Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
23rd August 2015 ff
Two days in August
Sunday 23rd August: a seawatch at Flamborough was very quiet - I think the good stuff went through before I arrived. But there's time yet this autumn... I drove round to Thornwick pool. Black-tailed skimmer on the mud bank by the hide.
A couple of common sandpipers dropped in.
Two knot were fairly settled and eventually came close.
Attempts to find the elusive night heron at Swillington ended in failure - the second effort failed by one minute! A common hawker...
...and a common darter were consolation prizes.
Jobs in the garden on the 24th August meant I didn't get away till after noon. I decided to dash to Conder Green, south of Lancaster and try for the lesser yellowlegs. A favourite bird since, when just starting birding, I saw one at Thornham, Norfolk. My wife and I were puzzled why cars suddenly came tearing down the harbour track every couple of minutes to see this bird. We knew nothing then of pagers!
Here's the very long-legged Mr. Yellowlegs!
I joined a small group of birders and this was my initial view [left-hand bird]. I drove round to the north side of the location where the light was worse but you could get much closer to the bird.
Final shot shows the yellowlegs with two ruff - really emphasises the length of those legs - almost stilt-like!
20th-21st August 2015
RBS didn't let me down!
August 20th at Carr Naze: saw 2 wrynecks at once perched on the same dead branch! Distant however so photo is quite poor. Icterine warbler there too but not seen by me.
Friday 21st August took me to Hummersea above Skinningrove. I met Renton Charman there - a well-known local photographer with a nice big lens! I told him we needed to go down the steps towards the beach as the pager suggested the 'second bench' as a good viewpoint. Other birders came into view as we descended. And as the title of this posting goes, the RBS didn't let us down! Here it is - adult male!
Twigs could be a problem!
Messing with a few photos from Thornwick Pool on 16.08.15 I though I'd include them in as Sam Goldwyn used to say!
Ruff and woodsand.
254 UK 2015
15th - 17th August 2015
Just keeping my eye in!
They say practice makes perfect. Well, in that case I've a long way to go! But I do believe in getting out there among the birds as much as I can. The last few days were more photo-opps than new birds. Only tick was a wood warbler at Sandy Bay with Alan Whitehead although I didn't get a brilliant view until he had moved on. And even then it was too quick for me to grab a shot.
I'm rambling. Back to the beginning...
Saturday 15th August I went back to Blacktoft to get a better photo of the spotted crake. I waited an hour or so but it didn't show. Greenshank and multi-egrets only.
I headed for Kilnsea. Saw the wood warbler, missed the icterine. Wall butterflies everywhere. I said to a chap while we waited to see a barred warbler:
'Walls everywhere. All around us.'
Guess he thought I was a head-case. He moved away. Walls!
Sunday 16th August at Flamborough for a red-backed shrike. Tempted by quality waders at Thornwick Pool I decided the shrike could wait. When I finally got to Old Fall a tourist helicopter offering short trips round the Head had scared it off 5 minutes earlier. We lingered but never saw it. No regrets - the birding at Thornwick was brilliant. Nice to see Nigel Stewart there - good stint photos, Nigel!
Here are my Thornwick waders. Ruff first.
A couple of common darter dragonflies were flying around, attached to each other whilst the female was ovipositing as she was dragged around. Photographically limited but it was worth a try!
I waited while an adult little stint slowly came closer.
The stint never came as close as the ruff but the wood sandpiper did! One of my all-time favourite birds.
All was pretty quiet along the Old Fall path [apart from helicopters]. Lemonhammer.
The plan was to call at Hornsea to see if any little gulls were waiting to be photographed and then catch the crake At Blacktoft in the better afternoon light. Afternoons are usually better there as the sun is then behind you. I ran out of time but this fellow did turn up for me! Nice little gull.
Monday 16th August back to Blacktoft for a 3pm shift! Spotted crake duly turned up.
As did a great white.
'Two a penny these days!' said one miserable birder.
There's quite a lot of them around you know. Great whites and miserable birders. I particularly don't care for those who tell you nothing; who don't reply when you say hello. I remember last year when Barry and I made enquiries of one chap he replied 'I prefer to find my own birds!'
Moral: always greet; always share. More fun for all that way.
Great white then! In the distance at Singleton.
It flew nearer...
...and nearer.
251 UK birds 2015
27th July -12th August 2015
Over the hills and far away...
Part one
It's been a long time coming...
Before I really got going on my trip down south I spent an afternoon 0n Monday July 27th at Blacktoft. Not much going on really but a juvenile yellow wagtail popped in at Marshland...
...and some ruffs came close to the hide.
On the way home I paused to watch some untickable guinea fowl.
But ultimately it was all my niece's doing. She had decided to get married...and I was to turn a wedding weekend into a slightly longer bird and butterfly tour of Hampshire and 3 counties beyond. I began before the wedding by spending a whole day at Martin Down NNR on Thursday July 30th. Here I saw my first ever chalkhill blue butterflies. Only two of them but there would be more another day!
