Buchan Boy

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Mon May 19, 2014 5:05 pm

Sunday 18th May 2014

One little fella I forgot to mention from yesterday was the Little Owl on my Rusper Road patch.

"Theres always someone looking at ya!"

: Rusper Road Little Owl

So,phew what a scorcher,proper summertime in May!
Had a short window of time to get out today,firstly over to a local pond to see how the Downy Emeralds were getting on.3 males patrolling the margins,

: Spruce Hill Island Pond Buchan Downy Emerald

Then a quick look in on my A264 roadside verge "nature reserve!"

: A264 Small Copper

: A264 Common Blue Female

Then a quick look in on the small Buchan Park meadow,one small Common Blue and one, what I initially took to be being a day flying moth,Dingy Skipper.Joy of joy.
Didn't expect this to be honest,I've never seen a Dingy on my local patch around Crawley and confirmed with the Buchan Park warden,Robin Edwards, today,to be a first record for the park,brilliant.

: Buchan Park Dingy Skipper

Female I reckon as well.(Confirmed male,thanks Vince.)

: Buchan Park small meadow.

Hopefully soon to be colonised by Dingy's,marvelous.

Thanks

Post by **Vince Massimo** » Mon May 19, 2014 6:22 pm

Buchan Boy wrote: I've never seen a Dingy on my local patch around Crawley and confirmed with the Buchan Park warden,Robin Edwards, today,to be a first record for the park,brilliant.

Brilliant first record, Dave

(and in my new local patch as well). It's actually a male, but hope there are others nearby.

Vince

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Mon May 19, 2014 7:02 pm

Cheers Vince,

Thanks for confirmation of gender,best get the record off to the local BC branch now!

Dave

Lee Hurrell · Post by **Lee Hurrell** » Tue May 20, 2014 8:17 pm

That little owl picture is brilliant!

Well done on your local Dingy too, Dave

Best wishes

Lee

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Wed May 21, 2014 6:56 am

Thanks Lee,

I hope the Dingy sighting is the start of something more sustantial,the site itself was the area of land where the machinery and site office was when they
built Crawley's South-West link road some 25 years ago.It needs to have it's young Alder and Birch sapplings managed regularly,which the wardens and volenteers do.Its always good to have a reward like this,even if i feel a tad guilty for just wandering along one day and finding a first for an area!

Ideally it should be one the guys who do the work that would make the discovery......

Dave

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:43 pm

Friday 30th May-Saturday 21st June 2014

Vacation in the French Pyrenees,trip report to follow.........honest!

Sunday 29th June 2014

After the wonders of the Southern French Mountains, back to the wonders of early summer in North East West Sussex.Today Buchan Park for a few hours.

Glad to see a couple of my local Ringlet populations in good numbers.

: Buchan Park Ringlet

: Buchan Park Ringlet 2

: Buchan Park Ringlet 3

All three species of orange skippers found locally were gloriously abundant.

: Buchan Park Essex Skipper

: Buchan Park Large Skipper

: Buchan Park Small Skipper

I got to the small pond we used to call the Heath,also known as the Island Pond,confusingly the same name as another Buchan pond and also known as the Spruce Hill Pond.As another local Dragonfly specialist called this pond the Spruce Hill pond and his(James Havers)reports cite the name as such I will keep it as such.So got to the Spruce Hill pond and noted a couple of ducks not seen before here.
A pair of female Mandarin ducks

: Spruce Hill Pond Female Mandarin Ducks

Odonata now waking up well,

: Buchan Park Immature or Female White-legged Damselfly

: Buchan Park Black-tailed Skimmer

: Buchan Park Black-tailed Skimmer 2

Theres also a good colony of Scarce Chasers here and they should be on the wing now as well,dont think I saw any,slightly worrying.
I did see a report of a White Admiral pop up on the Sussex BC sightings,for here, and I think I saw one motoring round the canopy,more work to be done there.
I also have a strange interest in Cockroaches but am useless at identification,when I get to work out what flavour this one(I.D now added)

: Buchan Dusky Cockroach Male

A lovely "new" Speckled Wood and Comma graced my departure.

: Buchan Speckled Wood

: Buchan Comma

I also noted a Small/Essex Skipper roost in the long grass beside the A264,counted about 30 individuals within a square metre,unfortunately didn't have the correct camera with me to do it justice,was marvellous to see though.

: A264 Roadside verge Essex skipper

Now back to that Pyrenees report.......

Thanks

David M · Post by **David M** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:56 pm

Buchan Boy wrote:Friday 30th May-Saturday 21st June 2014

Vacation in the French Pyrenees,trip report to follow.........honest!

I shall look forward to that with great interest, BB.

Susie · Post by **Susie** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 6:59 am

I haven't seen any scarce chasers at my local patch this year either. Most odd.

CJB · Post by **CJB** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 9:39 am

I think your ducks are female or juvenile Mandarin ducks.

