Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
Saturday 8th June - Wednesday 12th June 2013
Lighthouse to Little Ringed Plover
A rather disparate set of photos from 11 different locations. Thought of having a competition for a better title...
So I'll start bright and early at about 8am on Saturday June 8th at Point Lynas on Anglesey, having left York at 4.20am.
I was thrilled to see a spotted flycatcher pair in the dell as I walked up to the Point...
...and then I was surprised by a large pale brown bird that hurtled past me and landed on the approach wall.
Mistle thrush of course.
Out on the Point a birder was watching the odd manx shearwater and gannet go by. The 3 shearwaters I saw with my bins were my first tick of the trip. [It's a bit of a climb so I had decided to take camera and bins only on this walk. Right decision as it turned out.] Some choughs flew in.
Sea pink or thrift clothe the cliffs: Armeria maritima
As do sea campion: silene uniflora. The black is the sea in the little bay below.
A chough came closer.
We hadn't noticed the other chough in the dip. Eventually the pair flew off.
Back at the car this patch of scarlet pimpernel anagallis arvensis ssp. arvensis caught my eye.
Next stop would be Cemlyn Bay. Lots of sandwich terns, a few common terns and the big prize: an adult, pink flushed roseate tern - scoped by all the birders who had clustered on the shingle bank. Tick number 2.
I had a memorable encounter with a car full of women on a birding holiday. They had lost the rest of their party. I put them back in touch with their group and we watched the sandwich terns from the shingle bank. I drove on to my third stop on Anglesey at the fish dock. Pleasingly, 5 black guillemots were present.
This one had a crab.
Another early start on Sunday June 9th but this time from Llanengan and only a short drive to Porth Ysgaden SH218375. Arrival 8am after 7.30 departure this time. I spent a most amazing hour seawatching. I had amazing views in the scope of at least 100 manx shearwaters - probably 10 times my previous life total! I could see their eyes!! Gannets too and guillemots, with mergansers and other gulls. Didn't spot any skuas or sooty shearwaters but I was very happy. A female wheatear proved reluctant to pose.
Rock pipits were chasing round the headland and down on to the... rocks!
A pied wagtail was bringing food.
There were choughs here too.
A linnet looked on.
Eventually I moved on. Heading down the road towards Porth Meudwy I came across a buzzard on a telegraph pole. In Wales they should call them pole birds.
Short of cash and no cash machine nearby I had to forgo the chance of a day trip to Bardsey and decided to head for the hills and go back to the Glaslyn RSPB osprey site to see the ospreys and photograph the Welsh Highland Railway, in particular a train crossing the Pont Croesor.
The only RSPB site with its own railway station!
I finished my day at one of my favorite places, Cilan NT. Choughs were on a mission and didn't linger.
Meadow pipits were busy gathering food for their young.
The nest was close by a stand of foxgloves digitalis purpurea ['purple fingers'. The German for foxglove is Fingerhut or 'finger hat'. Each language following a similar theme.]
My time was mainly spent chasing butterflies: one particular species but many of them on the wing and, in the breeze up on Cilan, not pausing for long. Here are my better efforts at the Small Heath butterfly.
Finally I called at the pond - much fuller than usual - and saw an expanse of water forget-me-not, myosotis scorpioides.
Monday 10th would be the return trip to York. I got up early as is my wont at this time of year and headed for Pwllheli. I started in the marina. I had spent the whole weekend, given the good weather, experimenting again with different camera settings. Most pictures in this blog were taken at ISO 250 f18 and just a few at f16 with correspondingly slow shutter sppeeds. Quite successful but there were a few occasions when I should have realised I needed to get the shutter speed up considerably. Still it's all part of the learning process.
The crow was taken at 1/50th - far too slow but I got away with it.
The heron was enjoying the morning light. [f18 1/100th]
I drove round the boatyards and came across some pretty blue flowers that made me stop and get the camera out of Tiggy's boot. Viper's-bugloss or echium vulgare.
It was then that I realised I was being watched.
I scraped my foot on the gravel to see what he would do. To my surprise he began to run towards me!
He paused, front feet in the air.
