Butterfly Days - Painted Lady 29 8 15
24th August.
Warm weather continued. Lots of butterflies about. Have never seen so many Walls and Peacocks flying. Ideal weather for haymaking which was progressing at a good pace.
Report from birder: David J. who reported having seen three Osprey on the scrape ( Saltmarsh Pool) - two sitting on tall poles and one fishing on the Solway.
Cut hayfield ready for spinning.
Spinning hay in meadow above the Discovery field.
Baling.
Loading bales for dispatch to Haweswater.
25th August.
Continuing warm with plenty of sunshine and a light SW breeze.
At 10 am there were about 300 Gulls, mostly Black-headed, and a small group of Oystercatchers way out on a sandbar on the Estuary. A Small Copper was seen on flowers in front of the Hamlet.
The Grey Squirrel visited the hamlet feeding station today and proceeded to devour bread put out for the birds.
Mid-afternoon an Osprey flew west along the Estuary and an early evening walk to the Saltmarsh Pool elicited a small collection of Lapwings and Teal with a pair of Pied Wagtails flitting about in the foreground.
Derrick W. reported having seen a Common Whitethroat near the Reserve feeders and Wall, Meadow Brown and Green-veined White Butterflies at North Plain too.
LOGBOOK SIGHTINGS
HKM. - Adult Pied Wagtail with two juveniles on dipping pond - a small Copper.
KB - Migrant Hawker on main track to the hide.
Visitor - Loads of Dragonflies and Damselflies. Lots of Swallows.
Lapwings on Saltmarsh Pool.
Grey Squirrel eating bread . . .
. . . sampling bird seed. . .
. . before heading back towards the Discovery Field.
Evening sunshine bursting through over Saltmarsh Pool.
26th August.
A cooler day, 15 degrees C due to the brisk SW wind. In the sunshine Painted Ladies, Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells, Green-veined Whites, Wall Browns were on the wing.
Painted Lady on buddleia on hamlet front.
27th August.
Had rained on and off over night and at 10.30am the strong SW wind raised white horses as the tide raced in. At 6.30 pm 35 Cormorants could be seen sitting out on a sandbar alongside a good collection of Black-headed Gulls.
LOGBOOK SIGHTINGS.
Mr & Mrs Horton - 300+ Oystercatchers, 3 young Sandwich Terns on the beach, 300+ Ringed Plover, Dunlin,Stint sp, Black-headed Gulls, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Green-veined White Butterfly, Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Swallow, Kestrel, Snipe, Reed Bunting, Wheatear, Blackbird, Tree Sparrow, Sparrow, Lapwing, 4 Heron.
28th August.
Rained overnight but cleared up as the tide went out. Some good sunshine thereafter with intermittent showers and a very strong southerly wind.
High tide at 11.42am (8.9m). Bar-tailed Godwits with Oystercatchers and Gulls followed the tide out onto the mudflats.
4-5pm - a walk along the Lonning produced Red Admiral and Green-veined White Butterflies, a female Emerald Damselfly, Common Darters and a couple of Southern Hawkers. There was a fluttering in the hedgerow as a few Reed Buntings emerged - possibly a family. On the way back a Stoat appeared, chasing something small across the track. It frantically crisscrossed the track several times before disappearing into the hedge with its prey. Then a flock of Starlings came powering across the meadows
RDC - 1 Wheatear - Rogersceugh Farm.
John Ireland - 1Whimbrel, 13 Grey Plover, 12 Golds, 17 Teal Offshore, 48 Lapwing, 28 Cormorants, 2 Coal Tits, 2 Pheasants, a few Swallows, 2 Pipit,1 Roe Deer in seed field.
Ebb Tide off West Common.
Bar-tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers and Gull on ebb tide.
Godwits bathing beyond Oystercatchers.
Male Common Darter on Lonning.
Female Emerald Damselfly - teneral.
Red Admiral.
Reed Bunting over hedge.
Swirling mass of Starlings.
A few dipping down over the meadows.
Swallows are still flying.
Stoat on track.
29th August.
Rained overnight but with the high tide at 12.32 pm, the sun came out. Although there was a brisk W wind all afternoon, lots of butterflies were flying including Painted Ladies - as were Common Darters.
At a high tide of 9.4m, good groups of Oystercatchers and Gulls were pushed well up the saltmarsh - with Bar-tailed Godwits and Cormorants still in evidence.
A Squirrel again put in an appearance on the hamlet bird feeding station. Its antics were fascinating.
Autumn fruits are now starting to show.
Oystercatchers and Mallards up on the saltmarsh.
High tide roosts looking east towards the viaduct.
Further roosts near Maryland Layby.
Cormorants on the marsh edge.
Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were in abundance along the hamlet.
Also Red Admirals.
Male Common Darter basking in the sun.
Autumn bounty of crab apples along the saltmarsh.
Rosehips ripening.
Parasol Mushroom developing.
Parasol Mushroom nearby.
Squirrel getting the lie of the land.
Stretching down to reach the peanuts.
Suspended from a branch to eat them.
Performing acrobatics to dismount.
30th August.
A glorious day with little wind.
High tide at 1.13pm brought a Tall Ship into the estuary closely directed up the channel by the coastguard.
Painted Lady, Peacock, Wall Brown, Small and Green-veined White, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral Butterflies flying - as well as Common Darters and a Southern Hawker. Goldfinch feeding on Niger seed.
B - Campfield Scrape: Little Egret, Heron, Teal, Mallard.
On feeders: Coal Tit, Great Tit, Tree Sparrows, Blackbird, Starling and Goldfinch.
On Estuary at high tide: Large roost of Oystercatchers (1000+) with small flock of Dunlin mixed in.
M & A Abbs - Migrant Hawker.
NYH - Painted Lady.
Wall Brown on the saltmarsh.
Tall Ship arriving in the estuary, under power, on the high tide with the Coastguard in attendance.
31st August.
See Blog "The spectacle of Campfield's high tides - 31st August and 1st September 2015."
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/campfieldmarsh/b/campfieldmarsh-blog/archive/2015/09/02/the-spectacle-of-campfield-39-s-high-tides-31st-august-and-1st-september-2015.aspx