Thursday, August 27, 2015

Brandon Marsh

Spent my usual Tuesday at Brandon Marsh with little in the way of migration. Only waders to be found were a single Ruff and two Green Sandpipers.

One of two Painted Ladies on the 'Tip' area at Brandon Marsh
Despite a chilly start the sun made a few appearances after lunch and a walk down to River Meadow and around the farm area produced several butterfly species. These included (7) Common Blue, (4) Small Copper and a couple of specimens of Painted Lady, one very worn and the other photographed above, very pristine! Worth a mention was a Cetti's Warbler calling from the West Marsh reedbed while I was chatting to the trust guys who were cutting the river meadow with the trusts new tractor! Significantly this is the first bird I've heard over the summer period, a species which flourished at Brandon but seems to have crashed over recent years.

Small Copper - This rather worn looking specimen was one of four during Tuesdays visit!
There were also several large Tit flocks to be found, always worth spending the time and effort to go through. In this case it was well worth it and in among the dozen or so Long-tailed Tits were: (2) Willow Tit, Garden Warbler, (3) Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, (3) Blackcap, Goldcrest and (2) juvenile Treecreepers.

Migrant Hawker in the hotspot at Horsetail Glade! 
Today was spent completing the annual strimming of the Islands and banks on East Marsh Pool. After work and a cuppa with the team the sun was shining so I took a stroll around Horsetail Glade on a Dragonfly quest, well in search of my 1st Migrant Hawker of the year! This was duly recorded near the bench area, an area I refer to as the hotspot, due to the lack of canopy producing a suntrap. Just a single Migrant Hawker, plus Southern Hawker and Common Darter. While I was here a Hobby flew south over the reserve!