New Forest 2021 Pt.1 - 9th to 13th July

In July, we had a family holiday week with Lindsay and I, plus our daughter (Melanie) and granddaughter (Georgie), staying in a beautiful thatched cottage (with tastefully modern extension) situated in Bank, near Lyndhurst, in the New Forest. The plan was that we'd spend some time with the four of us together if possible, but there'd also be times when the three girls did their thing while I went off to indulge my passion for wildlife photography. I say 'if possible' as it is always going to be difficult with our 15 year old granddaughter being primarily nocturnal, unable to mix with people (especially children of any age), and with many other issues including food, textures, noises, etc. In the event, the holiday turned out to be a little more limited than hoped for but, nonetheless, very enjoyable.

I'm going to try and keep my notes as brief as possible in this report and rely on the photos telling the story - but I'll probably fail!

Friday 9th July - Ashby de la Zouch to Bank

          sunny and warm for most of day

Lindsay and I set off from home at around 10h00, heading down the Fosse Way (ancient Roman road) and then departing from it near Swindon in order to call in at The White Hart Inn in Ashton Keynes for lunch, as it was a fine day and they have a garden that we could sit and eat in. We both had a ploughman's lunch and it was the most wonderful ploughman's that we had ever had.

Ashton Keynes is near the head of the River Thames which runs through the village. It is probably about 3 metres wide here and, at this time of year, maybe a foot (30cm) deep. After lunch we took a short stroll by the river. There were a few damselflies around, but I only photographed a male Banded Demoiselle that was on the far side of the river.

Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) (Male) - Ashton Keynes

Melanie and Georgie arrived at the cottage about an hour after us, and then Lindsay and Melanie went off to Asda in Totton to pick up a pre-ordered click-and-collect for the week's basic provisions. On their return, Lindsay and I then went off into Lyndhurst to get take-away fish and chips for us all.

Saturday, 10th July

          continual rain all day until late afternoon - relatively fine evening with sunshine

Little to report. However, in the evening, Melanie and I went for a very pleasant walk down the lanes from the cottage into an area I'd not been before - this was our third stay at this cottage. We had the pleasure of an encounter New Forest ponies and I took some shots, including this one of a foal.

New Forest pony (foal) - near Bank

That night I put out my portable moth trap (my 75th birthday present from Lindsay) at the far end of the garden. This was only its third outing, the first being a (successful) trial run in the garden at home and the second being a totally unsuccessful night on North Uist (too cold and windy) at the end of May.

As I returned from checking the trap in the evening, I took a phone shot of the cottage.

Japonica Cottage - Bank

Sunday, 11th July

          cool dull grey morning - rain in afternoon

I was not feeling too clever this day, with a bit of an upset stomach, so little was done, other than sorting out the moth trap.

The moth trap yielded just 17 moths of 12 species, but new for me were Herald (quite common) and Great Oak Beauty (not so common). Here is a selection from that night.

Herald (Scoliopteryx libatrix) - Bank

Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) - Bank

Great Oak Beauty (Hypomecis roboraria) - Bank

Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) - Bank

I didn't go out that day, and little photography took place, but I did record a Jay which visited the cottage garden.

Jay (Garrulus glandarius) - Bank

Monday, 12th July

          wet start to day, brightened a little around 10h00, bright mid-day, torrectial rain from 16h00

Georgie wanted to go crabbing at Muddiford, so the girls set off for there after the rain stopped. As the weather was still dull, I headed for Eyeworth Pond, which is known for its breeding Mandarin ducks. It is also known for its Red-eyed Damselflies, but the weather didn't seem right for them.

I arrived to find a female Mandarin sitting on a gate by the car park. A couple of cyclists were sitting on a nearby perch overlooking the lake and I went over for a chat. It turned out that they were regular visitors and they told me that they'd not seen a male Mandarin for a month or so. They did, however, draw my attention to a distant Kingfisher.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) (female) - Eyeworth Pond

They departed and then a Mandarin came into view. It didn't occur to me at the time that, rather than looking at a female Mandarin, I was seeing a male in eclipse plumage!

