Soil Hill

    A chilly and blustery morning on Soil Hill produced my fourth Ring Ouzel of the spring, with a smart female feeding in the horse paddocks behind the White Cottage on Perseverance Road. I had only just spotted it when it was flushed by a Crow and I had to nervously wait to see if it would reappear. Fortunately, it then sat up in the near hedgerow, showing well and calling before dropping back behind.

  At least eight Willow Warblers this morning, but no sign of the Whitethroat that has been present the last two days, although one was singing in Bradshaw this morning. An unexpected bonus was a late spring Common Gull that flew south over the North Slope, conveniently filling in an uncomfortable gap in my eBird bar charts. Other migrants were limited to a single Wheatear in the fields on Taylor Lane. 

-Ring Ouzel

-Common Gull

Spurn Day 28 - LIFER ALERT

Its not been long since my last spurn lifer, but this is one of the big ones. I had wanted to see 2 species when I was coming to spurn, Red-Veined Darter and today's lifer. Of course this species is more of a right place, right time kind of job, but being at Spurn I knew I had a pretty decent chance of finding one.

The sound of an alarm is one of the worst sounds ever. Waking while still dark, in summer is a painful experience! To make it worse is the fact that it was raining for my walk to the hide. I had to dodge the toads again along the cliff top path, though this has become pretty standard now.

I got a bit of a shock along my walk though, and it set the standard for the day pretty high to say the least. At the campsite at the bottom of Beacon Lane I spotted under the lamp-post a Hedgehog happily scurrying. I could not take it in at first, its been so long since I last saw one. It wandered towards the hedge, but it did not move quickly as though it was alarmed, and I was reasonably close. I tried to get some kind of shot with my compact camera but naturally I failed. It reached the fence and that's where I left it, no point harassing the poor thing when really it needs to be getting to bed.

-Hedgehog

So the standard for the day was already quite high, a species I can only recall ever seeing once before on my walk to work. Thats where the fun stops really, I got to work in the rain, I was wrecked. I crashed in the chair and power-napped. I actually had to leave quite early to get back for a meeting about the tern project, so at half 8 I set up to leave. There was not much going on with the ponds, the Oyks kept making a racket but I could find no source for their discontent, besides other Oyks.

On the way back to the warren I spotted a Sanderling on the beach which was quite approachable and allowed me to grab some shots of it should anything else fail to materialise during the day.

-Sanderling

The meeting went well and by half 11 I was ready to roll on back to the hut to complete my shift. It was at this point that I received a radio message informing me of '3 clouded yellows on beacon lane'. Now I have to go up that lane to get to my shift, and I need clouded yellow, so I suppose I had better make a move. I think I reached beacon lane in my record fastest time. I then wandered up the lane slowly trying to pick out any yellow butterflies. I failed up to a point. The message had said that they were by the pond, so when I got to the pond and there was not one I assumed they must have moved on.

Of course its always at this point that they reveal themselves, and so it was today, as a yellow butterfly flew past me, over the pond banking and was not seen again. Such was my luck for today. However, I had plenty of time and decided to go for luck on the rough ground on the far side of the pond, as it looked like ideal habitat for them.

\It was a wise decision, as I managed to track down 2 Clouded Yellows in the area. Now a new problem arose, the butterflies seemed to have a mutual agreement that landing was no an option and proceed to fly all over the place but not land anywhere. In the end I decided my best option was to grab some record shots of them in flight, awful though they may be.

I grabbed a few before the butterflies moved on leaving me with only a few Common Blue and Wall Browns on the scrub. I wandered back but on the way picked up 3 more Clouded Yellows, and one of these had obviously not received the memo about not landing as it alighted multiple times of various flowers, though not for any extended time periods I hasten to add.

I swapped lenses and made to grab some photos of him. I made some decent attempts but they always seem to have some angle on them and were not profile, though some came close. In the end though I was pretty happy with my results, given what I had resigned myself to after the first few.

-Clouded Yellow

So that is another Lifer for me at Spurn and one that I had really wanted. Its been a long time coming, a big gap in my 'I-Spy butterflies and moths' (50 points). They were far brighter in flight than I had expected. I had thought they would be a shaded white butterfly, similar to brimstone, but not at all, they were a deep yellow and even looked orange at some points. I think its safe to say they did not disappoint me.

Sadly the afternoon did not live up to the billing of the butterflies. The 3 Little Grebe had remained on the pond, while an adult summer plumaged Grey Plover had added to the cast too, as well as a Turnstone. The real highlights were the Little Terns. Today I found one of the really young chicks, probably the last one. It was little more than a brown blob of fluff, but my time spent watching it was sadly cut short by an oncoming thunderstorm.

I could see it building on the horizon but when it hit it hard. There were numerous lightening flashes and thunder rolls, making for a spectacular change in scenery. The first storm was followed by a small second storm, what a way to finish the shift off. While the sky was so dark I decided to try and photograph some white birds against the dark background. I got some reasonable success when a Common Gull flew past.

