Home and Away

Last weekend I visited V&A plus baby.  We took quite a long trip to the Loch of the Lowes which promised various interesting sightings including osprey, red squirrel and beaver but overall we were underwhelmed.  True enough the entry fee (!) for the two hides did give us a good view of an osprey nest but apparently the beavers are only around early and late when the centre is closed and none of the seven red squirrels resident showed up.

Osprey Chick

We took a bit of a wander and while the vegetation looked promising, there was an eerie lack of bird song once we were a hundred yards away from the car park.  The only thing of interest was a tiny scavenger crossing the road which turned out to be a vole and obligingly fed on the roadside verge for a while. 

Vole

I don't think I've seen a vole before.

We decided to move on and settled on Loch Leven RSPB Reserve which proved more interesting. Ironically, one of the first things we saw was an adult osprey hunting and I was quite pleased to get some in-shot flights at distance as well as a video:

Osprey

There was a large area of flower meadow that, although very parched as elsewhere, looked potentially attractive.  I was happy enough to find a lone small copper on heather near the footpath.

Small Copper

There were a lot of greylag geese in the fields by the lake but while the rest of us were taking a rest, A managed to spot three ruddy shelduck among them.  Unfortunately they proceeded to move behind some reeds and, late in the day, we must have spent another half hour or more trying to spot them.  All I managed to get was a blurry head and shoulders shot but it is clear enough for identification purposes.

Ruddy Shelduck

This wasn't a first sighting as there were some at Shibdon Pond just after I moved here.

On the way back out we noted some interesting flowers and came upon a cinnabar caterpillar as well as being greeted by some baby house martins nesting outside the visitors' shop.

Cinnebar Caterpillar

House Martins

The overall reflection was that Loch Leven would be well worth another visit earlier in the summer.

Back at home I've realised I haven't observed a garden bumblebee yet this year, and so decided perhaps belatedly to check out the bees in the garden more closely.  I haven't found one but have seen on at least three occasions a broken-Belted bumblebee.

Broken-belted Bumblebee

Really you'd expect to find them in the Pennine moorlands but this isn't the first summer they've visited the garden.

Otherwise the usual suspects have turned up regularly on the buddleia, record numbers of hummingbird hawk moth in particular. However another surprise was to see a speckled wood on it on two occasions.

Speckled Wood

Also seen on two occasions has been a willow warbler visiting the plum tree, but it has proved very adept at making a quick exit when its presence was noted.

Lastly, riding at fair speed along the Derwent Walk near Swalwell on Thursday I glanced right to see three or four ponies feeding at the edge of a field except that one was clearly - a zebra.

Up in The Highlands 1

 After several attempts, I managed to catch up with a male orange tip visiting the garden - actually a notably small specimen, suggesting it hasn't been feeding well.

Orange Tip

This may however be one of the last orange tips to visit as I have started clearing out the garlic mustard, which had become far too dominant and was starting to die off anyway.

Last weekend I was on a nature break in the Highlands with Alex and Vicki.  We started with a full day at a location known for eagles and managed a few sightings, though all were at considerable distance.  Not long after entering the valley I could see an obviously large bird from the car window and did get one good sighting through the binoculars, when I managed to track a bird across the heather and could make out its tail feathers.

The rest of the day we spent trying to work out whether distant flyers were eagles or buzzards, mostly the latter, some of which may also have been kestrels but mainly to my eye buzzards that managed to hover against the breeze.  I was a bit surprised to find that the commonest bird otherwise was house martin, swooping around in large numbers in the afternoon.  Oystercatchers and gulls were also present in good numbers, as well as occasional lapwing and curlew.

It was a reasonably summer day so I undertook a couple of forages in the gorse next to the river and was pleased to find a first sighting - the bilberry bumblebee.  There was also what I think to be a moss carder bee, rather than a common carder bee.  I reckoned I saw one in Cumbria last June, but didn't get close enough to confirm.

Bilberry Bumblebee

Moss Carder Bee?

A slight doubt on the latter is that gorse isn't listed as a favoured flower.

On the second day, we took advantage of the time of year to visit Loch Ruthven during the mating season of the slavonian grebe.  This is one of the few locations for slavonian grebe and we had instant success as it was the first bird we saw.  Several pairs were clearly visible from the hide, passing through the weed. Again there were a lot of house martins swooping over the water and I think some sand martins too.

Slavonian Grebe

Our afternoon walk around the area of Loch Garten was however a disappointment.  Hoping perhaps for crested tit or crossbill variations, all we saw was a couple of siskins and chaffinches, a couple more bilberry bumblebees and lots of pine trees as well as bilberry bushes that had barely started to flower.

Here the seasons probably played to our disadvantage as we learned later that crested tits and crossbills are a good deal harder to find in the nesting season.  Loch Garten itself is known for hosting birds of prey including osprey and goshawk but it seems you're better off viewing the webcam images rather than trying to see them live.

Monday 10th September

The last few weeks has produced various bits and bobs though nothing really spectacular.

Towards the end of August there was another visit from the long-tailed to the feeders tits and in fairly big numbers,  I reckon there are seven of them in the photo.

Long-tailed tits and others

Also in the last week of August I tried a bike ride to Prestwick Carr where short-eared owls can sometimes be seen.  I didn't see them but there was a peacock and a red admiral and a number of green-veined whites feeding on the remains of some thistles.  I hadn't seen any for a while and so wondered if they are double-brooded, which it seems they are.  On the next clump of thistles there were more whites but they were almost exclusively small whites, as if some sort of segregation was going on.

Sequoia

On Friday 31st there was a Naturewatch walk along the Devil's Water near Corbridge.  There wasn't much in the way of birdlife around but we got a fair view of a comma sunbathing and there were some funghi and unusual trees.  One was identified as a sequoia.  Apparently treecreepers like to roost in the crevices of the trunk, though I don't suppose they were responsible for leaving a shoe there.

Last Monday I went back to Dumfries.  I spent some time looking for salmon leaping the caul, which I never saw in all my time there and still haven't.  Waiting at the station, I was quite amused by this train-themed flower display (below).  I've no idea what the dangling maroon flowers are but they're very effective.

On Sunday at Riding Mill, my reappearance on the cricket field and early dismissal lead to me sighting a large number of lapwings flying over the fields in the distance.  You couldn't make them out properly from a photo taken on my mobile but there were moments when I reckoned there must be a couple of hundred of them in the air - a far greater number than I can remember seeing before in my adult life.

Flower Train

Today there was another Naturewatch walk from Hagg Bank to the most Eastern of the Spetchells.

Our first sighting was a couple of improbably large pumpkins in the allotment.  By the pond there were three herons resting in the same tree and a few house martins overhead.  Possibly sand martins too, but I couldn't be sure in the conditions.

On a cool, sunless day it was a bit surprising to see speckled wood butterflies out and a couple of blue dragonflies. Also more funghi.

As we got to the chalky areas, we started to find the rarer plant species.  As ever, I couldn't really keep up but there were definitely some yellow wort.  Apparently the italian alder here were frequently used to replant old mining areas as they are fast growing and resistant to noxious soils.

Walking back to the car park at Wylam, we noticed a man fishing with the assistance of a dog.  I don't suppose that it helps the catch much, and if so, that it is permitted by the local Anging Club.

Huge pumpkins

Funghi

Fishing with dog

Holiday am Bodensee (continued)

On the second day it was a bit of a relief to make a short trip to Stein am Rhein and its beautiful mediaeval buildings.

There wasn't that much to see on the nature front.  A couple of jays turned up as did a couple of black redstarts and both birds turned into regular sightings throughout the rest of the tour.  I've seen black redstarts in Germany several times before and notice they often turn up where there is some sort of intensive agricultural activity, in this area notably maize production.  There was also another very

Small-flowered cranesbill

dark squirrel and a lot of house martins over the Rhein near Diessenhofen, plus a few unremarkable dragonflies.

However I did come across a nice example of this small-flowered cranesbill, which the bike conveniently fell over, framing it nicely.

On the next day I moved on quite quickly, deciding to spend some time looking at the nature reserve at Mettnau.  Unfortunately, part of the path was still flooded from yesterday and all I saw was things I'd already spotted (several coots) but it did have the highest bird hide I have ever been on and produced one flower I couldn't identify.  There are supposed to be one or two rarities in the area so I'd like to know what it was.

High hide

Unidentified flower

This area is supposed to be a home for the camberwell beauty and goldon oriole, but as they are both summer visitors I was more disappointed not to see any birds of prey from the hide.  A massive area of the lake and the wetland was visible.  You'd have thought that something would be on the move.

Saturday 7th May

Still playing catch up...

On Wednesday it was back to what has become somewhat usual - a testing bike ride in rather challenging, windy conditions so that the concentration was more on the road on the wildlife.

Loch Arthur

Managed a stop at Loch Arthur for half an hour, where I did however see some swallows and house martins flying over the water surface in the search for flies, plus a great crested grebe and a diving cormorant.  A question arose as to why I did not see any swallows when I was in Italy last week?? And so here's a theory: the birds need to spend more time in Northern Europe than Southern Europe in order to get enough food to feed their offspring and nourish themselves for the flight back to Africa.

