August Review

29th August 2015, Wanstead Flats

A lunchtime sortie to the flats looking for Redstart and Spot Flycatchers. I had no luck there but managed a nice Tree Pipit and a distant pair of Whinchats. I was happy.




28th August 2015, Lee Valley Waterworks NR

Much indebted to Brenda for giving me the opportunity to follow her around as she conducted a reptile survey for the park. It’s not often I let the lady do all the lifting but Brenda knows how to lift a corrugated sheet you know! I was the lucky one who had the job of photographing what we found. God these snakes move fast for an animal with no legs. Anyway after a few missed opportunities I finally got to grips with 'just shoot as the lid comes off but sometimes you just don’t have time. Well, that’s my excuse.

Grass Snake

Grass Snake

Grass Snake

Devil’s Coach Horse

Common Darter

Common Blue


26th August 2015, North Norfolk

So a man gets a day at his leisure to bird in the hallowed corners of Norfolk and it decides to piss down. Undeterred though he (me) set forth to Cley-next-the-sea and was rewarded with some amazing views and birds, not least a Peregrine with a prey that I can only presume to be a Dunlin as there were so many of the darlings probing about on the reserve. After dodging another deluge by having a rather good lunch at the Red Lion in Stiffkey, I ended up at Titchwell where Little Stints were the order of the day although not for my stomach or indeed that of the Peregrine, thankfully.

Peregrine with Dunlin

Avocet

Dunlin

Greenshank

Common Swift

Wheatear

Snipe

Sandwich Tern

Grey Heron

Little Stint

Ruff


22nd August 2015, Lee Valley Park

A random walk around the park in particular direction although I do like to mix it up a bit. With the summer winding down, it can be a bit bereft of any good birds but the light was nice to me and the variety of creatures is plain to see.


Common Whitethroat

Grey Heron

Early morning along the farm trail

Fox

Speckled Bush Cricket

Terrapin


21st August 2015, Wanstead Flats

Quick trip to rain ham to try and improve my tally in the Bird race. Added Ruff  and Wheatear to the list. Whoopie-Do!

Great Black-backed Gull
Herring Gull 
Meadow Grasshopper
Ruff
Speckled Wood
Northern Wheatear


20th August 2015, Wanstead Flats

The good thing about working from home is that lunch hours can be two hours long and that means I can get to the migration hotspot of London to see the early arrival of such beauties as these Whinchats.

Whinchat
Whinchat
Common Kestrel
Whinchat
Whinchat



17th August 2015, Roding Valley NR

Good place this It‘s supposed to be the largest water meadow in Essex and there is field upon field of wild flower meadows as you wander though. On this trip I was lucky to find Latticed Heaths as the blades of the local council churned up the vista in front of me. I kept ahead of the monster machines as there are countless pockets of fields to find various butterfly and moth species but not for long!






16th August 2015, The Chilterns.

Highlight of the month. A trip to Aston Rowant in the Chilterns was a trip with good friend Brenda to see Red Kites and Chalkhill Blue butterflies. It would have been useful if we had had one leg shorter than the other as the Chalkhill Blues love the sunny slopes of the escarpment that rises up from the M40 motorway. We also saw Silver-spotted Skippers, Brown Argus, Brimstone and Common Blues.

The Red Kites were a bit thin on the ground and equally thin in the air. We saw a few but not many. Perhaps we need to come earlier in the year. They were always just too far away for a proper shot. Nice pub lunch was had though in amongst the bee-encrusted Lavender.


Brown Argus

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue


Chalkhill Blue

Common Blues

Juvenile Green Woodpecker

Red Kite

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper
Silver-spotted Skipper



11th August 2015, Rainham Marshes RSPB, Essex

A good couple of hours here if you like sandpipers. Green, Common and two Wood sandpipers were present, all of which I needed for my Rainham Birdrace list. Other than that, it was pretty quiet unless you count the cacophony of Marsh Frogs present all over the reserve.

Green Sandpiper

Marsh Frog

Sedge Warbler

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper


9th August 2015, Langdon Hills, Essex

I picked an area close to One Tree Hill for some butterfly photography. There are some good patches of wild flower meadow were Marbled White and Painted Lady can be found. This also proved good for Brown Argus, a butterfly I had only seen for the first time two days previous.


Brown Argus

Garekeeper

Marbled White

Painted Lady


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