I walked down to the other end of the marina towards the Cob Bach reedbed LNR across Embankment Road from the marina. The same heron followed me down. Looking back into the sunlight.
A shelduck demonstrated just how shallow the water was on the pool...
...and a robin landed on the railing at the viewpoint.
Shelduck family party.
I could hear reed warblers in the reeds behind me. A singing bird was perched in view but immediately dropped out of sight. I decided to wait and see if he would sing again. Really tricky to get a view unobstructed by the reeds.
Tuesday 11th June: the pager announced 2 little stints at the new St. Aidan's RSPB reserve. By the time I had arrived they had been transformed into sanderlings! However, with only my iphone I was pleased to photograph the early marsh orchids. Might go back to take some better pictures.
Wednesday 12th June: Last Lap!
Wharram Quarry: just a couple of weak growing common spotted orchids - spring still running very late. I spotted this snail on a dead hawthorn stem.
No butterflies. I headed for Jeffry Bog YWT. Chased a day-flying chimney sweeper moth for about 40 minutes! First for me.
Orchids and butterflies were proving a disappointment. I headed for Fen Bog YWT. Oblong-leaved sundew drosera intermedia.
The North York Moors railway runs alongside Fen Bog. A Stanier 'Black Five' was heading for the seaside.
Finally I ended up at Scaling Dam. Met a local birder who introduced me to a pair of birds he knew very well. You see, this is the female LRP. Note the slight mottling/greying behind the eye. This is probably not diagnostic just a feature of this individual.
Another view.
Purists may frown [they enjoy frowning!] but I have tidied this image. Compare with the one below!
Off she went. It was change-over time. The male arrived.
You see, the birder knew which was which because he knows all about the male because...he's ringed. [Aren't all LRPs!!]
Close-up of the male. Less grey mottling but still a bit.
Tuesday 4th June 2013ff
Depth of field test and Hawnby Crags
Tuesday 4th June 2013 morning
In the garden during the morning in excellent light I tried some flower photos at f18, hoping for good depth of field.
Trillium erectum
Clematis 'Marjorie'
Allium sp.
Fly on euphorbia flowers
Commercial break!!
Can't remember if I advertised the latest Yorkshire Bird report for 2011. Just out last month and available from all good bird reserves... price £12.95 Oh, I almost forgot! Includes 5 photos taken by me.
Tuesday 4th June 2013 afternoon
Needed to be around at home in the morning but in the afternoon I went off to Hawnby Hill [north of Helmsley] to look for the Duke of Burgundy. Couldn't find him anywhere but suspect I needed much more info. I climbed up to Hawnby Crags [300m] and exhausted my inadequate heart completely. The views were terrific.
Looking back towards Hawnby village
I met a meadow pipit near the summit cairn. He was obliging enough to pose for a moment. Since I saw no other walkers I guess people, including dukes, were not a frequent sight.
Looking east towards the coast
On the walk back I looked up to the line of crags I had walked along.
In the car park a pair of spotted flycatchers were busy.
Just in case you don't know the Duke of Burgundy is a rare butterfly I have not yet encountered. I'll keep looking!
Definitely not according to plan!
Thursday 6th June
As part of my depth of field experiment all photos today were taken at f18 with shutter speeds varying from 1/50 to 1/160. I'm impressed I can hand hold steady enouugh to get this degree of sharpness...
Heading off for the day to explore some new sites around Market Weighton. Started at North Newbald Becksies YWT. No sign of marsh orchid. All very lush and overgrown. Whitethroat and blackcap present. Small reserve: 10 minutes is sufficient to survey. Then on to Rifle Butts YWT: also overgrown and not looking a likely site for anything choice but I may be wrong... I headed for Kiplingcotes. Having parked I checked the pager: 4 black terns at Pugney's, Wakefield. Moment's thought then change of plan.
Reached Pugney's: lots of dinghies on the water. Terns had left as the boats launched a few minutes earlier. Now what? Decided to go to Old Moor as I had read that there were southern marsh orchids there. Having asked at reception I soon found orchids but on my way I bumped into a couple of dingy skippers.
Southern marsh orchid
Little colour variation; unspotted leaves. Quite tall and lush growing.
