New Forest, 2023:- Pt.3 - 10th July

After my short previous blog post, I am following it up with another long one, which covers just one day of our family stay in the New Forest. If you missed the previous installments s of my account of our stay, you can find Part 1 here:-  https://peglerbirding.blogspot.com/2023/07/new-forest-2023-pt1-7th-8th-july.html, and Part 2 here:- https://peglerbirding.blogspot.com/2023/08/new-forest-2023-pt2-9th-july.html 

Monday, 10th July          Hatchet Moor : Crockford Stream : Normandy Lagoon : Japonica Cottage

The day started breezy, later turning windy, with sunny intervals throughout the day.

 

I had put out my portable moth trap on the Sunday night, so the first job of this day was to empty it. This proved to be hazardous, as it had  turned rather breezy and possibly 30% of the catch escaped before identification or were discarded as not being interesting enough to spend my time on as I had other things to do! The retained ones were potted for later photography prior to release.

After breakfast, I headed out to the small pond adjacent to Hatchet Moor car park.

The first thing I  spotted, moments after getting out of my, car was a Dark Green Fritillary. I didn't manage to identify it at the time but when I mentioned it to someone, he assured me that it would have been a Silver-washed Fritillary. I only managed to fire off two frames before it departed, but I can tell from those two shots that it was a Dark Green Fritillary. I don't know if this is unusual for the area, but I suspect not.

 

Dark Green Fritillary (Speyeria aglaja) (female) - Hatchet Moor

A wander round the pond, trying to keep out of the stiff breeze, produced a few dragonflies and butterflies, all hunkering down trying to keep out of the breeze.

 

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) - Hatchet Moor

This Gatekeeper was a male, as can be seen by the dark 'sex brand' on the forewings.

Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) (male) - Hatchet Moor

You may have noticed, in those last three images, the spikey leaves of what I believe was Gorse. Those spikes are quite sharp and I was wearing thin trousers ('pants' to those on the other side of the Atlantic). The moor round the south side of the pond was densely covered by these bushes, with narrow trails between them, and in many places it was not possible to pass without squeezing between bushes. This was rather uncomfortable!

 

In this next image, the front skipper is a female (no sex brand). I suspect the one behind is a male with amorous intentions.

Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) (female + male(?)) - Hatchet Moor

This male Black-tailed Skimmer was resting on the ground, but it didn't stop him from grabbing a passing female to mate with!

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) (male) - Hatchet Moor

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) (male+female in cop) - Hatchet Moor

In a more open area at the edge of the gorse, I found Silver-studded Blue. These were all extremely worn.

Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus) (female) - Hatchet Moor

Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus) (male) - Hatchet Moor

I am not sure of the sex of this skipper as I didn't see it with open wings. I am also a bit puzzled by the underside. I had noted it as a Large Skipper, but I would have expected bolder markings on the underside, as in the two shown earlier in this post. By the 'pointed' rear to the abdomen, I'm guessing it was a female.

Large Skipper? (Ochlodes sylvanus ?) (female ?) - Hatchet Moor

In a previous blog post, I have mentioned that the female Keeled Skimmer looks as if it has been made of the purest gold. I should have qualified this by saying that this is when they are relatively freshly emerged. They then get more and more like old gold as they mature. This one is still relatively fresh.

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) (female) - Hatchet Moor

As I headed back to our car, I stopped to photograph some Canada Geese with young.

 

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Hatchet Moor

After this, I drove a short way down the road to Crockford Clump, and walked over to Crockford Stream. Here I was re-acquainted with all the key five dragonfly and damselfly species from my Saturday visit. However, I did not manage photos of Small Red Damselfly, but I did have the added bonus of an Emperor.

 

Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) (male) - Crockford Stream

Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) (female) - Crockford Stream

The wing-flicking action by a male can be seen in this video clip, as can photo-bombing by a Small Red Damselfly!

Unfortunately, the 'Mercury' mark on the second abdomen segment of this Southern Damselfly does not show clearly, but that is what it is.

 

Southern Damselfly (Coenagrion mercuriale) (male) - Crockford Stream

Although my prime objective was dragons and damsels, I did find a couple of other items to photograph.

 

The Pellucid Hoverfly is one of the largest flies in Britain.

 

Pellucid Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens) (female) - Crockford Stream

Linnet (Linaria cannabina) (immature) - Crockford Stream

The expected Keeled Skimmers were seen.

