A Mixture and Memories

The weather here for most of the past week has been dire! The days have been short, dark and miserable. Like much of the country we have had heavy, driving rain and very high winds. Because of this and because I still have a backlog of un-posted photographs this post will mainly feature more photos from the Summer and early Autumn. Incidentally, I have at last worked out how to resize photographs so that when they are clicked on they can be viewed in a more manageable way. Hopefully now I won't use up my quota in Picassa so quickly either!

There was an amusing incident in the garden, just a few days ago, when I went to top up the bird feeders ready for the following morning. It was early evening and getting dark and as I have a small mesh tray, tucked at shoulder height, deep within the woody stems of an old Clematis I took a torch to enable me to see inside the vegetation. As the beam shone on the little tray I saw a tiny mouse sat in it happily feeding on the remains of the seed I had put there the day before! It seemed completely oblivious to the torchlight and to me, it really was quite a magical moment and I would have loved to have got a photograph of it. When I first placed the tray there it was in the hope that Dunnocks and Wrens might find it but I had caught a brief glimpse of a mouse scurrying away from it earlier in the year. I knew the seed was still being eaten regularly but had not realised a little mouse had decided it was its dish! I think it was a Wood Mouse, hopefully I may get a photo eventually.

During a very brief break in the bad weather a few days ago we managed to check out our small local reservoir which is where I took the photograph (above) of Hawthorn berries. I was hoping some interesting birds might have been swept in with the storms, unfortunately there was nothing of particular note. This Magpie was perched on a post on the approach to the reservoir,

Magpie

there were the inevitable Black-headed Gulls

Black-headed Gull

and six Cormorants flying over were quite an impressive sight.

Cormorants

'Then, from the wood, across the silvery blue,
A dark bird flew,
Silent, with sable wings.
Close in his wake another came,
Fragments of midnight floating through
The sunset flame.'

(Henry Van Dyke)

Earlier in the Autumn we visited a small local lake. We go quite often as it is only about fifteen minutes away by car. The Mallard Duck in the series of photos below treated us to quite a prolonged and amusing preening display.

'Now ! You look like you need a preening lesson!'

'This is what you do!'

'I hope you're paying attention!'

'This feels good!'

'Don't miss the bits at the back!'

'It stretches the neck a bit!'

'Ooh lovely!'

'Nearly done!'

' I think I'll audition for the new ballet, Duck Lake!'

'Back to pristine loveliness!'

This Mute Swan was hoping we might have brought some bread but I'm afraid it was disappointed!

Mute Swan

'When goodly, like a ship in her full trim,
A swan, so white that you may unto him
Compare all whitenesse, but himselfe to none.'

(John Donne)

The following butterfly photos were taken in the Summer, the first two in the garden of a National Trust property which we were visiting, in fact the same place where I saw the Nuthatch which I showed on the previous post.

Meadow Brown Butterfly

Gatekeeper Butterfly

Speckled Wood Butterfly

The appearance of the Speckled Wood changes from north to south. Individuals in the north are dark brown with white spots and those in more southerly areas are dark brown with orange spots. This has resulted in a number of subspecies.

It is unique among British butterflies being able to overwinter in two stages, as both larva and pupa. It is also unusual because the adults feed on honeydew which is a sticky sugary substance secreted by aphids.

Also unlike other butterflies, it favours dappled shade and is often seen when the weather is overcast. The male will patrol its territory looking for females to mate with and seeing off other males.

Red Admiral Butterfly

My deep love of Nature was first instilled in me by my Mother who used to regularly take my brother and I on walks in the countryside where she would point out everything we passed, she knew the name of every wild flower and tree we saw, I just wish I had retained all of the knowledge she imparted! I was never a child who enjoyed playgrounds, funfairs, amusement parks etc. I was happiest in fields and country lanes just enjoying the splendour of Nature. I remember I used to set up a Nature table in the garden where I would display any precious finds from our walks. I would also try to draw them.

The first Violet of the year would give me a huge thrill as would finding Catkins and Pussy Willow and my favourite wild flower of all, the Primrose. Then there were Bluebells, Cowslips and of course all the lovely Summer flowers too. At the other end of the year of course there would be Acorns, Chestnuts, Beech Nuts and Conkers which I especially loved finding, not particularly to put on a string and play the childhood game with, (my brother enjoyed that) but just to collect and admire their glossy brown colour and their tactile nature. I still can't pass them on the ground without bringing one or two home!

