Peter Jones Wildlife blog

I took the moth trap on this year's family holiday to the South of France. We stayed on the Mediterranean coast near the Spanish border, but to be honest, the campsite wasn't particularly good for wildlife compared to previous campsites. The site itself was very built up, and the surrounding area, although looking promising on Google maps, was a bit light in diversity. I did see the following highlights... Turkish Gecko Lang's short tailed blue Coypu Red-rumped Swallow Southern Wartbiter The moth trap included: Praying Mantis Bright Wave Portland Ribbon Wave Blair's Mocha Vestal (central France) Oak Processionary Small Marbled Scarce bordered Straw Tree lichen Beauty Marbled Green Pearly Underwing Turnip Long legged Tabby Delightful Marbled Handmaid idaea cervantaria achyra nudalis parascotia nisseni stemmatophora brunnealis oncocera semirubella (Central France) acrobasis tumidana Which looking back, wasn't a bad tally of moths, was expecting huge number...

Third year running, I headed out to New Forest in search of Moonwort. Despite having found grid references of their location, and even worked out the exact area from photos posted online of happy surveyors counting them, I'd drawn a blank previously. This year, the area has been loosely marked off with piles of dirt, but it still took an hour of searching before I wandered into the area beyond the "line of molehills". Within a minute I'd found Moonwort and Adder's Tongue a minute or so later. Smaller than I was expecting, which doesn't help, but nice to see, finally.

A very good Autumn, with plenty of moth trapping in the garden. The highlight a fairly tatty, but nevertheless spectacular Clifden Nonpareil. Other highlights came from a week in Norfolk, timed well with some East winds. At Winterton, I was lucky to find a Red-breasted Flycatcher, right place at the right time as it flew round the edge of some dense sycamores, then took over half an hour to get identifiable views. (A very long 30 minutes!). Could have quite easily walked past it, as indeed a few other birders had done so, but it showed well to a few of us eventually. Spent a couple of days seawatching prior to this, as the winds were strong, and from the north. Highlight was a Sabine's Gull, several of which were being reported around the coast, but I failed to see any Long tailed Skua which also seemed to be reported during the week. The other highlight from my week was a Camberwell Beauty flying strongly west, over my head and out of sight, as I walked to the ice crea...

 Had a few days free to visit Scotland, and decided to try and see some new Dragonfly species, plus a few Orchids restricted to the North of the UK. I was in my campervan, so the timetable was very flexible, and subject only to the weather. The initial couple of days had a good forecast, so I focussed on the Dragonflies. First stop was Allt Mhuic butterfly reserve, in search of Azure Hawker. I was unsuccessful, except for a likely individual flying lower over the boggy moorland. I did however, see Chequered Skipper which was a massive bonus, being right at the end of their flight season, and quite unexpected. Moths put in a good appearance with Argent and Sable, Small Argent and Sable, plus Satin Lutestring. Finally some good flowers here including Heath Fragrant Orchid and Common Butterwort. The hydro-electric dam is currently being built right down the middle of the reserve, which looks to have affected the central area. I decided to move on, thinking I had a better chance of mor...

  Turned my attention over the last few months to trying to break my Bird day record of 100, which, according to ebird is now 99! Not sure where I lost a species, but gave me more incentive to get over 100 in a day. I try to just do my own thing, and limit myself to 20 miles from home. This isn't a big deal as it includes the coast, Keyhaven and Pennington, the New Forest, Blashford, and the Test Valley. These areas have kept me entertained for over 10 years, so plenty to find, especially Keyhaven and Pennington which is always likely to give a big number of species in 2 or 3 hours. Winter attempts fell just short, in the 90s. Short days, and finding the New Forest very difficult didn't help. Then the lockdown put paid to any further attempts. May, however, with longer days, and the mass of summer visitors turned the challenge on its head. First attempt I got 106, and this weekend I hit 110! My route was New Forest at dawn, Keyhaven, Blashford, Stockbridge area, Fishlake Meado...

 Autumn seems to have whizzed by. I had two weekends away, one in Norfolk, and one in Cornwall. Both staying in the campervan. Not many photos to show for all the walking, but finding a Yellow-browed Warbler on both trips was just about note worthy these days! Norfolk also had a Red Backed Shrike, at Titchwell, and a leucistic starling, which was just a Common sadly. Surprisingly few waders at Titchwell. Cornwall, also had Firecrest and Chough.

Got in touch with a local who has a lot of success finding Adders and more recently, Great Crested Newts locally. The Newt I've never seen before, but now I have a better idea of their habitat, and how to find them, should be more successful in coming years. Today, we just found a single, young male. A lot of fungi in the area, so a trip with my various fungi field guides might make for a very frustrating afternoon!