Two views of Martin Down.
An Essex skipper landed close by.
Walking on I spotted a yellowhammer [juvenile looking like a baby chicken!] and a stonechat at the same moment.
I soon met my first of many dark green fritillaries. A choice butterfly in Yorkshire, they showed themselves to be regular in most places I visited including down on the coast. Let's see a few.
Oops! Frightened him off!
More Essex skippers and brimstones were about too...
...and look who's coming up the stem.
If the name dark green fritillary worries you I can see a bit of green on this one!
A burnet moth was weighing down this field scabious.
Feeling tired after a very long walk and approaching the car park I passed through a large area of scrub and bramble. A tiny butterfly gave me a big surprise!
My first ever small blue. Could scarcely believe they make butterflies so tiny! Undersides a bit like a tiny holly blue.
I only saw the one but I saw more another day.
Last dark green fritillary for now.
Martin Down comes in two sections - the downland itself and a much smaller wooded section north of the A354 Salisbury to Blandford road. I decided to see what the woodland had to offer...
Skippers
Brown argus.
Marbled white
White admiral
Then a real treat. I suspected I had seen a silver-washed fritillary fly past me at speed in one of the glades but then more co-operative specimens allowed me to take their picture...
These two images shows why they are called silver-washed.
Finally, to complete a full house of about 19 butterfly species seen that day, a gatekeeper and a comma.
I spent the night in Salisbury [Wiltshire] and ate at the Boat House by the river. I spotted a water vole on some debris floating in the middle of the river by the Waitrose supermarket! Good to see! Friday 31st July I headed into Dorset to Fontmell Down. The view from the Down is wonderful as shown in this short iphone clip.
I soon heard the low gruff calls of the local ravens.
Gatekeepers were numerous wherever there was some scrub cover.
Peeping through the gorse I spotted a linnet.
Meadow brown on bramble.
Common blue.
Fontmell Down is in the flight path of light aircraft taking off from the busy Compton Abbas airfield. They come pretty close overhead!
A buzzard [not photographed] and a distant red kite were soon seen off by the ravens.
Peacock
I headed south toward Lulworth Cove in search of another lifer butterfly, the Lulworth Skipper. My arrival at Lulworth Cove was not encouraging: a car park with hundreds of cars; lots of people with dogs; huge visitor centre selling tacky trash and the smell of fish and chips. Yet I was amazed to see butterflies amongst all this. It was very warm with only a very gentle breeze. Picture postcard views!
I moved away from the crowds towards a large patch of thistle, bramble and nettles near the cliff top. This proved to be an excellent ploy...
The lovely dark green fritillaries again...
...and marbled whites a-plenty!
A large metallic green beetle caught my eye. I think it is a rose chafer beetle. Rather stunning!
Next I was delighted to spend some time photographing an amenable painted lady.
A brown argus showed deep in the vegetation. I managed to get a clean shot.
Then I saw my prime target, a Lulworth skipper! It was chased off by a gatekeeper before I could get a photograph. Annoyed at my failure to get the shot I spent some time looking for it. Eventually it showed again. Note the crescent markings on the wing. Lulworths are also a bit darker than the other skippers.
I had time now to take more notice of my surroundings. Looking out to sea the view of how the rock strata have been thrust upwards and back again involves unimaginable forces. Geology gets real as you take in a view like this.
I headed for Basingstoke and the wedding. Time to put my wanderings on hold!
Saturday August 1st I spent part of the morning before we were due at Silchester Hall visiting the Roman town of Calleva [green woodpecker tick] with my son Malcolm, his partner Alison and our grand-daughter Evalyn. At the north gate we met a gatekeeper!
Malcolm spotted a buzzard overhead.
Holly blue butterflies were seen along the still substantial Roman walls.
Whilst they went to get ready for the afternoon's ceremonies I decided I had time to walk round Silchester Common.
Who is this peeping over the bracken?
It's the beautiful silver-washed fritillary.
Tempted to think I had seen a silver-spotted skipper but on reflection it's a large skipper.
I also saw one of those butterflies we are lucky enough to see back home in the garden - a speckled wood.
At the wedding venue I was impressed by an enormous magnolia - magnolia grandiflora with flowers a foot across and a scent of pineapple.
Sunday 2nd August back on my travels! I went first to Stockbridge Down NT, east of Stockbridge. Great place! Chalkhill blues seen even in the car park.
I spotted the much shyer females too.
I believe this is a bluer than usual common blue female - also at Stockbridge Down...
...and a holly blue.
I drove south to the Isle [well, nearly] of Portland. Geographically it is a tied island - a term for islands joined to a larger land mass by a spit of debris, in this case Chesil Beach. The plan was to visit two Butterfly Conservation reserves - both in sections of quarries that have been worked out although working quarries are still close by. First I called at Broadcroft Quarry in Easton. Small blues abounded.
