Thursley NNR: 30 April

Rachel and I spent the afternoon at Thursley Common. Spent half an hour watching the male Common Cuckoo that photographers are feeding with mealworms at the moment in Parish Field. The bird comes down to a few perches set up just a few metres from admiring birders and photographers. The views were ridiculous! I'm not sure how comfortable I am with a Cuckoo being fed, but then I'm not sure why I should be uncomfortable with it either? The bird seemed very comfortable being so close to people and even started calling from one of the perches at one point!

Other birds noted included 1m Common Redstart at Shrike Hill (and others heard), 3 Woodlark (inc. 2 in Parish Field), 1+ Eurasian Hobby, 2 (1m, 1f) Dartford Warbler, 7 (4m, 3f) Stonechat, 1H Eurasian Curlew, 1H Willow Warbler, 3 (2m, 1f) Tufted Duck (bog), 5 Canada Goose (bog) and 1 Mistle Thrush (Parish Field).

Also tried the Emperor Moth pheromone lure again at SU905418 and had 3-4 males come in after a few minutes, although none of them settled.

Found a pair of Dartford Warblers Sylvia undata nesting right beside the path and fluked this pic of the male as we walked past
(Dartford Warbler is a Schedule 1 species so we didn't linger)

Thursley NNR: 10 April

Spent a few hours at Thursley Common this afternoon to try out a recently purchased pheromone lure for Emperor Moths Saturnia pavonia. The lure worked incredibly well. I tried two areas at the north end of Thursley Common and at the first site 2 male Emperors showed up within seconds of opening the lure (in fact moths were flying around me before I had even got the lure out of my bag, seemingly attracted to the lure before I had opened it!). Unfortunately it was quite breezy and none of the moths would settle, so no photos today.

Times:
Site A: SU905418
Set up lure: 15:21
First arrival: 15:21 (15:26 confirmed)
Total: 2m

Site B: SU908419
Set up lure: 16:04
First arrival: 16:06
Total: 1m

Site A: SU905418
Set up lure: 16:36
First arrival: 16:44
Total: 1m

Birds noted include: 7+ Barn Swallow, 2-3 Dartford Warbler (including 1m singing), 5 (2m 3f) Common Stonechat, several Linnet, 1 prob Woodlark and 2 Greylag Geese.

Thursley Common NNR: 30 May

Met up with friends and fellow ecologists Jess Smith and Nick Archibald for a late afternoon wander around Thursley Common. A couple of hours walking around the boardwalk and Shrike Hill in heavily overcast and cool conditions produced 1 Eurasian Curlew in flight over the mire (plus others heard), a flock of 5 Woodlark (Shrike Hill), 1 Common Cuckoo, 1H Tree Pipit, 4 (2m, 2f) Common Stonechat, 1 Linnet, 1m Reed Bunting, and 3 (2m, 1f) Tufted Duck (mire).

Found some Round-leaved Sundew Drosera rotundifolia and lots of Bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata in flower at the mire, along with a superb fresh Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata. Jess had her trusty bat detector with her (Jess doesn't leave home without it nowadays!) and managed to find us 4-5 Soprano Pipistrelles Pipistrellus pygmaeus and a couple of Common Pipistrelles Pipistrellus pipistrellus around the Moat Pond and the west end of the boardwalk. A juvenile Common Starling seen by torch light roosting beside the boardwalk was also noted. A really pleasant few hours in great company.

Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata, Thursley Common NNR, 30 May 2016 (taken with Samsung Note 4, uncropped)

Round-leaved Sundew Drosera rotundifolia, mire, Thursley Common NNR, 30 May 2016 (taken with Samsung Note 4)

Weather: Heavily overcast (8 oktas), windy and cool.

Bat surveys and Surrey heath nature

Back at Acorn Ecology in Guildford this week and next on the second part of the work placement part of my Certificate in Ecological Consultancy course.

Had three bat dusk emergence surveys in a row since Tuesday. A hunting Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus gave great views during Tuesday's survey in Caterham, but Wednesday's survey near Jacobs Well was particularly good - a Brown-long-eared Bat Plecotus auritus hovering in half-light around the willow I was surveying was a nice bonus, but after the survey Jess, Nick and I spent a magical half hour watching 1-2 Daubenton's Bats Myotis daubentonii hunting just above the surface of the River Wey, with the Duet detector switched on the whole time so we could hear what was going on (and also recording them on the Anabat Express for sonogram analysis later) and were treated to a great view of a fly-by Barn Owl by torch light.

On the mornings of the 24th and 25th I visited Thursley Common NNR and Hankley Common to look for inverts and plants before work. Highlights were an emergence of Silver-studded Blues Plebejus argus - with a single male at Thursley Common NNR on 24th and shed-loads at Hankley yesterday - most were males but I did find a single female at Hankley. Silver-studded Blue is a heathland specialist - adults feed principally on heather Erica spp. and the main larval foodplant is Bell Heather Erica cinerea. They are a UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) priority species - they have a tiny distribution in Britain and are sedentary, rarely moving more than 20 metres in their life, and do not readily colonise new areas.

Other noteworthy inverts were a Silver Y Autographa gamma and lots of Red-banded Sand Wasps Ammophila sabulosa at Hankley Common on 25th. Found a nice colony of Oblong-leaved Sundew Drosera intermedia at Thursley on the 24th.