-Common Gull

And that just about wraps up today. The walk home yielded very little but that is hardly surprising given the caliber of storms that had just gone over. I called it a night early due to the fact that I am just so tired, so no sea-watching tonight.

The Daily Oystercatcher

I was interested to see how the oystercatchers would react to the thunderstorm but I could not find them before it started to throw it down. I heard oystercatchers alarming during the storm but it was not the family I had been following. After the storm I had a another look and found them in the top corner. There was still thunder rolling but they did not seem bothered at all, with two birds sleeping and another two feeding during the whole thing.

Species List:
Beacon Ponds: Little Egret, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Swallow, Sand Martin, Arctic Skua, Gannet, Common Tern, Black-Tailed Godwit, Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Mute Swan, Black-Headed Gull, Common Gull, Woodpigeon, Little Grebe, Grey Plover, Cormorant, Sanderling, Redshank, Whitethroat, Willow warbler, Blackbird, Great Tit, House Martin, House Sparrow, Sedge Warbler, Yellow Wagtail, Common Teal, Greenshank, Herring Gull, Turnstone, Grey Heron, Grey Seal, Common Lizard, Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Gatekeeper, Common Blue, Wall Brown, Meadow Brown, Emperor,

Spurn Day 1

So having found myself possibly the greatest summer job going, the time came for me to depart to Spurn and become a Little Tern Warden. The public transport was pretty smooth, all went well and I arrived at Hull in good time to meet the reserve warden. Once I arrived in Hull the heavens opened and the rain did not cease all day.

But never mind! The drive to spurn passed through some lovely villages and some intensive agriculture. Due to the rain it was difficult to get a real feel for the environment but it felt reasonably pleasant. We picked up Stock Dove and Yellowhammer on the drive, getting me off to a good start for the trip.

I arrived on site and was given an hour to settle down and grab some lunch. I am staying in the Warren, which is spurn’s on site accommodation. Once I had settled down I was shown around, including the ringing hut, with photos of stunning birds from the past. I was given the chance to try and identify them all, but failed pretty miserably; hopefully I will not find any of those species in the field…

After a short tour I was taken by the warden to one of the marsh sites, from there we would head over to see where the tern hut was. I managed to make a great impression by leaving my bins back at the accommodation. What a way to make an impression!

Once we had recovered that situation we came to the wetland and entered the hide there. There was another local birder in the hide there already who had been there for some time. Even as we walked in he alerted us to the presence of a handful of Little Gulls that had just dropped in with the Black-Headed Gulls. Following that he then preceded to find a Yellow Legged Gull on the bank. So that’s two species of gull I am barely familiar with within the first few minutes of birding.

The rain continued to fall, with increasing intensity but there remained decent numbers of birds on the scrape. A small group of Shoveler flew in, as did a lone Avocet and a few Black-Tailed Godwit. So far I managed to contribute zilch to these findings and was beginning to feel a little lost in it all. Thankful, rescue was at hand when my eyes wandered and I noticed a small wading bird with an obvious white rump land on one of the more obscure pools. It was a Green Sandpiper, one of my moments of triumph to say the least. Sadly I could not get a great view but the white rump and dark colour alone told me enough. Also on the scrape were a few Arctic Terns, and Sandwich Terns, the former of which I had hardly seen until this year and now they I had seen them on 3 separate occasions.

After a little while and a relent in the rain we carried on round, picking up Golden Plover and more Curlew that had been flushed from the field. There was a viewing screen along the way and from there I spotted a Little Egret and Paul pointed out a Greenshank. We then carried on round to overlook the pool where I will be working from tomorrow. It certainly seems nice enough but the weather was very misleading. Fortunately there were decent birds on here including Cormorant, Little Egret and Dunlin. But the real birds on here were of course the Little Terns which we just visible on the far side of the lake. It was difficult to make out any features except for their small size. Fortunately I will be able to get some great encounters with them tomorrow when I monitor them.

We headed back from the lake and back to the Warren. I was given then afternoon off so decided to go to the Seawatching hide behind the Warren to see what was about on there. I spent about 75 mins in the hide in total, picking up very little in all honesty. The first thing I saw was a Grey Seal which stuck its big roman nose out of the water like some kind of shark fin. On the bird front there was a squad of 6 Gannets, followed by a further 2 later. The highlight was a small raft of Common Scoter, but it was difficult to make out any features because they were so far out and the weather was so poor. Alas that it should be so rainy. A few terns also passed by, including 4 Arctic and 2 Sandwich, and a Common Gull drifted past a couple of times. So for the weather conditions it worked out alright really.