Conker
(the fruit of the Horse Chestnut Tree)

Something else I always looked forward to seeing was the Spindleberry

Spindleberry
(Euonymus Europaeus)

'See the rosy-berried Spindle
All to sunset colours turning,
Till the thicket seems to kindle,
Just as though the trees were burning.
While my berries split and show
Orange-coloured seeds aglow.'

(Cicely Mary Barker)

and the

Snowberry
(Symphoricarpos albus)

Unlike the Spindleberry the Snowberry is not a native of this country but is a North American plant introduced here in 1817. It is an important Winter food source for Quail, Pheasant and Grouse and is also a food plant of the Death's Head Hawk Moth Caterpillar.

Another fond memory from my childhood was gathering Elderflowers and Elderberries for my grandmother's wine making exploits. Sometimes there would be a loud bang from her larder when 'something went wrong' and a bottle exploded! I never recall her or anyone else drinking it and indeed understood her to be teetotal so I'm not quite sure how that equated! I can't remember if she ever made Sloe Gin but it is supposed to be very good.

Sloes
(The fruit of the Blackthorn: Prunus spinosa)

'And now is Autumn here, and lo,
The Blackthorn bears the purple sloe!
But ah, how much
Too sharp these plums,
Until the touch
Of Winter comes!

(Cicely Mary Barker)'

Well, I will finish with two more photos of a Heron taken on one of our visits to Draycote Water.

Grey Heron

I do hope all my blogland friends in the UK are staying safe in the atrocious weather we are experiencing and my thoughts are particularly with the people of Cockermouth and elsewhere in Cumbria who are suffering so badly at the moment...

Mixing the Seasons

It has been very quiet in the garden lately and I haven't had to fill all of the seed feeders daily, as I usually do. I think the Sparrowhawk may be around but of course there is also an abundance of hedgerow fruit to keep the birds happy.

I took quite a lot of photographs in the Summer which I haven't posted yet so I hope to include some of them over the next few weeks. Among the butterfly photos I was pleasantly surprised to find a Small Copper which I don't think I have ever seen before and which I didn't realise I had even photographed!

Small Copper Butterfly

Comma Butterfly

This lovely butterfly (Polygonia c-album) was almost extinct in Britain 100 years ago. It is unclear why this was but there were only one or two sightings in the southern counties of England between 1830 and 1920. Thankfully their numbers started to increase again around 1930. It gets its name from the small white comma or 'c' mark on the underside of its wings.

In Winter it hibernates on the lower branches of trees and with its wings closed it is perfectly camouflaged as a dead leaf! When Hops were commonly grown in this country they were the host plant for the Comma caterpillar, hence its nickname hop-cat. Now there are far fewer Hops grown they make do with Stinging Nettles. The black and white caterpillars resemble bird droppings!

Peacock Butterfly

'Fair Child of Sun and Summer! we behold
With eager eyes thy wings bedropp'd with gold;
The purple spots that o'er thy mantle spread,
The sapphire's lively blue, the ruby's red,
Ten thousand various blended tints surprise,
Beyond the rainbow's hues or peacock's eyes.'

(Joseph Warton)

Common Blue Butterfly

The next two photos are pretty awful but are of a bird I have always longed to see. They were taken in August in a small wooded area in the grounds of a National Trust property we were visiting. I suddenly heard a slightly muffled tapping noise behind me and taken completely by surprise I hastily fired off some shots. These two were the 'best' of a bad lot and I have been sitting on them in the hope of seeing another and getting a much better photograph but so far to no avail. I know some people are lucky enough to have them visit their gardens but I have never seen one in mine. I assume the slight tapping I heard was its beak as it probed the bark of the tree for insects.

Nuthatch

'In summer showers a skreeking noise is heard
Deep in the woods of some uncommon bird
It makes a loud and long and loud continued noise
And often stops the speed of men and boys
They think somebody mocks and goes along
And never thinks the nuthatch makes the song'

(John Clare)

On one of our visits to Draycote Water I took this photo of a Lapwing and while it doesn't portray the bird itself very well I was pleased with the way the colours of the bird and its shadow are echoed in the ripples of the water.

