A celebration of birding and natural history, generally within a 10 mile radius of Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, UK.
It would be great if you wanted to share your Ely 10 birding news, experiences, photos, art and video through this blog. Please contact hairyfolkster@gmail.com with your post or to join the authorship, I'll get you on the list quicker than a fly over Alpine Swift.
After a decade or so of local searches, I found a breeding site for Lesser Emperor just a stone's throw or five from my front door, The site at Ben's Yard Reservoir, hasn't been accesible for very long but from late June onwards the site has been excellent for these recent colonists from the continent. As I have understood a little more of the habits and behaviour of these great dragonflies, I have been hoping to find a confiding individual that didn't immediately fly off or wasn't completely battered and wing damaged. This one was almost that - certainly a vast improvement on previous efforts. As I watched the Emperor it dawned on me that I must have been close to a Reed Warblers nest, the birds coming very close, warily as I clicked away. I did move away swiftly once I realised I was causing a problem for the birds, and they got on with their feeding once I'd stepped back a few paces.
On the walk back, one of several Emperors, themselves still expanding their distribution northwards and further into Scotland, lingered on a stem. This reminded me of a drive in the Camargue a few years ago where I had to stop within a cloud of Lesser Emperors disturbed from their roadside rest upon reeds and bushes in a damp, woodland meadow.
Not in Stuntney - this Lesser Emperor was in The Camargue
It's that long-awaited time of the summer, the hour upon us to head to the woods, a forest or for us folk in the flatlands, a fen. Iris is on the wing, His Imperial Majesty flies.
At Woodwalton Fen there's no less flight action than at other sites but attention quickly becomes focused upon the high frequency of alighted indivduals of this beautiful butterfly. There are many more opportunities to view grounded Purple Emperors at Woodwalton than at almost any other site, as they habitually visit the thatch, window frames and weatherboard of Rothschild's bungalow throughout most mornings. The bungalow is a historically significant building in it's own right, the original HQ of the British conservation movement, fostered by Charles Rothschild through the late Victorian age and through to the 1920's. Nestled within a verdant, natural ampitheatre and set beneath a couple of regal oaks, this beguiling building , an oversized summer house on stilts, offers all comers the assurance of a special view of an Emperor, a grounded individual, vertical and at eye level. A mid-morning visit on a sunny, still day during the first weeks of the flight period will guarantee a view - often several Emperors frequenting the bungalow at any one time - and keep an eye upwards as more will be glimpsed gliding over the oaks and nearby sallow forest.
I have accumulated quite a library of digiscoped video of Emperors at Woodwalton, recorded over the past 3 years simply by placing my ancient smartphone lens and telescope eyepiece in alignment. I've not been sure what to do with the clips - as they became increasingly focused on the detail, zooming in closer and closer, as the hours of joyous observation drifted by. For fear of leaving them sitting on a hard drive, all wrapped up neatly in their zeroes and ones, I've done a bit of a dump and edit and made a DIY compilation, a punkish production, on video - in modern metaphor a hybrid love letter/mixtape/visual sonnet to a favourite butterfly. Some, of the Purple Persuasion, might appreciate the dreaminess and abstraction of the slow-motion and close ups, a different view of iris, this butterfly that evokes obsession - on the other hand others might not like the arty approach one little bit. Horse/Courses.
While at Woodwalton this week there was plenty to look at aside between time with the Emperors - from the lilting heads of the living museum specimen plants, Fen Ragwort, to the vibrant Scarlet Tigers that seem to be everywhere this year, throwing themselves into a colourful flurry of wings as they bumble over and through the vegetation.
Emperors have also been on the wing in Ditton Park Wood, where generally they stick to parachuting around the treetops in sweeping glides. Also here were fresh Ringlets, a beguiling and pristine scissor-cut Comma and a couple of tangarine-coloured Silver-washed Fritillaries.