Best of the birds noted over the last few days were a Common Cuckoo was seen over the A3 in the centre of Guildford at 10:30 on 24th, 1m Stonechat at Thursley on 24th, and 2 Tree Pipit (singing and displaying), 2H Dartford Warbler, 1H Woodlark, 1H Skylark, 1m Stonechat and a family party of 1 ad and 4 juv Coal Tit at Hankley on 25th.

All photos in this post were taken with my Samsung Note 4 smartphone and have had minimal cropping, levels and sharpening applied. The quality and speed of the 16 MP rear camera on the Note 4 is, well, bonkers frankly!

Male Silver-studded Blue, Thursley Common NNR, 24 June 2015

Male Silver-studded Blue, Hankley Common, 25 June 2015 (taken with a Samsung Note 4)

Male Silver-studded Blue, Hankley Common, 25 June 2015 (taken with a Samsung Note 4)

Female Silver-studded Blue on Bell Heather Erica cinerea - the adult's main food plant, Hankley Common, 25 June 2015
(taken with Samsung Note 4)

Oblong-leaved Sundew Drosera intermedia, Thursley Common NNR, 24 June 2014 (taken with Samsung Note 4)

Moth dip at Thursley: 23 May

Made a late afternoon/early evening trip to Thursley Common to try and attract an Emperor Moth using pheromones (many thanks to Keith Kerr for the loan). No Emperor Moth (too cold maybe?) but some nice lowland heathland inverts, plants and birds.

Freshly emerged Four-spotted Chaser

Mangora acalypha - a small orb spider found locally on heaths mainly in south-east England

Pleurota bicostella - a common heathland specialist preferring damp areas. The larvae feed on heather. LOTS of these around today

Brassy Tortrix Eulia ministrana - prefers woodland but we found this one on the open heath

Plenty of Bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata flowering on the mire at the moment - an aquatic species of acid bogs, widespread but
scarce in south-east England now that many of the regions wetlands have been drained

Birds noted include 1m Dartford Warbler, 1 Woodlark, 2(1H) Tree Pipit, 3(1H) Common Cuckoo, 1m Stonechat, 1 Curlew, 2m Reed Bunting, 1 Skylark and 4 (2m, 2f) Tufted Duck. Also a few Common Lizard were seen on the boardwalks.

Thursley NNR: 22 April

A really pleasant day at Thursley Common in Surrey today (I couldn't face the prospect of seeing bugger all at the patch). My main aim was to look for reptiles and early dragonflies, but a cold fresh NE from mid-morning wind was far from ideal and I only managed one species of each - lots of Common Lizards Zootoca vivipara on the wooden boardwalks (both adults and young), and just a single female Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula.

Common Lizard Zootoca vivipara - the boardwalks at Thursley Common are a great place to see them

Common Lizard Zootoca vivipara - note how this one has flattened its body to maximise surface area facing the sun

Today's female Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula. The black legs help separate from Small Red Damselfly Ceriagrion
tenellum. Note the pterostigma is yellowish and not blackish - perhaps because newly emerged?

Some good birds seen today. Summer visitors noted were 2+ Hobby (hunting insects overhead), 2 Eurasian Curlew (presumably a pair on the peat bog), 1(H) Common Whitethroat (bog), 1m Common Redstart (singing around the Moat), 1 Tree Pipit (singing) and 1m Common Cuckoo. 5 Barn Swallow (mainly NW) constituted the only vis mig overhead.

Other species logged were 2 Woodlark (pair, with a male watched singing, in display flight and feeding on the fire breaks), 1m Yellowhammer (bog), 4(3m) Stonechat, Red Kite E, 2 Common Buzzard, several Linnet (a couple seen but mainly heard), 2 Tufted Duck (pair on the bog), 2+ Kestrel, 1(H) Dartford Warbler, 1(H) Siskin, Coal Tit (H), 2 Greylag Goose N, 1 Grey Heron (Moat) and a Canada/Barnacle Goose hybrid with a Canada Goose on the Moat pond.

Also, lots of Devil's Matchstick Cladonia floerkeana lichen growing on the sandy soil amongst the heather.

Devil's Matchstick Cladonia floerkeana

Great grey dusk

Spent a couple of hours at Thursley Common this afternoon. The Great Grey Shrike showed well near dusk in very gloomy conditions, but I managed a few record shots. Also 54 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing over, 2 Meadow Pipit and a redpoll species over SW were noted, but otherwise things were very quiet.

Great Grey Shrike

New year, same rubbish Surrey birding

With the weather forecast to be sunny and calm at last, Rachel and I decided on a walk around Thursley Common today instead of Staines Moor (a huge mistake). After being stuck indoors ill for the last 7 days I was really keen to get out birding, however, in typical piss poor Surrey birding fashion, Thursley produced basically f*** all, what we did see showed very poorly, and absolutely nothing was interested in posing for the camera. Our New Years Day tally ended on 1 Great Grey Shrike (seen very distantly for between 1-2 seconds before vanishing into thin air and not being seen again in a two hour search), 12 Stonechat, 2 Common Buzzard, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 7 Meadow Pipit, 2 Jay and Carrion Crow. Dartford Warbler and Siskin were both heard. If this wasn't exciting enough, the backdrop of hoards of dog walkers and screaming kids everywhere means that I am now totally enthused for another year birding in Surrey.