Gwynne Johnson
Rowan plantation on the east side of the north meadow
is simply loaded with bright red berries, the best
crop I recall ever having seen before. You have to
brush past the branches laden with berries around the
back of the plantation.
I am getting to like
the new broad path around the Lumley area which was
cut by Martin Cull during the annual cut. It provides
an excellent view of the great array of wild flowers
in this area.
There is a large
Pepper-saxifrage plant on the ground on the path round
the Lumley area. It looks healthy enough and needs
propping up.
Of the butterflies I
noted several whites which did not stop. A very pale
Comma paused a while on the Lumley area. Then
as I was walking back along the gravel path by the
river I spotted this rather fine Red Admiral.
This path is a great favourite of butterflies,
appreciating the warmth of the stones. It is worth
walking along cautiously to avoid disturbing any that
may be resting.
I met several people
during the walk including Juliet Walker who stopped
for a chat about the photo competition for the
Emsworth Show for which I have entered my Painted
Lady photo taken on Brook Meadow on 07-Aug this
year. Here it is, so look out for it!
On the way home I met
Debbie Robinson who said she would take my selection
of Brook Meadow flowers to the Emsworth Show - on
Thorney Road this year - Mon 26 Aug. I don't have my
bike any more so this is much appreciated. Thanks
Debbie.
Egrets
nesting at Langstone Mill Pond
In response to
a request from the BTO Regional Organiser of
Heronries, Peter Milinets-Raby provided the following
summary of the Egret nesting colony at Langstone Mill
Pond. In a nut shell, the details are as
follows:
Little Egrets:
7th May (Last nest count) Confirmed 29 nests,
probable 34. I do not bother to count young, as that
number of nests are too difficult to keep a tag
on.
Grey
Herons:
Details still to be worked out, still in my note
book.
Cattle Egrets:
Four confirmed nests, one unproven and two
"attempts" (Nests 6 & 7). Details below.
Nest 1: Two young - BUT, numbers still to be finalised
(At least 10 days behind the other birds - no idea
why?) - Nest not on view, but location known.
Nest 2: Three young, almost fledged, some flying
sorties - Nest partly visible.
Nest 3: *
Nest 4: Two young - Probably left? - Nest partly
visible.
Nest 5: Three young - very active & flying around
- Nest became visible after storms.
Nest 6: Simply a single adult (probably male) in
nuptial plumage from 18th June to 5th July. Staked out
an old Little Egrets nest and hung around displaying.
No takers.
Nest 7: On 22nd June a pair was observed mating on an
old Little Egrets nest in "Other" Holm Oak and female
was sitting very tight on nest. However, this easily
viewed nest was empty after this date.
*The fifth breeding pair - Possibly Nest location 3 or
maybe located somewhere else. Nest not seen, just the
odd adult visiting/departing from an area out of
sight. Alas, no other details - Just a hunch!
10 adults have been seen on site and on Thorney
Island.
As an interesting
aside the two regular Cattle Egrets at North Wall
Pagham, may be the failed pair from Nest 7 and the
Nuptial bird (Nest 6) was seen (and photographed) at
Pagham North Wall on at least one date.
FRIDAY
AUGUST 16 - 2019
Langstone
Mill Pond
Peter
Milinets-Raby reports as follows . . .
The lousy weather is making it very hard to keep up
with the goings on at Langstone Mill Pond. I managed a
short visit yesterday evening to Langstone Mill Pond
(From 6:54pm to 8:20pm - low tide)
Not much around this evening, 3 Gadwall, 1 juvenile
Tufted Duck, the Mute Swan family and 8 Swallows. Of
shore,, 50+ Redshank, 5 Black-tailed Godwit and 1
Greenshank.
Cattle Egret
news
Most of the Cattle Egrets are probably only days
away from departing the pond, as this evening a family
group of three juveniles were in the trees at the rear
of the pond (away from the main nesting tree) where an
adult fed them twice whilst I was there. The juveniles
were really noisy with their slightly higher
pitched/stabbing begging call, then the normal sound
of Little Egrets begging! They settled to roost at the
rear of the pond with 6 adults in the small patch of
trees. These three fledged birds were probably from
Nest 5.
There were three juveniles on the top of the Holm Oak,
though two of them had little sorties, flying around
exploring all the other trees around the pond (see
photo of one exploring the Willow Trees at the rear of
the pond). These birds did return to the top of the
Holm Oak/Nest 2 when an adult returned to feed them
(twice).