Talking of unexpected effects the next photo almost looks like it is in black and white. It was taken in the daytime and I haven't done anything to it but I quite like its moody look!

On our last visit to Draycote I was thrilled to see another bird which I have never seen before (at least not knowingly) it really is a place rich in bird life. The Lesser Scaup is still there but has eluded me so far. Every time I hear of its current location, I find that by the time I get there it has been moved on to a different part of the water by the fishermen or boats and as it is about a five and a half mile walk all the way round it is not easy to locate one bird! There has also been a Black Redstart there recently but I have not been able to visit since it was spotted. It is more difficult now with the shorter days.

Anyway, back to my new bird, which I nearly missed as I was so busy scanning the water. I suddenly heard twittering sounds coming from the grassy bank, to the right of the path which runs alongside the water, and saw a flock of Meadow Pipits foraging amongst the grass, presumably for insects, and every time they were disturbed they would soar up en masse and land again a little further on.

Meadow Pipit

This lovely Robin posed beautifully for me near the feeders at Draycote on what had been quite a dull afternoon. I spotted it perched in a hedge with a sudden burst of late afternoon sun shining directly onto it.

Robin

'I wonder how a robin hears?
I never yet have seen his ears.
But I have seen him tip his head
And pull a worm right out of bed.'

(Anon)

This Black-headed Gull was showing off its acrobatic skills! Unfortunately the light wasn't good and the photos aren't very sharp.

I always find Pied Wagtails difficult to photograph probably because they are rarely still but this one posed long enough for me to get a half decent shot.

I think there is something delightful and rather elegant about the Great Crested Grebe although on land they are clumsy due to their feet being so far back on their bodies!

They get their name, of course, from the elaborate head feathers which appear during the breeding season. This lovely bird was almost extinct in the 1800s due to demand for the head feathers as decoration for hats! By 1860 there were less than 100 breeding pairs in the UK. Thankfully attention was drawn to their plight by conservationists and the Great Crested Grebe made a successful comeback.

They have a rather spectacular courtship display which involves beak to beak head shaking which enhances the appearance of their crest feathers and both sexes dive underwater to fill their beaks with pondweed. Then raising themselves out of the water they paddle rapidly breast to breast, heads swinging from side to side.

Young grebes are attractively zebra-striped and capable of swimming and diving almost as soon as they hatch. For the first 2 or 3 weeks of their lives they ride on their parents' backs but are soon discouraged and thrown off to fend for themselves!

While on one of our walks the Shield Bug in the following photo attached itself to the back of HLH's sweater!

Forest Bug (Pentatoma rufipes)

Finally two more photos from Draycote, the first is a Coot looking as comical as they usually do

and this one which shows that people go there for many diverse reasons, here is just one of them!

I hope he wasn't exceeding the speed limit!

The Rest of the Walk and Two New Birds!

This post continues our walk around Draycote Water with the addition of some photographs I took when we returned there on two more occasions since. It is a place I will return to again and again, it is within easy reach of us and I know there are often unusual and rare birds seen there.

There has been a flurry of excitement at Draycote lately due to sightings of a Lesser Scaup. We did go to see if we could find it ourselves but were unlucky, it had been seen in the morning on the day we went but I found out afterwards that it had been pushed around so much by the boats and fishermen that by afternoon,when we went, no one could find it! However I did see two other birds which were causing some interest and which I have never seen before, the first of which was was a Yellow Legged Gull. It used to be considered a type of Herring Gull and has only recently been recognised as a species in its own right. The Herring Gull does not have the yellow legs or red around the eye.

'Oh! the white sea-gull, the bold sea-gull,
He makes on the shore his nest.
And he tries what the inland fields may be;
But he loveth the sea the best!'

(Mary Howitt)

Yellow-legged Gull

The other bird of note which I had heard was there was the Rock Pipit and again I was lucky enough to see it but it was a fair way away so I had to crop the photos to the size of postage stamps! Also the focus is not too good although better than in the photos I took a few days before which were completely unusable!

Rock Pipit

Now! Back to our original walk and we saw lots of Black-headed Gulls.

The next photo is of an immature (first Winter) bird, note the more orange (rather than deep red) legs and the brown band on the wings.

