Prior to heading back to Suffolk and work this week I needed to fit in an insect double bill before it was too late. During our recent damselfly collaboration Adam and I had agreed to go when convenient for Large Heath and White-faced Darter, he as driver and me as guide. These species would both be lifers for Adam and today was the day.

Having myself travelled to east Kent and back, Suffolk twice and the long way home from the Norfolk Broads in the past eight days, it was relaxing to be chauffeured on this occasion. And especially in a big Volvo 4×4, the “Gnome mobile” of Oxon legend. After arriving on site we walked out through a wooded area where there were good numbers of common butterflies: Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Speckled Wood. Then upon reaching the mosses proper we immediately began to see Large Heath, the first of very many.

Whixall Moss

Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses NNR is one of the largest lowland raised peat bogs in Britain. The acidic and waterlogged environment here allows a significant number of specialist bog plants and insects to thrive, including our day’s joint targets. Large Heath, of which there are several forms is most common in Scotland but also occurs in isolated colonies further south where suitable habitat exists. In my experience they are not easy to photograph, being skittish and unapproachable with unhelpful habits of sitting low down in long grass, flushing as the observer gets near then flying around tantalisingly without settling, before heading off into the middle distance. The shot I wanted was of a butterfly nectaring on Bell Heather, and this was duly gained. But they don’t usually do “clutter free “.

Large Heath

At the first bog pool we came across there were two White-faced Darter. It then took a little time to find the larger pool where I had experienced these attractive little dragonflies in 2014. There were partial board walks leading into that hot spot upon which the several WFD present were prone to settle, and we also located a mating pair. This species is also most common in the Scottish Highlands, while Whixall Moss is the closest location to Oxford where it occurs.

White-faced Darter

At both pools WFD were being harassed constantly by Four-spotted Chaser, the bovver boys of the dragonfly world. Adam wandered off and found teneral Black Darter nearby, that emerge at this time of year; but neither of us saw Common Hawker, another possibility at this site.

On the way home we dropped in to visit the male Melodious Warbler near Marsh Lane NR, Hampton-in-Arden, West Midlands. When we reached the recycling works where this bird (my second British sighting) has set up territory in recent weeks it was singing and showing well. So that was three out of three easy connects and a nice bonus to end a successful day.

Melodious Warbler

I am spending some time working in Suffolk at present, and so was within range of Britain’s largest butterfly that I had observed on just one previous occasion. Though widespread across mainland Europe Swallowtail has been found here only within the Norfolk Broads historically, though there has been some colonisation of Sussex since 2013 (see here). The resident Norfolk butterflies are actually a sub-species britannicus that is slightly smaller and has more extensive dark markings than the continental counterpart.

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Hickling Broad NNR (TG428221) comprises extensive areas of reed bed, pools and woodland adjacent to the largest area of open water in the Broads system. On arrival mid-morning I was directed by the visitor centre to a trail along which many tall thistles grow in the reed edge. Here I found several Swallowtail moving from plant to plant with their characteristic floppy flight. These certainly looked bolder and brighter than the continental form that I have experienced many times. They were a beautiful sight nectaring on swaying thistle heads and trying to keep their balance in a strong breeze. I could gladly have taken much more time photographing them but there was a lot of reserve to explore.

Swallowtail

Having achieved the day’s main objective I quickly became preoccupied with the reserve’s abundant dragonfly life. Amongst these I gained pictures of Black-tailed Skimmer for the first time this season (below). Around a large pond near the reserve’s western edge, Emperor were engaged lazily in territorial jousts with fading Four-spotted Chaser and I eventually located one Green-eyed (or Norfolk) Hawker. There are plenty of the last-named at this site had I cared to search the many reed bed channels for them, but I’d done the species recently in Kent.

Red-veined Darter

There were also some Darter species on the wing and amongst these was what I believe is my first British sighting of Red-veined Darter. This migrant is a frequent visitor to eastern and southern England and occasionally breeds. It took some time to secure a confirmation picture (above) after which I followed the “Bittern Trail” along the edge of Hickling Broad. From there cut paths led into the reed bed and I came across a cluster of Swallowtail again. These could have been the same butterflies I had photographed in the morning because when I got back to that first spot there were none to be seen.

It was now past 3pm and mindful of the 190 mile drive home, way beyond my usual range, I needed to leave. But hours could be spent productively at this fabulous site, getting better pictures of the Swallowtails, seeking out the Green-eyed Hawkers and more dragonflies; and there had been no time today to locate the reserve’s Common Cranes. Bittern? … Bearded Tit, Marsh Harrier … well we’ve got all those birds in Oxfordshire nowadays. I expect I’ll visit Hickling Broad again though sooner or later.

Lastly, here’s a shrewd little fellow should insect fatigue be setting in anywhere … no tame puns on this blog!

Over the weekend Oxfordshire’s newly revealed colony of Variable Damselfy has drawn the great and good of the local Odonata community to a nature reserve by the Thames in Abingdon. Yesterday Adam invited me to join him in locating 2015’s six-legged stars of our county “birding quiet season”. Since his preparation is always thorough I appreciated this would be a good opportunity to get to know that site, Barton Fields.

Today Adam had found out exactly where to look from our county odo recorder Steve Burch, and also Richard Lewington whose own interest shows the significance of this recent discovery by an Abingdon enthusiast. Armed with this information we found the insects straight away in an area of dense vegetation that was ankle deep in water. Compiling the last two Rn’S posts has brought home that I need to be much bolder in getting into odonata habitat, and today demonstrated that very well.

Variable Dameslfy

Diagnostic broken blue stripes on thorax and wine glass pattern near top of abdomen

“Are you looking at me?”

In total we saw 9 individuals which Adam assured me exceeds the previous day count for Oxon, though later in the day Wayne had more than 10. Good quantities of other blue damselflies were also present. It was noticeable how the dominant May species Azure Damselfy is suddenly dwarfed in numbers by Common Blue Damselfy that has a more vivid blue appearance in flight. There’s also been one record this year of White-legged Damselfy at Barton Fields, but despite searching we didn’t see any today.

Barton Fields

To me there is no such thing as a birding quiet season, just an insect high season. At present, weather allowing I am spoilt for choice of places to go and things to see. Watch this space!

June in Blighty! I woke early this morning to weather in Oxford that could only be described as dismal. My plan for the day had been to visit east Kent to observe the rare Heath Fritillary butterfly and more odonata at sites close to Canterbury. I stuck to that since the alternative appeared to be a day at home watching rain fall.

Overnight an excellent picture was posted on Oxon Dragonflies (see here) of a Variable Damselfly, after none other than Richard Lewington had defied the Oxon murk and drizzle to turn up several of that scarce species by the Thames in Abingdon. So recalling from a Kent blog that this potential lifer also occurs at my intended destination, I was prompted to read up on the diagnostics and fix them in my mind.

In a two-hour reconnoitre at Blean Woods, the nationally important Heath Fritillary sites, it was plain I was unlikely to see any of these butterflies in the overcast though dry conditions. So I relocated to Westbere Marshes (TR197610) where the site specialities include Norfolk Hawker and Scarce Chaser dragonflies. I had found and photographed both species here on my previous visit a year ago. Today I saw only a season’s first Black-tailed Skimmer in my first two hours on site. But when nothing else is flying damselflies are still active, and so I began to take an interest in those that congregated in more sheltered places.

Blue tailed Damselfy Rufescens form

They included various forms of Blue-tailed Damselfy and my first Common Blue Damselfy of the year, both male and female. Eventually one blue damsel exhibited the broken stripes (like exclamation marks) on the thorax and wine glass pattern near the top of the abdomen of my early morning researches. This was indeed my first ever Variable Damselfy, a generally darker looking insect than the similar Azure Damselfy, and self found sightings are always the best. No need to go after them in Abingdon now, though I still probably will.

Variable Damselfy

At 3:30pm blue sky at last began to approach from the south and east. Was there to be a business end to the day? After 50 more minutes searching a Green-eyed (or Norfolk) Hawker obliged with various poses (below). These are seriously beautiful dragons, the subtle brown tones of their bodies perfectly offsetting their languid pale green eyes. The species has in recent years established colonies here and at more nearby locations in Kent. Other dragonflies seen today were one each of Hairy and Brown Hawker, but not Scarce Chaser vermillion or otherwise in the areas where I looked. I suspect it is as yet early season at this site.