-Arctic Tern

-Common Gull

And that was the end of the days outings, a pretty decent first day, with plenty to write home about, if not the weather. However, I now have a 5am start tomorrow for tern watching. Bring it on…

Species List:

Driving: Yellowhammer, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Swallow, Black-Headed Gull

Kilnsea Marsh: Yellow-Legged Gull, Little Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern, Little Tern, Little Egret, Kittywake, Green Sandpiper, Black-Tailed Godwit, Redshank, Greenshank, Dunlin, Swallow, Sand Martin, House Martin, Avocet, Shoveler, Curlew, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher

Seawatching: Meadow Pipit, Goldfinch, Gannet, Common Scoter, Common Gull, Oystercatcher, Swallow, Arctic Tern, Black-Headed Gull, Sandwich Tern, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Linnet, Grey Seal, Rabbit

in arctic conditions, I miss a med gull

went in vain for the med gull at ogden today. by the time I got there the light was fading and so I assumed that it must have already left to roost. in the spare time I had I took some photos of other gulls in flight, to improve my flight shots.

ogden this morning-in the fog!

a black headed gull, flying over water, but where does the water actually end?!?!


the female goldeneye near the duck feeding area.


just thought that i would include it, no reason why


the male goldeneye by the duck feeding area

first thing this morning we went to ogden. i had heard about the goldeneye pair and a teal pair but unfortunatly i could only find the goldeneye. luckily though the goldeneyes were very near to the duck feeding area allowing me to get some decent shots.
the only other bird of any interest were two long tailed tits i noticed. i failed to get any pictures but hey, thats the way it goes.
also four common gulls out on the reser

ogden-tuesday

a quiet snowy day. the forest was quite spectacular in the snow

all the usual stuff on the feeders and reservoir

coal tit

great tit

blue tit

common gull

black-headed gull

mallard

canada goose

burnsall

meet tank burnsall. i took this old disused fish tank to burnsall today to put the catches in. unfortunatly to float the tank over the river to take the photos-from fish paradise to the camera the tank crashed into a rock and sadly broke. therfore these photos were a race against time.

a lovely millers thumb or bullhead which were plentiful in the river

a very handsome spined loach which were incredibly fast so we used a net that i found. after lucnch we went back in minus the tank and found lots of baby loaches further upstream

heres a photo from the glass looking insiude the tank

the evil signal crayfish have created a reputation for themselves in britian but are massive around here and this was a prize catch.

a cracking photo of a millers thumb from outside the glass. there were 3 in the tank

but the water was running low from the crack as this photo depicts

a better photo of the loach

they look so adorable in an ugly kind of way but these are a menace

but these werent the highlight of the day. we went for a walk after lunch and found nothing, not even the knigsfisher but on the way back i was way ahead of my family and i saw a gull fly upstream. it looked like a herring gull so i thought, i hope it lands upstream so i can get a better view. it did land but looking at it only one thing was different from a herring gull-its legs, yellow! could it be that i finally had the long awaited yellow legged gull!!!! i had no bins so waited for my mum to catch up with bins and sure enough it wasnt a lesser black backed so yesss!!!! i had it my first. but as i ran back for the camera (a fair way i can tell you) it flew off so no pictures. the reason why it flew off was a bit unclear from what my family said. i got a tale of sheep, black headed and greater black backed gulls so i cant really tell. anyway it was a really great bird to tick.

also there today were, in the way off gulls, common gull in force which also has yellow legs, lesser black backed, which also has yellow legs, which turned up as we ate our fish and chips much later. black headed gulls were there in force and a few flyover greater black backeds were there. overall a good day.

other birds were sparse but there was a female mandarin which is normally there and 3 grey wagtails and a juvenile pied milling about on the beach. oystercatchers flew over in trios occasionally. overall a great day.

tuesday at ringstone

a much quieter evening than last time
this time however we actually managed to see the common sands really well
there were also plenty of gulls-black headed and common
a moorhen was walking about
also plenty of lapwings in the distance but not actually on site

dumfries and galloway, holiday day 3, part 2

gannets were diving really close

redshank flock

a star photo

went to port logan after the wether imporved

there were

sparrows

twite

gannets

redshank

common gull

black headed gull

ringed plovers

sandwhich tern

herring gulls

oystercatchers

goldfinch

ogden some time ago

some time in early febuary

the birds were sparse:

barnacle goose

black headed gulls

great tit

common gull

not much

isle of wight holiday-day 1

have wanted to go this island for so long

dunlin-my second

med gull-about ten, my first

black headed gull

sand martin

house martin

pied wagtail

common gull

oystercatcher

little egret

grey heron

this promises to be a good holliday

ogden

possible raven heard calling near the far end
grebe still there but far out
common gulls by the duck feeding area
barnacle goose still there

24th second to last day in lakeland

whinchat my first on walla crag


medow pipit on walla crag




coot



common or mew gull


lesser black backed gull being mobbed by a black headed in winter plumage



cropped version of the above can you tell







also saw 1 wigeon and a stonechat on top of walla crag. the wigeon was on the resovoir and the lesser black backed gull showed well today again so well infact thjat i didnt even have to use my bins to get these fab photos.