A rather tatty female small blue.
Another basking in the reflected heat from thrown-away packaging.
A rather worn-looking skipper.
Common blues and chalkhills present too but no sign of any silver-studded blues, alas!
Common blue
I moved on to Perryfields Quarry reserve very much within a working quarry.
Chalkhills
Burnet moth
Marbled white
Slightly unusual view of a marbled white.
I drove down to Portland Bill. A birder took me to the tip of the Bill to watch a couple of balearic shearwaters through our scopes. Amazingly good views pretty close in following a fishing boat. The shearwater caught a fish scrap and was then 'mobbed and robbed' by the bigger gulls, pushing it under water. Happily it recovered and continued to fly along behind the pack of gulls but keeping a little further back out of trouble. A quarter of an hour's great viewing experience. Sorry no photos but I did snap at a great black-backed gull as it flew over my head.
Knowing I had an hotel booking in Exeter I couldn't linger too long. I went down onto Chesil Beach. Pebbles!
Views from Chesil Beach looking east.
Monday 3rd August from my hotel in Exeter I went to Bicton Common and then East Budleigh common looking for butterflies.
Small heath and small copper.
I was pleasantly surprised to see graylings in good numbers.
A yellowhammer watched me from a dead shrub.
I got down low to photograph this dragonfly. [Yellowish stripes on legs = common darter]
A large skipper and a green-veined white near the car park.
A large stand of acanthus [a plant introduced by the Romans] looked splendid on the edge of the common. Exeter was a large roman settlement named Isca.
I left Devon for Woody Bay in North Devon. I had two targets in mind. The first was to see Chelfham Viaduct the largest bridge structure in Britain on a narrow gauge railway. Number two: to see the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway's first section of fully restored line. Maybe in my lifetime the railway will awaken fully. Glory days:
On Monday 30 September 1935, the day after the railway closed, a wreath of bronze chrysanthemums was laid on the Barnstaple Town Station stop block. Sent by Woody Bay resident Paymaster Captain Thomas Alfred Woolf, R.N. (Retired.) it bore a black-edged, hand-written card on which was written:
“To Barnstaple & Lynton Railway, with regret and sorrow from a constant user and admirer. Perchance it is not dead but sleepeth".
Here's the viaduct.
And here's the railway itself at Woody Bay station.
Video clips. Including the bit where I lost my balance and nearly ended up rolling around on the floor!
Tuesday 4th August and a late departure for Spurn to pick up a black stork in the Well Field.
Distant views I'm afraid and we waited in vain for a fly round!
End of part One
Scroll down for the conclusion!
6th-12th August 2015
Over the hills and far away - Part 2
I didn't know I was subject to a blog size limit, so here is the concluding part of my latest adventures.
Larophiles may like this...
Thursday 6th August I got up early and headed for Pennington Flash in Lancashire [well, it used to be called Lancashire!]. On arrival I strolled over towards the hide [having been before I knew it was close by] and immediately saw the bird swimming along by the path. Bird? What bird?
Oh, just a sabine's gull.
First view - and then it came nearer!
Under attack from b-hg!
I then drove to Preston Dock in the rain to look for a ring-billed gull. Easy. it was on the nearest wave-breaker.
Action shots!
On Monday 10th August I drove north to near Trimdon to look for some reported little owls in a former quarry.
Three birds seen.
Two birds.
Camouflage!
Small heath butterfly in the quarry.
Next stop Low Gelt Sand Quarry near Brampton, Cumbria. I paid my money at the car park and set off. It rained heavily and I was glad of the RSPB gazebo at the watchpoint.
if you look along the fence line at the top of the quarry, roughly centre picture, a dark splodge marks the recess where the bee-eater tunnel is located. It was great to watch the birds in the scope coming and going to the nest. Distant flight shots were the best I could manage.
Finally I reach the last entry in this very long two-part blog! Wednesday 12th August was indeed a glorious day. I set off early for Blacktoft to see a spotted crake.
Juv robin round my feet in the car park.
The light isn't good at Blacktoft in the mornings, especially on a day of bright, harsh sunshine. The crake did its best!
No, it's not a moorhen!
It was then on to the Humberston Fitties to see a pectoral sandpiper.
Stop hiding from me!
I moved down onto the dipping platform to watch the pecsand. Some dunlin came close. One came spectacularly close!
Preening time.
Final call was at my beloved Chambers Farm for a butterfly walk. Nothing new to report but some nice butterflies including good numbers of painted ladies.
Two silver-washed fritillaries also seen and purple hairstreaks but they didn't pose for me!
Meanwhile, at home, Sheila had two unusual visitors. We often hear the song thrush in spring but he is rarely seen near the house. This one came to the bird table by the house and Sheila managed to catch him!
As I arrived home she also managed to grab a shot of a southern hawker dragonfly that had flown into the house. We released him unharmed - but not before we got a photo!
