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.   



Hoverflies

More on Hoverflies from Beddington Farmlands recently here: HOVERFLIES

Post by Peter Alfrey.

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.

Fortune Hunters

In the July issue of Birdwatch.

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. 

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

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.



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

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.

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.

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