Mandarin (Aix galericulata) (male, eclipse) - Eyeworth Pond

With limited views from this point, I headed to the south end of the lake. To my surprise, I found a three rather distant Red-eyed Damselflies - a pair in tandem and a lone male. In the poor light and at this distance, I only managed record shots (these were taken with the lens at 500 mm and very heavily cropped).

Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas) (male + female) - Eyeworth Pond

Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas) (male) - Eyeworth Pond

Also to the south west of the lake I found a newly emerged female Common Blue Damselfly.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (teneral female) - Eyeworth Pond

On my way back to my start point I found this rather splendid hoverfly.

hoverfly (Volucella pellucens) (female) - Eyeworth Pond

Back at my start point, I stopped to watch the Mandarins. This is when I realised that I was seeing eclipse males as the one in the second image below came into view!

 

Mandarin (Aix galericulata) (male, eclipse) - Eyeworth Pond

An incoming message alerted me to the fact that when the girls got to Muddiford they found that there were many children already crabbing and Georgie was not able to get out of the car, so they were going to head for Bucklers Hard in order to try for a boat trip if I cared to join them. As I returned to my car, a (genuine!) female Mandarin was back on the gate. I'm sure that I have mentioned in the past that I'm always surprised at how narrow ducks heads can be when viewed head on - I offer these next two images as an example.

 

Mandarin (Aix galericulata) (female) - Eyeworth Pond

My route to Bucklers Hard took me past Hatchet Pond which is a favourite dragonfly pond. As there was some sun now shining through from time to time I decided to stop there for a short while as I was ahead of the girls.

 

My fifteen minutes here revealed a few damselflies, the first two of which were 'immatures' and had me puzzled for a while. I am now relatively certain that they were both female Small Red Damselflies. If you think differently, please tell me.

Small Red Damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) (immature female) - Hatchet Pond

Small Red Damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) (male) - Hatchet Pond

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) (male) - Hatchet Pond

I arrived at Bucklers Hard, where many of Nelson's wooden ships were built, shortly after the girls. While waiting for the boat I took a few shots of a nearby Black-headed Gull.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Bucklers Hard

We managed to get Georgie on the boat and she had a good time, in spite of (or maybe because of - it's always hard to tell!) the absolutely torrential downpour that started within five minutes of us setting off, and lasted until a few minutes before we arrived back at the quay again. The only shot I managed was of a distant Little Egret towards the end of our trip.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Bucklers Hard

Tuesday, 13th July

          cloudy with sunny periods, evening mainly sunny

I'd been getting frustrated at the lack of odonata opportunities, and made up my mind that, although the weather was not ideal, I should make the most of what weather I had this day, as the girls were going to have another attempt at Muddiford (they failed again).

My first port of call was Hatchet Pond once more. I arrived to find donkeys in the car park. I was immediately concerned by one donkey with a foal that was lying flat out and motionless, so went to investigate. I'm pleased to say that the foal was just tired and sleeping - I saw it later and it was very active!

Donkey and foal - Hatchet Pond

I set off for a wander round the pond and soon found a trio of cooperative Silver-studded Blue butterflies. This is a species that has lost much of its range and is rare outside southern England heathlands, with Dorset and the New Forest being its key stronghold.

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

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

The other butterfly that I photographed was a Small Heath - much more common and widespread!

 

Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) - Hatchet Pond

My main target here was the odonata. Although nothing outstanding was seen it was a pleasant warm-up to the main event.

 

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (immature male) - Hatchet Pond

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (immature male) - Hatchet Pond

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) (immature male) - Hatchet Pond

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

I do love the bright satin-gold colouration of the female Keeled Skimmer when seen in the right light.

 

It was now time to have my picnic lunch before setting off to Crockford Stream - a place that is legend with dragon hunters, and just down the road from Hatchet Pond.

 

The key species at Crockford Stream are Beautiful Demoiselle, Southern Damselfly, Small Red Damselfly, Golden-ringed Dragonfly, and Keeled Skimmer. It is said there is also a chance of Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, but I have never had the pleasure! In less than ideal conditions, I managed to find all five of the key species on this occasion, but only had fleeting distant sightings of Golden-ringed Dragonfly. Here are some of them:-

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

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

Small Red Damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) (male+female) - Crockford Stream

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

 

 

This brings me to the end of Pt.1 of my report on our New Forest visit. Pt.2 will, due to improved weather, feature better dragonfly coverage, and will also include more birds.

 

In the meantime, take good care of yourself and nature (we need each other!) and stay safe.

Thank you for your visit - - - Richard

Some Surprises, but not all good! - 19th April to 2nd May, 2021

My apologies for the quality of the header image that is present whilst this blog post is current. It is a screen grab from video taken by one of my garden trail cams and features an event that I'll speak of towards the end of this post

The fortnight that is featured in this blog post was one that found me somewhat busy with major chores around the house and garden and with getting sorted out with arrangements for future wildlife monitoring, club activities, and putting a talk together. I did, nevertheless, manage to take some photos, and even got out on a few occasions. There were also a few significant episodes during the two weeks. So here we go!

Monday, 19th April       Garden

After breakfast, which we always have in the conservatory, I noticed a lacewing on the outside of the conservatory window. I went for the camera and managed a shot of its underside from inside. The light was difficult on this tiny insect and the sun illuminated dust spots on the glass (only myself to blame as I'm responsible for all window cleaning!). I believe this to be Chrysoperia carnea.

Chrysoperia carnea - garden

Later that morning, when I went out to the garage, I noticed a tiny spider on the garage back door. This is one of the jumping spiders.

Salticus singulatus - garden

Common Dog-violet grows as a weed in our garden and, in the past, I have tried to keep it down. This year, however, I have left some small patches to get on with it, and we're finding them to be quite delightful.

Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana) - garden

The biggest garden surprise of the day, however, was our first Redpoll for the year. I was beginning to think that we'd missed out on a spring visit from this species. 

 

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) - garden

That night, the moth trap went out. The result was not so good, with just 11 moths of 4 species. However, I did get two firsts for the year with Early Thorn (1) and Brindled Beauty (3). The second image, below, was carefully placed on a leaf to give a more natural-looking background as friend David in Canada prefers it that way! I fully sympathise with this view, but transferring a moth from a trap onto a leaf and getting it to stay there is not often easy!

 

Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) - from garden moth trap

Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria) - from garden moth trap

Tuesday, 20th April       Garden

 

I was disappointed to go into the garden first thing in the morning and find a mass of feathers on the ground and a trail of feathers going out through the Hedgehog hole in the side gate. The feathers looked like Stock Dove and the trail said "cat". On examining the garden trail cams, I saw that I had, indeed, had the two Stock Doves that had been regular visitors for a year or so now, and the black cat that is a real menace in the garden had been around at the same time. I did not, however, get any footage of the attack.

Here is a video clip of the Stock Doves from that morning. I'm trying out presenting video in a different format in the hope of achieving better resolution. I hope that it does not cause too many problems with increased bandwidth - my apologies to Diane in advance if it doesn't work with your slow internet!

While having lunch, a moth bumped into the conservatory window and landed on the outside sill. I grabbed the camera and rushed outside and just managed a few shots before it flew. I had some difficulty identifying it, but @MothIDUK came to the rescue. It was Small Ranunculus, and a garden 'lifer'.

 

Small Ranunculus (Hecatera dysodea) - garden

Wednesday, 21st April       Garden

 

Nothing remarkable this day, but I did take a few shots of a Goldfinch outside my study window.

 

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - garden

Thursday, 22nd April       Garden

 

A sunny period brought out male and female Orange-tip butterflies. I got some shots of a female which, although it visited the Garlic Mustard in the garden, showed no signs of ovipositing.

 

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (female) - garden

Friday, 23rd April       Garden

 

I was busy in the garden for much of the day, but had my camera to hand. It kept the birds away, but I took some shots of insects. Please excuse me not having the time to research what species the bee might have been. To me, it looks a little like a Western Honey Bee, but it was behaving strangely, probing into the lower parts of the grass-like leaves of the 'fibre-optic plant' in our mini-pond.

