Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
11th-16th August 2014
All Quiet on Every Front!
It wouldn't be true to say there's nothing about but it does seem as if we are waiting for something big to happen. Where will it be? When? Will the skuas and shearwaters be around when I am? We will see. If we knew, there'd be no point.
What have I been doing? Well, two trips to Susworth to try to see the cattle egret resulted in second time lucky [11th August]. In willows on the bank of the Trent.
We walked along the bank to get nearer. Surprisingly small bird when seen with a wood pigeon!
Obviously a cattle egret posed for the original Liverpool Liver bird!
Moving on... August 13th we went to Spurn. The tiny hide at Kilnsea Wetlands was full of birders who made no effort to accommodate us or welcome us and preferred to look at very little rather than move on and let others have a look. We soon left and went to scan Beacon Ponds. Here there were thousands of knot plus sandwich and little terns. In flight the red knot looked splendid.
A little egret gave great views as it came towards us.
Dunlin on the sands by the Crown & Anchor.
Swallow from Canal Scrape hide.
Some mallards flew over.
We spotted roe deer along the canal.
A few butterflies were seen including this common blue male.
This rather worn wall butterfly gave us a chase while we checked its identification. on the way home we called at North Cave but all was very quiet there: a little grebe drifted past South Hide.
15th August: I went to Flamborough Head for a seawatch [nothing special to report] and then on to Thornwick Pool where a young shelduck and a linnet were present.
At Bempton I can never resist photographing a gannet or two...
Squabbles ensue when two birds want to land on the same tiny spot!
There were a few kittiwakes still and fulmars.
I watched this juvenile kittiwake fly in and being greeted affectionately by its parents on the cliff. Or were they berating it for staying out too long?
I like these shots!
A couple of recent dragons!
August 16th Blacktoft: good selection of waders present but the light was poor and the birds were distant. Here's a couple of greenshank.
UK 2014: 234
2nd August ff 2014
Butterfly Days encore!
I'd never been to Chambers Farm Wood [no apostrophe apparently], in fact I'd never heard of the place until I came across the name in a butterfly book. Further research led me to Butterfly Conservation's Lincolnshire sightings page and, well, I went. Three lifer butterflies plus more purple hairstreaks. Roll on next year: I was too late for some species.
The day before however I took a few snaps in the garden at home.
Holly blues, second brood, were too fast for me. Eventually managed this one!
On to Chambers Farm Wood. I'll start modestly with a speckled wood basking in sunshine...
Before long I was introduced to my first ever white admiral, perched inaccessibly for the camera, the resulting image has an ethereal aura, I think.
In fact the white admirals I saw were looking rather tatty. But it was a lifer butterfly, so who cares?
There were many dragonflies about. Hawkers and darters...
...plus the more common butterflies...
A group had gathered round a purple hairstreak.
I spotted a very small speckled wood...
...and a brimstone. Well camouflaged in the sunshine!
And when the cloud came over too!
Probable common hawker...
...and common darter immature.
There are very few benches but I spotted an old tree trunk and was glad of a rest until I spotted another white admiral on the brambles.
I set off back north and called at Old Moor in case the great white egret was photographable. It wasn't there but this cormorant and a common sandpiper were.
Brown argus.
Finally the best of all - brown hairstreak. The largest of the hairstreaks and the underwings are glorious!! This is a male: females are even brighter.
Just out of interest here are all the four hairstreaks I have seen - there's just one missing, the very rare black hairstreak.
Green White-letter
Purple & Brown
23rd July - 1st August 2014
Five Days of a Butterfly Summer
1: July 23rd: Fen Bog, Ellerburn Bank and Scaling Dam
Barry and I hoped to renew our acquaintance with dark green fritillary and marbled white at the wonderful YWT reserve at Ellerburn Bank. Both duly obliged minutes after our arrival.
Marbled whites...
...and a ringlet...
...and lots of views of dark green fritillary [up to 3 present].
There were other butterflies too...small skipper...
...green-veined white...
...meadow brown...
...and small heath.
A good stand of woolly thistle cirsium eriophorum looked well against the darkness of the pine plantation behind it.
