Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
Monday 12th August - Monday 19th August 2013
Normal Service Resumed!
The fibre optic cable broadband was out for just under a week so although I've been out birding the website has been quiet. Thought it was my hub but it was affecting lots of local properties. It's catch-up time!
A foretaste!
12th August:Hartlepool & Saltholme
It seems a very quiet time since the bridled tern excited my life! At Newburn Bridge the medgull was back on her lamp-post. All's right with the world then! Perhaps she'll be there all winter again!
On the Headland a juvenile starling looked very fine.
I spotted another medgull...
...and a ringed plover.
On to Salthome where my attention turned to damselflies. I was pleased with some of these images, especially the emerald damselflies that perch with wings open.
Three greenshanks graced Saltholme pools plus a tufted duck with her young. They seemed to be doing well.
Five black-tailed godwits flew over. They always seem to photograph well.
14th August: Old Moor and the View from our house!
I'll begin with a couple of common chaser shots. Note the web attached to the seed head.
However the highlight of the visit was a spoonbill, seen first sleeping indolently down at Wath Ings.
Eventually we were treated to a brief fly round. I grabbed and pointed...
Later, coming out of the Wader Scrape hide, Barry suddenly spotted the spoonbill coming towards us. The rest, as they say, is pictures!
At the Family Hide a cormorant sat [photogenically, I thought] on a rock.
Nearby many sand martins were clustering around one of the islands, feeding on caterpillars maybe on the thistles.
Walking towards the reedbeds we saw a brimstone butterfly...
...and a common blue.
A bullfinch was feeding near the feeders.
Once back home, my wife said: 'What's that bird on the roof across the road?'
I crept out to the car, grabbed camera, took photos, walked ten paces, took photos, walked four paces... It fled!
15th Briefly at Blacktoft
Birding world very quiet. Blacktoft pretty much the same. Garganey in eclipse. Wow!
17th: Daddy at Home!
What long legs you've got!!
18th: Blacktoft again!
Barry and I were hoping for a waderfest!
A red underwing moth was sleeping on Reception shed. Perhaps Blacktoft warrants a visitor centre... [Red and black underwing very striking when seen - but not today!]
Waders: ruffs.
Lapwings and a godwit.
Snipe!
19th: Crossbills galore! It's a drake!
I went back to Broomhead Reservoir near the fabulously named hamlet of Wigtwizzle to see the crossbills. The two-barred were still around but in no mood to pose for my camera. Here's a sample juvenile crossbill with a male also partially visible.
After observing lots of crossbills in the scope I decided to move on after seeing one female two-barred quite well but too far to photograph.
At Fairburn Ings I photographed this mandarin - a drake in fact in eclipse plumage as the drakes are the ones with a red bill! Amazing how eclipse drake looks so like an adult female...
Walking to the Kingfisher Screen [where I had several fleeting views of the blue streaks] I saw another late brimstone.
Finally, returning to Pickup Hide I had views of a sedge warbler by the sand martin wall.
Nice way to end the blog.
246 UK 2013
7th & 8th August 2013
Not only birds have wings...
Wednesday 7th August
Barry and I spent the afternoon at North Cave looking for butterflies and dragonflies - and, of course, for anything else that happened to turn up!
Let's start with a nice common blue butterfly...
...followed by a common blue damselfly.
This hoverfly was... well, hovering!
Note the beetle, right, coming to have a look.
Meadow browns were showy today, basking with their wings open.
A common darter posed for some nice images.
We were quite surprised to see a brimstone butterfly in August.
Note how almost transparent the butterfly is: you can see the brown stalk through its wings. There were good numbers of small skippers about too.
Plus large whites...
...green veined whites...
...peacocks in huge numbers, looking very pristine...
...speckled woods...
...and very hard to pin down small tortoiseshells. Of course we don't pin down our butterflies these days - only metaphorically!
Some friendly birders put us on to a group of corn buntings. Great views were had including this sequence. My first photos of corn buntings.
We spent a while in East Hide. Some common terns were busy fishing for their youngsters. Black tip to the bill...
...no black tip! But still a common tern I think.
Two black birds!
A little grebe came up close.
Thursday 8th August
This time we went early to Flamborough for a seawatch. Nothing special seen on the sea other than a few manx shearwaters, fulmars, puffins, gannets and lots of pretty juvenile kittiwakes. However as we got out of Tiggy [literally] I spotted a very white bird over by the farm to the south...
..and then, a little later on the clifftop, a wheatear.
