Monday 30 June 2014

Birds!

 Adult Mediterranean Gull
 Little Egrets- two of three birds present
 Red Kite
 Black-tailed Godwit
 Shelducks- the young are flying now
Juvenile Peregrine- one of two today presumably the young from the Sutton pair
 
Birds on a summer birding blog! Whatever next?
We decided to declare today the first day of the autumn as there was certain visible migration. We had a Black-tailed Godwit on the Northern Lake, the first Common Sandpiper for the autumn, 2 LRP, 3 Little Egret dropped in, 1 Red Kite flew west, a Buzzard flew east, 2 juvenile Peregrines, 1 Hobby, 4 Kestrel,  a family party of 6 Swallow were circling and calling, 4 Sand Martins flew through and also an adult Med Gull.
The Shelduck chicks are flying around now and the first juvenile Black-headed Gulls are in, as are the first returning Common Gulls.   


Sunday 29 June 2014

Hoverflies


More on Hoverflies from Beddington Farmlands recently here: HOVERFLIES

Hackbridge Carnival Weekend

 Beddington Farmlands at the local carnival
 Hackbridge carnival in the church
 Hackbridge 'A Happy Place' lol (a mental place maybe?)
 Purple Hairstreak (above and below)

Small Fan foot (cheers Sean) 
Moth Mullein near the horse field - a bit of Surrey oddity (thanks Peter) 
Spent the weekend trying to recruit locals to the nature reserve support group and today had a look round the farmlands and then popped into Wilderness Island (for a botany survey with Derek's group).

Quite a few Whitethroat young around this morning, good numbers of butterflies, Shelducks still going strong, good numbers of Swifts in the evenings recently (400+), 1 Green Sandpiper, a few Black-headed Gulls in the week and 1-2 pairs of Sand Martins.

Thursday 26 June 2014

Fortune Hunters


In the July issue of Birdwatch.

Wednesday 25 June 2014

White-letter Hairstreak

 White-letter Hairstreak- one of two on Irrigation Bridge
 Marbled White
 Ringlet
 Large Skipper
 Essex Skipper
Elms on Irrigation Bridge
 
Went looking for White-letter Hairstreak on the elm bridge (Irrigation Bridge) behind my flat. I had seen one there several years ago and considering this is now the short flying season for the species I spent an hour there for lunch. Found two individuals so presumably there is a small colony on this bridge.
Plenty of other butterflies about including a Marbled White, had Painted Lady yesterday, plenty of Ringlets now, lots of Meadow Browns, Essex Skippers, Red Ads, good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone today, Large, Small and Green-veined White, Speckled Woods, Holly and Common Blue. Great time of year. 

Tuesday 24 June 2014

High Summer

 Common Whitethroat- 20-30 pairs on site
 Little Owl (in the park)
 Roesel's Bush-cricket
 Short-cloaked Moth
 Single-dotted Wave
 Evening Primrose in wildlife garden on Bedzed
Goats Rue and Mallow in meadow on southern mound
A few pics from last couple of days. It's been hectic on the moth front- micros driving me nuts! Spent yesterday at a One Planet Sutton meeting in the morning, looking at the botany and entomology on the Southern Mound in the afternoon, this morning on Mitcham Common looking for White-letter Hairstreak with Butterfly Conservation, afternoon doing wildlife gardening on Bedzed and the evening in Beddington Park with Nick- so been roaming acorss the whole of the heartland of the Regional Park to make the most of the good weather.  
Micros here: MICROS

Sunday 22 June 2014

Public Bird and Wildlife Walk


 The Shelduck family with all eleven young
Pyramidal Orchid
 
26 people joined the bird and wildlife walk this morning. We walked along the permitted footpath, alongside the Northern Lake, to the panoramic view point on the Southern Mound and then overlooked the Southern Lake before finishing by the hide.
Young waterbirds were evident including the eleven Shelduck, nine Lapwing were on the Southern Lake (indicating the beginning of the post breeding flock), Whitethroats were still singing and plenty of Swifts overhead. Plenty of insects in the fine conditions with Essex Skippers, Meadow Browns, good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell, Small and Large White, Speckled Wood, Common Blue and several Black-tailed Skimmers. Goat's Rue, Mustards, Melilot, Red and White Clover and Black Medick were flowering in profusion on the mound.
A Pyramidal Orchid appeared a couple of days in the meadow area that the group have been managing- one of the very few orchid records for the site.


Saturday 21 June 2014

Summer Heights High

 Today at Banstead Woods with half the people on my blog list!
 Dingers yesterday mothing in the kitchen
 At Andrews yesterday for dinner party and mothing
 Mullein on Mullein (White)
 Blackneck at Banstead Woods
 Wild Thyme
 Yellow Bird's-nest
Long-stalked Crane's-bill
 
Sunny weather over last couple of days. Spent yesterday evening at Andrews in Reigate for a meal and mothing and today at Banstead Woods with Peter Wakeham and a group of birders/naturalists on a botany trip. Great weekend so far. Got a public walk on the farmlands tomorrow so hoping the weather keeps up.
More about today from Steve Gale here : NORTH DOWNS AND BEYOND

Thursday 19 June 2014

Green Oak Tortrix- new for Beddington Farmlands

 Green Oak Totrix
Golden Bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle (cheers Frankie) 

Quite a few moths last nights despite the cool and rather breezy conditions. Heart and Darts, Setaceous Hebrew Characters, a couple of Bright-line Brown eyes, Brimstone, Riband Waves, a Beautiful Hook-tip, Buff Arches, a few  micros including Eudonia mercurella and new for the year were Gold Triangle, Heart and Club, Rustic, Diamond-backed Moth and a completely new one for the farmlands- a Green Oak Totrix.
Also had this longhorn Beetle a couple of days ago.
As usual for this time of year- a bit quiet on the bird front. Had the autumn's first Green Sandpiper on the weekend and plenty of young birds about.

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Beddington Park- Ferns and Botany

 Hart's Tongue (with Mind-your-own-business)
 Royal Fern
 Male Fern
 Polypody and Maidenhair Spleenwort
 Rustyback
 Great Burnet (rare)
 American Speedwell (rare)
 Greater Spearwort (actually in the farmlands by Carew Manor)
Water Forget-me-not
 
Met up with Gillian and Peter Wakeham with his botany group this morning to have a look at some of the special plants in Beddington Park- (Beddington Park is adjacent to the farmlands and will combine to form the regional park in the future).
As usual with Peter- an excellent outing (thanks again!), being shown things that I've walked past hundreds of times. The trees in Beddington Park are pretty spectacular and was shown a species I've missed before- a Cut-leaved Alder which was growing by the river near Carew Manor.

Tuesday 17 June 2014

PROTECT BEDDINGTON FARMLANDS/ STOP THE SOUTH LONDON INCINERATOR UPDATE

SENIOR JUDGE REFUTES SUTTON COUNCIL CLAIM THAT GROUNDS FOR REVIEW ARE ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT MERIT AND GRANTS PERMISSION FOR A FULL JUDICIAL REVIEW




More from local press and solicitors here: