Inland sea-watch and The Beast From The North

A flex day for Mike meant a chance to put the band back together again even if for just one day. I inspected the weather map and saw a repeat of the strong NE winds in the Thames Estuary which had recently brought seabirds galour to the Oare Marshes, and at just after 9 we were looking into a blank expanse of intertidal mud and low-tide estuary from the Sea Hide by the mouth of the Oare. "It doesn't seem an obvious place for a sea-watch" said David, helpfully, and as 60+ Avocets settled in front of us, I could see his point.

We walked round the reserve collecting c20 Ruff, c60 Golden Plover, and 1000+ Black-tailed Godwits but with none of the rarer waders for which the reserve is renown. It was turning into a bit of a disappointment when as we headed back to the car Mike spotted a Great Skua over the reserve - sea birds at last! A Peregrine appeared over the car, a massive female we would guess, and as we headed back to the sea watching hide now on a rising tide and buffeted by a howling NE wind we were treated by 7 Gannets high up drifting slowly inland.

An hour later we were heading back to the car with 4 Arctic Skuas, another 15-odd mainly juvenile Gannets, an adult Little Gull and a few Commic Terns to the good. The Swale channel in front of us and the winds had brought these birds in quite close too. Well, close for a sea-watch. Not bad for a marshland reserve!

And so, on the way back to Stortford we came to the Beluga. Riverside Saxon Way duly located, we were met by a birder heading back on his phone who kindly paused to indicate it was just off-shore, and there it was, a large disc of porcelain-coloured blubber rotating through the water and then gone. We watched it for an hour or so getting several decent views as it appeared to happily hunt along our stretch of river about 50-100 metres out; a surprisingly prominent spine, no dorsal fin, a marbled pale grey appearance, a blast from the air hole as it was about to surface and a nice length of body arcing through the water. I would guess 2m-3m long. A much better than expected series of views of this completely unexpected creature, and a collection of a spectators with many more women and young folk than attend the average twitch.

Welney Wonderland

The moment when the magic of the place hit home was when we picked up a Merlin whizzing down the back of the washes, past the three Common Cranes, just behind the grazing family party of Whooper Swans, and down on to the deck. This could be some piece of bogy tundra well beyond the arctic circle. And all from a large lounge which is certainly the most luxurious place to see birds I've encountered in the UK.

I hadn't been to Welney WWT for a while. Probably because if you're going to go all the way to Welney, you may as well carry on to the Norfolk coast, and also, its quite expensive. But the chance of seeing my second Pallid Harrier in three days (lol!) as well as the possibility of seeing Common Crane, a bird whose expansion in the UK had managed to pass me by, saw David and me handing over our money and heading across the wooden walkway to view the washes.

That Merlin moment didn't happen until after we had gone the full length north from the main hide to find the Harrier, only to be told it had been seen early and scooted off north somewhere. We did catch up with a couple of Marsh Harriers, one of which came really quite close, and a few Ruff amongst the Teal. A couple of distant Hobbies patrolled the far side of the wash, and Kestrels and Snipe kept us busy in the search for the Harrier. And three enormous Cranes drifted close by back toward the main hide. Wow.

The path was out of the path of the howling wind so had a surprising number of insects. We got Wall Butterfly - new for the year for both of us, one in a prolonged spiralling fight with a Small Copper; plenty of Migrant Hawkers often resting up out of the wind, and even a Willow Emerald. This species is becoming the Little Egret of the Damsel fly world. Last year we were thrilled to find one. This year we are delighted to see so many. Next year we will be disappointed not to see one in the usual places. The year after that we will have stopped counting them.

Time for lunch in the clean and overpriced modern cafe, up on the second floor to give a good view of Lady Fen. And what a view, as 9 Common Cranes flew around the fields, bickering and arguing with each other. It seemed there were three parties of three, with each having two adults and a drab brownish bird of the year. We almost overlooked the Tree Sparrows on the feeders, a treat for us Southerners.

Then back to the main hide to find the three Cranes still there, so 12 in total. A scan along the waters edge had single Avocet, three Black-tailed Godwit, and a couple of Dunlin with many wigeon and Teal there too. Then four Cranes flew in and we had seven birds doing the full Crane thing at a distance of, I would guess, between 50 and 100 yards. Those birds filled the scope view without having to touch the zoom. Jumping, jostling, then head-down arse-up feeding, and a bit more of that slow, languid flight and bounding landing. And then the Merlin doing what Merlins do. We quite forgot we hadn't seen that Harrier.

Here's a couple of photos. If you are thinking those are quite good for me, that's because they were taken by David. For more, see his excellent blog

Cranes from the main hide. 