There only appeared to
be two chicks escaping the confines of Nest 1 (See
photo). Obviously as the nest is not in view, there
still could be other young present.
At 7:47pm two adults
were observed flying low across the mud flats of
Sweare Deep (obviously having flown from Thorney
Island). Both birds landed in the Willow Tree next to
the main Holm Oak - one clearly with missing primaries
on the left wing). The pristine plumaged adult of the
two, flew down to Nest 1 first and fed the two chicks
that scrambled quickly back to the nest. The other
adult stood and watched occasionally calling. After a
minute the adult flew off to roost at the rear of the
pond and the bird with missing primaries flew onto the
nest to feed the young. It left Nest 1 after a couple
of minutes and joined its mate in the roost at the
rear of the pond.
There didn't appear to be any other adults around, so
six was my final total?
THURSDAY
AUGUST 15 - 2019
Brook
Meadow workday
I had
completely forgotten about the work session this
morning. So by the time I arrived the group were well
into their work schedule. I took a group photo at the
end of the coffee break.
The main job involved
clearing fallen branches and twigs from the river and
generally tidying up the river bank south of the north
bridge.
David Minns pointed
out a very pale Painted Lady resting on the
ground, only the second on the meadow, though Dan
tells me he's still getting 6 or so on the Buddleja in
his garden.
For the full workday
report and more photos go to . . . https://www.brookmeadow.org.uk/conservation-news/
TUESDAY
AUGUST 13 - 2019
Local
news
I had a little walk down to the Hermitage Millponds
this morning. No special observations, but I did stop
to snap this Bumblebee (Bombus
terrestris) feeding on Hoary Ragwort on the
path to the west of Peter Pond.
Brian Lawrence was
working in the garden today and had a lot of
Painted Ladies on the Buddleja tree - as many
as 6 one time. Here is one of them.
MONDAY
AUGUST 12 - 2019
Cattle
Egret news
Peter
Milinets-Raby again visited Langstone Mill Pond
yesterday (Aug 11) evening for two hours from 7pm to
9pm - tide pushing in. There was nothing new to add on
the Cattle Egret front. However, his observations from
the evening were as follows:
On arrival there were
6 chicks up in the top branches of the main Holm Oak;
on, in and around the old Grey Herons nest. Three of
these were from Nest 2 and after a while two of these
chicks snuggled down onto Nest 2 and virtually out of
view. The other birds wandered all over the canopy!
An adult came to the
top of the Holm Oak and fed the three chicks on the
Old Grey Herons Nest (This number would suggest that
they are from Nest 5). An adult also flew in and fed
the three chicks on Nest 2. This means that the two
chicks from nest 4 have either fledged or were hiding
elsewhere in the Holm Oak. I lost count of the adults
coming in to roost, because I was concentrating on
Nest 1, but I'm sure I observed 8 adults. It would be
interesting to get more reports from Thorney Island,
because there could be a pair of adults feeding two
young?
The only other feeding
activity observed this evening was when the pair of
adults flew in and fed the chicks on Nest 1. First the
bird with missing primaries in the left wing, then its
mate, which visited the nest twice. The second visit
was after spending 5 minutes or so off the nest on a
nearby branch after probably waiting for the store of
food in its crop to make a move up to the right place
before flying back to the nest to regurgitate a second
load to the deadly flailing beaks of the young. I have
observed this behaviour on several occasions with the
Cattle Egrets resting a while before a second visit to
feed their young. Two very young chicks were observed
in this nest, but as the nest is totally out of view
there could easily be other young present in this
nest. I will have to wait a few more days to get final
confirmation. It appears that these young are probably
10 days or so behind the other three nests. Why this
is so, I do not know. Maybe the bird with the missing
primaries is the female and her first attempt failed
due to predation (She put up a fight and lost some
feathers in the process?).
The mystery of the
fifth nest remains unresolved. It could be that this
nest is also "late" and in a weeks time young will be
clambering all over the Old Grey Herons
Nest!
On the evening of
Thursday 8th August I visited the pond for 20 minutes
before I was forced to leave due to the sudden arrival
of heavy rain. The egrets were inexplicably disturbed
during their roosting activities (no idea why) and
they all flew up into the air and landed on the nearby
Oak tree. See photo - Can you pick out the 4 Cattle
Egrets?
