Peak District - Finally getting the gropper

I had met Clive at Spurn on the Friday and he had offered to take me into the peaks to a few of his Grasshopper Warbler sites so that I could get them on my list at long last. We arranged to go on Tuesday so off we headed in the afternoon with the hope of landing my biggest tart tick.

First we went to a site on Ringinglow Road where Clive said he had seen one the previous week. Despite our attempts to locate the bird there was no sign at that site. Having said that there was decent compensation as I was able to yeartick Tree Pipit. It was the highest concentration of the species I have ever seen before with around 7 birds all around. Meadow Pipits were also present meaning that I could compare calls, something I don't often get to do. Also on site were a few Curlews feeding in the neighboring fields and a couple of Linnets.

-Tree Pipit

Since we had no luck there we headed onto another site which was near Longshaw Estate on the southern side. It was, essentially, a field filled with sedge, so it was easy to see why the site had a good record for the species.

As soon as we played the tape Clive picked one up and it was not long before the bird was doing flybys at close quarters checking us out. Sadly there was no time for photos, as the bird either flew from where we did not expect it, or was so close to us that there was no time to react when it did. We heard a jangling call that Clive said he had heard only once before, so in that sense we were quite lucky.

Other birds on site were at a premium but we did have a flyby Redpoll. I would have not picked it up had I not had the one flying round numpties on Sunday, so when I heard the call it was relatively fresh in my mind.

We then moved fields in our attempt to get a photo, and here we found a second bird which was reeling. We played the tape once and the bird came right to the reeds in front of us. Sadly we could not find it and it moved away the next time it flew.

Also on site were a small squad of Red Deer, presumably the ones the trust has on site. They had been hunkered down in the sedge so we had not noticed them until we had flushed them, but they observed us from the far end of the field so I grabbed a couple of shots.

-Red Deer

It was at this point Clive realised he had lost his phone. We spent the next half an hour or so looking for it, but fortunately found it. Once we had that found we headed back to the initial bird, which was just as obliging as before, as in not very! Still, it did some nice close flybys, and we could even see the grass moving in front of us as it scurried along, but sadly no photos.

It was getting on now so we decided to call it quits there. The views were consistently brief but were plentiful and after this Grasshopper Warbler has finally been added to my life list. What a relief. Big thanks to Clive for the lift and showing me the sites.

Species List:

Peak District Sites: Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Swift, Swallow, Linnet, Grasshopper Warbler, Lesser Redpoll, Carrion Crow, Great Tit, Curlew, Woodpigeon, Kestrel, 

school geology trip to Arran, day one-travelling!

Okay! Today we enmabarked on our school geology feild trip to Arran! It was a very long journey involving three trains, a boat and a coach journey to arrive at the lochranza feild center. I got the camera out at preston station but diddnt really use it until we arrived at glasgow station.

Its a pretty imprsive sturcture although the collection of shops in the building was a bit obvious with the same as everywhere else! it had a very big hall which is where the shops and passangers where distributed.

Next stop was the train to Ardrossan. I managed to get a photo of the ferry building for my BOG talk,

And then we boarded the ferry, and after a performance sorting out all our bags me and a couple of others went to the top deck to look out over the sea. It was a bit nippy but it was the wind that gave you the biggest impression, being batter all the way over to Arran. I had attached the longer lense for the task of going over, due to the lack of tourist shots I was likely to be taking.

First bird was a skua, A great skua I make it, although its hard to tell because i am such a bad phototographer but I think they are. I say they because the two photos here are actually two different birds that approached the boat from different sides, so thats two great skuas and two record shots to accompany them.

In terms of other pelagic wanderers there was a significant lack of manxies but there was a fulmar that rode the bow wave of the boat for some time before overtaking us! Then The boat started swerving becuase it neede to intercept a line of military ships that were obviously up to something, but we managed to cut across their ranks and reach Arran in good time!

A beutiful picture of Arran under beautiful blue skys! It reminds me of the last time I came here and had a smashing time, so heres to a hopefully good trip!

In the evening, considering it was so nice and pleasantly warm we decided to get a football and had a bit of a kick around. While others were messing about doing something else, I spotted that some deer had decended from the hill, I ran for the camera and managed to get some decent photos despite the worsening light. There were some pretty impressive stags there , which were the boldest of the two genders and rather a lot of females.

