Monday 23 August 2010

19th August 2010

Booked Southern Thailand with Birdfinders in February next year - first time to Asia

Birdwatching Fair, Rutland (22nd August 2010)

Very muddy around the fair.

Said hello to Andy Foster from Serra dos Tucanos for a chat.

Met Vaughan Ashby from Birdfinders and introduced myself and asked about bird book for Thailand.

Bought some birdbooks and then looked at the Tree Sparrows (153) on the feeders and then after a couple of hours returned home.

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Woods Mill (16th August 20101)

















Photos: Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker, Brown Hairstreak


My first visit to this Sussex Wildlife Trust site and it looks like a good place for dragonflies/damselflies based on the species that we saw there.

We walked along the ditches and around the lake and saw the following species:

Southern Hawker
Common Darter
Common Blue Damselfly
2 (maybe 3) Migrant Hawkers
2 (maybe 3) Brown Hawkers
Emperor Dragonfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Small Red-eyed Damselfly
Ruddy Darter

In the main lake were loads of Carp and a few Roach - you could hear the Carp sucking the lily pads!

Mum spotted a hairstreak butterfly feeding on some flowers which turned out to be a Brown Hairstreak which is a new species for me.

Pagham Area (15/08/10)


First stop was Selsey Bill which didn't reveal much although the weather looked like it should.

Best birds were a Fulmar, an Eider (148) swimming offshore and a finally a Black Tern heading east.

Next, it was over to Sidlesham Ferry to meet up with the NE Hants RSPB Group. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the visitor centre. On the pool were 2 Ruff (149), a Little Ringed Plover and quite a few tool. In the distance, behind the pool were a Wheatear (150) and a couple of Buzzards. A Greenshank dropped in very briefly before flying off north.

Walking towards Church Norton we stopped to look over some setaside which contained lots of Greenfinches, a few Goldfinches and Linnets, as well as a Whitethroat, a juvenile Skylark and best of all a couple of Corn Buntings.

We then returned back to the visitor centre seeing a Common Sandpiper near to the sluice and a Wasp Spider in grass near the side of the road.

We then headed to Church Norton and walked around to the hide and back through the cemetery. We then had lunch and did some more birding over the harbour and then walked towards the Severals where I left the group and drove to Mum and Dad's.

The only other species of note in the harbour were a Knot, a Bar-tailed Godwit (151) and a Whimbrel (152).

Monday 2 August 2010

Cliffe Pools (01/08/10)



Migrant Hawker, Scarce Emerald Damselfly
It's a long time since I have been to this site - the last time was well before it became an RSPB reserve.

I wandered around looking in loads of ditches for the rare Emerald and Hawkers that had been seen, but with no luck.

I did, however, get a new species (Scarce Emerald Damselfly - they were quite common on the ditch edges where taller reeds grew) and five new bird year ticks:

Turtle Dove (143)
Greenshank (144)
Avocet (145)
Corn Bunting (146)
Spotted Redshank (147)

Other odonata:

Blue-tailed Damselfly
Ruddy Darter (loads)
Migrant Hawker
Emperor Dragonfly
Black-tailed Skimmer