Other birds of note
this evening were as follows:
On Thursday there was an unusual influx of Gadwall
with 5 birds. This evening there were 8. Also on the
pond were the 3 juvenile Tufted Duck, 6+ Swallows
coming in to roost and the Mute Swan family. There
were 44+ Little Egrets on arrival, but I did not count
them flying in to roost.Off shore in the distance off
Conigar Point were 12 Grey Plover and 9 Dunlin and
close along the Pook Lane shoreline were 76
Black-tailed Godwit and 4 Greenshank.
Also of interest this evening I had a Black-headed
Gull (adult moulting into winter) with a yellow ring
with letters & numbers. These were PA61. I will
send details of the birds origin if I hear back from
the relevant ringer.
FRIDAY
AUGUST 9 - 2019
Freshwater
Leeches
I have a
request for Leech sightings from Ralph Hollins - now
resident in Scotland.
A few
days ago, when walking round the tarmac path around
the large public park which lies on the far side of
the busy road running past my house, I spotted a thin
black worm-like creature on the tarmac where the path
runs within a couple of yards of the large Carlingwark
Loch which has a large flock of Swans plus a few
ducks. The 'worm' looked like some sort of Leech but I
could not think how it came to be stranded alone on a
busy footpath but when today I found a similar Leech
on the path in the same area with what appeared to be
another Leech attacking the rear end of an earthworm
nearby I used Google to discover that there are 11
species of freshwater Leeches one of which is
described as being amphibious and able to search on
land for the earthworms on which it feeds.
For description
see Trocheta subviridis in . . . https://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrates/ANNELIDAb1.htm
. . .
There is also a lot of information on Leeches in the
Wikipedia entry.
Ralph says he has not
come across this species before and is wondering if it
also lives in Emsworth? I have not come across any
sort of leeches locally. Does anyone have any
experience of them in the wild?
Here is a image
of a Horse Leech from the internet
which probably resembles the one that Ralph saw in
Scotland.
THURSDAY
AUGUST 8 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I had the
pleasure of the company of my 10 year grandson Joe for
this morning's jaunt through the meadow. Joe's mission
was to take photos for the photography competition at
the Emsworth Show. In fact, he won first prize for his
age group last year with his photo of a Bumblebee on
Thistles and he's keen to do well again. I lent him my
simple point and shoot Sony camera that he has used in
the past and he went around the meadow snapping
anything of interest. I also took photos of Joe taking
photos!
Back home we
downloaded the Joe's 242 photos onto the computer and
went through choosing 40 possible entries for the
competition. I put all the chosen images onto a memory
stick for Joe to take home to choose the one he liked
best for the competition. The choice of which one to
enter is always Joe's not mine!
One thing of special
interest that caught my attention was the presence of
3 species of fish in the Lumley Pool - just north of
the small footbridge at Peter Pond. There was one Grey
Mullet, several Sea Trout and one Pike! The Pike is
certainly not good news for any Water Vole breeding
activity in that area.
Ralph
returns!
I was
delighted to hear again from Ralph Hollins who is now
living in Scotland following a series of stays in
hospital. We all miss him greatly down here as for
many years he has been the main authority of all
aspects of wildlife in the local area. On a personal
level, Ralph has been my mentor and guru for at least
20 years and I have much to thank him for my interest
in observing and recording wildlife which continues
unabated! Thankfully, he reports that his interest in
wildlife is returning, though as yet the stamina to
get out and about is still lacking! However, Ralph has
lost none of his sharp critical eye for errors in my
blog reports. Here is my latest boob which he corrects
in his typical firm though gentle manner. Thanks
Ralph.
He says . . .
"I
am greatly enjoying your website but thought you
should be aware that the photos which you published on
Aug 5 are of two different species of hoverfly. The
larger insect (your recent photo) has the broad black
bands of V. zonaria across its abdomen
but the photo on the right shows the overall yellow
colouration of the abdomen with two narrower black
bands across it plus one shorter black line running
forward from the front cross band towards the head.
These features are given by Michael Chinery on page
206 of his Collins Guide to Insects as distinguishing
Volucella inanis which is also smaller
than V. zonaria."
My original
photos with Volucella zonaria (the
Hornet Mimic) on the left and Volucella inanis
on the right
One interesting bit of
news from Ralph was his sighting of a Painted
Lady on Aug 3. So They have made it to Scotland! I
had my first on Brook Meadow yesterday, though they
have been reported in some numbers in local
gardens.
