Purple Emperors at Knepp 26 June 2022

Top of the bill today at Knepp was the purple emperor butterfly - yet another Knepp speciality. 

 Alison invited Martin and me to join her on this visit; unfortunately Martin couldn't make it.  Despite the blustery conditions, we had a very successful experience. We went to the main area - towards the south east of the site, very close to the tree hide.

• We spotted one in the bushes in front of the high oaks.  It was flitting around like a spotted flycatcher.  After a while it disappeared.

• Later on it reappeared but it soon flew to the top of the high oaks and from there on that was where we got most of our views.

• We did enjoy one short spell when it whizzed over our heads before ascending into the trees above.
  
• Sadly we didn't see any on the ground today a combination of the windy conditions and the large number of people visiting the estate today.  Yesterday there were 18 purple emperors feeding on the fox scat that the rangers had put down.  The picture below is from an archive and shows what yesterday's lucky visitors would have seen in abundance.

courtesy of David Sadler and the Sussex Branch of the Butterfly Conservation Group

Read for yourself the information that the Knepp Esate send out for those wishing to see these special butterflies.

Purple Emperor Butterflies

Purple Emperors are one of the most astonishing successes of the rewilding project. None having been recorded here in the recent past, Knepp is now home to the UK's largest colony of this rare and spectacular butterfly.

• Second only in size to the Swallowtail, the Emperors were first seen at Knepp in 2010. The males display in the canopy of the oaks, marking out their territory in competition for females. They are surprisingly aggressive, and will chase away anything else that flies – including birds. 
• It is our emerging sallow scrub, however, that has attracted them here. The females lay their eggs on a particular type of sallow leaf. This only occurs on a very low percentage of hybridised sallows. Large areas of sallow are therefore needed in order to encourage large populations of Purple Emperors. However, in our modern landscape, sallow is rarely tolerated and consequently this lovely irridescent purple butterfly has become incredibly rare.
• Unlike other butterflies, the Purple Emperor has decadent tastes. Shunning flowers, it feeds on fox scat and sap runs, more like a tropical butterfly.

Previously considered a 'woodland' species, the Emperor's success in the sallow scrub at Knepp is revealing new insights into its behaviour and habitat preferences. 

We did some birding too!

• No sight or sound of the nightingales, although they were obviously present in large numbers.  Well into the breeding season, there was no reason to sing!
• No turtle doves were seen for much the same reasons as the nightingales.
• We did see the white storks of course!

• And a red kite

• A garden warbler

• Finally we got to see the lovely little owl on the fence posts just behind it's usual place on the lower branches of the oak tree.

All pictures courtesy of Alison Playle except where stated

A fascinating day out and totally unexpected - well done Alison!

Nightjars in the Ashdown Forest

Wednesday 15^th June 2022

Old Airstrip, Ashdown Forest

East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

(28 members present)

Trip Report

A combination of great weather and some excellent coverage of nightjars on BBC Springwatch produced our best ever turnout for a nightjar walk.   

• We had to wait until 9.50 pm to hear the first nightjar churring at the far end of the airstrip.  Most members then got a glimpse of a couple of nightjars.   

      

• As we made our way back along the track to the car park, more and more nightjars were heard and seen.  

•  By the time the last members left there must have been at least 4 territories identified.  The males were churring away but in the fading light it was difficult to pick up the flight.

The first phase was very successful.

 

 

Wednesday 22^nd June 2022

Hindleap, Ashdown Forest

East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

(18 members present)

Trip Report

We enjoyed great weather again this evening for phase 2 of our nightjar walks - this time at Hindleap.   With another bumper attendance, we moved from the car park down the hill to Brian and Jane’s seat.       

• Around 10 pm we were rewarded with good views of 2 nightjars as they flew down the hill after churring away from the trees further up the hill.      

• We then moved up the hill to see another nightjar sitting in its favourite oak tree on the track that parallels the road.  Most of us saw it as it flew off.  

 

• Even better was to follow as a nightjar flew directly over our heads, “ke-wicking” as it went.

 

Breathtaking!

Quail and Little Terns

 

Sunday 19^th June 2022,

Pagham Harbour, Sussex

Ashdown Bird Group

(5 members present)

 

Trip Report

The “weather gods” looked kindly on us again today and the expected wet conditions did not materialise.