Below we watched a kayaking fisherman and a nearby seal.
Looking at the photos I am concerned the seal was somehow entangled in some rope.
Find of the day was when Barry spotted a brightly coloured little butterfly - a small copper. Only small copper has black spots like this - however he was unwilling to give really good views.
We moved on to Thornwick Pools hide where we saw dunlin, greylags...
...and a young grey [?] wagtail.
Always a good idea to check for the enemy!
Nice pose.
We finished the day at Fairburn where we found a female mandarin duck [thanks to the birders at North Cave the day before] and we may have seen a Caspian gull. On the other hand we may not! So not counted. Still on 245 2013. It's about time a biggy came along!!
Dont forget to visit http://barryjohnbishop.blogspot.co.uk/ for another 'take' on our adventures!
Happy birding!
Tuesday 30th July 2013 ff
To destinations unknown!
Tuesday 3oth July: at home in the garden
Saw small white, large white, green-veined white, peacock, holly blue, ringlet and comma butterflies today in the garden. At least I think it was holly blue as that's the blue we normally get in the garden but it flew off over the hedge the moment I saw it. It appeared again later and disappeared over the same hedge equally quickly!
Here are the ones I managed to photograph.
The comma rested briefly on a 6 foot fence top - so not a great image.
This hoverfly was inside a daylily flower.
Heysham Nuclear Power Station
Thursday August 1st 2013
A long drive with a few stops on the way, eventually Barry and I reached Heysham and soon found our way to the seawall and to the outfalls of the nuclear power station. The walk was shorter than I expected; the weather was fine, sunny and getting warmer all the time.
We began to scan the gulls. I soon found a couple of Mediterranean gulls. It turned out later that there were over a dozen present. Some fine looking lesser black-backs loitered below the seawall.
Eventually, after about 3 hours I spotted a smart looking gull with a black head and with very black underwings. Stupidly I thought I had found the Bonaparte's but it was a very smart adult little gull. Really cross with myself for not thinking 'little gull' straightaway. Anyway, about 15 minutes later Barry found the Bonaparte's on the mud beyond the first outfall. [Purely as a throwaway remark, I really have no idea which is regarded as the first outfall. The one you come to first from the footpath or the one nearer the harbour?] We had good views in our scopes.
Earlier I had photographed this whimbrel.
When it flew off it only went across to the rock armour of the outfall.
On the walk back I photographed small skipper and common blue butterflies.
There's a fenced pond near the entrance to the informal sort of nature reserve. Barry spotted lots of damselflies and dragonflies.
Female brown hawker ovipositing.
Common darter also present.
Back to Blacktoft with Barry
Saturday August 3rd 2013
Firstly however we called at Boston Park to pick up a black-necked grebe for Barry's [soon to be!] record-breaking year list. Then it was on to Blacktoft. A pheasant welcomed me as I walked over the hump that protects the fields from the marshes by the feeder station.
In Marshland were a good number of waders including dunlin, spotshank, redshank, ruff, lapwing, godwit plus sedge warblers, bearded tits and even an eclipse garganey. A wood sandpiper was seen fleetingly. The green sandpipers were more accommodating.
From Xerox we added avocets and marsh harriers.
Down to Townend and Singleton where we saw large numbers of snipe and egrets.
Back at home a moth had spent the day on the kitchen window sill. Pyrausta purpuralis doesn't even enjoy a more common name! Still pretty little micro moth.
24th-27th July 2013
Home & Garden
Wednesday 24th July 2013
Whilst working in the garden I had the camera handy as there were butterflies about. With the macro lens on I chased gatekeepers, commas and peacocks to no avail! I did catch up with a few insects and the flowers were less likely to fly away...
Above is the rare and sterile white form of rosebay willowherb, chamerion angustifolium album.
Bees were busy on the daisies.
Green-veined white
Speckled wood
Large white
You can see his proboscis taking nectar.
Ringlet on the house wall.
Baird's or white-rumped?
Thursday 25th July 2013
Barry and I drove down to Frampton Marsh with the hope of curlew sandpiper, little stint, white-rumped sandpiper, Montagu's harrier. Mouth-wateringly tempting! We saw none of these. We thought we saw a white-rumped sandpiper on arrival but by the afternoon the experts had changed it into a Baird's sandpiper. We didn't mind. The curlew sands had been seen at high tide but had gone. My white-rumped/Baird's photos were too distant to merit inclusion so here's a ruff instead!!
We saw RPs ...