Ralph added ". . . my
understanding is these are not the same insects that
set out northward from the Sahara but are the progeny
of breeding in France while the insects we are now
seeing will also breed in Britain before their
offspring continue their relentless journey north with
few making the return journey to start next year's
journey."
Bats
in Nore Barn Woods
Roy Ewing
provided me with the following exciting report of no
less than 8 species of Bat recorded by Nik Knight
recently in Nore Barn Woods. Wow!
A
static bat detector was placed in Nore Barn Woods in
July 2019 by Nik Knight, the Hampshire Bat recorder. A
total of 11,208 recordings were made, which were
downloaded and put through the automatic ID software.
All the interesting recordings were examined and a
large sample of the others.
From the evening of 12/7/19 to the morning of 31/7/19,
at least eight bat species were recorded: common
pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle, Nathusius'
pipistrelle, serotine, noctule, brown long-eared,
western barbastelle and bats from the genus Myotis,
including Natterer's. The most significant of these is
the rare western barbastelle, recorded on two
successive nights.
Nore Barn Woods turns out to be an excellent area for
bats! All these records have been entered into the
county bat records database.
See the Nore Barn web
site for more details . . . http://www.norebarnwoods.org.uk/
WEDNESDAY
AUGUST 7 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I had e-mail
from Colin Brotherston last night to say that Martin
Cull was coming today to finish cutting the meadow. So
I popped in to see him on my way home from the Pallant
Gallery where I volunteer on a Wednesday morning.
Martin was pleased to see me and stopped his tractor
for a chat. I took photos and a video.
Cutting the
centre meadow
Video clip of Martin
at work . . . https://youtu.be/5GIm8Y0ZdmE
Thanks Martin.
See you next year!
While he was working I
was delighted to see my first Painted Lady of
the year on Brook Meadow, feeding on Common Fleabane.
I managed to get some nice shots of this beautiful
butterfly which had flown across the channel to be
with us. I have had several previous reports of
Painted Ladies in gardens, but yet not in ours!
I also spotted this
tiny Selfheal flower in amongst the rampaging
vegetation on the centre meadow.
TUESDAY
AUGUST 6 - 2019
Brown
Knapweed?
In yesterday's
blog I reported Chris Oakley's photo of the knapweed
plants on the east side of Slipper Millpond as 'Common
Knapweed' (Centaurea nigra) as I had
never heard of the name of 'Brown Knapweed' that Chris
gave to it. However, Chris has since replied to say
the plant is Brown Knapweed which he says is 'a less
common version' of Knapweed. This set me racing to my
various wild flower guides (Rose, Blamey, Fitter and
Fitter, Collins, Harrap's) but Brown Knapweed did not
get a mention in any of them! No wonder I had never
heard of it! Here is Chris's original photo.
Wikipedia says in
Britain Brown Knapweed (Centaurea jacea)
is found as a hybrid of Common (or Black) Knapweed.
Unlike Common Knapweed the flower heads are rayed
forming a more open star rather then the more usual
brush-like tuft. Greater Knapweed also has rayed
flower heads but that is a different species
altogether. Other references to Brown Knapweed on the
internet were all from sources in Europe and not in
Britain. For example, it grows well on sloping meadows
in southern and central Finland.
Blamey, Fitter and Fitter do make reference to 'two
forms' of Common Knapweed, the commoner unrayed form
and the less frequent rayed form but they leave it at
that with no mention of Brown Knapweed. I often come
across the rayed form and have tended to regard it as
an aberration of Common Knapweed and not indicative of
a separate species, as it would be if it was Greater
Knapweed. There are also rare rayed forms of Groundsel
which I used to see on Church Path leading to
Warblington.
As a last resort I
went to my hefty copy of 'Alien Plants' by Stace and
Crawley which has a whole section devoted to Brown
Knapweed (p.328) which they say is very common on the
Continent of Europe. It has been common in rough
grasses and road verges in Britain at various times
during the 20thC, probably introduced as a contaminant
of grass seed, but today there are no known
localities. They go on to say there are still plants
to be found that are close in characteristics to our
native plants but possess some features reminiscent of
Brown Knapweed as a result of complex hybridising with
native plants. Clearly, the classification of
Knapweeds is taxonomically very complex and the
authors conclude that more 'taxonomic headaches' await
with further imported grass seed contaminants.
Many thanks to Chris
for bringing this complex issue to my attention.
