Purple Emperor

I paid a visit to the Knepp estate today. I am not sure if I am a fan of the wilding project or not. To start with it is not really wild. It has more footpaths, tracks  and signposts than any area of countryside that I know and I cannot help feeling that it is a manufactured environment to attract wildlife. Still, that is not necessarily a bad thing and they do need to generate an income to support the project they are working on.


In the end I went because it is now the premier site in the country for Purple Emperors. Counts of 140+ and 130 + have been reported there over the past couple of weeks. I had tried a few of my traditional sites for the Emperors but my only sightings were high in the trees with nothing coming down to the ground, so I decided to give Knepp a go.


I didn't see 140 but my count did get into double figures, just, I saw ten. Most were in the tops of the trees with only one coming down and then only for a few seconds.

Purple Emperor

Perhaps more impressive were the numbers of Purple Hairstreaks. Record shots like the one below were easy to come by but what I really wanted was an open wing shot of a male Purple Hairstreak. It has been close to the top of my butterfly wish list for a long time. I didn't get one, despite hours of waiting for them to come down out of the trees, but my thanks to the guy that showed me his perfect picture. I really appreciated that. It even convinced me to waste another hour standing in the hot sun waiting for my chance to come along.

Plenty of other butterflies about particularly if you like Meadow Browns.

White Admiral

Large Skipper

Marbled White

Small Skipper

There were also a number of Silver-washed Fritillary about but they weren't stopping to have their pictures taken.


The free roaming animals often come as a surprise. This piglet following me down the path before disappearing into the undergrowth.

There were also some interesting Dragonflies. My first Southern Hawker of the year. I could have done with a cleaner background but still worth recording.

Southern Hawker

There were also White-legged Damselflies, again my first of the year. I was surprised to see them so far from a river where they are usually seen. However, checking it does appear that they move away from the rivers during the maturation period.

White-legged Damselfly - immature female lactea phase

White-legged Damselfly - male

another immature female

I did have one heart stopping moment. White Stork in the distance but then I realised there were a pair of them in a very well protected compound.

I couldn't find any reference to them on the web. I assume this is part of a re-introduction program but it would be nice to know if it is purely a Knepp initiative or is part of a national program.  If they breed there is a good chance that the chicks will return to nest in the same area once they mature. Look out for nesting platforms going up over the next few years.

Note July26th  -  Statement from the Knepp Estate on their part in a White Stork rewilding project,   (knepp.co.uk/white-storks). It is good to get an understanding of what is happening and an explanation for the White Stork Sightings around the area. Lets hope the project is a great success.

I should also apologise for straying off the public footpaths. My excuse - perhaps not quite enough of the signposting that I commented on above.

Little Bittern

I came away from Ham Wall with a list including Little Bittern, four Great White Egrets, Two Glossy Ibis, Green Sandpiper, Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker, Common Darter and Black-tailed Skimmer. Was I happy? No, not really, because the Collared Pratincole, that I had travelled all that way to see, had flown overnight.

The problem with wanting to see the rarer birds but also being twitch averse, is that sometimes you just get the timing wrong. This is the second time this year that I have left it too long and turned up the day after the bird has moved on.

Fortunately this time there was a back up target, that of getting a picture of a Little Bittern.

I had seen one earlier in the year but only for a few seconds. At the time I was sure that it was a Little Bittern but I didn't get a picture and after a few days the doubts start to creep in. Was the bill right? Did I see the white patches on its wings?  It was a life tick for me so I wanted to be sure. As such it had only been greyed in on my list and given a few more weeks, with the doubts continuing to grow, would probably have been removed. So I am trying to think positive and treat this as a life tick and now the journey seems a bit more worthwhile.

No problem with seeing the white patches on the wings this time.

They get some good birds at Ham Wall but it is not a great place for a bird photographer. You are just too far away for a decent shot. Below is one of a pair of Glossy Ibis but it is probably 300 metres away. It doesn't really compare with the one at Pett Level last December that was almost close enough to touch.

I spent most of the day standing around waiting for the Pratincole to put in an appearance so didn't really have time to photograph any other birds. However, there were a few Dragonflies that came within range.

Southern Hawker

Black-tailed Skimmer

Common Blue Damselfly

The most abundant Dragonfly was the Brown Hawker, which is always a difficult one to photograph. I tried a few in flight which all failed and I managed to spook the only one that I found settled.