...and LRPs...
..and black-tailed godwits.
A common blue paused in the sunshine.
A little egret sought food in front of one of the hides.
My wife and I went to Blacktoft...
Friday 26th July 2013
Met Mike Painter, former work colleague. Not seen since reorganisation in 1985! Hope he wasn't too shocked! Marshland had the birds. Godwits were flying about.
There were quite a few greensands.
The avocet youngsters were doing well.
A few yellow wagtail dropped in. We saw more on the road approaching the reserve. This juvenile shows little colour at rest.
A wood sandpiper made our afternoon complete. Not a tick but a long time since I had been this close to get photos like these...
Great images for species comparison.
Spooked by the exocets [avocets!]...
Saltholme
Saturday 27th July 2013
Got up early and headed north. Tide very high: just a few ringed plover and turnstones at Newburn Bridge - all the small rocks and gravel covered. No sign of the returning med gull.
Two red curlew sandpipers seen from the A178 - great views in the scope with 7 dunlin but too far to photograph. Meanwhile, in Phil Stead hide the pectoral sandpiper was more accommodating...
Birds UK 2013: 244
Life list 395 after seeing bridled tern.
Wednesday 10th July 2013
Elusive Butterflies!
Bob Lind 1966
You might wake up some mornin'
To the sound of something moving past your window in the wind
And if you're quick enough to rise
You'll catch a fleeting glimpse of someone's fading shadow
Out on the new horizon
You may see the floating motion of a distant pair of wings
And if the sleep has left your ears
You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow
Don't be concerned, it will not harm you
It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of
Across my dreams with nets of wonder
I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love!
Wednesday 10th July 2013
So there I was, pursuing something I wasn't sure of - reports from Richmondshire of butterflies I've never seen in my life at Ellerburn Banks and Fen Bog. Unfortunately the day was perhaps breezier and duller than it had been the day before. I saw no lifer butterflies but at Ellerburn Banks I did see 7 species of butterfly. Pretty good going! Here are pictures of some of them.
Male ringlets have less prominent rings than the females.
There were orchids too.
Common spotted
Bee orchid
The fly orchids were almost over.
I was quite early but soon other butterflies were on the wing, including common blues.
The females can indeed be elusive.
Some of the common spotted orchids were very tall...
...and some were almost white.
Which cues the appearance of marbled white butterflies - quite a few on the wing.
Small heath butterflies appear orange in flight but never alight with wings open.
I was pleased to spot small scabious scabiosa columbaria - a dainty little thing compared with field scabious...
...and carline thistle just coming into flower.
More ringlets.
The following species were also seen but proved lens shy and kept flying away!!
Small white; meadow brown; speckled wood.
En route back to Tiggy some vaguely bee-like insect was hovering motionless in the air in front of me. Eventually I managed this shot.
On to Fen Bog but rain set in out on the moors and I saw little - indeed I had to retreat and head back west into the dry. Harebells [campanula rotundifolia] were flowering on the edge of the heather.
I was due in Huby for 3.30 to see a man about a bird. Here it is: Savannah hawk from Central & South America.
Return to Ellerburn
Friday 12th July
The weather seemed more favourable for butterflies and so, determined to see the rarities Ellerburn bank so tantalisingly promised, I set off again.
A large skipper was an excellent beginning. Don't know why I'd never seen one before - I'd seen many small skippers or had I overlooked the large skipper with its shade-patterned wings? This is a male from the brands on his wings.
This was seen on the path from the car park. Next I came across ringlets and small heaths.
A flash of high speed orange caught my eye. A large confident flyer, I knew this must be the prize I sought: dark green fritillary.
Pyramidal orchids had appeared in the last few days.
On then to Fen Bog again as the two sites are quite close to each other. Someone was out in the bog with a big lens photographing dragonflies.
I walked everywhere looking for the 'plentiful' small pearl-bordered fritillary. Disapppointed I headed back to the car. It was very warm and I was feeling the heat. Suddenly, with Tiggy in view, a smaller orange butterfly crossed my path. Then more, all over. Plentiful but hard to photograph. Small pearl-bordered fritillary. Great!
My first shot shows the ''pearls' on the underwing.
Seawatch
Saturday 13th July
Barry needed a puffin for his year list. As you'll see by the end of this rather long blog, he eventually saw thousands! Anyway we went to Flamborough and, with our chairs on the cliff top, we watched. I got a year tick in the form of an arctic skua. Barry got a puffin or two. A meadow pipit perched on a post. 'What kind of warbler is that one?' I was asked. I told them it was a meadow pipit. After that the couple ignored me and spoke to Barry! Maybe there was something in my tone of voice that drove them away...