However, in view of the uncertainty of botanists my
inclination is to continue referring to rayed and
unrayed forms of Common Knapweed and not to Brown
Knapweed.
I posted the query
about Brown Knapweed onto the Wild Flower group on
Facebook and got some replies . .
1. It could be C. jacea but is more likely to be its
hybrid with the C. nigra agg. x gerstlaueri. Need to
see the teeth on the phyllaries to confirm.
2. To answer your other question, C jacea is a
separate species, not the name for the rayed form of C
nigra.
3. It's in my ancient (1974) Fitter x2 & Blamey.
I'd never seen it till last month in Germany.
Painted
Ladies
Anne Moodie
has had a Painted Lady butterfly in her garden on
Saturday, on the patio and also today on the Buddleia.
Even more interesting, Anne also had a male Chaffinch
coming to the feeder for several days. These are very
rare garden birds, almost as rare as Greenfinch.
Cattle
Egret news from Langstone Mill Pond
Peter
Milinets-Raby ventured down to the Langstone Mill Pond
yesterday evening arriving an hour before sunset at
7:45pm. The tide was out. Here is his report . . .
On arrival there was
one adult Cattle Egret roosting in the trees at the
rear of the pond along with 36 Little Egrets. The
situation at the nesting colony was as chaotic as
previous visits with 5 juvenile Cattle Egrets
scattered all over the top branches of the Holm Oak
and Willow Tree. The three youngsters in Nest 2 were
all huddled up together and Nest 1 was unusually
showing some excited movement with some wing flailing
and nodding of juvenile heads (still only two
positively seen). An adult bird was sat with them.
8:10pm - An adult with several primaries missing on
the left wing (I have seen this bird on a few other
occasions) flew in from the east and plonked itself
down with all the other egrets at the rear of the
pond.
8:12pm - Three adults flew in from the east (an
impressive sight with Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries
playing in my head as they skimmed across the mud
flats) and joined the roost at the rear of the
pond.
8:22pm - An adult dropped in on the Holm Oak where it
was attacked by three ravenous youngsters. It
eventually regurgitated its load and fed the three
chicks whilst standing on the old Grey Heron nest (Old
Grey Whistling Test pun could be inserted here!). I
suspect that these are the three from Nest 5. So a
running total of 7 adults so far.
8:29am - An adult dropped in to Nest 2 to feed the
chicks.
8:32pm - Two adults flew in from the east and straight
to the rear of the pond. The adult from Nest 2 flew
down off the colony trees and joined the other
roosting birds. Total 10 adults - 9 in the roost and
one sat on Nest 1. So, that number fits in nicely with
the four confirmed nests and the one still unresolved.
I wonder if the two Cattle Egrets at Pagham North Wall
are the failed seventh pair and the partially
"Nuptial" plumaged bird that was present for a couple
of days at Pagham was the bird that tried to establish
Nest site 6 for 15+ days without any takers. As these
birds (so far) do not feed locally and always fly off
strong to Thorney Island, I surmise that these Cattle
Egrets are some of the Pagham wintering flock and not
the Warblington birds. It will be interesting to see
where the juveniles end up?
It was intriguing to note that apart from the adult
looking after Nest 1, the gaggle of wandering chicks
(I note that the correct collective nouns for egrets
are, a "Congregation", "RSVP", "Skewer" and a "Wedge")
were very much left to sort themselves out, which as
darkness fell they did and eventually all went quiet
in the colony.
Little Egrets continued to come in to the roost after
sunset and a total of 61 birds were observed to fly in
giving a grand wedge of 97!!!!
Other species worth a
mention were a male Shoveler in eclipse plumage (the
first of many, no doubt if previous years records are
to go by), 2 female Tufted Duck with 3 growing
juveniles, the Mute Swan family took themselves onto
the island for the night and 11+ Swallows were buzzing
about looking to roost in the reeds.
Off shore and in the distance off Conigar Point were
10 summer plumaged Grey Plover. Slightly closer were a
single Greenshank, 6+ Mediterranean Gulls, a Common
Gull, a Common Tern and 6 Black-tailed Godwits.
A Sparrowhawk upsetting the Swallows was the last bird
seen as dusk fell.
