Saturday (31/08), me, Dave, Sam & Matt headed into Bucks & Oxfordshire for almost certainly the last bit of butterfly hunting for the year, with the main target being the stunning Adonis Blue.
So a short bomb down the M40 was Yoesden Bank near Stokenchurch (Bucks). This is a cracking looking bit of countryside and after a short walk we arrived the site. It took a while before Dave shouts up, having a stonking male Adonis Blue in front of him, higher up the bank. WOW, what a beautiful creature!
There were also lots of rather tatty Chalkhill Blues, Common Blues & possibly the find of the day in the form of a tiny, tiny Small Blue (see Dave's great photo below), my second butterfly lifer of the day, get in!! We also saw several more male Adonis, however failed to pick out a female.
When we got back to the car, we also had a tatty Holly Blue in a Ivy hedge, the fifth species of blue butterfly for the day!
We then went on to nearby Aston Rowant to get Matt Silver Spotted Skipper. There were great numbers still towards the top of the slope. Also great numbers of Brown Argus. We also enjoyed a handful of male Adonis Blues, including a ridiculously showy one landing on Sam's hand. We managed to pass it round. It ended up landing on our heads, hands & legs & was actually quite difficult to leave behind! Presumably it had a taste for our suncream!
We then finished the day at Otmoor looking for Brown Hairstreaks, however despite a dam good search, we managed to find nout.
Sunday (01/09) I drove us (Me, Dave, Matt & Sam) over to Norfolk where we would meet up with Jon & Kirsty and Kieran too. After a flipping early start, we began at Lynford Arboretum to attempt to find the young Two-Barred Crossbill which Dave & Matt saw earlier in the week. We spent a good couple of hours sifting through a fair number of Common Crossbills & Siskins but sadly no two-barred.
After picking up Kieran we went on to Beeston Bump Sheringham, meeting up with Jon & Kirsty. The reported Red Backed Shrike failed to show, however I did flush up the reported Wryneck up from one of the paths. It showed for me fairly well in the centre of a bush before flitting around & being very illusive. Also had a couple of useful ticks in the form of a few Gannet & Fulmar.
After a dead tasty pub lunch in Weybourne kindly bought by Jon & Kirsty, the last stop of the day was Titchwell. There were tonnes of waders on the freshmarsh with at least 20 juv Curlew Sandpipers, 2 juv Little Stint, a few Greenshank, Knot, both Godwits and tonnes of Ruff & Dunlin.
The last part of the day was spent on the beach seawatching & what an end to the weekend it was. It was a little slow going at times but sightings included 8 Great Skua (2 followed by a group of 6 all heading West), a dark phase Arctic Skua sat on the sea, 1-2 moulting Eider, Common Scoter (female close in & 5 distantly East), several Sandwich Terns, Fulmar & Gannets past, 2 Great Crested Grebe, singles of Grey & Golden Plover, a Wheatear on the ruined pillbox, a few Sanderling & Turnstone, as well as several other typical wader species.
By about half 6 all had gone quiet out to sea however the best was yet to come. I guy from behind shouted, 'Petrel, heading towards us!' I had a brief panic but soon picked it up fluttering West over the waves at mid range. It was a European Storm Petrel, with a squarish white rump & tail & no upper wing pattern, ruling out Leach's (however failed to make out the white under the wing).Wow! The guy who saw it first happened to know the warden at Holme and rang him to tell him it was on the way. It turns out to be a bit of a Norfolk mega with many resident birders having never seen one off Norfolk. So what a bloody treat & brilliant way to finish the day and weekend with a completely out of the blue lifer. Get in! We saw the guy again in the car park & they got it at Holme too!
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