You might be forgiven in thinking the photo above is a fangled AI abberation, Attack of the Killer Hovers, but no it's the result of a photo bombing by a Wicken hoverfly, caught by some camera flash during a DIY photoshoot, trying to get a image to accompany an article for a forthcoming edition of Birdwatch magazine.
June is a great month to stay close to home, everything is kicking off, the flora in full on lusciousness and invertebrate interest reaching a peak. Down at the Wildspace the Odonata proliferate and it's surely only a matter of time before we realise that getting "hotspot" status with the British Dragonfly Society might be a really good idea - it's a great place for Dragons and Damsels. Recent colonists Norfolk Hawker were particular noticeable, nudging their way into the reedside domain of the Scarce Chasers and, just emerging, Ruddy Darters.
Four-spotted Chasers have emerged ditchside, almost everywhere, battling in ferocious dogfights for territory and coupling rights.
Since my first Marbled Whites in the garden last year they've rallied and in a year where they are in abundance across Ely Wildspace, their presence as a fixture around the house, in the little meadow bordering Stuntney Heights, is an absolute pleasure. Purple Hairstreaks are around the oaks at the back of the house and White-letter Hairstreaks around the elms at the front. Several Hummingbird Hawkmoths have been around the Lavender bushes most days. The garden Clearwings will have to wait for a later post, but there's been plenty enough - including some crazy numbers of the, until recently, nationally extirpated Dusky Clearwing.
Around SE Kent in late May and early June there are loads of orchids to be seen. Between our searches for Beavers and woodland walks at Blean we visited Park Gate Down and Yockletts Bank. At Yocklett's Bank we walked through the woodland, expectant of finding a good show of Lady Orchids, whether we missed the key area or whether there had been an early bloom that we had missed we are not sure but sadly we didn't find any. Neither did we find any evidence of blooms that had gone over, although we did find plenty of long finished Common Twayblade. Redemption from our flawed hunting prowess came when Steve found a couple of tall and beautiful Fly Orchids alongside the path. Although more frequent, and widely distributed than Lady Orchid, these were the species I was most keen to see, plenty of time was spent at ground level drinking in this subtle and fantastic plant.
At Park Gate Down we had a similar experience, the chalk grass land flanking the steep valley side was full of orchid spikes, hundreds upon hundreds, of predominantly Chalk Fragrant and Common Spotted (some with lovely, almost white blooms) and a sprinkle of Pyramidal Orchids. We found what looked like a few Man Orchids that had gone over but to our surprise what we didn't find were any Monkey Orchids remaining, they must have flowered early and fast following the very hot second half of May, or maybe our eyesight just let us down. We searched hard but it's always good to have a reason to return.
A good friend of many years, Steve, lives on a canal boat most frequently moored along the Grand Union Canal near Rickmansworth. Canal boats and Beavers seem to go well together and for several years Steve has been asking about how he might get to see a Eurasian Beaver, in the UK. He'd looked into several options but with a bit of research we settled on a joint trip to Canterbury where amidst a thriving population along the River Stour there are some that can be readily seen, with a little patience, within the town centre. Having walked the length of the suitable bits of riverside, to familiarise ourselves with where we might look, we headed off for a meal and returned at the favourable hour, 7.30pm early evening. Just after 8 we saw someone with their phone pointed at the water, a Beaver had just passed them so we went up on the bridge a little way along and were treated to seeing a large adult Beaver swim up river and directly beneath us, easily seen through the crystal clear water. Here's a little compilation of all Steve's phone footage plus some from the fella who first got us on to the magnificent rodent.
The next day we spent much of our time in Blean Woods and on the chalk downs looking for orchids, but returned in the evening to enjoy more, and closer views of the Beavers. Fantastic and charismatic mammals, their presence was evident in the many gnawed trunks and branches along the riverside.
We also saw lots of evidence of Beavers over at Stodmarsh, where a morning walk was full of Hobbies, Cuckoo's and Bitterns. It was a little overcast and breezy but I was surprised at the lack of Odonata on the wing. Freshly emerged Black-tailed Skimmer and Norfolk Hawker were static amongst the vegetation.