So overall a good start to the trip and hopefully it will only get better!

scotland holiday-day 8

a cloudy drizzly morning awaited us when we awoke on day 8 of the Scotland holiday. Around the campsite, the sandwhich tern was sticking around but besides that there was nothing happening. We decided to go to Lochranza for a day because my dad had said that we would go twice and so far we had only been once. Before we even got there things started kicking off, over the moorland road the drizzle wasn't as heavy and from over the crest of a hill a very large buzzard flew over from the hill flying quite low. Of course this was no buzzard but a golden eagle, my second ever in the same week as the first. Because it was flying lower I managed to get some much better photos-although that does not mean that they are good! 

 

It eventually dipped below the hill on our side and we lost it, so we drove off leaving the eagle to his business. Lochranza was just as drizzly as the campsite and so we decided to go for a walk along the sea front to the ferry terminal. As we did I spotted a family of oystercatchers and decided to try for another oystercatcher photo. I was wearing wellies and so could easily cross the small river that led to the shingle bank that they were resting on.

 

As I did so my mum and dad called me back to where they were. They had found a female red deer (hind) feeding up one of the alleyways. I took a few photos from the bottom of the alleyway and slowly began to move up the alley.

I needed have bothered with stealth! It didn't care at all. I could have touched it I was that close. Eventually it trotted past me and ran across the road to eat the gorse. Lochranza is famous for its deer that run along the road but this year their numbers were heavily set back by the harsh winter.

After that I lost it and so decided to go back to the oystercatchers who, incidentally, were still feeding on the shingle bar. I managed to get quite close but did not want to scare them with young so I backed off eventually.

when I had done that we arrived at the ferry terminal where we found a jackdaw family playing with the ropes and gannets were fishing off shore.

As we walked back a merganser approached us flying across the sea loch. I managed to get some photos as the bird whizzed past. none of them are particularly good but they are the best merganser shots I have ever got.

When we arrived back at the car we decided that we would travel to the far side of the sea loch and go for a walk there, round to the cock of Arran. We had lunch over on that side but nothing happened during lunch except for a heron that started fishing on the beach.

the drizzle started to stop and the cloud began to break up. To get to this side of the village we had to go past the golf course where the deer live allowing for some great shots, although I have only included them of stags because these are the first stags I have seen.

The walk involved going through more sedge/reed growth over a marsh/grassland type of habitat. no sooner had we started the walk than did nature begin to slow me down. At first they only appeared from the woods and I casually dismissed them for peacocks but soon they were flying in front of me and it instantly became obvious what they were. scotch argus! another first for the holiday and for my life. It was one of those butterflys I was afraid I would never see because they live so high up and my family don't drive up to the highlands So I thought that perhaps global warming would have culled them all off by the time I got a car and was able to get up there my-self. I was so pleased to see them because I didn't even know that they lived down this far. I also managed to get some acceptable record photos.

Whilst chasing them all over the marsh I also encountered another of my favourite butterflys-the speckled wood! I rarely see speckled woods so seeing one on "butterfly day", As I have so christened it, was just as special as ever!

There was another type of butterfly fluttering around with the various. I only managed to get one photo of it before I realised that I had left my empty memory card in the car and that this one was full. I had to run all the way back to the car to get another card to take some record shots of these fritillarys. I call them "these fritillarys" because I am unsure about their I.d. The size and distribution suggests dark green because only high-browed and dark-green are the only ones at this size but the white edges to the wings suggest that it is in fact a pearl boarded. I have given it to Dark green but to be frank I cant be too sure. still I am really pleased about seeing them anyway!

On the return journey I managed to spot this grasshopper on a rock which is something I have never seen before. Normally grasshoppers are hiding in deep grass not sat out in the open on a large rock. It was a opportunity not worth missing so I got down to its level and took this photo.

Also there was another of the mysterious cinnabar moth but not a cinnabar moth caterpillar so that's the way it goes.

as we drove off back to the campsite A young male stag appeared from the hill and started to walk towards us. I managed to get a quick snap although it was hard because my dad had not stopped the car fully!

this was our last day on Arran and tomorrow we would be moving over to the mainland for a look at the rhins of Galloway. As a result I knew that time was running out for a raven photo and so I decided to go for a walk along the kildonan Beach to try and find one and just take a record shot. I was slow walking because I manged to find my first and only grey wagtails and dipper of the holiday who were bobbing in a small stream.

