Peter Jones Wildlife blog

Fairly long walk around Keyhaven / Pennington / Normandy a couple of weeks ago. A red-necked Grebe was the star bird, found the day before, and relayed to me when I was less than 100m from the shoreline which spoilt a surprise slightly! Plenty of waders around with quite a few Avocets in the area. Spotted Redshank was another nice surprise, plus a Red-Breasted Merganser on an inland lagoon. Ruff, Golden Plover, Marsh Harrier, and Bearded Tit rounded off a nice morning.

Originally shared by Peter Jones Review of 2017 and goals for 2018! 2017 was a pretty good wildlife watching year, with a few good trips around England, and into Europe for some decent wildlife. It started well with the Humpback Whale showing well off Devon. A week on Ile D'Oleron, Western France, was excellent with some good Dragonflies and Damsels, plus some good birds including Melodious Warbler and Scops Owl heard. Our main Summer hol to Switzerland had more good sightings including Nutcrackers, and Bonelli's Warblers. Smooth Snake Surveys in the New Forest, although unsuccessful in seeking the prime target was at least good for Adder, and Bog Bush Cricket. A bat survey on the River Test was overshadowed by an amazing close up sighting of an Otter. 2018 will likely be dominated by a week in Goa in March, which should get me a lot of good bird sightings, being my first trip into Asia proper. Hopefully, in addition to the Tropical species, will include some of the rarer Weste...

At the Somerset Levels, in addition to many good bird sightings, some birders ahead of me found a Palmate newt on the path. We warmed it up, and sent it on it's way! The area looks worth a visit next year for Great Crested Newt, and Variable Damselfly at the Levels, plus some rare butterflies: Large Blue and Heath and High Brown Fritillary sites within an hour or so.

A super weekend at the Somerset Levels. An area which seems to be improving year on year with some amazing breeding birds. This visit was fairly typical for the area with a number of Great White Egrets sighted, plus 3 Bitterns, Grey Heron and Little Egret. Other highlights were Water Rail, Marsh Harrier, Cetti's Warbler and Bearded Tit.

New Forest in early October. A Bog Bush-Cricket. It was in wet heathland habitat.

Late October camping trip to Holland. This was the only Insect highlight, found on the awning as we packed up. The extremely short wings confirm it is a Southern Oak Bush Cricket

Ran the moth trap on the back of strong Southern Winds which dragged Sahara sand and Portuguese dust into the UK for much of the day, but no Immigrant moths caught. I did however, see my first Merville Du Jour, one of our most spectacular coloured moths.

Nice footage of a Harvest Mouse this weekend. 150 triggers on the remote camera, just this one clip in the daytime, and therefore of good quality hd footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idcUtpqcaRM&feature=share

I put the mammal camera out in a waterside location, deeply hidden under the bank, and scattered some bird food on the mud. Plenty of action with Wood Mouse ,and later Brown Rat. Also a Robin triggered the camera on numerous occasions. The most spectacular sighting was this American Mink which moved past just minutes before I retrieved the camera. An escape and widely regarded as a pest in the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpv9eRp_10Q&feature=share

Some good bats around Calshot, with Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, and Nathusius' Pipistrelle recorded, plus a probable Leislers' Bat. Also, during the daytime, some good flight views of Migrant Hawker Dragonfly. Originally shared by Peter Jones Ran the Bat detector overnight in the Calshot area. The detector was overlooking the Solent, and conditions were quite mild. I know there are Common and Soprano Pipistrelle in the area, and both of these species were recorded during the Evening, but later, two recordings looked pretty promising. The first, with a peak frequency of 35-36KHz matches Nathusius' Pipistrelle quite nicely. Only one call was close enough to show the typical hockey stick call shape, but the peak frequency and call lengths of all 4 calls looked good. Nathusius' Pipistrelle, is a highly migratory species which passes thru the UK each Autumn. The second, peaking in the mid-20's, looks good for Leisler's Bat, but some caution is needed wit...

I am aiming to take advantage of the family membership of Calshot camping club, and devote some time this Autumn to vis-mig from the Calshot coastline. Previous vis-mig from nearby Badminston was ok, but nothing ever spectacular, and sadly the gravel pits are now converted to fishing and bird life looks to be much reduced there. This season will be interesting in comparison with 2015 which I spent watching from the Test Valley, inland. The inland viewpoint could just make out Fawley tower and the Isle of Wight, and many birds, mainly Woodpigeons, could be seen over the Calshot area. Will the numbers and species share some common ground? Calshot also has the advantage of sea, albeit, obstructed slightly by the Isle of Wight. This weekend paid dividends with a single Manx Shearwater the highlight, a bird not recorded anywhere else along the Hampshire coast the same day which is interesting. (My only better seabird seen in Hampshire was a Leach's Petrel, again from Calshot!). Other hi...

No picture today sadly, but a walk around the woodland and marsh north of Calshot was memorable for two pretty good views of Migrant Hawker Dragonflies.

More Smooth Snake surveying in the nice weather. A female Adder disturbed at close range was a highlight. Also a Slow Worm and a few Common Lizards ,one of which sat tight for a pic. Also Meadow Grasshoppers in abundance.

Some bat detector outputs in the screenshot, but the highlight of this survey was a very close Otter swimming past me, right into the beam of my torch.. majestic! Originally shared by Peter Jones Completed my Bat surveys for the year with a Waterways survey of Daubenten's Bats at the River Test. amazing numbers with over 60 "passes" during the two surveys. Many will be the same bat, but even so, that's a lot of activity! Also, plenty of Natterer's in the area, and the screenshot below of Daubenten's (top) and Natterer's (bottom) illustrates the more curved sonograms of Daubenten's, compared to the straighter Natterer's calls. Not much in it though, and it is fortunate that their behaviour differs so radically, with Daubenten's hovercrafting over the surface, Natterer's taking head shots at anyone walking near them!

Northern Wall Brown, a new Butterfly for me, found in Kandersteg, Switzerland

A week on holiday in Switzerland, and aside from Nutcracker, Bonelli's Warbler, and Crag Martins, the area did have a strangely Scottish feel to it, with Crested Tit, Fieldfare, Golden Eagle, Crossbill, and Red Squirrel. What I wasn't expecting was to walk into a Scottish nightmare of trying to separate Scotch Argus and Arran Brown butterflies! As far as I can tell, the first two are Arran Brown, with prominant white lines under the hindwing; the second two are Scotch Argus with dark underwings.

Two Grasshoppers from the New Forest heathland this morning. The first, predominantly green, insect was a Meadow Grasshopper, the second, I'm pretty sure is the rare Heath Grasshopper. Should be able to find another in the same area in the coming weeks, and confirm 100%.

After a brief glimpse of my first UK Adder last month, I got a better look at one in the New Forest. This was found during my first New Forest Smooth Snake survey, for which I am now trained up as a volunteer. No Smooth Snakes seen, but this Female Adder (Brown zigzags, as opposed to black on a male) was a nice consolation.

Probably the rarest Moth that I have caught in the garden moth trap to date. A Cloaked Carpet. Nationally Scarce, with a few local records in the New Forest, and near the border with Surrey. Also a single previous record from a few hundred yards from my house, suggesting this species is present in local woodland, but eluding detection.

Found a very distinctive Caterpillar yesterday.. From a Vapourer moth, which is equally distinctive, being an orange day-flying species.