We moved on to Fen Bog YWT hoping for large heath and small pearl-bordered fritillary. Dark green fritillary surprised us there too!
Sir Nigel Gresley steamed past rushing back to Pickering.
Down by the marshy areas this dragonfly [keeled skimmer] posed for us.
There were butterflies too...small heath...
...small pearl-bordered [eventually located by a sharp-eyed young man]...but really difficult to photograph in the long grass...
...small tortoiseshell...
...and ringlet with bees and hover flies [blue hoverfly is leucozona glaucia].
We spotted a family of whinchats. Fledglings were around: the male kept watch from his lookout.
Final call of the day at Scaling Dam. Common sandpiper entertained us.
2: July 24th: In the garden
Speckled woods are numerous in the garden this year - as are holly blues but they aren't so accommodating!
3: July 25th: Fen Bog, Pexton Bank, Kiplingcotes and Beverley Westwood
I returned alone to Fen Bog looking for large heath and hoping also to find Pexton Bank somewhere near Ellerburn Bank...
Fen Bog first: keeled skimmer still in evidence.
Fresh looking willow warbler in the lonely rowan tree.
No sign of large heath butterfly, I headed for Dalby Forest and parked at the Pexton Moor car park. I walked south along a level path along a ridge. Dark green fritillary dashed past me. Marbled white fluttered below, down what I eventually realised was Pexton Bank. I had found it! A song thrush was gathering food.
Walking on I came to Ellerburn Bank, a mere 200m from Pexton Bank. If only I had known, could have saved a long walk and the £7 toll charge! But I might have missed this photo of a tiny fern growing on the top of an old tree stump.
I decided to drive south to Kiplingcotes to meet Barry later in the afternoon. He hadn't arrived so I set off for the old quarry. A mistle thrush looked strikingly pale - my imaginary ptarmigan!
Autumn gentian gentianella amarella was in flower on the quarry floor.
I took the steps up to the flower meadow. There were many marbled whites...
Two butterflies in this photo too!
Initially I didn't include the next photo because the red dot puzzled me until I read that marbled whites can carry a red parasite mite on their body. Like this one!
My favourite image from this blog, I think.
By the quarry gates I photographed comma...
...in flight with a bonus small skipper...
...a six-spot burnet moth...
...and a gatekeeper or hedge brown as some people call them. All the books use the name gatekeeper nowadays. This one was photographed through the bars of a gate funnily enough!!
Having found Barry I set off for Beverley Racecourse to look for purple hairstreak butterflies in the oak trees. This was my second attempt: hopefully a bit later in the day would do the trick. Barry followed on later. I had several possibles but after Barry arrived we saw one land low down. A basking female. So here's a lifer butterfly for me...
4: July 28th: Alkborough Flats
Someone said you can photograph bearded tits on a quiet day at Alkborough. I thought I'd try...but the biggest surprise came later as I was almost back at the car park...
More of that later.
A common darter perched in the sunshine for me.
Reed warblers were plentiful.
There were mipits on the fence.
I sat in the hide and watched over a thousand avocets and 100+ godwits. I waited for the snowstorm as the avocets took off but they continued to doze on the sand. Then this little bird made my day!
After bearded tits I went in search of ruddy shelducks. No sign but this bright little butterfly turned up. Then another. Small copper - lovely small bright and fast flying butterfly but in the mood to enjoy the sunshine.
Flying away!
Landing again!
Further on another specimen actually posed for me!
Approaching the car I saw a skipper. It was tiny. I watched it as it swayed about in the gentle breeze. In the bins I confirmed what I only hoped: a lifer Essex skipper with its black antennae tips!
Let's get a bit closer.
5: July 29th: Greatham Creek; Cresswell Pond; Newburn Bridge and back to Greatham Creek again!
Barry and I headed north, hoping like Micawber that something would turn up. We walked to Greatham Creek. Inquisitive seals!
A solitary curlew combed the black banks of the creek.
A wall butterfly popped up - my second of the year - not a common butterfly by any means.
The sea lavender limonium vulgare was in full flower.
