Due to my cricket season being in full swing most of my spare time in June was spent at my cricket club or school, so very little birding was done. However, there were a few wildlife x cricket moments over the month or two:
June 3: cricket match half a kilometre from Little Woodcote had Chiffchaff, Buzzard and Goldcrest. Bonus was a singing Redstart - unexpected but very pleasing.
June 8: an evening match was tiring. Afterwards while chilling near the bar I spotted a largish group of birds, around 20 strong, heading high N in the fading light. Definitely waders, with the verdict of Dunlin coming that evening.
June 9: at a school match all the crows went up and a large raptor stroked over NW, quite clearly an Osprey. Also seen at Capel that morning.
June 24: an odd day saw autumn start early with raptors coming over our house - 4(!) Red Kites, Buzzards, Sprawks, Peregrine etc.
June 30: school match near the River Thames proved special for butterflies. After my first Silver-washed Fritillary a stunning Purple Emperor swooped amongst a tree I sat under while watching.
Anyway back to the trip. I arrived at school very early on the 16th, sleeping for large amounts of the journey. My coach was going to to learn about the World War I cemeteries in Belgium for the day. The morning was spent in Ypres, where we went into a church and had a speech done for us. After we walked around the town learning about its history. Lunch was distracting as a pair of Reed Warbler sang in a canal, and a few Blackcap sang. I'd like to say I heard a Marsh Warbler, the song is distinctive, but I've got no idea whether they breed in Belgium so didn't tick it.
The rest of the day was quiet birdwise, though all the cemeteries were important and often fascinating to learn about, and I saw few birds but there was the odd thing here and there - Lesser Whitethroat once and numerous Chaffinch, as well as an eagle sp. Roadside fields - if only England was like this still - had Lapwing and even Golden Plover in them. Whilst having dinner I noticed everyone panicking about a large moth, and was pleased/sad to find a slowly deceasing Eyed Hawkmoth. By the time I took it to the entrance it had died sadly.
On Day 2, we started by going to a memorial in France with names of people from our school. Only birds of note were Yellowhammer and f Golden Oriole. We then proceeded on, after lunch, to a battlefield turned memorial-park which played a major part in the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Taking close attention to what our guides said, the only bits I noticed was a Dartford warbler, Whitethroat and hundreds of butterflies that thrived on the wildflowers in the trenches - these included blues, clouded yellows and painted ladys. Whilst driving away, I got an unexpected, pleasant WP tick by way of a Montagu's Harrier over the nearby fields.
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| Reed Warbler record shot |
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| Black-tailed Skimmer |
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| Brown Argus - notice the extra spot on the upper mandible near the head |
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| Painted Lady |
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