22nd August

I didn't mean to leave it so long between posts but some how I've let things slip and it's nearly the end of August already. The floods are completely gone and the whole area is "greening up" nicely. So we're now down to scrabbling around for passing migrants in Burgess Field and waiting for the floods to return for the winter gulling. 

Talking of passage migrants Ian Elkin paid a visit to the Patch yesterday and managed to turn up some great birds. For starters he had 22 Lapwing and 7 YELLOW WAGTAIL on the Meadow itself and in Burgess Field he managed to turn up  a Garden Warbler, a Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Green Woodpecker, one SPOTTED FLYCATCHER and a 1st winter male REDSTART. The latter is in fact a year tick for the Meadow, a rather scarce commodity these days!

There is some exciting moth news for the Meadow. Whilst I've more or less given up trapping in my garden so poor have the results been, Nicola Devine had continued to scour the Trap Grounds diligently and has spotted a RED-TIPPED CLEARWING moth visiting the Wild Marjoram in the central clearing. I went along and managed to see one too. This is a rare enough moth to get the area recorder interested so well done to Nicola for spotting it. Apparently she also saw them there last year so they're clearly nicely established in the area.

Red-tipped Clearwing moth courtesy of Nicola Devine (c)

Not only has Nicola managed to find a rare moth at the Trap Grounds but she's also turned up a couple of locally rare butterflies in the form of not one but two SILVER-WASHED FRITILLARIES. These are a woodland species which can be found at Otmoor and also just over the county border at Bernwood Forest but I would have thought that somewhere like the Trap Grounds is too small for them. It would be great though if a colony were to be established.

Migrant Hawkers are out and about now. In fact I've managed to see Brown, Southern and Migrant in my garden this year which is not bad since it's a good five minutes walk to the nearest water. Down on the Castle Mill Stream yesterday I managed to spot a couple of Brown Hawkers, a mating pair of Migrant Hawkers, a male Ruddy Darter, a male Banded Demoiselle and the usual Damselflies.

Mating Migrant Hawkers