We also saw Teal Ducks

Teal Duck (male)

'Hurrah for the laughing water,
The songs that the streamlets sing!
Whish! The teal duck's mate has sought her
With a stroke of his mottled wing!'

(William Henry Ogilvie)

Teal Duck (female)

The following photo of a female shows how very small the Teal is in comparison to the Mallard!

I assume that the ducks in the next photo are two of the many Mallard hybrids but if anyone knows different I would be glad to hear from you.

I think this is a Dunlin although to me it looks slightly different compared with the photo on my previous post and was seen in a different part of Draycote Water. I welcome any correction to my ID.

Dunlin

I couldn't resist another Heron photo, I am fascinated by their air of solitude, I feel a connection...

And long may'st thou the seasons brave,
Lone loiterer by the silent wave!
Long may thy stately, rugged form,
Impervious to the sun or storm,
Arrest the wandering pilgrim's eye,
And bid him ask the reason why.

(David Millar)

To the immediate right of the hide (from which we viewed the Heron) there are bird feeders. I was hoping to see Marsh or Willow Tits but it was not to be. However there were lots of Blue and Great Tits, Greenfinches and Chaffinches.

Chaffinch (male)

I am always amused when I see a Great Tit as, to me, they look like they are wearing either a bowler hat or a horse riding hat.

Great Tit

There was also someone else at the bird feeders!

It didn't take long to get to the peanuts!

Grey Squirrel

After enjoying the view from the hide we continued our walk and it wasn't long before we saw this Rabbit enjoying the glorious sunshine as much as we were

and so was this lovely butterfly

Painted Lady

and this pretty

Chaffinch (female)

If I asked you to guess what we saw next I wouldn't mind betting you couldn't! In a field we spotted these

Alpacas

These two looked as surprised to see us as we were to see them!

I have always mourned the passing of Summer but thanks to the enthusiasm I have found on so many of my blogland friends' sites I am learning to embrace every season and enjoy the delights which each new phase of the year brings...thank you to all of you.

'When autumn wind goes running
It does some magic things.
It gives the shadows dancing shoes,
It gives the bright leaves wings.'

(Anon)

Well I think I may have outstayed my welcome by now and you are probably sighing with relief to know we are at the end of our walk. I will leave you with a photograph which shows just how long we stayed at Draycote, this is what we saw as we left.

'Such a colour, such infinite light!
The heart of a fabulous gem,
Many-faceted, brilliant and rare.
Centre Stone of the earth's diadem!'

(Amy Lowell)

Have a lovely week and a wonderful Nature filled weekend.

Draycote Water

Last weekend we went to Draycote Water. We went there previously, about a month ago and unfortunately, on that occasion the weather was appalling, when we arrived at our destination the sky was grey and there was a depressing drizzle enveloping us. After a while the rain stopped but there was a very brisk wind blowing across the water and the sky remained a dreary grey throughout our visit. We tried to make the most of it and walked for nearly three hours before the heavens opened and we returned to the car drenched to the skin!

However, we knew this was a place worth returning to and this time we were much luckier, the weather was glorious. It was what I call a golden day, one of those days we only see as Summer loses her will to live and Autumn starts to tighten his grip. The sun shone and the colours of Nature were strong and vibrant. We were celebrating a special occasion and the weather was a perfect reproduction of that very special day which seems like yesterday but is rather more than that!


Draycote Water is a reservoir near the town of Rugby in Warwickshire and is owned and run by Severn Trent water who also manage an adjacent 20 acre country park. The reservoir was created in the 1960s and was opened in 1969 and is by far the largest expanse of water in Warwickshire. It covers more than 600 acres and holds up to 5,000 million gallons of water.

There is a visitor centre which incorporates a gift shop, cafe, ranger's office and fishery although the cafe has currently ceased to operate while they tender for a new catering supplier. There is, however, a mobile catering unit supplying hot food and drinks.

Draycote is renowned as a site for birdwatching and is particularly popular with boaters, windsurfers and fly fishers who fish for Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout from the banks or from boats and, as we saw them, up to their waists in the water itself!



Living where we do, which is about as far as one can be from the coast in this country, I was immediately struck by how, being at this place, felt like being at the seaside.