It was a long way to go but it was worth it for the pictures of the Little Bittern.

Emperors and Hairstreaks

Well I don't have much for the blog. I have been out with Dave over the past couple of days. We have seen a lot but I haven't really got the quality of pictures that I would like to support our sightings. Monday was spent looking in various woods at the back of Southwater in an attempt to find a Purple Emperor butterfly. We found a couple of master trees and had a fleeting glimpse of what could have been a Purple Emperor at the top of one of those trees, but nothing more. I also managed to see more White Admirals in one day than I think I have seen in the whole of my life and I don't have a single good picture to show for it. The best of the record shots is shown below:-

White Admiral

Tuesday we spent sitting under the Preston Park Elm trees. We could see White-letter Hairstreaks high up in the tree when we arrived and as the morning wore on they gradually came lower. Then around eleven o'clock it all went quiet. I was lucky to be able to grab a couple of quick record shots of the butterflies up in the trees, as we saw nothing but a few distant flashes for the rest of the day. It was a nice relaxing day sitting in the sun but a bit disappointing having to come home without a decent picture.

White-letter Hairstreak - heavy crop to give me a record shot

The best of the rest were a shot of a Small Skipper

Small Skipper

A mating pair of Marbled Whites

Marbled Whites - bronze female and grey male

and a couple of Dragonfly shots.

The first a newly emerged immature. I am not entirely sure of its identity as the colours and markings are not fully developed but I think it is a Southern Hawker. I also took a picture of the exuvia it left lower down on the reed.

Immature Southern Hawker - I think

Unfortunately this dragonfly is not going far. Its right rear wing has failed to open and this will severely limit its flying ability.

Exuvia

The other Dragonfly was a male Emperor. This was spotted in the flower beds at Preston Park.

Male Emperor Dragonfly

So an interesting couple of days but we are going to have to put a lot more effort into the Purple Emperors and White-letter Hairstreaks if we are to get the pictures we are looking for.

Dragonflies and Damselflies part 2

Out looking for Turtle Doves again on Monday. Tried the Arlington Reservoir area again but no luck and not many birds of any sort. My plan B for the day, was a visit to the Park Corner Heath Butterfly Reserve, but that proved to be a bit of a disappointment as well with just a couple Meadow Browns seen.

I headed for home with only a couple of pictures of Demoiselles from Arlington. These are both females. The first is clearly a Beautiful Demoiselle showing the brown tint on the wings being enhanced by sunlight. The second could be a Banded as it appears to have narrower wings and is showing a slight green tint, but this probably comes from the foliage around it and there were no other Bandeds about.

Beautiful Demoiselle Female

Demoiselle Female -  Beautiful or Banded?

 

It looked like a bit of a wasted day, but fortunately I used the lanes at the back of the Downs to get home and ended up at Woods Mills. I knew the pond had been drained to clear out the fish but thought it would still be worth a look. Better luck this time as there were  Dragonflies in the remnants of the pond and Demoiselles in some of the drainage channels.

Azure Blue Damselfly

Downy Emerald

Large Red Damselfly

Tuesday morning and I was sitting at home having decided that I was not going out unless I could find some birds to photograph. Then Dave called to say he knew of a pond with Black-tailed Skimmers and Red-eyed Damselflies and did I fancy a look. How could I resist such an invitation?

The Skimmers proved hard to photograph. They stayed still long enough but they favoured the muddy banks so were hard to separate from their background. We tried  putting out some perches but the Skimmers ignored them. When I got home I found that they will only perch on low vegetation when the temperature gets above 26 degrees. Another good example of the benefits of doing the research before you go instead of when you get back.

I did get one on a low perch but still could not get the separation from the background.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Most shots were on the mud or low rocks.

Black-tailed Skimmer

The Red-eyed Damselflies were a bit easier to photograph but they were in a very small area of Lilly pads and did not move about much.

Red-eyed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly

We also had a look for Golden-ringed Dragonflies on one of the commons. We had possible sightings but nothing definite and no picture opportunities. There were also a couple of Emperors about but both were very mobile.

On the way home we called in at Stopham Bridge. There were lots of Banded Demoiselles there and a single Dragonfly that looked like a Southern Hawker but it did not come close enough for a photograph.

Banded Demoiselle

A great day out and I am learning a lot about Dragons and Damsels but I really need some birds to photograph.