Monthly Archives: June 2022

Sun was out a few hours to spare after work, I thought about Bullcliffe for a hour or so hadn’t been for a while. I was shocked in the lack of butterfly action here Ringlets and Meadow Brown were in good numbers but very little else, took me a while to find a couple of Small Skipper and a very tatty Painted Lady. I also eventually found a couple of Narrow bordered Five Spotted Burnet Moths after nearly giving up

Out onto the moors around Langsett tonight looking for Nightjar, come 9pm and a couple of male birds started ‘churring’ was long after that we managed to get good flight views of 2 male birds and a female bird for the evening. Over birds seen on the evening were Stonechat, Woodcock and Long eared Owl, birds heard were Red Grouse, Tawny Owl

An after work visit to Old Moor mainly and hopefully to see Broad Bodied Chaser, nice warm day and the news that the Dragonflies were flying well today on arrival, I had my fingers crossed.

News of Red-eyed Damselfly on the large pond had me heading over there first and was easy to pick up on one of the nearest lily pads, also getting some decent images, also on this pond were Azure Damselfly, Four Spotted Chaser and Emperor Dragonfly.

Around on the other ponds were more Four Spotted Chasers, along with a few Azure and Common Blue Damselfly, also nice to see a Brimstone and a Common Blue Butterflies, alas not the hoped for Broad Bodied Chaser this visit

Since the weather forecast was for a nice day, I decided on a visit down to Potteric Carr for some Dragonfly action, I was getting very little out at the ponds, so I headed south after work.

I arrived about 12 noon and entered the reserve and walked down the mother drain road, finding a few Common Blue Damselfly on my journey around to the loversall bank ponds. I was also finding a few Large Red Damselfly as well and quite a lot of Azure Damselfly. There was very little around the ponds and no Chasers especially, then I remembered the new ponds closer to the visitor centre, I hadn’t been to Potteric for a few years.

It was at these ponds that I found lots of Four Spotted Chasers, a few Emperor Dragonflies with one egg laying female, but none of my favourite Broad Bodied Chasers. I flushed up a Painted Lady Butterfly then I noticed a different Dragonfly on the path, turned out to be a female Black tailed Skimmer, a nice ending to a few hours at Potteric Carr.

A few bird highlights whilst I was there were Little Egret, Common Tern, Grey Heron, Garden Warbler, one I didn’t see was a Purple Heron, which was reported as a one day, however the bird was seen again the day after.

However why I had come over to Potteric Carr was mainly to see the breeding Black-winged Stilts, the news when I saw hadn’t been broken. As of 27th June the whole family seems to be doing well, with 4 chicks, the first breeding of these birds in Yorkshire. Video can be seen by pressing THIS

Bird List : Blackbird, Blackcap, Black headed Gull, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Tern, Coot, Gadwall, Gret Heron, Lapwing, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Robin, Shoveler, Woodpigeon

Butterfly List : large White, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood

Dragonfly List : Black tailed Skimmer, Blue tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor, Four Spotted Chaser, Large Red Damselfly

A place I hadn’t been to for a large number of years, we were on holiday in the area so I decided on spending a few hours here. It was a warm day but despite this I didn’t come across any Butterfly species on my visit today, quite a good list on the sightings board including Clouded Yellow. Blackcaps and Whitethroats were in good voice along with a few Cetti’s Warblers. I managed good views of Sedge Warblers but alas not Reed Warblers as they continued to sing out of sight low in the reeds. A friendly Robin came near as did a Dunnock. As I made my way around the site and visited various hides I picked up on a few species from here namely Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Herring, Black headed and Lesser Black backed Gulls, Canada and Greylag Geese.

I managed to pick up the “Rattle” call of the Lesser Whitethroat and managed brief glimpses of the bird in the nearby bush, I then made my way down to the estuary were I found Grey Heron, Shelduck, Little Egret and House Martins collecting mud from the exposed mud flats.

Back on site a few more species were seen Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, a pair of Bullfinch, Buzzard, House Sparrows

Note an eventful day with little species seen all-round, lack of insects was disappointing

Bird List at Conwy : Blackbird, Blackcap, Black headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Coot, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Lesser Whitethroat, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Robin, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Starling, Tufted Duck, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren

For a full list of Holiday Sightings press THIS