Of Birds & Cake the Blog of Paul: Hurst Patch Dragons

Struggled to get up this morning, had to do a bit of shopping so decided on an afternoon stroll around the local Patch off the London Road, was mainly expecting insects to dominate proceedings,due to time of day and year!! Was hoping for some Purple Hairstreak butterflies. I was on my own, Margie said she fancied a lazy afternoon of Washing, Ironing and Hoovering! I sensed a smidgen of sarcasm in this reply,but luckily I am thick skinned and can brush such things off with ease!! 😀😀😀 To be fair she'd already.cut my hair and done a stint in the garden so fair play she was entitled to a rest!!!

Good news as well the Frog is still alive,Hurrah discovered when I was removing a bit of the Hornwort which has rather taken over the wildlife pond!!

So I arrived on patch about 1.30 pm, it was windier than expected ,but the glades were sheltered, they are very overgrown this year a combination of a lot of rain and fewer people using them, was passable in walking boots but I wouldn't do it in shorts! Unless you are the kind of person that likes to be whipped with nettles, in which case fill ya boots😅😅😲😲!

I had decided to concentrate on Butterflies and Dragonflies, absolutely loads of other insects, Hoverflies, Bees, wasps etc but life is too short!! However if you are into such things well worth a visit!!

First Butterfly was a Red Admiral on the path near the first field a good start to proceedings!

Red Admiral

The entrance to the Glades had a couple of large Dragons patrolling but couldn't get a pic as the bugger wouldn't settle a Chiffchaff was in the hedge but couldn't get a pic of that either, things picked up in the Glades with a lovely bright Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly which posed well! Also a Wall Butterfly, a Beautiful Demoiselle ( Several of these about, though nowhere near the numbers earlier in the year,colours seem much less bright as well) There were also some large Dragons that I'm not sure about, so I've numbered the pics in case anyone wants to have a go at ID'ing them in the Comments either below or in the medium from which you accessed!

Small Tortoiseshell

Beautiful Demoiselle

No 1

Wall Butterfly

Number 2

I then ran into a Tit flock, seemed quite large but in the thick undergrowth was impossible to tell exactly what was in it though seemed like several Nuthatches calling in it!! Couple of pics below to show how hard it was!!

Blue Tit

This was about the best view I had of a Long-tailed Tit despite them calling all around told you it was difficult!! 😁

Peacock Butterfly

I left the Glades and headed to the Oak Tree where the Purple Hairstreaks were last year, crossing the meadow I was alerted to an aerial duel by the loud calling of a couple of Buzzards, not sure if it was a Juvenile getting harassed by an Adult or a couple of Juveniles enjoying a bit of Rough-housing but was an enjoyable watch!!

Eyeing each other up!!

Let Battle commence!!

Not sure who won, but they drifted off together calling loudly!!

Also in the meadow was a nice Painted Lady butterfly and another Dragon for ID!!

Number 3

Painted Lady

The Oak was predictably Purple Hairstreak free, Though I did discover that my Fancy-dan trousers are neither nettle or thistle proof !!! Ouch 😂😂😂😲. I walked around by the church and scanned the large sheep field, no Wheatears or much else really, though a flock of Hirundines appeared and then disappeared as fast as they appeared,my attempts at pictures were predictably to bad to share and the large flock didn't even have the decency to have a Hobby chasing them!! A distant flock of Spiraling Corvids could have been interesting but careful long-distance scanning revealed them to be just a flock of spiraling Corvids with nothing else amongst them😏, however the next two vocal Corvids seen were escorting a Red Kite off the premises, I'd just finished with them, when there was a loud call from a nearby Oak and a Buzzard appeared and gave a close flypast!

Red Kite with Escorts

Distant Corvids unfortunately not mobbing a large Raptor 😢

Close Buzzard

So I followed Church Lane around and re-entered the Patch, the weather had got much windier now and insects were not hanging about, had a Great Spotted Woodpecker and some Goldfinch in a dead tree,but most other birds were either unseen calls or disappearing quickly into the bushes before pics could be obtained,nice to see a family of Common Whitethroats as well and a Jay eluded my efforts for a pic as did the Whitethroats!!