Green-eyed Hawker

On my arrival back in Oxfordshire the dark grey stuff was still hanging over the area west of the Chilterns escarpment. The wetness of the ground at home evidenced what my wildlife garden had gained but I had missed during this day out

Well, any American with Hudson in the name is OK by me and this was the second wader with that distinction to visit Blighty in 2015. Like the Avalon marshes Godwit I hadn’t heard of this Whimbrel either until it turned up in Sussex yesterday. A check of my north American field guide suggested it must be another recent species split of birds previously classified as races.

The hudsonicus Whimbrel has a darker rump and underwings than it’s European phaeopus counterpart, as the earliest pictures on RBA (see here) show; also a longer bill and more striking head pattern. Worth a look then! I had planned to check out some dragonfly sites around Bournemouth and Poole today, but start-of-day cloud and cold wind in Oxford suggested a plan B might be sensible. In the event it was sunny on my reaching the M3 at Winchester, but by then I wanted to see this bird and so I turned east on the M27 not west.

Pagham harbour

On approaching site just before 11am it became clear that a lot more people felt the same way. Vehicles occupied every available space along the lane to one of the Pagham Harbour LNR car parks, that itself was heaving. From there, Church Norton chapel it was just a short walk to where a good sized group (pictured above) was watching five Whimbrel, including the visitor out on the harbour’s low tide mud.

In my distant, digiscoped images (below) the Hudsonian is the sandy coloured bird on the right. The more I watched it the more distinctive it appeared, the duller belly, head pattern and bill length all being plain to see. At one point the bird even flapped its wings, revealing the darker undersides. But mindful of the need to get back to plan A, I didn’t wait to see if the five birds would take flight.

European and Hudsonian (right) Whimbrel

From those around me I learned that debate over separation of the two races is ongoing, one classification body having done so but not the other. Oh well, might as well tick it! And it was good to have fitted a birding twitch into all my current insect work. This was the ninth British record for Hudsonian Whimbrel and my third new Nearctic wader of the year after Greater Yellowlegs and the Hudsonian Godwit.

A few weeks after Pearl-bordered Fritillary begin flying in woodland glades they are joined on the wing by their Small Pearl-bordered cousins. Over much of its range the latter is found on rough grassland and scrubby moorland areas, but in southern England isolated colonies occur in forest clearings. Here SPBF favours sites with a warm, damp, sheltered, grassy sward and an abundance of the food plant, Violets. The eastern clearing at Bentley Wood SSSI, Hants (SU264293) is managed to provide such habitat.

Today Ewan and I enjoyed the rare treat of driving south from Oxford under overcast skies to find sunny conditions prevailing at our destination. On walking into the eastern clearing we soon began to see Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary but these flighty little things were not inclined to settle for long. There were probably as many Pearl-bordered Fritillary still present but all had become faded, making the two species easy to tell apart. SPBF also has a lighter, more gliding flight. This mating pair (below) that I found provided the morning’s only photo opportunity. We alerted three other observers, who attracted more people as they arrived and so it went on.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Information boards here tell how cutting small areas each year stops the clearing from becoming overgrown and creates a diverse structure of short and tall vegetation. This provides the right habitat for the requirements of each Fritillary species: PBF favouring warm, bracken-rich areas, while SPBF prefer damper, grassier patches. The latter’s decline in central and eastern England through the latter half of the 20th century is attributed to that period’s great reduction in coppicing.

Following a midday sandwich break we walked around again. The mating pair had by now drawn a group of photographers and the habitat around them was suffering as a result. It was noticeable that the SPBF appeared to be less active in the warmer early afternoon. But on our going into another area of the site two of these attractive little butterflies obliged by perching open-winged close by (below) and that was mission accomplished.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

We left site at just before 2pm and went home via Cotley Hill, Wilts so Ewan could see the Marsh Fritillaries there. Most of these were as faded as the Bentley Wood Pearl-bordered, but not all of them (below) and so we had totted up four different Fritillaries in a week.

A forecast weather front appeared to have stalled just to the west of here, and so we stayed in the sheltered area at the foot of the hill. Several Adonis Blue were active amongst plentiful Horseshoe Vetch, and as usual at this butterfly mecca there was a good variety of seasonal species: Dingy and Grizzled Skipper, Common and Small Blue, Brown Argus, Small White, Brimstone, Peacock and Red Admiral. Cotley Hill (ST917427) never disappoints.

Adonis Blue

But should anyone be getting tired of all these insects … Aaaww!