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) (female) - garden

bee sp. - garden

Seven-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) (male+female in cop) - garden

Saturday, 24th April       Sence Valley Forest Park

 

Last year, I was invited by Forestry England to survey for odonata at some small ponds in an area recently added to an existing forest park. These ponds were behind a fence and not accessible to the public. I did this a few times last year but in a limited fashion due to the Covid situation and FE's own regulations on volunteer working during the pandemic. This year I have been given the go-ahead for full access. Although it was rather early in the season for any species that might be found in this sort of habitat, I though I should take a look-see at the current situation on site, and check that the key I had worked the locks to the gates. 

As I approached, the Blackthorn blossom alongside the perimeter fence was spectacular.

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) - Sence Valley FP

I was not wary enough as I approached the first pond as I was having to watch my foot-fall to avoid the newly planted trees in the area. This resulted in a Green Sandpiper seeing me before I saw it, and taking off, heading towards Kelham Bridge, before I could get a shot. The Mallards, however, that I spotted on a visit (outside the fence) a week or so earlier were still there.

 

I was disappointed at the state of the ponds, with very little water in the first pond where the sandpiper had been, the next pond being totally dry, the third pond was not in too bad a condition, but the fourth pond (by far the largest) was seriously covered in thick blanket weed. This was almost certainly caused by run-off from the surrounding land which, until a couple of years ago, had been intensively farmed and regularly spread with manure. This place was good for dragonflies last year, but I am not over-hopeful for success this year.

Having checked inside the fence I took a look at the scrapes between the fenced area and the River Sence. These too were well down on water compared to last year.

I then followed the Sence westward, and was heartened by the song of Skylarks way up in the sky above me.

Skylark (Alauda arvensis) - Sence Valley FP

They didn't even stop when a Sparrowhawk came drifting by at a great height - obviously not in hunting mode.

 

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) - from Sence Valley FP

Reaching the north west edge of the park I headed into the older area, taking shots of butterflies as I went along.

 

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (female) - Sence Valley FP

Peacock (Aglais io) - Sence Valley FP

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - Sence Valley FP

I then headed to Usbourne Pool at the far south west of the park and had a good look around, but saw no sign of any dragonflies or damselflies there.

 

Just before getting back to my car, I took a shot of a Long-tailed Tit near the path.

 

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - Sence Valley FP

Sunday, 25th April       Heather Lake : Saltersford Valley : Garden

 

I do not usually like to go out looking for wildlife at weekends, especially on Sundays when places can get over-busy. However, there are a few places nearby which are relatively quiet people-wise at weekends.  One of these places is Heather Lake, and on this day I went to check it out as I had not been there for a long while, and I wanted to see if there was any sign of dragonflies and damselflies emerging. 

My first impressions as I passed through the gate that lets onto the track to the lake were not encouraging. There were huge stacks of felled trees beside the track. However, this seemed to have been as a result of thinning out the woodland that had been very densely populated with trees.

 

On my way down the track I photographed one of the several Speckled Wood butterflies that were around the track.

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - near Heather Lake

There was another worrying sight when I reached the lake and that was that the water at the edge of the lake was choked with chopped up reeds floating on the surface. I'm somewhat mystified as to how this has happened as the vegetation on dry land at the edge of the lake was unharmed, but there were virtually no reeds left standing in the water. It was if they had been shredded by someone on the water. I am concerned that this might have ruined this place as an odonata hot-spot.

 

The usual suspects (Mute Swan, Coot, and Moorhen) were all present on the water, and I suspect someone has been feeding them, as a swan followed me round the lake and a Coot  swam towards me as I approached. The Moorhens, however, were far more wary!

Coot (Fulica atra) - Heather Lake

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) - Heather Lake

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Heather Lake

There was absolutely no sign of any odonata activity, so I departed to check out one of my other dragonfly locations - Saltersford Valley. No signs of any odonata activity here either, but the visit was not without interest.

 

I was pleased to see a very distant Jay.