Migrant Hawker resting out of the wind.

Spurn Point on migration fest weekend

I stayed with my mother in Leeds on Saturday night, returning to Hertfordshire on Sunday. A quick look at the map will reveal that a straight line from Leeds to Herts practically goes past the front door of Spurn Point; just a small detour required, would be rude not to. And by coincidence, it is day two the Spurn Migration Festival, so I am curious. The only downer is the solid west wind that clears Spurn of interesting bird like a dose of salts.

I arrive and check #migfest and a Corncrake has just been seen! A lifer for me, I head down to the location and join a crowd of 40 looking at a field with grass much taller than any Corncrake. Surely a futile gesture but no! There it is! and soon I am looking at my first Corncrake through the scope. The head is peeking round above the grass, and I am somewhat surprised that a Corncrake should be that big, and so, well, there's no other way to put this, so like a Pheasant. Slowly the truth dawns on the crowd, but hang on there it is! next to the Pheasant is a much smaller bird. We all get onto that, and there are two small birds, and they are baby pheasants. Oh well.

I parked back at migration-festival central and walk up to Kilnsea wetlands. No repeat of last years experience, just a few Wigeon, three Black-Tailed Godwits, some Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper and a Ringed Plover. And lots of Greylag Geese.

On to Beacon Lane Ponds, and there are three cracking female Roe Deer in a field and beyond them I can just make out about a hundred Golden Plover. Sadly no repeat of last year's Merlin on the ponds, not much at all in fact, until I get back to the Discovery Centre and a crowd looking at a flock of Sparrows, and soon the reason becomes apparent when a Common Rosefinch pops up. So dull it makes the Sparrows look flamboyant, it is nevertheless a neat bird, and has a touch of pink on the bill which I believe makes it a first-year male. A Whinchat appears alongside it, and we soon forget about the Rosefinch and concentrate on this.

Flushed with unexpected success and informed by the walkie-talkies which seem to be present at every group, I go to the sea-watching hut and join a line looking out to sea. A Great Skua was reported, and it took a while to realise that the dot in the distance was what they were watching. Then an Arctic Skua, and much purring from the line about the splendid close views we were getting as the bird went north a mere half a mile out.

Then briefly back to Kilnsea Wetlands. No sign of the Curlew Sandpiper, but a Pintail and a first-winter Mediterranean Gull are nice additions to the list, then its time for home.

The main feature was the number of people there who had come for the festival, and in particular the number of young folk. It was great to be amongst so many birders. But call me an old moaner, I have noticed when ladies of a certain age get together in a hide they develop list fever and start seeing all sorts of things. I felt a bit of a killjoy telling some ladies that three Citrine Wagtails would be an exceptional sightings, and that most sightings at this time of year are juvenile birds and not bright yellow. Perhaps in future I should just shut up and let them enjoy their birds, real or imagined.

Lessons in bees

I was out on Chobham Common when we came across a bumble bee with an orange-red tail and a faint white band on the thorax. It was similar to a male Red-Tailed bumble bee, but not with the same as ones I was used to from my patch. so /i took lots of photos, and was going through them at home when I cropped one and got this.

... and just have a look at the hairs on the leg. Bright orange! clearly this is a Red-Shanked Carder Bee. No need to look any further, so I triumphantly tweet this out, and somewhat arrogantly copy in the wonderful Steven Falk, author of the excellent The Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland. I duly wait the applause, and instead get a tweet back saying this is just a male Red-Tailed Bumble Bee. Surely he must be wrong! So I protest and back comes a polite tweet pointing out that the extra photo I attached shows white on the face, and this is diagnostic of Red-Tailed Bumble bee, and that Red-Tailed Bumble bees have red whiskers on their legs too.

So that is me told. I have clearly not got my Bee eye in yet and am still having basic difficulties understanding the variety of the common bees. Like those people who take pictures of young Blackbirds and think they have something rare. Anyway, I am now wiser, and very grateful for Mr Falk sharing his expertise with people bombarding him with mis-identified photos of common bees, something he does regularly and with patience and charm; we are indeed lucky to have naturalists so generous with their time and expertise.

Meanwhile this tweet has embarrassingly got a life of its own. Despite the complete mis-identification, lots of people are now liking this and retweeting it. It has become my most popular tweet. I'm tempted to delete it ...

Chobham Common

D#3 wanted a lift to and from Thorpe Park. So, a day SW of London. David suggested Chobham Common, and that's where we went. Well, we actually went to Cobham, but soon realised our mistake.