 

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) (male) - Crockford Stream

An ovipositing Emperor appeared and I noted that this too had a blue abdomen - something that I commented on in my previous blog post.

 

Emperor (Anax imperator) (female, ovipositing) - Crockford Stream

A newly emerged Common Darter took me by surprised as I was not expecting to see this species here and, at first sight, took to be a female Keeled Skimmer. 

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (female) - Crockford Stream

The stars of the show were, of course, the fabulous Golden-ringed Dragonflies, of which there were at least two. In the first image below, the dragonfly seems to be dining on a wasp species.

 

Golden-ringed Dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltonii) (male) - Crockford Stream

Just after mid-day, I departed for Normandy, just south west of Lymington. Having found a place to park, I had my picnic lunch in the car before heading to have a look at Normandy Lagoon. This location had been recommended to me by someone I had chatted with at Keyhaven. My main target here was Little Tern. I spotted a very distant one as I arrived, and noted a number of other species of bird on an island that was rather beyond the distance that my lens could cope with.

 

I took a shot of an Avocet that was not too far away, and a Black-headed Gull that flew past.

 

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) - Normandy Lagoon

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Normandy Lagoon

My eyesight is not so good these days, but I spent some time chatting with a very knowledgable lady who was, very kindly, pointing out the Little Terns and warning of their approach so that I could attempt flight shots.  I spent ages trying, but these are small birds that fly quickly and I just could not find them in the viewfinder and get focus before they disappeared. I eventually gave up.

 

This lady also alerted me to a Little Tern youngster on the island which was being visited by both parents bringing in food for it on a quite frequent basis. I tried for some shots of this, and fared somewhat better, although a longer lens would have helped.

Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) (adult + young) - Normandy Lagoon

A Common  Tern, also with a youngster, was a little closer on the island before flying off.

 

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) (adult + young) - Normandy Lagoon

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - Normandy Lagoon

The helpful lady had departed and, after a while, I decided that I was not going to get any decent shots of Little Tern, so wandered off, heading westward along the sea wall, to see what else I  might find.

 

On the way to the sea wall, I photographed a couple of non-avian itms. One Hogweed plant held a number of Common Red Soldier Beetles, most of which were doing what this species is famous for.

 

Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva) (male+female in cop) - by Normandy Lagoon

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) (female) - near Normandy Lagoon

Arriving on top of the sea wall, I saw a Little Egret that was busy feeding. As it seemed oblivious to people on the sea wall path, I was able to get quite close. It was having some success, as can be seen in the next two shots.

 

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - near Normandy Lagoon

I tend to think of Egrets as being rather elegant birds, but that is not always the case!

 

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - near Normandy Lagoon

I continued along the sea wall for a little while, until I reached the yacht club's lagoon. The way forward seemed a little uninviting and, knowing that I had moths to deal with back at base, I started heading back to my car. 

 

I stopped to photograph some Canada Geese that were passing, mainly to get flight shot practice.

 

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - near Normandy Lagoon

Suddenly, just a few metres from where I was about to leave the sea wall, a Little Tern was in front of me fishing. I didn't manage any splash shots, but I did get some flight shots that aren't too bad. As Little Tern is classed as 'scarce or local', I don't get many opportunities to photograph them. At the risk of overloading you with this delightful little bird, here's some of what I managed.

Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) - Normandy Lagoon

For me, this was a fabulous end to my time out.

Back at base, I set up to photograph the 19 potted moths from the trap. I managed to lose 7 more of these before sorting their identity or photographing them. Of the twelve left, five were a new species for me. Here are four of the five.

Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) - from Japonica moth trap on 23-07-09

Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli) - from Japonica moth trap on 23-07-09

Brown-tail (Euproctis chrysorrhoea) (male)- from Japonica moth trap on 23-07-09

Slender Brindle (Apamea scolopacina) - from Japonica moth trap on 23-07-09

The Buff Ermine is a rather common, but attractive, moth. This one was somewhat darker and less spotted than usual.

Buff Ermine (Spilosoma lutea) (male) - from Japonica moth trap on 23-07-09

 

This brings me to the end of this post. I believe my next post, in about a week, will be Pt.4 of my account of this holiday and, although a little shorter than this one, cover the following two days. The final Pt.5 following at a later date.

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard