COMMON TERNS AT MINSMERE

   An early morning trip to Minsmere in the good weather this week supposedly to see the Collared Pratincole didn't result in particularly good views but many of the other waders were much more obliging, as were the the three species of tern resident there at the moment. The most numerous of these are the Common Terns which at the moment are still feeding the chicks from this breeding season. Although the chicks have left their nest scrapes by now they are dependant on the parents for food for the next couple of months when they will depart with their elders on their annual migration which may well take them down to West Africa. They feed mainly on fish, both freshwater and sea including sprats, sand-eels, roach, perch and minnows but will take aquatic insects as well. When hunting the birds hover with their heads down looking for their prey before diving head first into the water and during the week while I was watching I was lucky enough to have a bird do this right in front of me in the hide. The following shots are part of a sequence showing a tern doing just this although the bird didn't appear to be successful this time.

RED BACKED SHRIKE AT WINTERTON

   Today I made the trip over to Winterton Dunes in the hope of seeing the Red-backed Shrike that has been reported on and off for the last few weeks. Parking at the beach car park it was a long trudge with all the camera gear to reach the area in which the bird seemed to frequent but the heather coming into flower and the butterflies everywhere made me forget the distance of the walk. Reaching my destination it took me nearly an hour of searching  along with several other people before I spotted the bird low down on an oak sapling. Approaching with care and positioning myself behind a bush I observed as the shrike went through a routine of stretching and preening taking no notice of me peering round the bush. Eventually the bird flew to another apparently dead sapling and began to hunt for dragonflies and was soon successful. Unfortunately for me it was always behind twigs and branches when it had caught its prey so I didn't get a shot of it with a dragonfly but I was happy with the pictures I did get and have included a whole sequence here when I first saw it preparing for its hunting on the oak sapling.

SOME JULY BUTTERFLIES FROM AROUND DUNWICH

   July is the peak month for butterflies during our summer so I thought I would share with you the results of a couple of recent walks in the Dunwich area. The first walk was a circular route from Minsmere along the coast up to Dunwich Heath and back through the woods to Minsmere. As the walk started there were many of the more common butterflies such as Ringlets and Meadow Browns but as soon as I reached the dunes on the coast they were replaced by hundreds of various skippers in the grasses. All three of the locally found species were present which are Large Skipper, Small Skipper and Essex Skipper. The large is easy to identify but the differences between the small and essex are minute with the latter having black undersides to their antenna. All three are pictured here in  the order they have been mentioned.

   Reaching the heath area I walked along a dyke with trees along it and I was lucky enough to see a pair of mating Lunar Hornet moths. These amazing insects are members of the clearwing moth family and have evolved to resemble wasps but are completely harmless themselves, they are very rarely seen so I was exceptionally lucky to spot this pair in the deep shade of the trees hence the poor quality and colour in the photograph.

   Continuing over the heath the first Grayling of the year were in evidence coming down to the paths to sunbathe and as is typical of this species their wings were always closed (see below). Moving into the woodland one or two White Admirals were seen along with several Commas and Speckled Woods as I made my way back to Minsmere.

   Sitting next to an Oak tree for a bite to eat I was again fortunate to observe a Purple Hairstreak come down from the canopy and rest on the ground in the grass which was the first time I had seen this happen. This particular butterfly spends nearly all its adult life in the canopy of the oaks only occasionally coming down in the late afternoon to nectar on flowers such as the bramble. It is called the Purple Hairstreak because when resting with open wings the top surface of their wings are purple but unfortunately this insect did not give me a view of this and remained with closed wings but it did allow me a very close approach to take some pictures.

   Finally for this walk when I returned to the car park at Minsmere I was informed that unusual visitor had been frequenting the Buddlia bushes so I patrolled the various flower bushes until I came across this gorgeous Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth which is a day flying moth found occasionally, usually near to the coast and in sunny weather. The insect was feeding in the higher reaches of the bush and refused to come very close but I was happy to get any sort of image.

   My second trip a few days later started at Theberton where I observed up to 9 Purple Emperor butterflies high in the canopy but they did not come down to the ground for any pictures. This species has been introduced into this woodland over a period of a few years and now seems to have naturalized here with a self sustaining population. The adults very rarely come to the ground instead feeding on aphid dew and tree sap with the caterpillars feeding on Goat Willow and sometimes common Willow. This is pretty much the only site in East Anglia where these large and beautiful butterflies can be found and I hope to get a few pictures soon. Moving to Dunwich forest I walked along one of the forest rides and observed several White -letter Hairstreaks up in the Elm trees and occasionally feeding on the bramble below. This species relies on the elm as a food plant for the caterpillars and so has declined in recent years with the loss of many of our native mature Elm trees. It is somewhat similar to the Purple Hairstreak with more orange on the rear of the wing and no purple colour on the tops of the wings, not that you would see them anyway as they always perch with the wings closed. If you look closely you can see the letter 'w' in white on the rear wing which is where their name comes from.

   As well as these butterflies there was the usual selection of other species including Red and White Admiral, Comma, Ringlet and Meadow Brown of which one can be seen below resting on a bramble leaf.