 

Jay (Garrulus glandarius) - Saltersford Valley

At the lake which is furthest from the entrance, I noticed an interesting-looking midge-like creature on the surface of the water. The experts assure me that it is a non-biting midge of the Chironomini group, but there's not enogh detail there to take the ID further.

 

Chironominid - Saltersford Valley

A Great Crested Grebe was out on the water.

 

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)  - Saltersford Valley

Further round the loop I saw this insect which I took to be a type of wasp. I am now relatively certain, however, that it is a Flavous Nomad Bee.

 

Flavous Nomad Bee (Nomada flava) (female) - Saltersford Valley

Back at base, and doing a bit of gardening in the afternoon, I found this very small, but strikingly coloured, beetle in a dark corner - hence the poor photo!

 

Scarlet Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii) - garden

Tuesday, 27 April       Garden
 

Another unremarkable day in the garden. However, I did grab a shot of one of the Carrion Crows that occasionally visit the garden, but usually hide themselves behind branches. This one was on the back fence, and a bit more out in the open.

 

Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) - garden

I used to set the timers on the trail cams to switch on half an hour after sunset, and switch off half an hour before sunrise. More recently, as the nights get shorter, I have not re-adjusted the settings, so I am getting some daylight recordings. I found this next clip of Starlings having their bath before bedtime, in what we jokingly refer to as "the duckpond", to be amusing.

 Wednesday, 28th April       Garden

 

My latest spring record of Siskin in the garden had been 20th April (in 2016) so it was good to be able to record that this species was still with us at this late date.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (male) - garden

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (female) - garden

Not to be outdone, however, the male Bullfinch put in an appearance.

 

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - garden

Friday, 30th April       Moira Junction Nature Reserve

In discussion with the local Community Ranger of Leicestershire County Council's Country Parks Service about monitoring the dragonfly situation at Saltersford Valley CP, he told me of a local site that I was totally unaware of. This was Moira Junction - a relatively small site at a former railway junction, where the long disused Burton on Trent to Nuneaton line once joined the still used Burton to Leicester line. There used to be a railway yard here, serving the local coal industry. Now it is a nature reserve, with two small, but long, ponds, and it has dragonflies. I decided I should take a look.

I arrived to find that, over the winter, much thinning of the local woodland had taken place and the brush used to build barriers in an effort to stop dogs getting into the water. This seems to have worked well as I was delighted to see Moorhens with young chicks on the ponds.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Moira Junction NR

There was also an extremely attractive information board on site.

 

Information Board  - Moira Junction NR

I look forward to checking this place out when the dragonfly season gets underway - it seems to have stalled at the moment!

 

Saturday, 1st May       Garden

 

I was pleased to see that the remaining Stock Dove paid us a visit, but it was also a rather sad occasion as it didn't feed. I got the impression that it had just returned in the hope of finding its partner safe and well. 

Stock Dove (Columba oenas) - garden

I was, nevertheless, somewhat cheered by a pair of Bullfinch being more obliging than usual. The male had a bit of an arguement with a female Chaffinch!

 

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) + Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (female) - garden

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male)- garden

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (female)- garden

I still maintain that Bullfinch are the messiest eaters in the garden, as witnessed in the above image!

 

Sunday, 2nd May       Garden

This day brought the biggest surprise we'd had for a long while when I looked out of the bedroom window as I got out of bed and saw a pair of Mallards in the garden. These were a garden 'lifer', and although we have what we call "the duck pond" its surface area is about the size of a kitchen sink and is not as deep as one. At Lindsay's suggestion, I ran down stairs, stark naked, and grabbed the camera but, without risking exposing myself, I was not able to get a usable photo. However, fortunately, the trail cams captured the event.

This was not the only surprise, however. The trail cams also captured a visit by a Fox. Sadly, this vixen has a problem with her front right leg. It appears that she has lost her foot, or maybe more.

This brings me to the end of this blog post. I am hoping that we will soon get an improvement in the weather situation so that, now that the rules condone such travel, I will be able to get out and about more and bring a little more variety to what I present on my blog posts.

 

Thank you for your visit. I'm not sure when I'll be back but, in the meantime, take great care and stay safe.