It is a five mile walk around the perimeter and took us nearly five hours but of course we walked slowly so as not to miss anything and stopped many, many times just to look and watch. There are frequently rare and unusual birds seen here and although I don't think we saw anything particularly unusual on this occasion, it was a thoroughly enjoyable walk. I am not very familiar with water/wading birds so welcome any corrections to my IDs. Most of the bird photos benefit from being clicked on I think.

Each time we went there was an abundance of Pied Wagtails.



This time we also saw these

Yellow Wagtail

Edit: Thanks very much to Warren for pointing out that the bird above is a juvenile Yellow and not a Grey Wagtail as I first thought.

I thought these Mallards looked very colourful.



and this Coot looked comical as Coots have a habit of doing!

'Busy, busy, busy!
Things to do, places to go'!

We saw Cormorants.

'The common cormorant or shag
Lays eggs inside a paper bag.
The reason you will see, no doubt:
It is to keep the lightning out.

But what these unobservant birds
Have never noticed is that herds
Of wandering bears may come with buns
And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.'

(Christopher Isherwood)

I thought this Great Crested Grebe looked very handsome.

Now, I have completely pickled my brain with these next birds! I have looked through all my books and google images but nothing looks quite right which could possibly be, I wonder, because they are juveniles. I have considered Dunlins, Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Curlew Sandpipers, Godwits and many others but I'm sure they will be easily identified by those more familiar with waders than I am.

Dunlin

Edit: Thanks very much to my very knowledgeable blogland bird friend Warren for also identifying these (at least they were first on my list of possibilities!).

I know these are

Tufted Ducks

I was very pleased to see this pretty

Little Ringed Plover

and these

Lapwing

'Pennons of the autumn wind, flying the same loose flag,
minions of the rush of air, companions of draggled cloud,
tattered, scattered pell mell, diving, with side-slip suddenly wailing
as they scale the uneasy sky flapping the lapwing fly.

See them fall wailing over high hill tops with hue and cry,
like uneasy ghosts slipping in the dishevelled air,
with ever so much of forlorn ocean and wastes of wind
in their elbowing of the air and in their lamentable call.'

(Rex Warner)

The rather turquoise hue to the water in some of the pictures is due to a particular algae which is affecting some parts of the water, we saw signs warning that contact with it could cause allergic reactions. The next photo particularly shows this colouration and one could be forgiven for thinking I have manipulated it in some way but it is just the result of the algae, I rather like the effect it gives to the photos!



It was interesting to watch (from a hide) this Heron enter the water, it glided stealthily through the water hardly causing a ripple.

'He walks the shallow with an antic grace.
The great feet break the ridges of the sand,
The long eye notes the minnow's hiding place.
His beak is quicker than a human hand'

(Theodore Roethke)

In my next post I will show some more photos from Draycote, until then have a wonderful weekend.

A Peek from My Perch and Beyond

The birds in the garden are as active as ever and eating me out of house and home. The Goldfinches visit the Sunflower seed feeders in large numbers throughout the day bringing their young with them.


I always think the juveniles look like they have forgotten to put their clothes on! They look so naked without the vivid plumage of their parents.

'The beauty of Nature the joys of the Spring
In that scrubby place where the Goldfinches sing
...
Their twittering low notes like fairy bells ring
The wonders of Nature a magical thing.'

(Francis Duggan)

Mum and dad forgot to tell this juvenile that they don't eat peanuts!

But of course these do

Blue Tit

Moving away from the garden, we had a walk around the local reservoir recently, I should mention that trying to get photographs of anything within its perimeter is quite frustrating as observers are unable to get within a decent distance of it. There is a steep, overgrown and impenetrable slope down to the very tall wire fence which surrounds the reservoir. Consequently the following photos are very heavily cropped.

There is often a lone Heron to be seen standing quietly watching and waiting on one of the buoys and on this occasion I was not disappointed. Of course, as is usually the case, it appeared on the opposite side of where we were walking so, wanting to get as near as possible, we hurried round to the other side as quickly as we could where I managed to get this photo.


Needless to say, although I was some distance away it was aware of me and soon decided to move further away to continue its solitary pursuit.

'The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing
Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them flowing
To and fro.'