I was in a rush so that I would be back in time for tea. Then I spotted a bird flying towards me over the crest of the hill, not a raven but something even better. A ringtail harrier was flying towards me. I could not believe it at first but then it began flying towards me and I tried to take some record photos but failed miserably.

I think, if you use you imagination, then you can see that it is a ringtailed harrier but sadly no ravens for this walk. I took a number of other photos see below but nothing was to prepare me for that harrier. what a sight, and in the nick of time too! tomorrow we would be leaving Arran behind and going to the rhins of Galloway

a curlew

a dunnock

a house martin, nesting in the holiday cottage roofs

And of course, the hooded crows!

scotland holiday-day 7

Day 7! quiet and overcast, but most importantly dry! a warmish morning, at least warm enough to eat breakfast outside. But just as we were tidying away breakfast, we got some unexpected visitors on the beach below the campsite, of course! it was our old Friends (or fiends!) the hooded crows. I did already have a couple of decent photos in the bag but a couple more couldn't hurt anybody. I snuck down onto the beach and made my way towards them. They were not frightened at all. a dad and son were playing next to them in the sea, so I managed to get pretty close. I did not want to get very close because my manner of approachment would be very different to the farther and son! a farther and son playing in the sea with no car at all. A mysterious person moving slowly towards them wearing wellies and with a camera....."uh oh! birdwatcher! run!".

So I decided to try and get some photos from the side of top of the dyke rather than the side. This turned out to be one of my better ideas as the birds were not as alert as they were when I was slightly closer and managed to get some pictures of the birds looking relaxed!

The crows were also perching on top of an old stone barn that was next to the campsite. there was a style just in front of it and I decided to sit on the style to try and get some photos of the crows as they landed. They never did land but some of the hundreds of sparrows entertained me by getting quite close and drinking from the small stream that ran into the sea, running parallel to the campsite.

We decided that, seeing as though it was not sunny, that we would go to Brodick castle and not the beach today. Brodick castle is a national trust for Scotland house with a large garden on the foothills of Goatfell. There is a large conifer plantation behind the grounds which ultimately lead to the brutal peak itself. Last time we were here I spotted a raven and so naturally my spirits were high of getting a raven record shot. but, heh heh, did we even see a raven, no! so what else could I say. no raven, no photo! the chances remaining getting smaller all the time. Before I could say that there were no ravens we decided that we would go into the cafe. There was a bird-feeder outside the cafe and it was here that we managed to find most of the "normal" birds of the holiday-blue tit, great tit, chaffinch and robin plus wood pigeon. after that I scoured the whole garden looking for interesting wildlife. The only interesting bit of wildlife That I found was a lone golden-ringed dragonfly that was hunting over a pool which was on the edge of the site and not even within the grounds of the castle at all. The pool was on the edge of a cattle Field but the dragonfly was flighty and eventually it flew off. opposite the pool there was a path. I decided not to go up on it because it would take me away from the castle grounds, even though it went through a wildflower meadow and could produce some interesting wildlife. More walking and still no wildlife. Eventually I gave up and decided to go back to the wildflower meadow. I was walking through the meadow . I was about halfway up when I saw the gate. It was a wooden gate made out of tree-trunks. crude and part off a fence. I was just taking this in when suddenly a dragonfly of x-species flew off the path in front of me. I could tell immediately that it was a female darter of some kind, perhaps a black darter. but I immediately lost it. I decided the wait for it to come out of the grass so I could properly identify it. I then got the fate full text-"lunch at car now". Its always the most important bits that are interrupted like this. What could I say? well what I said was-"am going to be late". good answer! the darter never came out again. I was serious gutted! if I had only been looking where I was going then I would have seen it. I decided to go have a look over the gate and then go for lunch-or at least that was the plan, for as soon as I looked over the gate was I so blown over by what I found then I knew that I would not be going back to lunch for some length of time! It was a pool, surrounded by that horrible type or reed/sedge that's grows everywhere and has fluffy insides if you care to cut it open. the path was continuing around the edge of the pool, the path being made up of lawn grass. there was an open conifer plantation behind it and the wildflower meadow in front of it with spectacular views down to Brodick its self. On the pool were about 7 common hawkers (although I had no idea at the time because non of them cared to stay still) and blue damselflys buzzed around everywhere. As you can see, I was going to be very late for lunch. I managed to snap a photo of the large dragonflys buzzing around and I instantly knew that they were common hawkers, confirming my suspicions.