Photogenic gannets floated by. New name for the species: photogenic gannet!
Some linnets were busy on the upper cliff. 'What are those little birds?' I was asked.
'Linnets,' I replied.
'Are you sure?'
'No, they might be gentoo penguins,' I replied again. Another couple I'd upset! They left too.
Gentoo penguin:
Burnet moths were seen on the vegetation - this is marsh orchid.
Barry's penguin.
Oh well....
We drove on to Wharram Quarry. Carline thistles [carlina vulgaris] were showing well. Flowers can't fly away.
Another thistle - I think - woolly thistle cirsium eriophorum...
...and meadow cranesbill geranium pratense.
I tried to photograph quaking grass.
Common twayblade.
The twayblade itself was nicely clear of the other vegetation.
The small heath was translucent in the bright light.
On my last visit there was no sign of pyramidal orchids: now they were everywhere. A beetle hides in the flower spike.
Bee orchids had appeared too, later perhaps than at other sites.
Clustered bellflower: campanula glomerata.
Goatsbeard or Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon or tragopogon pratensis makes a fine seedhead.
I spotted small skippers.
The marbled whites were easy to spot but photographically challenging!
Common blue.
In search of graylings and dragons
Thursday 18th July 2013
A colony of grayling was established at Greathem Creek. Taking the northern path with the macro lens on, I soon found them and was soon throwing myself onto the clinker in my attempts to get a decent photograph. In the end my efforts were very satisfying...
...but there were small heaths as well...
...and meadow browns...
I think this is a rather tatty latticed heath moth...
...but this is a grayling!
Just showing the 'eye'.
Centaury was in flower.
Burnet moths have a predilection for knapweed and thistles.
I drove the mile and a half to Saltholme RSPB to see what might be about. It was obviously a good day for dragonflies. Four spot chasers, I think.
Emerald damselfly. My first ever.
More chasers.
This is a common darter [until someone says I'm wrong!!]
Final image from Saltholme. Lunch in Phil Stead hide: godwit fly past.
North Cave afternoon
Saturday 20th July 2013
Unusually my wife came too! Barry suggested North Cave for dragonflies so off we went. There were lots of common blue damselflies about...
...and gatekeeper butterflies.
Small skipper.
Burnet moth caterpillar.
More damsels...
...and butterflies. Dappled ringlet...
...and small tortoiseshell.
I swapped lens to photograph dragonflies as I find the macro little use with dragonflies: you can't get near enough without disturbing them. So with the 400mm on I caught this large white up in the trees...
...and then got to work.
Bridled joy!
Sunday 21st July 2013
Decision made at North Cave: Barry and I would go to Inner Farne for my second attempt [and his first] at seeing the bridled tern. We were up very early. The harbour was quiet. Flowers clung naturally to the harbour wall.
The sea was like a millpond.
As we set off some local puffins flew off...
...others paddled furiously out of our way.
The arctic terns tolerate the visitors invading their jetty.
Puffins were flying past all the time on their trips to fetch food. Getting a sharp photo isn't easy.
Ringed plover were on the rocks close by.
Whilst we waited in hope of seeing the tern we did see some roseates and plenty of sandwich terns too. Arctic terns were very close even around our feet at times.
By lunchtime we hadn't seen our target bird. We headed back to Seahouses.
Looks almost alien!
Young shag.
Here we go!
Angel of the North!
After the winter wrecks it was good to see so many puffins just bobbing about like colourful children's toys.
Not long after our return in the afternoon the cry went up as the bird disappeared behind the stone tower, seen by only a few. But it came back and landed where it habitually lands...it's just right of dead centre. Can you spot it?
I'll go in closer.
Time for a sandwich!!
As we had seen the bird we finally allowed ourselves to leave the jetty and go for a walk round the island, camera at the ready!
Inner Farne is far from barren: lush vegetation abounds.
Arctics remonstrate with every visitor from any available perch.
And puffins seem to have no trouble bringing home the fish for their young.
No rush to go back down the burrow.
Outside the National Trust shop.
Shortly before we left the bridled tern flew off chasing a sandwich tern. I fired off shots at what I hoped [!!] was the right bird. Here are the best of onychoprion anaethetus!
So it's goodbye from me...
...and it's goodbye from him!
UK 2013 242. Life list 395.