(James Joyce)

As we walked on I spotted some small birds pecking at the water's edge. Being so far away I thought they were Pied Wagtails but on reviewing the photos later I was very pleased to find they were in fact

Grey Wagtail

It has been a long time since I saw a Grey Wagtail and I would love to have been able to get nearer to take better photos but they were still a very nice surprise.

'There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks.
Most of the time we are not patient enough, quiet enough,
to pay attention to the story'

(Linda Hogan)

Of course there are always plenty of gulls around.


It was a reasonably nice day and I was pleased to see other creatures enjoying the sunshine including this

Common Darter

and this lovely

Comma Butterfly

which was on the rather thorny hedgerow on the other side of the reservoir, beyond which is the river. In the trees on the same side I heard the familiar sound of the

Long-tailed Tit

They are such gregarious and energetic little birds and it was lovely to watch them flitting in and out of the branches, chattering to each other all the time.

'There are few birds so quick as we,
When searching for good fare:
We peck the crevice of a tree,
And dart at insects there.

Sometimes we hear them talk within
The hollow where we sit:
"Beware," they say, "draw in, draw in!
Outside there is a Tit." '

(Attributed to Thomas Hardy)

The plant in the photograph below was growing on the river bank.

Orange Balsam

As we walked alongside the canal which runs a short way beyond the other side of the reservoir


we found more of it.

It is a non-native plant which is thought to have been originally introduced into this country as an ornamental plant from North America. It is less aggressively invasive than the Himalayan Balsam.

The next two photos were taken on another walk a few weeks ago on a gloriously warm and sunny day, which, given the rapid onset of autumnal weather this last week, is already starting to feel like a lovely but sadly distant memory.

Willow Warbler

What a graceful and delicately coloured bird this is!

'I feel the grass beneath me swell,
I breathe the rapture of the air,
I hear the chimes of June that tell
Of birth and bridal everywhere.
And in their music floats along
The Willow Warbler's sunbeam song.'

(I. Henry Wallis)

Yes, the sky really was that blue! How I wish our Summers lasted longer or that at the very least they could be consistently good, not heat-waves or thunder storms and definitely not whole days of relentless rain but just pleasantly warm and sunny with some rain at night to keep our lovely countryside green and beautiful.

More from Watlington Hill

Following my last post which featured the magnificent Red Kites at the very beautiful location of Watlington Hill (which I have seen described as a 'dreamscape') I thought I would share with you what else I saw there. I realise now that one visit to this lovely place does not do it justice at all, at the very least I should have devoted one visit to the Red Kite and another separate visit to butterflies. In actual fact this is a place of such interest that many visits are necessary to see just some of what it has to offer. We will definitely go back there many times in the future as I feel I have hardly 'touched the surface'. I am not keen on motorway travel, even though I am not the driver but with a goal like Watlington Hill at the end it is well worth enduring the journey!

'And autumn tells of joys that fly;
And summer's charms in languor die:
If ye would have all hope would bring,
Take the first morn of early spring!
If ye would warm your life-blood chill,
Go course on Watlington's fair hill!'

(Mary Russell Mitford)

Watlington Hill is a magnificent area of chalk downland. It is a wildlife site of national importance and home to a large collection of wild flowers, butterflies, birds, mosses, lichens and fungi, many of them rare or scarce. The short chalk, grassland turf was originally created by sheep grazing but is now maintained by rabbits. Ant-hills, some of which are quite ancient, lend additional interest and areas of woodland and scrub complete the scene. The whole area is a protected 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' and owned by the National Trust. Incidentally, on one of our days out recently we decided to join the National Trust but were slightly concerned that we might not make enough visits to their properties over the next twelve months to justify the annual charge. Well, this place has no charge but we both said the pleasure we obtained from Watlington Hill more than justified our membership fee.


So, the other reason, apart from seeing the magnificent Red Kites, I wanted to visit this special place was to see the butterflies of which there are an abundance, indeed the National Trust's butterfly expert Matthew Oates has 'butterflied' at Watlington Hill almost every year since 1967 and spotted his first ever Silver-spotted Skippers there. As I mentioned before we really needed a separate visit just to see them. Butterflies commonly seen there include the Green Hairstreak, Brown Argus, Marbled White, Small Blue and Brimstones. There have also been sightings of the Chalkhill Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Grizzled Skipper and Dingy Skipper. There is also a large colony of the rare Silver-spotted Skipper. Also, Yellow Ants are a rare species to be found there. Due to the limited time we had to study the butterflies we only saw a few of what Watlington Hill has to offer. Given the amazing influx of the Painted Lady butterfly in the UK this year it was not surprising to see them there.