  I find my search for specific flowers never goes smoothly, and I average about 8 miles in search of any chosen species! This is in contrast to my grasshopper quest in the summer where the bat detector was picking up the target species with minutes of leaving the van, in most cases! So today I went to Lepe, and Calshot in search of Little-Robin, a smaller flowered, rarer version of Herb Robert. It's another species that has a very limited distribution in the UK, with New Forest / South coast holding the prime locations. Lepe came up blank, but I did see Wheatears, and Sea Spurge. Calshot wasn't looking too promising either until I found a good sized plant with a few flowers against one of the Calshot buildings. Sea Club Rush, and a few common plants also seen in the area. I didn't venture into the best bit of the spot today.. the campsite looked packed. Photos

  A couple more days out, with plenty to see as we head into Autumn. I ventured over to Stoborough Heath, stopping in the New Forest on the way. Was unsuccessful, again, looking for Field Gentian, but did manage to see Coral Necklace and Pennyroyal. Stoborough and Hartland was pretty good, following in the footsteps of the author of the Purbeck Flowers book. The trick with this book is to work out what you can see at each site, and create waypoints before your trip. This way, you can pretty much move from site to site picking off the flowers. Some were seen, others were over for the year, others are probably no longer present at some sites, but it worked mostly.  Finally caught up with Field Gentian at Wilverley, I think the problem was being a bit too enthusiastic. Sure people were seeing plants, but very early. It's often better to wait a couple of weeks for more flowers and bigger flowers to appear. They certainly arent that difficult once they have started to hit their pea...

  Decided to spend the weekend on a round tour of Chilterns, Wiltshire and New Forest, with a few targets in mind. Also spent 2 nights in the campervan a novelty this year, but worthwhile as driving out the Friday night before cuts down the daily mileage and makes such weekends possible. Chilterns, I was searching for Gentians, and did see Autumn Gentian at Aston Rowant, together with Chalkhill Blue, Adonis Blue and Silver spotted Skipper. I left a bit deflated as I had hoped to see Chiltern Gentian also, but luckily found another site, courtesy of Twitter, which was absolutely heaving with Chiltern Gentians, wow, very memorable.  The weekend took a slight nosedive after these highlights, with no joy for Wart-Biter, and no sign of Field Gentian at Wilverley in the New Forest on the Sunday morning. (I have another area of Wilverley to try in the coming weekends). However, plenty of other wildlife seen at these great places. photos

Much of my flower hunting is frustrated by a semi-secrecy of rare flower sites. It is only on arrival, that I realise the vagueness of directions, often sucked in by comments such as "very near the path", which turn out to be any of several miles of paths! More often than not there is just enough information to tempt you to visit, but have a very slim chance of finding what you are looking for. Makes for some great challenges, and I always get there in the end. I get the need for caution with people digging up flowers, but if I can find them, someone with poor motives will also find the flowers based on the info out there. However, the book "The Wild Flowers of the Isle of Purbeck" bucks this trend and has excellent directions to some great plants. I spent a morning in Studland Heath, and finally saw Great Sundew, fairly easily, after several hours in the New Forest without luck! Other highlights were Sea Lavender and a few other coastal species plus Royal Fern. Pho...

 August annual leave, which should have been spent in South Africa!, left me with a few days to spend locally. I set myself a target of 22 new species of birds, flowers, moths, grasshoppers, anything! 2 a day. As it usually the case with these games, it starts off looking easy, then ends up a complete nightmare being stuck 1 or 2 short as the end of the week looms. My trips were mostly into the New Forest, and together with a moth trap session in the garden I eventually stumbled past the 22! Highlights were Light Crimson underwing moth, Grey Bush Cricket, Woodland and Mottled Grasshopper, Marsh Gentian, Oblong Leaved Sundew, and Brown Hairstreak (at Shipton Bellinger). Enjoyable, but hopefully I get to South Africa next year. photos

Weekends are to be planned carefully at the moment. The number of people descending on the New Forest, and coast on sunny weekends is quite incredible, so trips to more obscure areas is a better option. I headed to Broughton Down on Sunday morning hoping to see Stripe Winged Grasshopper. Was fortunate, even though the bat detector was only picking up ( I think) Meadow, Common Green, and possibly Long winged Conehead. Also a smart micro moth, Pyrausta nigrata

A windy but sunny day, so I headed off to Longham Lakes in search of Dragonflies. No joy with Lesser Emperor which seems regular, but plenty of Brown Hawkers, Then onto an area famed for Heath Grasshopper, the Bat detector was excellent in finding them singing, and it didn't take long to find a couple, nice.  Photos

