Burnsal Bridge

Family day out as is standard for a Wednesday when I am home. Usual business of a walk in the Dales and today's destination was Burnsal Bridge. On the way over I picked out 2 partridges but could not get enough on them as we drove by to confidently give them a species. I also spotted a dead barn owl which was a very sorry sight.

As we pulled up there were plenty of Oystercatchers, 14 in total, as well as 2 Grey Wagtails and a Pied Wagtail vigorously attacking its reflection in a car mirror. I grabbed a couple of shots of this as it is interesting behavior.

-Pied Wagtail

Along the walk we picked up 3 Dippers, multiple Grey Wagtails, a couple of Goosanders and an array of woodland species such as Goldcrest and Long-Tailed Tit. The highlight, as it were, was a pair of Red-Legged Partridges on the far bank high up. Its the first partridges I can defiantly put a species on that I have seen this year so will go down as a yeartick, and the first time I have seen the species on this site.

-Red-Legged Partridge 

There was also some more plastic fantastic with a pair of Mandarin feeding on the near bank. We were able to get reasonably close too, though more to the female than the spectacular male.

-Mandarin

It was another lovely walk at the site with the full compliment of usual suspects, though the RLP was a massive and unexpected bonus. Also picked up Common Buzzard on the way back which was another addition to the species list for the day.

Species List:
Burnsal Bridge: Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Oystercatcher, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Mallard, Black-Headed Gull, Rook, Common Gull, Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dipper, Long-Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Lapwing, Mandarin, Red-Legged Partridge, Pheasant, Goosander, Collard Dove, Magpie, Nuthatch, House Sparrow, Starling, Curlew, Mistle Thrush, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull,

Yorkshire Dales Day 4

Its been a while, but I will finally commence the write up of this day, one of the best days of my life. Its only a year late, but still very fresh in my mind.

So after my dad came back from his bike ride yesterday claiming to have seen black grouse this morning I was allowed to be dropped off at the same point and have a go at finding them for myself. I was dropped off on the moorland area past the fields and began my commence of trying to find a black grouse.

First bird I encountered was a lovely red grouse among the heather, looking rather fine.

-Red Grouse

I had hardly gone very far at all when the first major bird of the day showed its face in the form of a stunning male wheatear, my first of the year and looking lovely in full plumage. It seemed weird however to see it, a migrant, in the same area as snow.

-Wheatear

For some reason, even though I had only gone about 100 meters, to turn back to the road. Heaven only knows why but on the way back I spotted in the field across the road a redshank feeding on one of the over sized puddles

-Redshank

So for some reason I ended up wandering down this road back towards the farmland. I can't remember why, maybe my parents had text me telling me they had seen a black grouse down that way, I dunno, but either way I did and just as well, for I myself found a black grouse at the far side of a rather large field. The view was poor but there was no denying it.

I decided to risk trespassing and jump the gate to try and get closer, I made it quite close before the bird disappeared behind one of the many mounds in the field. Stealth would be required...

-Black grouse

I even had birds everywhere in this seemingly void environment during my stealth. I had lapwing and starlings overhead, the starlings in good numbers. The lapwing was probably a given in this kind of habitat but it was still nice to catch up.

-Lapwing

-Starlings

Like a boss I made my way round until the grouse was back in view. I however found another male in the neighboring field before I caught up with the original and decided to try and approach this one. I did not have much success with this and the bird quickly took flight but I got some more shots that I can use to prove my sighting and to enjoy in my retirement...

-Black Grouse

Rounding the side of the mound unfortunately involved the crossing of some lovely marsh. However, during the process of this I flushed a snipe, which was very nice to see, and they were drumming overhead too I began to notice. Today was the day that just kept giving, snipe drumming is one of my favorite noises.

-Common Snipe

I eventually made it round to where the black grouse was and was able to approach it reasonably well. At least in these shots its far more recognisable as what it is in all its finery.

-Black Grouse

Sadly, as is unusally the case with my clumsy birding style, I got too close and the bird took off and flew back in the direction away from the road. I decided to follow, since the other bird had gone that way too. The neighbouring field was more marsh than the first one, and as a result my feet got quite wet, but it was well worth it. I had snipe going up all over the place.

