Despite arriving late yesterday evening I set the alarm
early, rolled out of bed at 6am and was heading towards my favourite raptor
watchpoint (Altenberghütte) that overlooks a wooded valley, ideal for migrating
Black Storks. My aunt Mariana also made
the effort to join me and together we saw 2 Hawfinches and 2 Red Kites fly over
but it was still too early and cool for most raptors. A prob. Honey Buzzard was the only other bird
of note in the valley. The surrounding
farmland produced Lesser Whitethroat, a single Whinchat that sprang into view
and a Raven flew over. Butterflies were
once again more numerous and included 2 Clouded Yellows, 2 Small Coppers, 1
Painted Lady, Purple Hairstreaks and my personal highlight, 2 PALE CLOUDED
YELLOWS!
Pale Clouded Yellow
my best effort at uperwing shots to help clinch the ID
Small Copper
Map Butterfly
A later visit with my brother produced a rather different
set of species. A high flying prob.
Black Kite looked very promising with its all dark appearance, shorter and shallowly forked tail. However, it was safest to leave the ID unresolved due to unclear and distance views. This proved to be a good idea as later
sightings of Red Kites were rather confusing with their outer tail feathers not
yet fully grown (making the tail appear shorter and shallowly forked) as well as being unusually dark in colour!
Thanks to Ephraim, we got two butterfly lifers, a single
MALLOW SKIPPER and 2 QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARIES! Both worthwhile species to catch up with when
outside the UK. More Painted Ladies on
the wing along with 7 Clouded Yellows and a Map Butterfly. Yet more Purple Hairstreaks in the woodland
and 3 Silver-washed Fritillaries to boot.
Queen Of Spain Fritillary
Mallow Skipper
Purple Hairstreak
Clouded Yellow
Birds were once again in the minority and included 1 Black Redstart and
a Garden Warbler in the roadside bushes.
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