Love the pictures of the damsels, skimmers and chasers.

Flutter on!

CJB

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 9:23 pm

Great shots of the Skippers Buchan Boy

It's great when the little golden blurs are on the scene

I thought Wood or Mandarin Ducks for your UDOs but CJB got there first and Mandarins are more common so I'd go with that ID

.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Mikhail · Post by **Mikhail** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:22 am

your cockroach is a male Dusky Cockroach Ectobius lapponicus. Haven't seen any Scarce Chasers here either (Bournemouth area).

M.

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 11:03 am

Thanks for the ID's guys,think i might go back with the big lense to have a better go at those Mandarins,theres always Males around being as loud(colourfully)as they are,the females are rather more subtle in their tones!
Thanks on the cockroach Mikhail.
Post now edited to reflect new info.
Thanks again.
Dave

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:09 pm

Friday 4th July 2014

On my way down to see my folks at Hythe in Kent,popped into the Wye NNR on the Downs North-East of Ashford,lovely spot.A vain attempt at locating my first Chalkhill Blues of the summer.......It was very windy,but very nice,sadly no Blues.

Plenty of Marbled Whites in "brace" posture!

: Wye NNR Marbled White

That was that really,bit too windy.

Thanks

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:32 pm

Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th July 2014

Catching up with a couple of bird studies whilst in Kent,not the most glamorous of creatures,normally,but beauty without doubt,is in the eye of the beholder.

Herring Gulls hanging around for chips on the end of Broadstairs Harbour arm.

: Broadstairs Herring Gull

: Broadstairs Herring Gull1

: Broadstairs Herring Gull2

: Broadstairs Herring Gull3

: Broadstairs Herring Gull4

And some wet Rooks at the campsite.

: Hythe Rook

: Hythe Rook2

Thanks

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 8:17 pm

Friday 11th July 2014

Bird on a wire.

: Rusper Road Swallow

Saturday 11th July 2014

We have lots of Gatekeeper colonies in the local environs around Crawley, and I noted one in the garden very early this morning,emergence is away,and I find them beautiful butterflies.A good colony is always found by one of my local ponds.I went there and found one male!

: GG Millpond Gatekeeper

I figured we must be at the very beginning of the Gatekeeper emergence and wandered to where I know for certain they will be,and a good indicator of where we are.
The big 1950's landfill site between Crawley and Horsham is currently under housing development and the site has been in transition since I was a kid,so all the species found are the quick movers,the sentinel species which can adapt smartish.
You never knew when the top "substrate" was likely to be turned,as it also took all the local hard core rubbish and any mud/soil that local housing projects didn't need.And believe me,there has been a lot of housing projects around this town!
Anyway,upshot is,it will be gone soon,but at the moment,there are swathes of grassland to wander through.
And swathes of open mud,it was quite warm today so I didn't chase too much but I did watch the Small Skippers probing for salts for a while.

: Kilnwood Small Skipper

: Kilnwood Small Skipper2

As with many ephemeral sites they can seem quite sterile,even though they look perfect,I finally located my Gatekeepers,a few were around and I'll go back tomorrow.

: Kilnwood Gatekeeper

I wandered back over there towards the evening,leaning against an oak tree watching some buzzards when this little fella wandered up to me,I've had this happen a few times whilst sitting quietly,this one came very close.

: Kilnwood Fox

The sadness is that this will all be gone pretty soon,I guess people need to live somewhere.

Thanks

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:38 pm

Love the shots of the Small Skippers taking salts it's a cracker and a behaviour I've not witnessed myself before

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:55 pm

Sunday 13th-Tuesday 15th July 2014

The Gatekeepers on my local grassland are starting to increase.

Bumped into this little fella again,two evenings on the trot whilst trying to get close to Buzzards

: Kilnwood Fox

Essex Skipper Male

: Kilnwood Essex Skipper

Evening Gatekeeper

: Kilnwood Gatekeeper

About a dozen this evening.

Thanks

Pauline · Post by **Pauline** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:46 am

You take some lovely photos Dave and I am enjoying your diary. Love your fox photos but I'm a bit concerned at his apparent tameness. You would be surprised at how many foxes suffer traumas to the head through various means and the resulting damage leaves them 'tame' and sometimes unable to catch/find food. I have 3 at home with neurological damage which manifests itself in epilepsy, narcolepsy etc. Please keep an eye on him and if you are concerned by all means pm me.

Buchan Boy · Post by **Buchan Boy** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:27 pm

Monday 21st July 2014

A lovely summer evening on my local ex landfill site,Kilnwood.I was after Gatekeepers on the Ragwort but couldn't quite manage it,still there was enough around to cheer my Monday work blues!

I'm up to 14 species here now,I labelled it as fairly sterile once upon a time,glad to be proved wrong,think I caught a glimpse of Brown Argus as well,I will track it down at the weekend!!!