-Common Snipe

But it was not only common snipe going up. I was doing my best to track them where they landed but more and more kept going up. One bird however struck me as being a bit bigger than the others, and the photo below would suggest that I had flushed a woodcock. It seems to tick all the boxes, which was great, but I would have preferred to I.d it on site so I could enjoy it there and then.

-Woodcock

Moorland birds continued to go overhead, like lapwings and curlews, so here is a curlew photo...

-Curlew

But as I have said, I did not manage to I.d the woodcock on site, but there was another snipe species that I did manage to I.d. One bird, seemingly squatter than the rest went up, and on its back were 2 clear gold lines. I was very excited and rattled off some shots of it in the air to see if I could confirm it, the photos did indeed prove that I had found a lovely Jack Snipe, only my second ever

-Jack Snipe

I was probably more excited about this than the Black grouse, even though it was not a lifer. I abandoned the black grouse hunt to follow the snipe as it flushed and settled, in the hope I could find it by my feet as you so often hear stories told. I failed and decided to leave the poor bird in peace, since I had some shots of it. There were other marshland birds around too, such as a pair of graylag geese at the top of the field.

-Graylag geese

I made my way to the final field in this row of three, the final involved jumping some barbed wire fence, but hey, on the far side there were black grouse in good numbers. I was not really prepped for where the birds where, which was on the fringes of the far trees, while I was at the back of the near tree's. As a result the birds all went up before I even knew where they were. Thus follows a selection of shots involving Black Grouse in flight

-Black Grouse

Since I was in this field I decided to wander round to see if any birds had stayed behind, but they had not. There were very few birds in this area, more like what I had expected than what I had got. I then stupidly trod on a patch of snow and went straight through into a bog underneath, leaving me with flooded boots for the rest of the morning. Wonderful!

There were still some birds around, such as this meadow pipit on the fields fence 

-Meadow Pipit

I then had another crisis in that my phone died so I had no way to contact my parents when they returned. With this in mind I decided it would be a good idea to get back to the road so that I could see them when they did return. The return to the road was not as bird filled as the walk away from it, and I had very little around. 

Once at the road I decided to head up the road back to the moors where I had left so suddenly earlier. On the way I passed some of the farmhouses and on the roof of one was perched on oystercatcher looking chilled.

-Oystercatcher

On the moors there were no Black grouse but there were red grouse looking lovely and rather close too, so I took some photos of it next to the path for the record and so I can enjoy the photos when I will not be able to get out and see them.

-Red Grouse

Once more, my visit to the moors was brief and I was soon heading back down the road to see if I could find any more black grouse. On the way I got a smashing day tick with a lovely male reed bunting which was feeding in one of the fields next to the road

-Reed Bunting

I also got great views of lapwings, which were sitting inn the field closest to the road. I was able to enjoy watching them, and then they flew off, but still quite close.

-Lapwing

My walk down the road continued to give me species for the day, and just to show the diversity I have included a photo of what is without doubt the most common bird I saw today, a simple mallard, which I flushed from a dyke in one of the fields.

-Mallards

I returned to the field where the Black Grouse had been, but there were no birds outstanding in it. I decided it would still be safe to look round this field without missing my parents so decided to explore again. I got one for the mammals on my exploration with a brown hare which I spotted from some way off but ran away before I got very close

-Brown Hare

I wandered round the field with little else to show for it, however I had a look back into the snipe field and spotted another black grouse peeking out from the sedge's. This bird saw me as soon as I saw it though and dissapeared into the sedges afterwards.

-Black Grouse

I returned to the road after that was the morning was drawing on and I did not want to miss my parents on their return. However, at the road I got the sight of the day... a Black grouse, up a tree. And not a substantial tree either, more like an overgrown bush in all honesty. It was bizarre to see such a big bird on such a weedy tree, and gave me a chance to get some different shots

-Black Grouse

My parents returned after that and so that ended the rather successful black grouse hunt. A very enjoyable morning to say the least. However, it did not stop there as on the way back my dad offered to go round all the back roads on a quest for red legged partridges. Of course I said Please and with that we toured the farms looking for RLP's. And we were successful, with spotting a few pairs on a barren field. I got some nice shots of them, and was very pleased to have seen such charming birds

-Red Legged Partridges

But where we stopped there was more than just partridges as out from the hedge wandered a shellduck, an adult male and not what I had expected to see in this kind of environment. It seemed placid enough and was able to get some decent record shots.

