Spurn Week 3

Monday 27th June

Back on morning shifts so the early starts begin again. Nothing much happened up at ponds today in reasonably nice weather. An impressive count of 114 Dunlin was probably the best of it, although the Cuckoo still present was nice and 5 teal on the water was unusual. There were also three summer plumaged Bar-tailed Godwits which was very nice. I spent most of my time practicing photographing Little Terns, although the light was far from useful and most of my photos are very dark.

-Little Tern

Sightings List:

Beacon Ponds: Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Redshank, Little Tern, Black-headed Gull, Gannet, Mallard, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Swallow, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Curlew, Teal, Herring Gull, 

Tuesday 28th June

Today there were a few more notable birds on the ponds, starting with the first Common Sandpiper of the summer back. This was quickly followed by a nice juvenile Great-crested Grebe on which spent all day on the ponds. It was joined at one point by a flock of 4 Tufted Ducks. A Barn Owl was also present early morning, and a Snipe went over. Impressive numbers of both Dunlin, 133, and Little Tern, 54, were around the ponds. The terns were joined early afternoon by a pair of Common Terns, but they only stuck around briefly.

-Great-crested Grebe

Sightings List:

Beacon Ponds: Little Tern, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Great-crested Grebe, Mute Swan, Avocet, Yellow Wagtail, Gannet, Dunlin, Common Snipe, Pheasant, Woodpigeon, Barn Owl, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Guillemot, Black-headed Gull, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Curlew, Tufted Duck, Sandwich Tern, Swallow, Grey Plover, Teal, Common Gull, Knot, Redshank, Common Tern,

Wednesday 29th June

Another morning at the ponds which was very quiet. The undoubted highlight was an adult Little Gull that flew through calling. Aside from that it was very much the regular species still present. The Great-crested Grebe was still on the ponds and seemed happy frequently diving and catching fish. The Little Terns seemed to have picked up in their activity as well but we will see on that one.

As the morning wore on there came strong westerlies and a weather front of quite extreme rain. With it came an incredible Swift movement. In over an hour more than 1000 birds had flown through the ponds. They were flying from all directions, often very low and only just above my head. It was the incredible movement we had been waiting for. Sadly it slowed down when the rain intensified, but by then my shift was done and I could haul up in the warm obs. Swift migration is spectacular when you catch it right and today was certainly one of those days.

Sightings List:

Beacon Ponds: Little Tern, Cormorant, Little Gull, Great-crested Grebe, Skylark, Yellow Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Teal, Mallard, Mute Swan, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Sandwich Tern, Carrion Crow, Swift, Swallow, Sand Martin, House Martin, Redshank, Gannet, Curlew,

Thursday 30th June

A rather uneventful morning, followed by an afternoon of recovering sleep. Birds on the ponds were made up of a limited number of the usual suspects. Dunlin eclipsed 100 but aside from that and 1 Greenshank it was all fairly regular.

Sightings List:

Beacon Ponds: Little Tern, Cormorant, Great-crested Grebe, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Teal, Mallard, Mute Swan, Dunlin, Sandwich Tern, Carrion Crow, Swift, Swallow, Sand Martin, House Martin, Redshank, Gannet, Curlew, Greenshank.

Friday 01st July

Another day of very little occurring. The only real thing of note was a flurry of Swifts late afternoon following a front of rain. Over 200 went through in about 5 minuets, really impressive to see. The Great-crested Grebe remained present, seemingly in no hurry to move off.

Sightings List:

Beacon Ponds: Little Tern, Common Gull, Sandwich Tern, Dunlin, Common Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Swift, Little Egret, Mallard, Linnet, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Avocet, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Swallow, Sand Martin, Gannet, Herring Gull, Great-crested Grebe, Great Blacked-backed Gull, Common Scoter, Grey Heron, Knot, 

Saturday 02nd July

Missing the high tide during the morning shift means I generally miss most of the birds too. And today was no exception. Ponds was a very familiar spot with not many birds around. 3 Little Gulls that came through offered some respite from the general lack of birdlife. A few Swift also continued to move but passage was pretty much as dead as the ponds themselves.