MONDAY
AUGUST 5 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I had a walk
through Brook Meadow this afternoon where I came
across this large hoverfly feeding on the flowers of
Hemp Agrimony. From its large size my guess is that it
is what is often referred to as a 'Hornet
mimic' (Volucella zonaria). It is a
fearsome looking beast, but is quite harmless! Today's
insect is on the left in the following photos and a
slightly better picture is on the right of one that I
got on the meadow a couple of years ago
I stopped for a chat
to my friend Kath who lives in Lumley Road. She
confirmed the presence of a Sparrowhawk nest in
the Lumley copse with two youngsters. The distinctive
calls of the young can be clearly heard on the meadow.
I have not managed to get a photo of the nest which is
buried deep in the woodland. However, here is a shot I
got of a Sparrowhawk chick in a nest that I took a few
years ago in Nore Barn Woods
As I was drawing the
curtains in my room this evening I spotted a large
Crane-fly with mottled wings clinging to the window. I
think it is Tipula maxima which is one
of the largest of the Crane-flies which typically
rests with its mottled wings outstretched. The pointed
abdomen indicates a female - pointed for laying eggs.
Other
local news
It looks as if
we may have the start of a imminent invasion of
Painted Ladies. Dan Mortimer had 6 on his white
Buddleja over the weekend and today Peter
Milinets-Raby 5 visiting flowers in his tiny Havant
garden today. I have yet to see one in my Emsworth
garden, despite having plenty of pretty flowers! Here
is one of Peter's Painted Ladies. Please let me have
any other sightings.
Christopher Evans was
on Farlington Marshes today and got a nice shot of the
local male Kestrel, looking very smart.
Chris Oakley has been
limited in his wanderings over the past year or so due
to ill health. We wish him well. He managed to get
round Slipper Millpond today where he got this
attractive image of Common Knapweed with
Chequers Quay in the background.
MONDAY
AUGUST 5 - 2019
Cattle
Egret news
Peter
Milinets-Raby reports that the Cattle Egret situation
at Langstone Mill Pond has become quite chaotic. It is
what he feared would happen with the youngsters moving
about. Here is Peter's report from three short visits
he made to Langstone Mill Pond since the start of
August, the last one being yesterday evening from
6:45pm to 7:45pm. The following is a brief summary of
last three visits:
Nest 1: This evening
at 7:30pm the adult stood off the nest and perched
nearby to preen. Two chicks were seen (still could be
more). The big surprise was that they were at least a
week younger (maybe more) than the other chicks, which
are flapping their wings at every opportunity (only
days away from flying). Now I do not know why this
nest is so far behind the others when all the birds
established their nesting sites virtually in the same
first few days of June. Did the birds fail and tried
again?
Nest 2: Both adults
still visiting and feeding chicks. They only wander
for a short spell, then seem to prefer cuddling up
together on the nest. They were all on the nest this
evening.
Nest 3: The jury is
still out on this one, but young have been seen in the
area, and an adult was seen to feed two young in the
area. My reservations stem from the fact that the
young from nests 4 & 5 tend to wander great
distances through the canopy. The observations 'seem'
to point at a Nest with two young, but still truly
unproven.
Nest 4: Now this nest
is really confusing me. I thought there were only two
chicks, but on recent visits three chicks have been
fed at this nest. The adult seems to only feed the
young at the nest. It is very comical watching these
chicks scamper back to the nest at high speed to be
fed.
Nest 5: Since 2nd
August this nest has been empty. An adult visited the
empty nest on 3rd, then went to the site of Nest 3.
This nest was empty again this evening. Had the chicks
moved up and taken over Nest 4 and the Nest 4 lot have
moved to Nest 3? Is this a likely scenario or have
these chicks now fledged. The chicks from Nest 2, 4
& 5 all looked the same age? so why have this lot
gone when Nests 2 and 4 are still present?
Nest 5a: No further
observations. It looks like this nest location will
have to go down as unproven.
SUNDAY
AUGUST 4 - 2019
Brook
Meadow Workday
There was a
good turn out of 13 volunteers for this morning's work
session on Brook Meadow led by Colin Brotherston. -
holding the blue clip board.
The main tasks were
(1) to cut up and clear the fallen and felled Crack
Willow trees on the Seagull Lane patch near the tool
store,
(2) trim the hedge on
the west bank of the river near the sluice gate to
open up the view of the river.
Thanks to Vince and Kathy
(3) clear brambles and
other vegetation obscuring the view from the
observation fence in Palmer's Road Copse.
Thanks to Debi and Maurice.
