Scozmo's Photery

I feel like it’s been ages since I last posted anything …. it’s been three days! I’ve been suffering from dreich recently, really fed up of dull, grey days, they just seem to go on and on, it’s almost the end of June and I feel like we’ve only seen the Sun a few times this year. Sure, we got a couple of days of HOT this week but, unbearably hot so I didn’t get out in it a great deal. That said, it felt so much better to be in bright sunlight and feel it on my face; today is still thinking about what it wants to present, it’s been mostly dark grey/blue with spells of bright sunshine with a decent breeze blowing throughout. I may well head out for a wander soon.

I did get out yesterday and enjoyed a good walk as well as a very enjoyable session with the camera so, that’s what I’m going to share with you now.

I took my “green lane” route, it leads down to the Fox den area where I’ve been seeing a good few butterflies so I thought I might see what’s out there just now, those and a few Orchids in the same area.

I had just stepped out into the field when a butterfly buzzed me.

A Small Tortoiseshell which was fighting the breeze and was glad of the shelter between the sheds I think. There’s so much going on at this time of year, easy to miss things when you’re trying to watch for birds, butterflies, bugs & beasties, my poor neck isn’t a full gimbal 🙂

As I approached the gate onto the green lane area, I spotted a pair of ears heading my way through the long grass verge.

It lolloped out through the gate then saw me standing stock still, camera raised and ready, long enough for a few quick shots, before almost disappearing into the crop in the field; I could still see the ears as it hopped away 🙂

I carried on through the gate and headed down the hill, into the longer grasses.

There were quite a few Small Heath popping up as I walked, a small butterfly that always lands and drops into the grasses so I was happy to get a shot of this one.

Every time I have walked the patch lately I have spotted Fritillary passing me by, I’m not great at butterfly ID but when they don’t stop to let me have a better look, even worse!

I think these are a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary but I’m awaiting confirmation from iNaturalist, I love that site / app, add an image(s) and someone will ID it for you at some point, several may well do the same meaning you either get confirmation or they’re split over it.

Whichever it may be, both the wing and underwing patterns are beautiful on these.

Ringlets have appeared in the last week, another restless butterfly, flits around for absolutely ages and then drops into grass!!!!

I loitered around the Fox den area for a while, I haven’t seen any activity for a while now but that could just be about timing. I started making my way along the face of the slope, looking at the Orchids scattered in the grass. We have 57 native Orchids in the UK, I kind of know my way around a few but they also hybridise so ……

So here’s a selection of some of those I spotted.

I think all of these are Heath orchids

That, I think is a Marsh Orchid, there are several of each!!! We have another different on in the garden.

The other beastie that’s plentiful at the moment is day-flying Moths, yet another beastie that I struggle not only to get shots of but ID eludes me for most so, iNaturalist is my best pal for those too 🙂

I think that’s a Yellow Shell Moth, you can see why it caught my eye!

I read online recently that we are having a serious bloom of Painted Lady butterflies and there have been plenty of them on the patch.

A busy butterfly, flies very fast and jinks and twists constantly so when they do land, you have to be quick, they’re also one of the jumpiest I have seen, too close, gone! Talk about blending in huh?

I carried on to the end of the lane and decided to take the bottom field over the hill then back towards the wildlife cam site, I wished I hadn’t 🙂 Trying to walk the field edge to avoid damaging the crop was hard work, very long grass and thistles all the way but i made it in one piece. The cam site area was really busy with flies, some give you a nasty bite so I stood waiting for the files transferred, waving my arms and hat around like a loon before escaping back onto the field edge.

Another Brown Hare sat on an unplanted area, just watching me, I looked away and it had gone but I did spot a pair of ears sticking up on the brow of the hill.

I was keeping an eye on the reed beds to my right as I walked, I could hear a Whitethroat singing and eventually spotted it and a young Stonechat flitting around.

Both kept their distance but were easy enough to see.

Well, the Whitethroat was, the Stonechat not so much 🙂 although I did manage a few better shots when it moved a little closer.

I had switched Merlin on at this stage, just to see what it might hear, my hearing can be rubbish and the wind was pretty loud, it was picking up the two bird above along with Reed Bunting, which nest in the reeds and I spotted a few but, it also heard a Grasshopper Warbler! I stood straining my ears and eyes, scanning along the area I was in, until I had a brainwave.

Merlin allows you to look up a bird and hear examples of its call. I stopped the previous recording and played Grasshopper Warbler calls with the volume turned full up and lo and behold, a smallish bird appeared and flew across my line of sight, landing on Gorse right in front of me, where the Whitethroat had been.

I have left that shot uncropped to show the reality of the distance from me using my 180-600mm lens at full stretch.

I was quite pleased with them, a) because I hadn’t seen one of these before and b) it was blowing a really strong breeze and the camera was hand held. When it flew across, I knew that was it, it was different enough to know it was a new one to me 🙂

My idea of playing its own call back to it had paid off, albeit maybe I was teasing the poor thing so I didn’t keep it going for too long. You can see in the shot above it was looking my way and it actually took off a flew a lap around me a couple of times, hence I realised it was looking for the rival or mate!

Needless to say, I took quite a few shots 🙂

It flew into the Willow again and started calling / singing.

All in all, I had spent seven minutes watching and photographing it. Honestly, I do not consider myself a true birder but it felt great discovering yet another bird on the patch!

I grabbed a couple more shots of the Whitethroat singing then headed towards home.

As I started along the field, I noticed movement in the opposite field.

Three Fallow deer were making their way through the crop towards the burn at the bottom, they have only turned up on the patch in the past few weeks, which is nice for me.

There were spits of rain hitting my face, the sky was darkening and the weather app showed heavy rain in the next hour so, I headed for home.

I was pretty glad to have forced myself out for a wander, you never know what you might see.

Stay safe and well folks

patch photos