Smaller, slightly paler inflorescence but still tall.
Water mint mentha aquatica
Bog bean menyanthes trifoliata
Damselflies everywhere. Usual plan: photograph first, identify later! Much easier. So thrilled to find I had pictures of Azure damselflies - my first photos of this species. Here they are.
Azure damselflies
Common blue damselfly
A four-spot chaser appeared.
Flag iris iris pseudacorus
Ragged-robin lychnis flos-cuculi
Red clover trifolium pratense 
Pond skater and diving beetle - need further work...
Where next, I wondered. So I headed for Brockadale. Never been before. Lots [and I mean liots] of brimstones and some orange tips: all zipping along. Saw rock rose helianthememum nummularium
A cluster of dandelion seed heads caught my eye...
...as did a swarm of speedwell flowers. [Germander speedwell veronica chamaedrys]
After that the pager announced a black tern at St. Aidan's RSPB, the new reserve at Swillington Ings. I typed in the postcode and off we scampered. I came, I saw and I concurred: black swan tick after all!
More news before too long. Off to import mother-in-law to Yorkshire from Wales to bring her to meet her latest great-grandson.... [and get some Welsh birding in while I'm at it!]
230 UK 2013
Sunday 2nd June 2013
In Search of the Green-winged Orchid
Leyburn old Glebe YWT
This wonderful flower meadow near Wensley contains many wild flowers, foremost of which are the green-winged orchids [anacamptis morio]. These medium sized orchids come in a range of colours. The 'green wings' are less prominent on the darker forms but some of the photos show them quite clearly.
My first ever green-winged orchid.
A white form. Many spikes are small with few flowers.
A paler form, bronze-green lines showing.
Field naturalist at work. Barry gets up close to anacamptis morio.
The perfect spike.
Whilst admiring this specimen Barry pointed out another flower, an even rarer orchid, the burnt or burnt tip orchid, neotinea ustulata. This treasure is a really diminutive species: photographs can be very misleading in terms of scale. These flowers were barely 3-4 inches high.
Near Tiggy we saw crane flies mating.
Next a walk near Morton-on-Swale produced no corn buntings just yellowhammers and a rook.
At Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park things were pretty quiet - the nightingale especially. A willow warbler sang heartily in the sunshine.
A tip-off from a friend of Barry's took us up to Dorman's Pool in search of a lifer butterfly, the dingy skipper. We saw good numbers of butterfly including peacock...
...small tortoiseshell...
...Wall...
...and the dingy skipper now takes centre stage! Tiny and easily missed...
Friday 31st May 2013
Pointless visit to Spurn!
No, only joking! Pointless in the sense that the road to the point isn't there until June 17th, they hope. So faced with a 6 mile walk altogether, there and back, we didn't go. However we had a good time nonetheless. Red-backed shrike on arrival, little terns and some spotflies. However for me it was the swallows and the butterflies that stole the show.
There were swallows at the Warren and some sand martins too.
There were swallows at the Canal Scrape just outside the hide.
We drove down to Kilnsea Wetlands. On arrival a reed bunting was singing from a bush in the car park.
A deer ran across the field.
A butterfly extravaganza began. We saw:
Wall brown butterflies
Brimstones
Painted Ladies
Common blues
Green-veined whites
Peacock [looking very much the worse for wear]
Orange tips [still waiting for a quality orange tip photo!]
Also seen were small whites and small tortoiseshells.
In the ditch was some water crowfoot [ranunculus aquatilis]
Avocets were on the wetlands.
'I'm forever blowing bubbles...'
Down at Sammy's Point [so it wasn't pointless after all!!] we waited to hear a nightingale: seems it was a thrush nightingale in the end but we neither heard nor saw a thing - well except for a trio of captivating spotted flycatchers...
We eventually drove back to the Warren to see if anything else had been reported. Swallows were on the wires by the huts, having a wash and brush up. Some can twist their heads so far they look very weird...
Off with Barry today to see some orchids I hope. News later if our luck is in.