Sightings List:

Beacon Ponds: Little Tern, Wigeon, Little Gull, Knot, Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Linnet, Skylark, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mallard, Mute Swan, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Sedge Warbler, Pied Wagtail, 

Sunday 03rd July

With the tides getting later every day, the high tide finally clashed with the earliest part of my shift, rewarding me with decent wader numbers around the ponds and wetlands. 2 Whimbrel were the first returning birds of the Autumn. Over 200 Dunlin were present and about 50 Redshank. 67 Curlew were roosted out on the wetlands. Sadly they all cleared out not long after I started my shift but its nice to see that wader numbers are picking up daily. All ready for when I start the afternoon shift next week.

Sightings List:

Beacon Ponds: Curlew, Whimbrel, Wigeon, Greenshank, Dunlin, Little Tern, Redshank, Knot, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Teal, Mallard, Sandwich Tern, Carrion Crow, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Gannet, Greylag Goose, Swallow, Sand Martin, Woodpigeon, 

Elland Gravel Pits

Remember the Scaup I dipped in January? The day I saw the GND? It stayed all winter and into the spring, developing into a stunning adult male. Since I had been at uni, there was not much I could do about this, but it remained until I came home on Friday, so today I decided to go down for it, and see what else was around. 

I got dropped off by my dad at around 9.00 in the morning and immediately began my scanning of the fishing lake, its rumored favored spot. I was unable to track it down but was unable to get a decent view of all the lake.I tried to get a good view from all angles available, as access was forbidden. I would usually just go in, but a fisherman had taken up residence right next to the gate.

I decided to go up and scramble down the back near the Italian restaurant where there was not a fence and hopefully no fishermen to observe my entry. Don't do this at home kids, trespassing is strictly forbidden. On the way up, from the road I overlooked the lake and there, sat smugly in the middle was the scaup, sat asleep with a pair of Great Crested Grebes.

At least now I had located it, and had seen it. I watched from the road for a few mins, before continuing on my quest for entry. I made it up and scrambled down the bank into the fishing area. I was in. I made my way round to where the scaup was, passing several fishermen who did not seem to care and set up my gear to watch the bird. I spent about an hour watching it drift around the lake. It mainly slept, but also fished, preened and washed while I watched it. This is the best way to get a lifer. 

-Scaup with Great Crested Grebes

-Drake Scaup

About half an hour into my watch I hear a familiar twittering overhead, and looked up to watch my first swallow of the year fly overhead. It moved quick, as they tend to do, and I was unable to get any real record shots. However, after I left the scaup for a look around the site I found a group of about 5 on the canal, so I picked up some record shots of my first swallows of the year.

-Swallow

Also along the canal towpath there was a male Blackcap singing. Its the first time I have heard this species this year, so that was nice. He gave very good views too, allowing me to fully appreciate the beauty in the song.

-Male Blackcap

I arrived at my destination, the feeding station, with having only picked up goosander not on the towpath. At the feeding station it was much quieter than it was the last time I was hear over Christmas. I was treated to a 10 min stint by the Bullfinches, along with the great and blue tits and chaffinches. I got great views of the bullfinches, really lovely birds.

-Male Bullfinch

After my appearance at the feeding station I decided to return to the scaup. It was still there and I was able to spend a while watching it, though there was little additional behavior. My time then ran out, as I was asked to leave by one of the bailiffs. He said that for him I could stay but the head bailiff was lurking and that he would not share this opinion. He said to return after the head bailiff had moved on, but I diddnt having already got the most out of the scaup.

-Drake Scaup

So thats how I got my third lifer of 2014, a stunning male scaup. I was well pleased with finally settling this score, a species I had previously dipped 3 times. All that's left to do is give a full species report for the day...

Species List: Scaup*, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Swallow, Blackbird, Blackcap, Great Tit, Robin, Wren, Mallard, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Woodpigeon, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Goosander, Treecreeper, Cormorant, Long-Tailed Tit, Coot, Great-Crested Grebe, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Chiffchaff,

Dorset Holiday-Day 13: Stowe NT

The weather had been pretty incredible all week, but now we had to go home in it, which was less than ideal. We picked our destination prior to our departure this time so we would not end up just doing the job lot in one go. Our destination was Stowe NT, which we had been to before, no we hadn't, Yes we had kind of place. We had been before-Described on this website as 'A random national trust place in the middle of nowhere after the most boring journey in history'. 