I was so taken in by all this that I completely forgot about the missing darter. A mayfly flickered past me and I thought to my-self they even have mayflys here. If I knew what it really was I think I would have probably followed it but as it happens I casually passed it off as a mayfly. I heard a buzzing in the reeds in front of me and I found a pair of common hawkers mating. It is quite possible that they may have fallen in the water but I did not fish them out just in case they were ovipositing or something else. This was, interestingly, the only common hawker female I saw during the whole holiday!

I wandered around the pool I saw a lizard walk across the path in front off me, in no rush and in no fear of me. I took my first common lizard photos and from this I could clearly see that those lizards on the isle of wight were really common wall lizards not common lizards.

I was just walking back to where I came in so that I could walk round the other side when the mayfly fluttered by in -front of me. Well I thought, A mayfly photo cant do any harm because I have not seen one for a long time, so I followed it into the bush. Its a good thing I did because It quickly landed and became immediately apparent that it was not a mayfly. It was a small dragonfly, A darter! Well there was only one Darter it could be, despite its lack of blackness. Common darters don't fly like mayflys and this was way smaller than A common darter and so I Had to put my finger on black darter, my personal first which I am very pleased to include a record photo with it.

If your wondering about the lack of black, this is a young male and only adult males are completely black but this still has lots of black on its underside. Anyway, it was whilst I was photographing this that I spotted my second tick of the day. A damselfly fluttered past and alighted nearby. It was clearly a common emerald damselfly, my first ever! And now that I noticed them I started seeing them everywhere! I found two very quickly and others were milling about.

eventually I had to leave because of lunch but I left a very happy guy! black darter, common emerald damselfly, common blue damselfly, a large red had also turned up but I decided not to take any photos of it, common hawker plus a common darter! I was very pleased.

My dad loves dragonflys but is not a enthusiast who chases round trying to find every single one but he just loves the thrill of seeing them. I suppose I do too but I would like to see them all anyway despite their spectacularity. I told my dad about what I had seen and they decided (with some persuasion from me) that they would go up there after lunch.

I took my dad and family up after lunch and they were in luck. Unlike the emerald greens I had only found one black darter and I was not sure whether it would stick around. I read in the book that the species is highly mobile and has a tendency to stray far away from water. However the young male was calmly perched on the fence next-to the gate looking completely relaxed, having a clean and wash etc, etc but just sitting there looking there. It allows for some spectacular views and similarly good photos but I only managed that with a few.

I also managed to find a female common emerald damsefly to show my dad.

but my brother found a four-spot chaser resting on one of the reeds adding another species to the list of flying beasts living on the pond. sadly this individual was way past it and looking sad and old and fragile. It is sad to see such a magnificent beast reduced to such a sorry state but I guess that we have to accept that all animals die eventually and that dragonflys are just the same. Spectacularity cant save an individual from death.

I mentioned that there were common blues around the pond and just as proof I decided to include a photo of one. A common species but non the less beautiful.

Even after about half an hour watching the beasts of the pond, the black darter was still there on the fence and I tried to get some more interesting photos but sadly the focus was slightly out on the one below.

I decided that I would take another photo of the emerald damselflys because the first ones I had taken were a bit dark and more photos would easily allow me for the best photos .

A quick photo reference quickly recognized that most of the black darter photos I had taken were slightly less than What I had wanted (although when I was at home Most of them managed to recovered from their faults) so I took a few more from a different angle which ultimately led to my best darter photos ever.

the only other damselfly I have not mentioned was the common blue tailed damselflys that were around. after that we finished and We decided to leave. on the way back we decided that we would take a look at the lochranza campsite as a ontential resting place for the rest of the holiday. When we arrived the presence of deer had not changed, so I took more photos.

No eagles this time but still an incredibly exciting and surprising day. For those who remember my four bullet points at the start of the holiday you will ahve realised that almost all of them were ticked except for possibly seeing a hen harrier (but this was not essential) but then again niether was seeing a ablck darter but I managed it. What a holiday this is turning into!!