It really is hard work birding in South Derbyshire. I take my hat off to the group of locals that do Willington day in & day out. Having said this, it wasn’t too bad this morning. We had a fly through Little Stint, the juvenile Spotted Redshank still present; 5 Greenshank; 3 Green […]
The prolonged drought has given rise to Incredibly low levels of water at Carsington Reservoir. The above photo should show the public sailing club with water up to the grass on the left handside!! Not much about bird wise, best bird of note was a drake Red-Crested Pochard. At Willington Gravel Pits, the
The traditional visit, to a superb Chalkland Hillside reserve, brings the butterfly year to a close. Aston Rowant is simply superb, despite the M40! We had good numbers of Silver-spotted Skipper, these little jewels were darting about everywhere even though the weather was not perfect. Also good numbers of Chalkhill Blue and surprise of the
I had one resident species of butterfly left to see in Britain – SWALLOWTAIL and Strumpshaw Fen, in Norfolk is probably the best place to see them. August is the flight period for the second brood and so I took a chance today in the hope of seeing one. The weather was not ideal
The best time for Lulworth Skipper is late July into August and one of the best places to see them is Durlston Country Park. This species is not easy to find as they live in small colonies scattered along the cliff tops of the Dorset coast. Even more difficult when the sun is not
Eleven species of wader were on view at the RSPB Reserve at Blacktoft Sands this morning, including the very rare Marsh Sandpiper. The bird had been present in the area for nearly three weeks and so it was about time we came to see it. Plenty of superb Black-tailed Godwit and 18 Spotted Redshank along
A morning watching one of my favourite raptors, Honey Buzzard. In perfect skies & weather, up to 4 birds were performing and gave some very nice scope views. Unfortunately a little too far for the camera. Year List moves on to 226 Later in the afternoon I went back to Foremark and
I only need to see two more species of regular breeding British Butterfly – Lulworth Skipper & Swallowtail. I also only need to photograph 7 species and now 6 having managed to get Essex Skipper this morning at Foremark Reservoir in Derbyshire, a few miles from my home. Essex Skipper is a very tricky
