Jill and I have just returned from Cannock chase in Staffordshire. We camped for 3 nights and went to see the Jools Holland concert in the forest on Sunday. The weather was abysmal but there was plenty time for reading, BBQing and wildlife watching. Heres a photo of our humble camping set-up.
Target birds for this area were tree pipit, yellowhammer and nightjar. I managed to add the tree pipit to this years list but dipped on the others.
Walking the forest paths in the evening, looking for nightjars, I saw several tree pipits singing on their display flights. I heard a tawny owl calling in the campsite at night and a cuckoo joined the dawn chorus at 5 am.
GS woodpeckers, nuthatches, tree-creepers, coal tits and chaffinch were the most numerous birds around the campsite.
I found this linnet posing for me at close range....
....more of my favourite moth - "the cinnabar"
...this pair of speckled wood butterflies
...and a large skipper butterfly with its "X-wing" set-up.
Hastily packing up our tent in the pouring rain on Sunday, I found a large violet ground beetle under my groundsheet. Looks like we had a few lodgers during our stay. I like his purple sheen.
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