-Shellduck

But even that was not the end, as when we got back in prep for going home the birdfeeder that has given so much this holiday gave a little more, as a female reed bunting showed up and began feeding. There was been some unusual birds on this feeder, and this may not top tree sparrow but it was certainly something special and a great end to the holiday.

-Reed Bunting

Soil Hell (Again)

Since it was a gloroius morning, with a slight groundfrost and hardly a cloud in the sky, I foolishly decided to return to soil hill. When will I ever learn. It took significantly longer than yesterday to find my first bird, which I only saw for a matter of seconds. Halfway down the far slope I managed to flush three red legged partridges, but they landed in the marsh at the bottom. You would think I was exagerating, but no... Those were the only birds I saw on the hill today!

Isle of wight Day 3-ventnor botanics

it was a overcast morning that greeted us, but it was quite warm so we decided to go to the botanic gardens at Ventnor. Botanic gardens are often good for wildlife so I went with my family to the gardens. The entrance building was quite modern, but when I saw the map I was gutted to learn that there was only one pond, and that was next to the cafe, so I didn't rate my chances of finding any dragonflies very highly.
There was however a meadow at the far end of the site, which might have had some butterflies, so i decided that that would be where I went for the day. But first there was the issue of going to the cafe, and there would be the pond there too.
The pond was a small concrete affair with a wide variety of plants but not much else. I got my first odonata sighting of the holiday with the small numbers of blue-tailed damselflies that were there, including form rufescens-obsoleta.

-Blue tailed damselfly

After a morning snack I made my way to the meadow at the far end. I was not surprised to find that it was just a field, all be it a very big one. I was also not surprised to find that there was an excessive number of grasshoppers and crickets in the field. I this one which was quite big...

-Large Cricket
There were also a large number of butterflies, including the usual gatekeepers, large whites and meadow browns, but also, for the third day on the trot I spotted a marbled white butterfly

-Marbled white
Secretly I was hoping for a glanville fritillary, although their flight season had past, there may be just one or two hanging around, and we were quite near to st. catherines point where they exist, so there was no reason why the shouldn't be here.

They would have to wait though, as i received a text from my dad telling me that they had found a family of partridges with babies, as well as lizards. When I caught up with them, back at the cafe my dad said that they had lost them, but showed me a lizard sunbathing on a flat rock.

-Common Wall Lizard

We look around for the partridges but it was my mum that found them, accidentally stumbling upon them resting away from the path. I watched them and counted about seven babies, as they began to move around looking for a new place to rest. I took some photos to show how cute they were, but there isn't a great deal more to say, so just enjoy the photos.

-Red legged partridge female with chicks
I then spotted another lizard, this one closer to me, allowing me to get a few more quick shots of lizards, this one was more awake and scurried when i tried to get closer.

-Common wall lizard
Back in the field, I spent my time walking around the clumps of thistle's looking for potential fritillaries, I didn't find any, but I did find a group of young willow warblers, that was nice-a real day for baby birds.

-Baby willow warblers
I continued to walk around the field and as i did so, I kept flushing small skippers from the grass, only when they landed again they had their wings closed which i have never seen before. This is what attracted me to have a closer look, and I kept finding them and watching them for a long time until they opened their wings. eventually i found one that did open its wings. I didn't really know what they were, but i knew that the difference between small and essex skippers is to do with the black on the underside of the attenne, so I had a look and it seemed to fit the bill. If I'm right then I have another new species of butterfly, but I still have some doubts over my I.D skills on such small departments. Anyway I took a lot of photos, so enjoy them, and if you know please tell me if I'm wrong.

-Essex Skipper

It got to lunch time and still no joy with the fritillaries, although I had also found a group of common blue.

During lunch there was a heavy rain storm so I guessed that me chances had just about finished, but I went back anyway to try and find one.

Moving further into the field i passed some cages, where there were ponds and llamas, and also a grey heron looking wet and miserable.

-Grey heron
I continued to walk around the field until I found a small stream, I followed it hoping to encounter a scarce blue tailed damselfly or summit, but instead i encountered a crab spider-my first time ever seeing one, so was pleasantly surprised. It was actually hunting too, although not very subtly,as it was on a purple thistle. It moved to try and subtly hide away from me as I got some photos of it, and it even moved sideways like a crab, by the far the best thing i have seen all day.