These two jobs help to
open up the river possibly for Water Vole sightings -
but none was seen today despite a lot of searching.
Annual
cut news
As Martin Cull was not able to finish cutting the
prescribed areas of the meadow last Thursday, the
group has asked him to return for a second visit next
week. Date to be confirmed.
Today's
wildlife news
Today's work
trimming the willow fence and clearing the brambles in
front of the observation fence on the river bank has
certainly opened up the river, allowing more light and
improving one's view of the river. Hopefully, we might
get a Water Vole sighting or two if the results of the
recent survey are to be believed. However, I watched
the river for about 30 mins today without seeing
anything of interest except for a passing Moorhen.
However, I did spot a very nice male Banded
Demoiselle perched on the leaf of Branched
Bur-reed in the river. Banded Demoiselles are less
common on the meadow now than Beautiful Demoiselles.
During the cutting of
the willow fence by the sluice gate I spotted a good
growth of Remote Sedge nestling in the outflow
from the sluice. This is third place where this
interesting and attractive sedge has been recorded on
Brook Meadow - the others are on the riverside walk
through Palmer's Road Copse and on the river bank near
the north bridge. Here is Vince clearing it from a
tangle of grasses.
The count of Marsh
Woundwort flower spikes near the Weeping Willow is
now at an astonishing 256. This is the best year ever
for this attractive plant. They must be seen to be
believed!
Dan Mortimer told me
he had 6 Painted Ladies on the white flowered
Buddleja in his garden in Lumley Road this morning.
That could mean a mini invasion is in progress, though
we have yet to see one on the meadow.
However, there is a glorious cacophony of wild flowers
on the Lumley area, surely enough to tempt Painted
Lady butterflies from Dan's garden!? These include
Common Fleabane, Creeping Thistle, Hogweed, Wild
Angelica, Common Comfrey, Hoary Ragwort, Red Bartsia,
Common Knapweed, Hedge Bindweed, Perforate and
Squared-stalked St John's-wort, Great Willowherb,
Water Mint, Prickly Sow-thistle, Pepper-saxifrage.
Pam Phillips told me
she and some of her neighbours for some weeks had
heard screeching calls coming from the dense woodland
of Lumley copse opposite to the house called El
Rancho. Pam is fairly sure the calls are from a brood
of Sparrowhawk chicks, she has also heard them
in Nore Barn Woods and adults have been seen flying
around. This does not surprise me as I have seen a
couple of piles of feathers over the past couple of
months indicating a Sparrowhawk kill. You can actually
hear the calls of the chicks from across the meadow.
See the following link
to recordings of juvenile Sparrowhawks . . .
https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Accipiter-nisus
SATURDAY
AUGUST 3 - 2019
Joys
of Medmerry
Yesterday
evening Christopher Evans walked from the Easton Lane
car park to the Ham viewpoint and back on the RSPB
Reserve at Medmerry and had some good sightings of
Yellowhammer and Painted Ladies
Painted Lady showing
upper wings and under wings
THURSDAY
AUGUST 1 - 2019
Brook
Meadow - Annual cut
It was really
good to see Martin Cull back on the meadow to do the
annual cut of the grassland. Martin, and his father
Brian before him, has been doing this very important
management work ever since the group was formed in
Year 2000.
Colin Brotherston
welcomed Martin at the Lumley gate and outlined the
areas to be cut.
Colin took a photo of Martin and me beside his sturdy
tractor.
Martin discussing the
cutting plans with Maurice and Colin
Martin started work on
the north section of the north meadow
He used a area in the
far north west corner behind the brambles for the
disposal of the arisings.
Here is a short video
of Martin at work . . . . https://youtu.be/oBfSGsGOpE0
Other
observations
The strong winds have wrecked havoc with the Crack
Willows on the meadow with one large tree down by the
tool store and several others in a tottery state. The
trees are particularly vulnerable at this time of the
with their leaves making them heavy and liable to
crack. Andy Skeet has been in to cut down the large
one near the tool store leaving the branches, etc, for
the group to dispose of. I pointed out to Maurice
another Willow on the Seagull Lane patch that was
threatening to fall on one of the young Oaks which he
will deal with on the next work session.
Hoary Ragwort
flowers are now starting to open on the orchid area on
the north meadow - they are always one of the last
flowers to open. There is a good crop of black berries
on the Alder Buckthorns along the causeway.
For
earlier entries go to . . . July
17-31