Whether this idea has any sense in it, I really do not know. I do however remember comparing notes with a German friend who told me one Autumn that swallows had already left Thuringia when I was still seeing them in Scotland, which struck me at the time as strange. The grebe incidentally was only just developing his crest.

Today took part in a walk from Whitehaven to St. Bees with the Amnesty West Cumbria Group, a total of about fifteen miles.  This is the first and only time I have walked that far, and I had wondered how well I would cope, as I often notice on birdwatching trips that I am quite tired after about six miles.

Guillemots

Well I was fine, although I saw comparatively little in the way of birdlife on the walk.  I think the main reason is that the pace was so much faster than when idling around scanning the horizon for birds. There were a couple of magpies and pipits, some skylarks and the odd cormorant.  And I did get the chance to photograph this guillemot colony, although did not attempt to count guillemots.

Another thing that is prejudicial to birdwatching on a long walk is the use of walking sticks. Although much appreciated in terms of getting through the walk, you really need to keep your eyes on the ground to see where you are going to put them.

I was pleased to manage the walk, but for nature purposes, I prefer to take things more slowly.

Wednesday 16th September

An excellent cycling day today - plenty of sun and, for the first time for ages little wind.

My theory that swallows may have disappeared early this year was put to rest as there was a healthy cluster on the telegraph wires just north of Newbridge, and a single one doing the same on the approach to Glenmidge.  Here there was also a pale looking slim item that kept landing and flicking its tail in a chat-like manner, but without binoculars and in full fluorecent gear, it was never likely to settle long enough to allow identification.  I wondered about a whinchat, but not really convinced.

On the way to the pharmacy yesterday, a large number of house martins were also in evidence so it clearly isn't quite the end of the summer for the hirundines, though no sign of sand martins over the Nith.

There were also a couple of buzzards and a single magpie north of Keir Mill.  Magpies are definitely spreading into the area.

However the main spot of the day was a small field of what I believe to be a purple leaved norway maples between Holywood and Portrack Estate. Unfortunately the plentiful sun has affected the photograph below. On a non-nature note, my friend Tony suggested a quick visit to see the gravestone of Kirkpatrick MacMillan, the inventor of the pedal cycle, just past Keir.  Interestingly, his achievement does not rate a headline mention on the family gravestone, more a footnote.  Yet without him I possibly wouldn't have been there today!

Purple leaved Norway Maple

At Kirkpatrick MacMillan's Gravestone

Saturday 25th April

The latest bike ride - since bike rides is mainly what I seem to do these days - was a trip to Palnackie via Milton, Kirkgunzeon, Falgunzeon and the B road from near Caulkerbush on through Dalbeattie, and was notable for some first encounters with summer visitors.

Kirkgunzeon Lane

The first of all was at Lochfoot, where a single house martin balanced on a telegraph wire.  Just afterwards I stopped to investigate some shapes jutting out of the water near an island in Lochrutton Loch, which proved to be a row of cormorants waiting for small fry.

On the run down to Kirkgunzeon it was nice to see a few yellowhammers, still frequent in that area amd a number of meadow pipits.  I always think Kirkgunzeon is an attractive spot amd stopped by the river bridge to notice my first willow warbler of the season in a bankside tree.  Last year there were trout to be seen but none today and the river was still flowing quite fast. Orange tip butterflies were already on the wing on the 'B' road and goldfinches were around again too.

On a fairly direct route back, just two newly-arrived swallows were sitting on the telegraph wires in Shawhead.

Spot the Willow Tit
Difficulty level: easy

Saturday 15th September

Did a 'bikebirding' effort round Glenkiln loop hoping to see 16 species excepting crows and gulls (which were strangely absent anyway) rather than trying to actually spot anything.  In the end only 14 as wren repeatedly heard not seen, as were a jay and a curlew.  For the record: wood pigeon, sparrow, chaffinch, house martin, meadow pipit, swallow (loads of), blackbird, chaffinch, black swan, greylag goose, buzzard, blue tit, starling, goldfinch.  Didn't count mallard or mute swan as too common.

The bird target this winter has to be the waxwing.  Next fishing target a river chub.  Research suggests that they are not as frequent on the Annan as they once were, but have come back a bit in the Sark and Kirtle Water.

3rd May

Bike ride from Lochmaben to St Ann's, returning East of Water of Ae.  Several isolated curlew (although one had a rather straight beak).  Lovely grey wagtails and a nuthatch at St Ann's but no redstart.  Numerous goldfinch, willow warbler, a few lapwing over farmland.  Swallows and martins now more in evidence.  More orange tips but could not see a female.  Also peacock, red admiral, small tortoiseshell.  Buzzards but no kestrel.  No tree creepers - haven't seen them for a while.