It's been a long few months, but the latest Covid19 relaxation allowed overnight stops in my campervan. Taking advantage, I stocked up on food locally, and planned a round trip to Norfolk for Creeping Ladies Tresses, via some Chiltern Orchid sites, and Fowlmere for a shot at Water Shrew. All went well logistically, the Britstops weren't bothered that I just took advantage of the car park for overnight sleeping and not going into the pub (a 14 day track and trace lock down, or worse, wouldn't be ideal!). First stop was the A343 south West of Newbury for Green flowered Helleborine. Found about 10 eventully in what is a pretty grim venue, cars flying past. What looked like the best specimen, I actually saw from the van on my way out of the area, but decided against going back for another look. Then onto Norfolk. Burnham Overy to Holkham is a good walk with some good plants, and 2 Cattle Egrets a good find. No joy with the Creeping Ladies Tresses, I was in the right area, just ...

A second week of enforced annual leave. This gave me lots of opportunities for going out looking for wildlife, but for some reason it was really tough going. First up was a trip to New Forest in search of Wild Gladiolus. I can only assume the location I have chosen hasn't got any in flower at the moment, I get that they are elusive under the bracken but I walked 10 miles! surely I'd have seen one, especially as I was picking out moths, and Lesser Butterfly Orchids. Next was a trip to Hurst in search of Dew Moth, this was no easier, although I did see plenty of coastal flower species, and always good to see Little Tern and Med Gull. I didn't even see Cinnabar, which may suggest the heat was too much for day flying moths on this occasion? Anyway, another one for next year! My LED moth trap failed, in the back garden fortunately, and was just a failed piece of soldering. I'm no expert, so will get the odd malfunction. Just relieved I hadn't blown a LED! I'm not eve...

Decided on another trip to Kent. Orchids would take a back seat on this occasion, as I was hoping to see Norfolk Hawker and a few moths. First stop was Grove Ferry, and as soon as the sun came out, so too did the Norfolk Hawkers along the windy ditch next to the viewing mound. Fairly distant, but smart Dragonflies, I tore myself away when I realized there was no blue sky for the foreseeable. Quite lucky as it turned out. Also saw Variable Damsel, Emperor, and Black tailed Skimmer. On to  Wye  Downs. Went on a pretty long walk, and didn’t find any Black veined Moths, but saw some other species… Clouded Buff probably the highlight. Gallery

An enforced week off work isn't the end of the world in June, but I decided to limit my travels, and start a couple of projects. The moth trap(s) are going well, so in addition, I bought an Audiomoth. Have known about Audiomoths for a couple of years now, but was put off due to the time needed previously to analyse results. However, these days time is not such an issue! Fast forward a couple of days, and I am very pleased. The above screenshot shows Blackbird (#90) and a Soprano Pipistrelle (#91). Previous remote recording has always been either Birds with the Zoom recorder, or Bats with a Bat Detector. (Not sure if the Zoom was capable of picking up Bats?).  The ability to monitor both on the same wav file is pretty awesome. Going thru the files this morning, I had the usual mix of our local birdsong, including goldcrest, which I haven't noticed for a while, then after dusk Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, and Noctule, on a night when there didn't look to be much b...

An afternoon trip to Lulworth was a gamble in many respects. The weather forecast was sunny, but it seemed quite cloudy overhead, and I would need sunshine to see my main target, Lulworth Skipper. Also, the Lulworth area was seemingly overrun with idiots over the bank holiday weekend, I was keen to avoid any crowds. As it happened, it was ok. The car park fairly empty, and the sun came out after I had climbed the hill overlooking the cove. Helps to know what Viper's Bugloss looks like, and once I had found a patch of about 10 plants, I waited for the clouds to move on. It was quite spectacular, as the sun appeared, and the plants were suddenly inundated with Lulworth Skippers, a couple of Large Skippers, Burnet Moths, and Bees. Nearby, Adonis Blue, another species I have little experience with, was looking stunning in the sunlight, and a Roesel's Bushcricket was an overdue first for me also. Gallery Video

An ambitious day out, one probably better suited to an overnight in the campervan, but rules are rules and I got up early and drove to Kent for a long day.  The well known Bonsai bank was my first stop, a little late in the season for my target, Lady Orchid, and it took a while before I eventually found some last remaining examples of the year. Very smart flowers, and the mood for the day lifted after getting some pics. Also present were Common Spotted Orchid, Twayblade, Greater Butterfly Orchid and White Heleborine. Then onto a site for Late Spider Orchid which was tricky to locate on the map despite some detailed instructions on the web. Luckily I revisited the instructions the evening before and stumbled across the right area, or I'd have never seen the flowers,  all in cages, some just in flower, so rare! By mid morning, the day took a slight nosedive, my next stop was Devils kneadingtrough for some butterfly and moth hunting. The wind was howling by now, which made it tri...