Don't forget to read http://barryjohnbishop.blogspot.co.uk/
Wednesday 22nd May 2013 ff
Tophill Low revisited 22.05.13
If you haven't been to the water works for a while you'll find a few changes afoot.
Tiggy just in shot on the left!
Temminck's stint had been reported at Watton NR, the curious bit of Tophill Low which isn't part of Tophill Low at all but which can be overlooked from their most southerly hide. The bird was easily located in a scope.
Bit of a cuckoo shot [sort of 'proof I saw it' photo] coming up! [Hugely cropped]
LRP on the left; Temminck's on the right. Both asleep!
Not quite so cropped but still pretty distant was a bonus wood sandpiper. Very nice bird.
Even bigger bonus was the bird I just glimpsed scuttling low down in a stand of hawthorn bushes: imagine my shock when it burst into unbelievably loud song: Cetti's warbler.
I decided to head for North Marsh hide where I had seen reed warbler close up other years. This turned out to be a good idea. I sat and watched and took some photos whilst listening to the sounds of the reed warblers coming from the reedbed and the cuckoo singing unseen nearby.
Perched up singing in the sunlight is one thing. Scuttling in nearby brambles for insects [and then flying straight back and diving low into the reeds], the birds can look confusingly different. More reed warblers, believe it or not!
The light changed as the clouds rolled by.
3 ticks: Double Nelson 222
It's a wonderful hobby!
Lakenheath Fen 26.05.13
Barry and I left home just after the dawn had finished cracking hoping to get to Lakenheath Fen RSPB to see the wonderful red-footed falcon that had taken up [no doubt temporary] residence there. An adult male, I had seen some amazing photos that made me want to photograph this bird.
We soon had our first sighting once we had parked at 8.50am in an already overflowing car park. Most of Britain's birders had the same idea as us. Eventually we met some birders we knew by sight - no surprise in the end.
The falcon put on a fine display but, you know, you always want to get that bit nearer. You dream of that 600mm lens!
A hobby was spotted perched in a tree.
He gave us a great display too - plus the best images of the day. Who's complaining?
The red-foot appeared from time to time but never very close.
The hobby caught something to eat.
Ok. Let's bring on the best of the red-foot images!
The next 3 poor quality but consecutive photos are included because I spotted the insect that the bird had spotted! Towards top right, then above wing.
Finally grabbed!
Let's not forget the hobbies: they were wonderful too!
We walked round the reserve and also saw Savi's warbler and garden warbler. A cuckoo posed in the woods but, for once, not what I call a cuckoo-type photograph!
Some cygnets appeared.
Barry used the mute swan's head as a perch to look over the reedbed!
I located a singing whitethroat.
We moved on to Weeting Heath NWT where we saw stone curlew quite easily plus a nice spotted flycatcher. Then on again for a walk round East Wretham Heath NWT. Here things were rather quiet. A white butterfly of some kind turned out to be a female brimstone when we looked at the photographs.
Some visitors had located a smart male redstart.
Preening. Nice image.
Saltholme RSPB 28.05.13
After 2 hours at Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park listening to an invisible nightingale I wandered down to Saltholme and saw one of the two great white egrets. Little egret on the left in the distance. Spot the little gull also!
I couldn't resist a few tern shots from the hide!
A pipt landed on the fence. It looked a bit different so I wondered if it was a tree pipit but came to the inevitable meadow conclusion. It seemed nervous and soon left.
Walking back some cows were pressing up against one of the solid gateways. I wondered who was watching who!?
Mute swans flew past, noisy wingbeats filling the air.
Strensall Common/North Cave
Thursday 29.05.13
Barry and I risked a wet afternoon [we got one!] to look for wood lark and tree pipit on Strensall Common. Unfortunately the firing ranges were busy and with the sound of gunfire, some of the reserve was off limit.
We found the wood larks - a pair - but no sign of tree pipit. It began to rain heavily so we set off back to the car. See Barry's blog for more [http://barryjohnbishop.blogspot.co.uk/] and drove to North Cave to hide from the weather. That's what hides are for! Sanderlings were present but a bit too far away. This avocet was nearby, well rain-splashed!
Borage looked well in the wet.
Just had my 6,000th visitor. Great news!