Bird-wise it was quiet; a few glimpses of Dartford Warbler, several Stonechats, and a flock of about 40 birds that had Willow Warblers, Blue, Great, Coal and long-tailed tit, and a Spotted Flycatcher. But we did find Grayling butterflies all over the place, much to our surprise.

This was the first time for me I've seen them close too without a strong wind, so the first time I got to see their upper parts - in flight only. A really nice if unspectacular butterfly. After a while David noticed something about their behaviour, mainly because as we moved to take the best side-on shot our shadows were in danger of impinging on the butterflies. We eventually worked out what we think was going on.

The butterflies land with their fore-wing up revealing the eye, then slide that down, then slowly shuffle round until their wings face the sun, and then lean slightly so their wings are perpendicular to the sun's rays. Then they soak up the maximum heat they can. Quite something!

just landed. Giving us the eye.

Settling. No eye

note the location of the shadows. Side on to the sun.

A few more nameless insects. Possibly Heather Mining bee (really should stop thinking that every dark slim bee is a honey bee), no-idea on the wasp, oh, and a bumble be that deserves a post of its own ...

Does this bee get more interesting? Well, yes and no. Mainly no.

Breaking the mid-August doldrums at Minsmere

Mid August can be a difficult time as migration begins in fits and starts. However a Semi-Palmated Sandpiper at Minsmere ticked the automatic "lifer within 100 miles" box so I was on my way, by myself this time as my usual birding companion was not available.

The bird was soon ticked, quelling pre-tick nerves, and I managed to get decent if somewhat distant views (see here for typical views). It showed the various features that my pre-trip reading had indicated were diagnostic - lack of v stripes, short-tailed projection, slightly heavy black bill etc but I fancy if I'd seen that by myself I might have ticked an adult Little Stint. And whilst it is nice to get a lifer, careful steady of this peep only confirmed that a juvenile Little Stint is a beautiful bird in its rich tan and pinkish hues in a way that a semi-p isn't. Roll on September and a few of those for the list!

Otherwise on the scrapes there were 60 Little Gulls - an amazing numbers, 6 Spotted Redshanks, 4 Ruff, 3 Green Sandpipers, 2 Greenshanks, a Little Tern and an early Wigeon.

Another lifer turned up in the form of a Wasp Spider. It was easy to find, having been told to go to the place with the trampled-down grass, and was very impressive - larger than I had imagined.

One of the pleasures of birding is meeting other birders. At the Sluice bushes I got chatting with a chap from the midlands when he noticed a flycatcher-like bird popping up from the bushes there. We gave it a while and eventually he picked up a Pied Flycatcher briefly in the depths of the foliage. It disappeared but returned later to chase off a different bird that suddenly appeared, so at least one and possibly two Pied flys. If I hadn't been chatting to him I would have been long gone I think before this turned up.

So there we have it. Nearly time for migration to really kick-in. Come on winds, please just swing round for us.

Insect hunting at Thursley Common and Oaken Wood

A day out with David hunting insects, a few weeks later than ideal. In retrospect, with searing heat on Tuesday and drizzle today, Wednesday was a serendipitous choice although when the breeze got up on Thursley it didn't feel like it.

It took a while for the dragons to appear, but when they did they were in number. Lots of Black Darter (new for me), Keeled Skimmer, Black-Tailed Skimmer, Emerald Damselfly, Common/Azure damselfly, Blue-Tailed Damselfly.

On a couple of occasions we noticed female Keeled Skimmers ovipositing and a male hovering just over; this seems to be a recognised part of their behaviour.

We got lucky with Small Red Damselfly as a couple fluttered briefly whilst we were watching a Black Darter. Wow, they are really small! Very hard to see when not flying as they look like bits of grass.

On to Oaken Wood. Not the visual feast of White Admirals we had experienced on our previous visit,  still lots to go at.

We saw a Blue which was so small, wings literally the size of a little-finger nail, we were left stumped as to what it is. Reviewing the photos, I think it is just a very small Common Blue. Perhaps the drought has resulted in smaller butterflies in the second brood?

The star butterfly was undoubtedly the Wood White, of which we saw six. David picked out the first (and most of the others), males just permanently flying a couple of feet off the ground. Such a small and dainty butterfly with those tear-drop wings! Photographing these on a plant was obviously impossible so I was reduced to trailing around trying to get a flight shot. The one below is the best of the bunch and shows the pale spot on the upper fore-wing.

David found a (presumably) female settled on a thistle and quietly fed, so an opportunity to get the macro lens doing the job it was designed for.

There is something very therapeutic about looking for insects. You are in their hands, and if they decide not to appear, that is something you just have to accept. In contrast to some aspects of birding, the slow pace and careful looking required for looking for insects is quite calming. I guess its almost over for this year but am looking forward to next year already.

