Tuesday 30th June 2026 - Newton St Loe

 

Not been able to do a blog for a while as I had a problem with my laptop so had to get it sorted which took over a week, It had to be completely wiped, luckily I do back it up which they were able to use to restore all my data. Also, we had a few days in Liverpool followed by a few days later a week in North Yorkshire. I did do some birding in Yorkshire but nothing worth recording except Red Kites that we saw multiple times every day.

This blog covers the 30th of July when David and Tony spent a morning at Newton St Loe the main aim was to visit 7 Acre for butterflies. We parked at the farm shop where House Martins and Swallows were flying over and as we walked towards the lanes a Blackbird flew off in front of us. As we reached the lanes a Robin was on the hedge and David spotted a Muntjac Deer standing in the lane and when it spotted us it wandered into the hedgerow never to be seen again. A Lesser Black Back Gull flew over and we saw our 1st butterfly of the day a Gatekeeper followed by a charm of Goldfinches flying by. Next the 2nd Butterfly a Painted Lady was on the ground sunning itself. Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and Skylark were soon added then David found a Red Kite then 2 Whitethroats flew across the lane. Walking the path to 7 Acre we added another butterfly to our list Peacock. Swifts then flew high over and 3 Stock Doves flew past. We then spent quite a while searching a known area for Purple Hairstreaks but had to give up as we were unable to find any. At the far corner of the area where all the brambles grow we did add Green Veined White, Comma, Meadow Brown and Ringlet to our list of butterflies.

Ringlet Butterfly-NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)
Comma - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)
Nothing more was found so we set off back to the car and moved it to the church from here we intended to walk to the top lake although spending so much time searching for butterflies our time was limited. Walking to the Bottom lake we added just Blue Tits and a Chiffchaff and on the bottom lake was just a few Mallard, on the top lake the 3 resident Mute Swans were still present with more Mallard, Moorhen, Coot and Little Grebe. Time to make our way back to the car adding Great Tit and a female Blackcap, a Large Skipper butterfly and a fly by Green Woodpecker.

 

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