A visit to Goss Moor and Breney Common

With very few birds in Cornwall, a visit to the east of the county was in order to find some butterflies.  I was hoping to see two species in particular but sadly dipped.  The Grizzled Skipper at Goss Moor was not recorded last year and it seems the same for 2013.  Alas it is most likely now extinct from this site.  I searched for a couple hours until the motor bike scramblers arrived.  I did see eight Dingy Skipper and one Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.  Given that this was probably the hottest day this year (18.5 degs), I was surprised how few butterflies there were.

On to Breney Common where I was hoping to see Marsh Fritillary.  I met John Cook and he had seen two here today but I failed to find them.  But I did find another two Small Pearl-bordereds, one Small Copper, three Four-spotted Chaser and very good numbers of Large Red Damselfly.  Some images of the day are below - all taken with D3x and 105mm macro.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary at Goss Moor



Dingy Skipper at Goss Moor

Small Copper at Breney

Large Red Damselfly at Breney

Four-spotted Chaser at Breney Common

(I also heard one Garden Warbler singing at Goss Moor).

Skippers, Blues and Argus enjoy brief sunshine

Saturday and Sunday were the hottest days so far this year and the first broods of butterflies were making the most of the heat. A visit to Perranporth dunes proved worthwhile as I snatched a limited couple hours photography before the family barbeque took precedent. (Only married men will understand this).

The four Common Blue images above and below are different individuals - up to 20 were seen scattered about between 9.45am and 11.15am. If I had time, more would no doubt have appeared as the sun gathered heat.

All of the images were taken with my favourite lens set-up. Whilst the 300mm F/2.8 is not a true macro lens, its' close focus of 2 metres is good enough for some quite spectacular detail. I always use the tripod for ultimate stabilty to ensure best focus. That said, there is still about 50% critically out of focus when viewed later on the laptop.

I was pleased with this shot as the shadow of the antenna is mirrored on the stem. (Fluke of course).

The image above is a Dingy Skipper. About ten of these butterflies were very busy chasing each other. You have to be really quick to get into position with this species as they continually antagonise each other.

Dingy Skippers are locally common in Cornwall but not in West Penwith or The Lizard. They seem to prefer the dunes and woodland margins. Dingy Skipper has one unusual feature: when resting it resembles a small moth with wings outspread and curved back unlike any other British species.

Above: Brown Argus. The digital image EXIF detail is fairly constant with all the images above eg. most taken at F/9 or F/10 and exposure either 0.0 or -0.3EV. All images have a low ISO of 100, which effectively means that the picture can be cropped quite aggressively before any pixellating appears.

Farmland birding on the Lincolnshire fens

A weekend on the Lincolnshire fens produced some excellent birding, and some butterflies as well. Farmland birding is arguably a thing of the past in Cornwall though in Lincolnshire, the traditional species are apparently well represented. Grey Partridge, Lapwing, Curlew, Yellow Wagtail, Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow, Marsh Harrier were all present. Below are some of the highlights from the weekend.

Yellow Wagtails were calling from most oil-seed rape crops though this particularly bright male was delightful.

Common Whitethroats were calling and singing from hedgerows beside the crop fields, though this male decided to sing from the field. Although distant, the blurred background adds a bit of character to the image.

Tree Sparrows were common - this shot was taken a Scrub's Meadow where there is an eco-garden. Tree Sparrows were keen on the seed provided.

Male Marsh Harrier - up to eleven birds were seen near Lincoln.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of the weekend was this Lapwing's young being taken by a Crow. Two little youngsters were present in the morning, though not to be found in the evening. The two adult Lapwings were even sounding morbidly sad.

Dingy Skipper - one of two seen in the day at Scrub's Meadow reserve.

Male Orange Tip.

Male Orange Tip feeding on Lady's Smock (or Cuckoo Flower).

Small Copper.