Rye Meads

Dipping reached new heights at Rye Meads this morning. Not only were there no birds to be seen, but I missed the Willow Emeralds and Wasp Spider, despite there now being a big sign saying "Wasp Spiders are right here!" Nevertheless, got into pleasant conversation with a fellow birder and saw a few insects so a worthwhile and enjoyable outing. The best of the photos here.

Male Migrant Hawker. Lots of these here today along with Southern Hawker.

I think this is Green-Veined White?

lots of Blue-tailed Damselflies out day.

Female Common Blue

Relaxing at Oare Marshes

A free day. Oare marshes has been on a good run, so with high tide at half 4 I set off in good time to navigate the many road works and arrived at 2pm ish to find I (almost) had the place to myself.

The Red-Necked Phalarope was soon pointed out by the one other birder. A study in sepia and white, it really is tiny. Soon the air was filled with a cacophony of wader yelping and two flocks of Whimbrel both numbering about 20 appeared and flew away. Whimbrel were to be present throughout the day in small numbers, with one further flock of 10.

Further scanning yielded about 50 Golden Plover, lots of Lapwing, 3 Snipe, a number of Avocets, a dense flock of 150 Redshank (plenty of plumage variation giving challenges for the unwary - I think I saw 5 Wood Sandpipers and a Tatler today), and a large flock of Black-Tailed Godwit which slowly increased to around 1000 birds. Searching produced a few Ruff, and on the edge of a spit a mixture of Turnstones, summer plumage Red Knot and some Dunlin and running around with the Dunlin a Little Stint.

At this time a flock of Common Tern descended from toward the estuary. I eventually counted 123. These birds were with us for several hours until as the tide fell they began to disappear. About 10% were juveniles. The rest full summer plumage adults. These were quite the spectacle and a highlight of the day,

I walked round to the hide on the southern edge and from there was a winter-plumage Spotted Redshank and I was shown two sparkling summer plumage Curlew Sandpipers.

On returning I stopped to look at the dragonflies in the ditch and it soon became clear that the larger ones were Southern Migrant Hawkers. I saw about four. The clinching evidence was the fact that the grass round the path was trampled flat so clearly a lot of photographers had been here.

Back for another sit and view; I couldn't find the Bonapartes Gull, but did find a consolation Mediterranean Gull, a Little Ringed Plover, a couple of Ringed Plovers and a distant Greenshank. 

So quite a spectacular day. The birds were a bit far for my camera skills, but just to show that the last set of photos was a fluke here's a few from today.

some of the Common Terns on the ground ..

... and leaving back into the estuary

I think the club-shaped abdomen makes this a Ruddy Darter

an 'action shot' is all I could manage of the SMH.

Therfield Heath again

A gap between appointments in Hertford ... so Therfield Heath again.

I'd not seen Chalkhill Blues before. What a butterfly! Some of them have the most intense azure next to the body, but the rest of them are beautiful sculptures of pale blue with brown surrounds. There were quite a few too by the path from the car park across the road and up to the mounds. I would estimate 50-100.

Also Dark Green Fritillary. I got my first decent view, and very nice it is too. Almost a black-and-white effect on the wing edges. There has been a record reported from Hatfield Forest so I need to do some careful studying here.

Otherwise, a Knapweed Broomrape (no photo) and a Skylark.

In Search of His Majesty

Purple Emperors are doing well all over, and our local stronghold Hatfield Forest has had up to 9 seen there. I've been there on a few occasions to see them and so far ... nothing.

It may be that I've been there mid morning and its been too hot, or it may be that I'm just not very good at finding butterflies that fly round the top of tall trees.

I met a helpful chap who told me where to find them in an Oak along the main plain, and that there are White-Letter Hairstreaks in Elms along the edge of the plain. Needless to say I didn't see them either.

Despite this, I'm quite enjoying the cool of some of the rides, and there are tens, possibly hundreds of Silver Washed Fritillaries. Here's a few photos of some other insects.

female SWF. Noticeably smaller than the males.

Purple Hairstreak - common round oaks. This was the closest I could get.

 Ringlet, Meadow Brown, a few Marbled Whites and various other whites and skippers.

There were a few dragonflies too. Brown Hawkers and the usual small blue damselfly things, and these.

Southern Hawker in one of the more shaded rides 

a skimmer? not near water so a bit confused on this one.

I refound the colony of White-Legged Damselflies pretty much in the same place I last had them. Noticeably paler, seemingly slightly slower in flight and a tad longer than the more common damselflies.