Our journey to Stowe was pretty uneventful except that traffic was horrendous and progress was slow, but we made it there for lunch. On the road we saw Common Buzzard, to be expected and also Red Kite, a new bird for the holiday.

The weather was still incredible when we got to Stowe but that meant plenty of insects. My mum and dad got a lift down on the golf cart minibus service, but I said I would walk down to make space on the bus for others. The way down went through some woods, where I saw Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper, 3 very familiar species over the holiday. On the bird front I spotted a Whitethroat singing in the bushes next to the field.

I made my way into the site. Apparently I should have been seen by the gate wardens who check your tickets, but I had no ticket and could not get in without my parents, who had already gone in. But nobody stopped me so I guess that all went well

I first went to the pond directly in front of me. A long lawn led down to it, and I was eager to see what I could find. No sooner did I arrived than did I find Black Tailed Skimmers, Azure Damselflies but also Red Eyed Damselflies, which made up for me missing them yesterday. I immediately took photos of them even though they were not in the best position due to my lack of photos from my previous encounters with them.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

There was one Broad Bodied Chaser among the Black Tailed Skimmers and it kept giving the latter a hard time flushing them from the perches on the waters edge. It only stopped a few times and then it chose perches which were not ideal for my camera.

-Broad Bodied Chaser

My attention was drawn back to the Red Eyed Damselflies, mainly because their eyes made them more striking that most damselflies. They kept perching but not where I really wanted them. One did perch on one of the emergent branches but it was still a little too far away for me to really get to grips with it.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

I mentioned the Black Tailed Skimmers, but they tended to perch on rocks and then not stay there very long, mainly due to the attentions of others of their species and the Broad Bodied Chaser. I did however find one or two who perched with the intention to stay perched so I could get a few photos.

-Black Tailed Skimmer

I left this section of the main lake and headed towards the smaller secondary lake than this main lake flowed into. The secondary lake was more wooded and there was less aquatic vegetation, especially water lilies. Where there was a break in the waterside trees there were a few Azure, Common Blue and more Red Eyed Damselfly, including a few in tandem.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

-Red Eyed Damselfly

I continued my walk and at the far end of the lake I saw a Great Crested Grebe which was quite close and started fishing. But when I looked at the photos afterwards I saw that it had not caught a fish but a crayfish, and quite a big one at that. 

-Great Crested Grebe

At this end of the lake the woods dissapeared and there were more damselflies, including red eyed in a position where I really get photos with all aspects. I took loads of photos but the light has restricted the impact of the eyes in the photos below.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

I continued round the far side of the lake where there was more woodland and here there were a few more birds, like Robin, Blackbird and a female Blackcap which flew across the path and into the trees between the path and the lake. There was also a Brown Hawker hunting this section of the grounds.

-Female Blackbird

Back out on the lake and it appeared that the grebe had followed me. I watched it as it seemed to be striking a threat pose, with its head close to the water, but after that it just sat up and then dived, so I don't really know why it had struck such a position.

-Great Crested Grebe

I found my parents at the top corner of the first main lake and there we watched some more Red Eyed Damselflies, including a pair in tandem.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

We were just setting off to leave and me and my dad spotted at the same time a Grass Snake swimming across the lake. It was a fair old size too but it was the yellow marks behind the head that really gave it away. It was only the 2nd of this species I have ever seen, so I was very excited. It was also the fifth reptile species of the holiday, when really I would have considered myself lucky to get one.

It swum off onto an island in the middle of the lake, swimming between the lily pads which looked rather striking.

-Grass Snake

I then followed my family as they made their way up through some of the smaller pools. Here there were still good numbers of Azure, Common Blue and Red Eyed Damselfly. I also spotted a Banded Demoiselle but it did not choose to land and so it did not take long for me to loose.

On the Dragonfly front there were a couple of female Ruddy Darters, due to the extensive black on the underside and black legs.

-Female Ruddy Darter

I then decided to go and finish my circuit round the main lake. The section I had not been to had good vegetation along the banks but no trees. This made it difficult to get to the waterside, but meant that there were good numbers of dragon and damselflies.