The pager announced a stilt sandpiper at Cresswell Pond. 'Time to go!' I said to Barry. We drove north through the Tyne Tunnel. Time now for one of my specials: what I call a cuckoo type photo or, if you like, a photo of a bird that is so far away you can tell it's there but no more than that. Very rare stilt sandpiper [my second ever; lifer for Barry] asleep at the water's edge, just left of the swimming tufted duck!
We drove back south after a while, calling at Newburn Bridge. Winter must be coming: my friendly Mediterranean gull was back.
He's been busy. He's been to Ireland and learnt how to Riverdance!!
And so back to Greatham Creek again to continue where we left off as it were... Wild parsnip pastinaca sativa.
Grayling butterflies - once we'd spotted one they seemed to be everywhere! Here's a few.
I have one book with a photo of a grayling's upper wings. The book says it's a rare photo. Well, without getting too conceited, mine are better.
Carline thistles were in flower too...
...plus what I think is a very late flowering marsh orchid - growing in dry stony clinker!
We even found a probable Essex skipper. I was getting tired and should have made more of an effort to get a clear view of those antennae tips. What do you think?
Final grayling: my best grayling shot, I think.
6: August 1st: In the garden again!
Found in the garage by Sheila after I'd walked past it several times! Poplar hawk moth.
UK 2014 231
16th-18th July 2014
White-letter day!
- more of that later...
but first of all it's cuckoo time at Blacktoft Sands
Wednesday July 16th
A magpie was already feeling the heat.
Little egrets were plentiful.
The path to Ousefleet was closed for haymaking but no-one had told this pheasant!
At Marshland the spotted redshanks, mixed in with some commons, were showing well.
One green sandpiper.
Up to eight greenshanks.
And then the cuckoo appeared. I'll still be trying for a really top quality cuckoo photo but these are better than my previous efforts.
Big fat juicy caterpillar in bill!
Exploring Tocketts Lythe near Guisborough
Thursday 17th July
Sheila and I headed north in the afternoon planning to find the abandoned old road to Skelton at NZ 622 172 in the hope of locating a lifer butterfly: white-letter hairstreaks. We walked up the hill from where we had parked alongside the A173 near the north end of Mucky Lane. We soon saw butterflies. Commas.
A few likely suspects flitted into view and were gone over the tree tops. We returned to the brambles near the top of the rise hoping the butterflies would come down to nectar in the late afternoon.
Comma, worker bee and white-letter sharing the flowers.
Still time to go elsewhere we decided to head for South Gare near Redcar and look for grayling on the slag fields [try NZ 560 267]. That proved instantaneous. There were lots of them but they disappear on landing as they are so brilliantly camouflaged.
Whilst I looked for more this [juvenile?] stonechat perched up for me.
Coming up over a boulder...
The carline thistles carlina vulgaris were in flower.
Friday 18th July was one of those very rare days when the weather let me down. The forecast was misleading, the wind got up, the temperature plummeted out on the North York Moors [I put a sweater on for the first time in weeks] and then the rain came. No small pearl-bordered, dark green fritillaries or marbled whites. Just one solitary small skipper.
I drove home. There'll be other days......
10th-11th July 2014
Old Moor's Almanac!
Thursday 10th: at home in the garden
Jobs around the garden and a rather worn comma that kept appearing over the house roof and then disappearing again. Tended to appear as soon as I had put the camera down. Eventually caught it on the hop as it were.
On the leaves of the plant you make beer with, I mean.
A cheeky sparrow was waiting for me to skedaddle so he could return to the feeder.
Friday 11th July: Old Moor
Ruff, yaffles and co!
'And co' being some butterflies and a charming female blackcap. In this day and age one might just dare to wonder: why are birds always named after the male of the species? This could be a browncap. Blackbirds could be brownbirds!
This comma was quite smart.
Gatekeeper.
Small skipper male.
Ringlet.
Ruff down on the wader scrape.
Finally and best of all: the yaffles. My first ever photos of green woodpecker. [A small milestone: my 275th British bird species photographed - although a few could do with replacing with better shots!]
Juvenile.
Adult.
Cheers! Thanks for that!