It has been heartening this year to see more of the Small Tortoiseshell which has been struggling to survive in recent years.



The next two are

Meadow Brown Butterfly

This is the lovely

Brimstone Butterfly

The next one is too, I did wonder if it was the Clouded Yellow at first but it is just the way the light is falling on a Brimstone, I do think it looks beautiful.



Now, the next ones I have a problem with. Where I live if I see a blue butterfly, which isn't very often, I can be pretty sure it is the Common Blue but in an area where other blues can be seen I find it very confusing to identify them. I am fairly sure all the following butterflies are, indeed, Common Blues, both male and female but if I am wrong I'm sure someone will be able to put me right.

EDIT: Thanks to the extremely knowledgeable Greenie I now know all the following butterflies are Common Blue other than where specified. Thank you very much for that Greenie and also for confirming the Meadow Browns and the second Brimstone.

Male (bottom) and female Common Blue

As you can see some are rather the worse for wear!

Brown Argus (female)

Brown Argus (female, top) Common Blue (bottom)


'I love not man the less,
but nature more.'

(Lord Byron)

(probably) Brown Argus

Common Blue (male)


'I love all beauteous things,
I seek and adore them.'

(Robert Bridges)

Common Blue (male)

Common Blue (female)

An interesting find of a different kind was this ancient sunken trackway which was recently restored by volunteers principally to relieve a path where the rare chalk-land grass habitat was being eroded. This restored trackway would once have been the main road!

'And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.'

(Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Apart from butterflies we saw this

Lesser? Treble-Bar Moth

and this

Marmalade Fly

Well, I still haven't shown you all we saw at Watlington Hill and I definitely haven't seen all there is to see at this beautiful place which is why I will be going back next year, there are rare flowers to see, Muntjac Deer and all sorts of other goodies but I will leave you with a butterfly which I was thrilled to see and which is very rare in the UK and restricted to chalk downland in southern England.

Silver-spotted Skipper

I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the delights of this beautiful place, it has been a pleasure to show them to you.

Flying Kites on Watlington Hill!

For me the highlight of the trips out we have enjoyed in the last few weeks has to be our visit to Watlington Hill, we picked the perfect day, sunny and warm and not too much wind. What an incredibly beautiful place it is! The views are stupendous and of course the kite flying mentioned in my post title was not the man made variety but the magnificent Red Kite.


I hope you will indulge me with this post as it will mainly be just about this fabulous bird. My next post will be about what else we saw on Watlington Hill but I was so enchanted by this wonderful creature that I feel it needs a post devoted almost entirely to it. As I sorted out my photos (of which I took very, very many!) I wondered over and over again how this incredible bird could have been brought almost to extinction in the UK which then led me to an immense feeling of sadness at the knowledge that we have also lost so many other beautiful wonders of Nature over the years due almost entirely to the ignorance and often cruelty of man.

As I mentioned I took a great many photographs of the Red Kite but I am not well practised in the art of photographing birds in flight, however all the photos here are my best efforts.

To start with I thought it would be appropriate to explain a little of the history of the Red Kite.


Due to persecution this beautiful and majestic bird was exterminated in England, Scotland and most of Wales by the end of the 19th century. In the 16th century a series of Vermin Acts decreed that 'vermin' should be killed throughout England and Wales, the Red Kite and other so called vermin were seen as a threat to expanding agriculture. This was a complete misconception as in fact Red Kites pose no threat to sheep farming or game rearing. This persecution continued during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Towards the end of the 18th century the situation was further exacerbated when increasing numbers of country estate owners employed gamekeepers and many, many more Red Kites were killed. By the late 18th century Red Kites had bred for the last time in England and in Scotland it was a similar situation. Only in mid-Wales did they survive but with their numbers down to just a few pairs. At this point a few local landowners had the foresight to set up an unofficial protection programme to try to safeguard this beautiful bird.