On the dragonfly front there were Four Spot Chaser, and Emperor Dragonfly, one of which took a Large White Butterfly from the air. There was also another of the small hawkers that I was sure were very late hairy dragonflies, but I needed one to land to take a photo so that I could confirm or dis confirm this theory.

It did not land and as such I had to try and take some sort of photo in the air. Below is my best effort, rubbish I know but the dragonfly would dissapear for a good 5 mins at a time and then re-appear at some random spot. I would say though that even though the photo is rubbish it seems to support the idea that it was a Hairy Dragonfly, so I will go with it.

-Hairy Dragonfly

I continued my circuit over the bridge, where there was a Black Tailed Skimmer on one of the posts. It was on the dark side of the post though so no great photos. On the far bank I spotted a Green Woodpecker and some crabby Canada Geese.

I made my way back to where I had started and there found my family again and also thought I saw a grass snake dissapear under the bank, but I could not re-locate it. On the bank the broad bodied chaser seemed to have left so the Black Tailed Skimmers had been left in peace so I took some photos of them perched on their rocks.

-Black Tailed Skimmer

After that my dad and I went for a wander along the bank of the lake and my dad spotted a Pike in the water. We headed off towards where the Canada geese had been but the only thing we saw this time was a juvenile Green Woodpecker chasing the adult bird around, not that we saw much of the adult bird but the juvenile seemed keen to give quite good views of itself.

-Green Woodpecker

And so that was that, the last wildlife act of our holiday down south. Its been a good holiday, but on the way home nothing happened, so here ends my narrative about it...

Angelsey Day 4

Day 4 of the Angelsey holiday begun with rain. It was a pity really because rain meant not much wildlife. As a result we decided to go and have a look at the Angelsey Sea Zoo, an aquarium that we often go to whenever we are in the area. As you would expect, there was very little in the way of wildlife, but as we pulled in to the site next to the sea, there was a whimbrel and oystercatcher on the beach.
  By lunchtime we had finished at the aquarium, so we moved onto Beaumaris for our lunch. We parked up on the seafront where we would be able to see anything that flew past. Before we had lunch we went for a walk along the seafront towards the pier. At the pier, due to the blustery conditions, there were many gulls flying about but struggling, allowing me to get some photos of them in flight. They were also nicking the bait from tourists crabbing equipment, which was pretty funny.

-Herring gull

When we arrived back at the car I heard the call of a tern, and looked up to see a couple of sandwhich terns flying right by us, as they headed back up the beach. I was therefore able to get some decent flight shots of them, though they are not as good as they could be due to the rotten weather.

-Sandwhich Tern

We had lunch in the car because it was way too windy to eat on the seafront. Even in the car we got the attention of a herring gull, who sat on the roof of the car next to us and just watched. We threw out some scraps for it. Because it was so close I was able to take some photos of its head and wonderful yellow eye.

-Herring Gull

After a look round Beaumaris we drove round all over looking for somewhere to go. Strangely we ended up back at the caravan site with quite a bit of the afternoon still to go. My dad decided that we would go for a walk round Cefni reservoir since it was local to the caravan site.
  As far as reservoirs go it had quite a few birds. At one point my heart was racing when a female tufted duck with excessive white round its beak appeared near to shore, but that is exactly what it proved to be. Either way it was an exciting moment in a pretty drab day.

-Tufted Duck

At the extent of our walk we reached a clearing in the shrubbery that allowed me to get down to the waters edge. There were a few coots and mallards around, and I got a great view of a reed bunting flying past me, but there were no insects.
  On the way back, because it was evening and the waterfowl were congregating at the shallower end of the reser so that they could roost. It allowed me to get a full list of all the different species that were on the reservoir that evening.
  At the back there was a lone great crested grebe, but besides that and a lone swan there were mainly tufted ducks and coots.

-Great crested grebe

-Mute swan

-Coots flying

On the way back to the car I spotted my first damselfly of the day, a common blue, but because of the bad light I was unable to get any decent photos.

-Common Blue Damselfly

So we left Cefni reservoir, and ended day four of the angelsey holiday, which was a very poor day in terms of wildlife, unfortunately.