Butterfly 47 plus a Osprey from Shapwick

Date: 11/08/2016

Location: Fontmell Down + Shapwick Heath

Weather: Very Windy 15 mph at Fontmell cloudy then overcast Shapwick

Other Species: 
Fontmell  Butterflies: 
Small Blue,Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Chalkhill Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Silver Spotted Skipper, Small White.
Birds Fontmell :
Linnet, Yellowhammer, Kestrel, Redstart.
Bird Shapwick:
Osprey, Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Little Egret, Great White Egret.

Observation: 
Weather forecast looking good for Silver Spotted so headed down to Fontmell down, but as i drove down weather turned very windy with gusts to15 mph not good also cloudy !!! But made the effort and after 2 hours it paid off, just !

The Silver Spotted takes my yearly total to 47 Butterflies, need one more this year 
Clouded Yellow for 48.
Next year i'm 50 years young, so going for the 59 butterflies in the uk i hope !

Here a close up of the Dark Green Fritillary which kept flying past me until it landed in a very brief period of sunshine .

Only saw one of these, but Small heaths 3 or 4, 1 Small Blue a few Whites but Butterflies not really showing well on Fontmell today.

The ones that were showing well were covered in red parasitic mites. These parasites Trombidium breei feed on the blood of the Butterfly, seen them before on Chalkhills and Marbled Whites, apparently more common on the males.

Anyway after 2 hours up and down the hills time for a change but on way out the Linnet's were posing nicely in bushes so a few shots of these and decided to head to Shapwick in Somerset .

Went to Meare Heath hide first and saw some very distant Marsh Harriers in fact saw 2 plus a squabble between 2 Marsh Harriers and the reason i came the Osprey ! Nice to watch but distant.

The Osprey had just caught a fish from Meare Heath side as i arrived in Noahs hide.

While watching caught view of i think a Sandpiper in middle of lake ,distant but thought weird as no shallow water for it to feed ?

Any hoo but to the Osprey and light was terrible but target acquired !

After watching for some 20 minutes it decided to go catch another fish so took flight.

I also left after it disappeared but as i joined main track back to car Park spotted it flying to Meare Heath !

Still distant for my 400mm but better light and a cracking view as a Marsh Harrier decided to join it for a while then it disappeared over the back of Meare Heath, i Also left at this Point. 

A nice day was had and talked to some nice people : )

Thanks For Looking !

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Morning Minks + Evening Roost

Date: 02/01/2015 - 9.30am - 5PM

Location:  Shapwick Heath - Ham Wall - Somerset Levels

Observation:  We arrived down onto the Somerset Levels, for a full day on Shapwick + Ham Wall. Never gone as far as Canada Lake so decided to go for it this time. Parked at Ham Wall and had a quick check in the Meare Heath hide, nothing of note spotted, so swiftly moved on, about 20 paces past the bridge at Shapwick, seen a little brown mammal hopping along the path straight towards us, another birder was in front of us and he snapped away, a cute little Mink! He ran down the bank looking for food, and carried on straight towards us, ran back across the path about 10 foot in front of us and down into the reeds towards Noah's Lake, was a nice surprise to see this! Got to Canada Lake after not seeing alot, to get told we missed a Otter fishing and a Kingfisher by about 30 minutes! Always the way! Still happy with seeing the Mink, we wandered down and had a quick stop off in the van before heading onto Ham Wall. 

Alot of tame Robins about today! 

2 Reed Bunting feeding in front of Viewing Platforms, which stayed for a few people to get some shots.

2 Reed Bunting feeding in front of Viewing Platforms, which stayed for a few people to get some shots! Second platform, was active with some Lapwings flying back and forth. The reserve was filling up quick and the new car park full for the starlings must have been at least 200 people present, and the Starling didn't disappoint, estimated count was 800,000 total, although we didn't attempt to count them ! A very nice walk and day out on the Levels once again!