Over the next 100 years or so, committed generations of landowners, rural communities and various dedicated individuals and organisations made the effort to maintain a fragile breeding population. Thanks to their dedication and despite severe threats from egg collectors, poisoning and some modern farming practices, Red Kite numbers are now gradually increasing.

It is not completely clear just how close the Red Kite came to extinction but scientific research shows that in 1977 the entire population emanated from just one female bird!


In 1989, a project was launched to reintroduce the Red Kite back into England and Scotland. Over a period of five years, more than 90 birds were brought into the Chilterns and initially placed in wooden release pens on the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire border. After a period of several weeks, and successful health checks, the kites were then released into the wild.

The first successful breeding in the Chilterns took place in 1992. Since then numbers have steadily increased to approximately 400/500 breeding pairs and the kites are still monitored by experienced volunteers. Following the success of the initial Chilterns project further reintroductions have taken place in various other locations in England and Scotland.

The Red Kite is a gregarious bird, and can be seen in large groups. During winter months they also gather at roosts located in various places throughout the Chilterns. Sometimes over 100 can be seen in a favoured woodland roost. Spectacular aerial displays often take place at these sites.

I read that one has to be exceptionally unlucky to visit Watlington Hill and not see Red Kites and thankfully we were not disappointed, they seemed to be everywhere! As we walked and stood and sat and watched I really felt I had entered a magical kingdom, the sun shone and warmed our backs and everywhere I looked sheer beauty lay before me!

'The clouds are at play in the azure space,
And their shadows at play on the bright green vale,
And here they stretch to the frolic chase,
And there they roll on the easy gale.

There's a darkness of leaves in that aspen bower,
There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree,
There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,
And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.'

(William Cullen Bryant)

Red Kites are very distinctive with their forked tail and striking colours, predominantly chestnut with white patches under the wings and a whitish head.

Their wingspan of nearly two metres (about five and a half feet) and relatively small body weight of about one to two kilogrammes (two to three pounds) makes them incredibly agile allowing them to stay in the air for many hours with hardly a beat of their beautiful wings.

Despite being large birds Red Kites are not particularly strong or aggressive. Primarily scavengers and opportunists; they will take advantage of sheep carrion but are not capable of opening the carcasses themselves and must wait for more powerful birds such as Ravens or Buzzards to make the first inroads before they can feed. They are, however, predators and take a wide variety of live prey, ranging from earthworms and beetles to small mammals, amphibians and birds.


Red Kites usually breed for the first time at the age of two or three. They usually pair for life, although this is thought to be more because of a mutual attachment to the same nest sites and territory rather than because of any great love for each other and there have been a few recorded cases of 'divorce' where both members of the original pair were later found breeding with different partners.

As we walked we saw the occasional dog walker who was clearly local and I couldn't help feeling envious that this was 'their patch'. I wonder if they appreciate the immense beauty or is it so familiar that they forget to look and wonder at the splendour of this special place?

We found a bench opportunely placed on the side of the hill overlooking the small town of Watlington and sat for some time just watching the Red Kites soaring above and below us. It was impossible to see too much of these majestic creatures riding the thermals and dominating their surroundings.

'O bird, you fly in the sky of Infinity.
Tell me, is flying your only game?
Tell me, how do you fly in the infinite blue welkin?
My soulful eyes look at you with all admiration.
My heart pines to fly like you.
O bird, you fly in the sky of Infinity.'

(Sri Chinmoy)

'High from the earth I heard a bird;
He trod upon the trees
As he esteemed them trifles,
And then he spied a breeze,

And situated softly
Upon a pile of wind
Which in a perturbation
Nature had left behind.'

(Emily Dickinson)

It was wonderful too to see these lovely creatures not only in the air but also on the ground. Look at their impressive feathery 'trousers'!

'Even when a bird walks, one feels it has wings'

(Antoine-Marin Lemierre)

I realise some of these photos are less than sharp but I just had to try and convey to you something of the magic of these lovely birds and if I had hesitated too much I would have missed some of the opportunities to do so.

'No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings'

(William Blake)

I do hope I have managed to convey at least a little of the magical quality of this truly beautiful bird and that it will never again be brought to the brink of extinction. I hope also that you haven't been too bored by my concentrating on just one subject and that I have shown how very enchanted I was by the amazing Red Kite and by Watlington Hill itself.