Our walk today took in 3 sites.  We met up at the  centre at Pagham before relocating to Church Norton.  Later on in the morning we moved to Medmerry for a few hours before returning to the centre to take in the Ferry pool and surrounding area.  

 

 

 

Our target species today:

   Little Tern

 

 

Martin kindly drove Alison and me down to Chichester.  We set off early to offset possible delays due to the London-Brighton Bike Ride.  As there were none, we arrived over an hour early so we took the opportunity to have a good look around the Ferry Pool area.

 

·         We had a brief view of a greenshank before it was flushed by the noise of the passing traffic.

·         The usual suspects were present including avocet, black-tailed godwit, redshank and black-headed gull.

·         Rather cutely, a family of shelduck with 8 chicks caught our attention.

·         Pick of the passerines was this cracking whitethroat.

 

 

 

When John and Joy arrived we decided to relocate to Church Norton to optimise our chances of seeing the little tern on the incoming tide. 

 

·         We saw a couple of distant ones as soon as we arrived and later on, as we moved out onto the Church Norton Spit, we got some closer flight views, including this stunning shot from Alison.

 

 

·         Other notable birds included dunlin and Mediterranean gulls.

 

 

 

We decided to spend the next couple of hours at Medmerry, a 15 minute drive away. 

 

·         As we entered the Easton Road car park, we were greeted by a lovely yellowhammer singing from the top of a post - the first of many that we would see here today.  

 

 

·         Linnets were also very prominent.

·         The biggest surprise of the day came when we were about half way to our destination.  We heard the unmissable sound of a quail.  We had been tipped off about this by other birders we met on the way; nevertheless it was a memorable event.  Try as we may, we were unable to see the bird even though it was only a few metres away in the scrub/ditch by the edge of the field.

·         There were plenty of swifts around and later on, by the Stilt Pool, we came across a flock of swallows…..

·         …and several skylarks.

 

 

 

 

·         At the Stilt Pool we were privileged to find a little-ringed plover and a ringed plover in close proximity, enabling us to make the ID comparisons.

 

 

 

 

·         On the return leg, Martin was 99% sure the bird we heard, and got a glimpse of, was a Dartford warbler

 

• Alison was sorting through her photographs at home when she discovered one that showed a cattle egret in flight. 

 

 

 

• We thought at the time that we were looking at just another little egret - another pleasant surprise!

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures courtesy of Alison Playle

 

A darned good trip – lots of species and one or two nice surprises.

 

Bob Hastings

24/06/2022

 

  Year total - 196

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Species List

Name:			Name:
Avocet	1		Kestrel	34
Black-headed Gull	2		Lapwing	35
Black-tailed Godwit	3		Linnet	36
Blackbird	4		Little Egret	37
Blackcap	5		Little Tern	38
Blue Tit	6		Mallard	39
Brent Goose	7		Meadow Pipit	40
Buzzard	8		Mediterranean Gull	41
Canada Goose	9		Moorhen	42
Carrion Crow	10		Mute Swan	43
Cattle Egret	11		Oystercatcher	44
Cetti's Warbler	12		Quail	45
Chaffinch	13		Redshank	46
Collared Dove	14		Reed Bunting	47
Coot	15		Reed Warbler	48
Cormorant	16		Ringed Plover	49
Dartford Warbler	17		Robin	50
Dunlin	18		Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon	51
Dunnock	19		Rook	52
Egyptian Goose	20		Sandwich Tern	53
Gadwall	21		Sedge Warbler	54
Goldfinch	22		Shelduck	55
Great Black-backed Gull	23		Skylark	56
Great Crested Grebe	24		Song Thrush	57
Great Spotted Woodpecker	25		Starling	58
Great Tit	26		Stock Dove	59
Green Woodpecker	27		Stonechat	60
Greenfinch	28		Swallow	61
Greenshank	29		Swift	62
Grey Heron	30		Tufted Duck	63
Herring Gull	31		Whitethroat	64
House Sparrow	32		Woodpigeon	65
Jackdaw	33		Wren	66
			Yellowhammer	67

 

 

Species count = 67