Starling Video Here: http://youtu.be/RHxVcJE9CY0

Weather:  Blue Sky, Little Cloud, Cold With Wind

Other Species: Buzzard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Reed Bunting, Song Thrush, Robin, Treecreeper, Starling, Grey Heron, Marsh Harrier,Redwing,Teal Of note

Mammals: Mink, Roe Deer

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A Few Murmurations @ Shapwick!

Date: 9th Nov - Early Evening

Location:  Shapwick Heath - Somerset Levels

Observation:  A late start to the day only meant one thing... Starlings! We had an hour before the starlings were due to start roosting, so popped to the hides at Shapwick (thinking the Starlings were roosting at Ham Wall). Meare Heath Scrape had a few Snipe, Great White Egret and Teal. 

We visited both Meare hide and Noah's Lake hide and stuck to our new 5 species ruling, where we need to see 5 species before moving on. Meare hide showed well for our count which included Teal, Gadwall, Cormorant and Grey Heron, we were amount to move on when a Grey Heron flew in from the left and landed on the island in front which then spooked a Great White Egret in the reeds, amongst all the movement in the reeds and low-flying Marsh Harrier came and had a look what was going on, flying straight towards us and over the hide...! Nice to see one close range for once, shame the light was fading so pictures not brilliant. 

 

On to Noah's Lake hide, there was alot of flyover gulls roosting with the first groups of Starlings gathering so we spotted our 5 species and mowed on. 20+ people were waiting at Meare Heath Scrape for the starlings, we carried on walking back to Ham Wall and spotted the RSPB guiding people to the best place, the night before starlings were 50/50 over both Ham Wall and Shapwick. We chose to watch from Ham Wall, but just before entering the reserve thousands of Starlings were flying towards us so changed our mind (again) and headed back to Shapwick. Although the Starlings didn't put on much of a display, was still nice to see them back and never gets boring to watching them roosting!! We will be back in a few weeks to watch them again I'm sure!

Weather:  Blue Sky, Rain Showers, Warm

Other Species: Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Great White Egret, Teal, Snipe, Starling, Goldcrest

Thanks For Looking!

A Day On The Somerset Levels !

Date: 2nd October - All Day

Location:  Ham Wall - Shapwick Heath

The Chase Is On!

 Fly Past Marsh Harrier!

Marsh Harrier VS Lapwing Video

Observation:  Started at Ham Wall for a change, a loud Cetti's Warbler started off the walk, with more walking towards the 1st platform. Pretty scarce at 1st platform and new Tor hide, with only 2 Buzzards, Gadwall to note. Thought we would see more so popped along to 2nd platform as not often walk down there, one little Wren popped across the path. 2 Great White Egrets, a few Grey Heron and Mute Swans were visible from platform. Then in the reeds at the back of scrape, a Lapwing flew up and started harassing a Marsh Harrier brave little thing! After the Harrier attempting to invade the Lapwing's patch for around 5 minutes he flew off empty handed and rested in a nearby tree before flying down towards Shapwick.

As nothing else of note was spotted, we moved onto Shapwick Heath, the scrape was full of waders must have been over 200 Black-Tailed Godwits, with a few Dunlin, Snipe and a Great White Egret at the front of the pool fishing. Meare Hide was like it always is to start with, apart from a fly-past Marsh Harrier and 6 Gadwall and 1 Shoveller which flew in when we got there. Noah's Lake is pretty much the same with a few Cormorants, Gull's, Gadwall and some very distant GWE of note. Walking back along the path, 6 Buzzard were circling above Meare Scrape and another Great White Egret had joined the back wall of the scrape. A nice walk and nice to see the GWE close by aswell! Still some Butterflies and Dragonflies aswell which is surprising!

Lift Off!

Close Call of the Great White Egret!

Weather:  Sunny, Some Cloud, Warm

Other Species: Buzzard, Great White Egret, Jay, Marsh Harrier, Gadwall, Cetti's Warbler, Kingfisher, Dunlin, Knot, Black-Tailed Godwit

Butterflies/Dragonflies:  Red Admiral, Small White, Speckled Wood, Common Darter

Common Darter Video

Thanks For Reading !