-Crab Spider

on my way back to the car park I received a text from my dad saying that they were going now and that I could either stay and catch up with them at Ventnor beach or come with them. I decided to stay so that I couldn't possible overlook anything in the field. The next thing I saw was a pair of juvenile buzzards perched high in a dead tree and calling really loudly. One adult kept flying around, but I dunno which one it was.

-Common Buzzard
One bird you will quickly get to grips with upon the isle of wight is the green woodpecker, every site seems to have them there, and this one was no exception, I had heard them all day, but only now did I spot one-in the top of a tree?? Its the first time I have ever seen one in a tree!

-green woopeckerAs I walked back through the field there continued to be plenty of essex skippers and as the weather began to improve they began to open their wings more, even though that didn't help at all with my I.D...

-Essex SkipperI left the field eventually and made my way to the exit. By now it was quite warm and there were a few more damselflies on the pond, all still blue tailed though.

-Blue tailed damselfly, rufescens obsoletaWhen I left the gardens I didn't really know what to do, but since it had brightened up I decided to go back to rew down, for the third time only this time I truly believed that I might actually see some of the butterflies it had there.

It was quite a walk, all up-hill but when I got there I was please to note that there were quite a few butterflies around, so I was quite optimistic about finding an adonis. The first butterfly that wasn't a gatekeeper was a marbled white, no surprise there.

-Marbled White
When I got down the the area of long grass, that was not mown I was not surprised to find a large number of blue butterflies. However having not done my homework I had no clue as to how to tell the difference between the common and adonis blue.

So I resolved to take a photo of every blue butterfly I saw, but I quickly realised that this was not sustainable as I was running out of photos on this card, and the other card was left in the caravan.

I watched the various blue butterflies, but the first one to catch my eye was the one featured below, was it a very brown common blue or a very blue brown argus. I think that it is a brown argus, but i would say that having seen plenty of common blues and only one brown argus.

-Brown Argus

I eventually found a butterfly that might be what I was looking for. I didn't recognise the underwing pattern, and although it refused to open its wings appeared to be an adonis. It was very small, which is what threw me. I lost this butterfly, but found one later that had the same markings, but upon opening its wings had very dark insides of its wings. That one was a female chalk-hill blue, but was this one, were they the same butterfly? The female chalk-hill blue would be much bigger in theory but I didn't see them next to each other so I can't call the size difference and that's the only thing I have to go on really.

-Adonis blue? or female chalk-hill blue?
And on the note of chalk-hill I saw one of them too, my first, a wonderful male with a rather sorryfull chip in its wings, but even so it was a really nice record and another new butterfly tick, so i followed it around to try and get some record shots, and I have done a decent job.

-Chalk-Hill BlueIt was great to see a butterfly, one of those i really badly wanted to see during the holiday, but once i lost it I decided I would have to try and return to find an adonis.

It was infuriating how many blue butterflies there were there, all of them common blues. Be having said that, the common blues looked great with the evening light reflecting off their wings.

-Common Bluewalking around I spotted a group of about three small moths or butterflies fluttering near a hawthorn tree. I wondered if they might be skippers, dingy or grizzled so I watched them. when they landed i was plesantly surprised by the fact that they were actually a very colourful micro-moth. I dunno what kind it actually is but from the book I reckon its a pyrausta genus

-pyrausta sp. (aurata?)
I managed to catch up with the chalk-hill blue again, and it was the same one judging by the chip on its lower wing-but it allowed me to get some more shots of what was a pretty impressive butterfly. I diddnt realise that they were so much bigger than other blues

-Chalk hill blue

Still the Adonis were avoiding me, and again I had common blues a plenty!

-Common Blue
but the chalk-hill blue made it all better

-Chalk-hill blue
I decided to look furthur affield in the reserve and not stick to the same area. I wondered if i was past the time of flight for adonis, and then thought that that never made any difference. It then occured to me that I haddnt seen a ringlet for about a month, and was filled with a sense of hope-less-ness, however, ironically I found a ringlet hidden amongst the hawthorn bushes.

I got a text from my mum and dad telling me that my lift had arrived, so I had to leave, but on my way out I spotted a wall brown on the path, which was my first of the year, and also my first oppertunity to get a record shot that I had been wanting.

-Wall Brown

So ends another day, and despite the rain the weather had been really good hence the large numbers of butterflies and with another two new species I was on course for a new butterfly ever day!