Right, so this isn't going to be wordy. In fact, this is going to be almost the complete opposite, and infact will just show a variety of my photos from the two month period in the middle of the year, covering Orchids, butterflies and the like. Enjoy...
Bee Orchids
Common Spotted Orchids in a true wildflower meadow (Not one of those sown ones!)
Marbled White
Painted Lady
Pyramidal Orchid
Small Coppers
Southern Marsh Orchid
So there you go, probably the least wordy post you will ever see from me!
With the grip of the summer doldrums in place, birding took a far more relaxing approach, and with that came a fair bit of local general wildlife watching, navigating across from our avian delights, to our inverts, and to our plantlife, and I rather enjoyed it.
Upton Warren I look as one of the most productive, and educational sites in Worcester, and what better to do during the quiet summer months than keep track of the breeding birds, and enthuse about them to locals and semi-interested day visitors!
The major news from this summer at Upton Warren has been the successful hatching, and subsequent raising of a massive 10 Shoveler chicks, the first time the species has bred at Upton Warren since 1947. A truly remarkable occurrence, and hopefully this years bumper success will promote breeding in future years.
It is still even possible to see these local superstars (which made local newspapers, radio shows and possibly even the local TV news) as I write this in the dying days of August. They may even stay around for the rest of the winter now?
As always, the first returning waders of the year are making an appearance, and Green Sandpipers were typically on time, with some spanking adults dropping in for extended stays on the flashes, often showing superbly from the hide. In the two 'J' months, I had a peak count of 10, but this increased further in August which will be covered in an upcoming post.
For the 3rd year running a ringed Common Sandpiper made an appearance for a few days, showing how site faithful some species can be, particularly waders!
And the first few Common Snipe started to appear in the channels adjacent to the hide at the flashes, typically showing well out in the open as migrant birds often do.
A juvenile Ringed Plover dropped into the flashes in front of me one evening, which proved incredibly productive!
It could often be see within the same scope view as a number of Little Ringed Plover, but sadly all of these were raised elsewhere, with all the earlier chicks having been predated.
Wader wise my personal counts peaked at, Avocets- 45, Little Ringed Plovers-8 and Common Sands- 5 and up to 21 Curlew. Oystercatcher raised 4 chicks and Lapwing were also present, but Lapwing being quite scarce and hard to come by, but occasional counts of up to 30 were seen as the autumn flock built up.
Gulls have been high on the agenda, and there has been an almost continual presence of Mediterranean Gulls throughout the summer as a few 1st summer birds have been loitering around with the Black-headed Gulls. The Little Gull remained for some time also, but had disappeared by mid July.
Towards the end of July, I was lucky enough to locate the first juvenile 'Med' Gull of the year in the flashes roost, on the same evening as the Ringed Plover. The roost also held 2 2nd summer Common Gulls that night, so I certainly was kept entertained.
Away from birds, it was a very poor year for Orchids around the site, with only 2/3 Bee Orchids flowering, and around 30c Common Spotted. Pyramidal was unfortunately not see this year, but it is quite normal for Orchids to flower in some years and not the next.
My undoubted butterfly highlight were 2 White-letter Hairstreaks that were present when I looked adjacent a small colony of them. A recent colonist to the reserve and a pleasure to see.
7/07/12
As per the last week, large numbers of Med Gulls still remained around Upton Warren for the week after, in gradually decreasing amounts.
Firstly, we dropped into the Moors, where birdwise it was rather quiet, however, the small 'colony' of Bee Orchids remained in their usual plase. Also, there was a single Phyramidial Orchid.
Then we moved to the flashes, where it really didnt take long to find 3 MEDITERRANEAN GULL'S. 2 adults were around the first flash. Perching on posts with the BHG's.
However, a 2nd summer was showing much closer to the hide, however, somehow, the inside of my scope had fogged up (inside the eyepiece) and all my images came out 'foggy'. I had no idea what caused it. It has never happened before, and the scope was perfectly fine at the moors before.
2nd summer Meds must be one of the best ages, with that primary pattern!
The adults, also, are pritty aswome looking gulls, one of the best in britain in fact (Persoanlly). Tjose bright white primary's really stand out amongst the BHG around it.
Unfortunatly, the birds spent an awful lot of time asleap, so trying to get awake photos of them was quite difficult. But even with its bill tucked away, they are still incredibly distinctive birds, The actually black hood which is more extensive than BHG, those 'clown' eyelids, bright red legs, and in this bird, that alternating black/white pattern.
As the 2nd summer was almost always asleap (it is a teenager after all!), i exited the hide, and wlaked back along the path, so i would be closer to the adult Meds.
One bird was particularly fond of a certain post, and spent much of the nigh perched on it, chasing and fighting any BHG that came anywhere near. Always the bully!
Moving back to the hide, the 2nd summer Med Gull had decided to wake up for a short period, so i took a video.
Eventually, all 3 of the birds left, presumably to feed on flooded fields with the BHG flocks, and we were left a long period of time of 'nothing doing' in the hide before the roost built up.
First in, was the 2nd adult bird, which was moulting its head feathers around the base of the bill. I picked the bird up on call as it flew in before circling low in front of the hide, before pitching down on one of the close islands, affording great views!
Sadly however, it did fly back to its original area of the 1st flash, and remained there the remainder of the night, constantly posing on one of the posts in the water.
It had a little preen.....
And a little lookout.....
Before adopting this posture when calling or displaying to another bird......
And then returning to its original 'chilled out' stance.
Next in was the 2nd summer, who again landed on the close island, affording great views.
To liven things up abit, the 4th bird to fly in was a new one, as this 1st summer bird pitched down infront of the hide, before being chased into the water by its older 2nd year rival.
A much more subtle plumage than the others, but still very distinctive, the bill is huge and thick (compared to BHG) and is much redder. In flight the bird is very obvious though, with that great med gull pattern.
Lastly, we were joined by a 5th Med Gull, also a 1st summer, however, this bird was obviously different! A very dark individual, with obvious dark mask and much less worn primarys/tertials.
With the light now gone, i tried a last few attempts to photograph the birds.
The 2nd summer was still showing closest to the hide, so i concentrated on that.
Med Gull is one of my favorite birds, so to see a nice number is a real treat!
(Sorry about the videos in this post, i tried the constant focus setting on my camera, and thats whats making that horrible 'buzzing' sound, i am no longer going to use this feature)
MB
