Wednesday 29th June 2022 - Pewsey Down

 

Today was our Bath RSPB’s monthly field trip and this month it was a trip to Pewsey Down. We left at about 8.30am picking up Kirsty on the way and we started logging sightings starting with House Sparrow, Starling, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon before we got out of the city. As we continued so did the sightings with Rook, Jackdaw, and Blackbird all added before reaching Devizes, here Mallard, Lesser Black Back Gull and Grey Heron were all in the pond, and from there to our meeting point Red Kite and Magpie were seen. Our leader for the day Glen was already there but I am glad to say we were not the last as we were very close to being late due to the holdups we had on the way. Once everyone had arrived 17 of us I think we had birds flying around us including Swifts, Swallows and a pair of Kestrels. We  set off and soon encountered another Red Kite we had quite a few sightings of there fantastic birds during our 4 ½ hour visit. Skylarks were very abundant and another species we were to see all day. The path we followed was a butterfly haven with Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Marbled White in large quantities a single Cinnabar Moth was also found. Into a field that had had the edges left wild for the birds, where at least 6 Brown Hares could be seen, Glen spotted a Small Skipper Butterfly we found a few but not as common as the butterflies mentioned earlier. A Buzzard flew over as did 2 Ravens. A Yellowhammer sang from a tree beside the field one of several we found. I found this strange looking beetle I have never seen before a Spotted Longhorn Beetle as identified by Glen.

Bath Birdwatcher

 4 or 5 Stock Doves we at the far edge of the field, we stopped at the bottom corner of the field for a break adding Goldfinch to our list. Tom spotted a bird on the roof of a far off barn but it was to distant to get an identification so after the short stop we changed our plans and set off to try and find out what this bird was eventually we got to within about 200m and were able to say the bird was a Corn Bunting that bird itself was a nice sighting but if we hadn’t decided to try and identify it we would have not found the bird or birds of the day Yellow Wagtails, Lucy one of our female members is great on bird calls and was able to identify from a call that there birds were about and we eventually found a female on top of the ears of corn and later another lovely male and a second female. So we feel there were 2 pairs. While looking at the wagtails a few Linnets flew over. Retracing our steps Glen spotted a Dark Green Fritillary Butterfly I think for all of us our first of the year. We walked back to the place where we entered the field some 2 hours earlier where we stopped for lunch. Here we discussed weather we should go higher up the Downs looking for butterflies but decided to wait a while as it was a bit windy. After lunch as we were leaving the field someone spotted a blue butterfly it was a Common Blue, We walked back up the path where all the butterflies had been seen earlier and were still flying about but nothing new was found. When we reached the gate to the higher part of the downs we decided the a 30minute walk might bring us a few butterflies well I have never seen as many Dark Green Fritillary’s it was a great sight. A new bird for the day was also seen Meadow Pipit and a new moth for me a Small Yellow Underwing plus a very worn Five Spot Burnet. The end of a great few hours with every one going home satisfied with seeing some great birds/insects/flowers.

small skipper on an orchid-Bath Birdwatcher