Monday 31st December

Up to now I've mainly used my twitter account to pursue career and voluntary interests but lately I've started following a few nature feeds.  And I pulled off a bit of a twitch yesterday, thanks largely to @NTBirdClub and a bit of help from Malcolm, my friend in Alnwick.

It was apparent that there were a few scarcities turning up on the Northumberland coast in the recent mild weather, including snow bunting, taiga bean goose and hawfinch as well as winter visitors like brambling and waxwing.

Noting that there were some recent sightings near Alnmouth, we decided to give the shore lark a try.  The first location we visited was Buston Links where we drew a blank after just seeing a few waders on the beach.  It was also tricky to get to over a very stony bridle path that would really have been better tackled in a four by four.  I'd have thought it was dangerous to horses.  However the area to the south of Church Hill and behind the dunes had its strange charms - a sort of green lunar landscape around the channel cut out along the path of the River Aln in bygone days.

Stonechat

We then headed up the coastal route to High Newton and set off along St Oswald's Way to the next target area at Long Nanny.  Apart from a field full of black cattle, it seemed like we weren't going to see anything until I spotted a dark shape in a clump of grass that proved to be a stonechat.  When we reached the estuary of the burn there were a few more but it was at this point that we got lucky.

I was going to head over the bridge but a couple of blokes turned up with a large telescope and headed down towards the shore on the South side.  Thinking they were looking for the larks, I suggested we follow them.  Eventually they set up the telescope and appeared to be scanning the mass of gulls at the estuary mouth for something more interesting.  Not wishing to queer their patch we diverted to another green, mossy, oval-shaped area behind the dunes.  Malcolm took the seaward side
with Arthur the retriever and I skirted the bank at the landward edge.

When we met at the end, Malcolm said that he had seen some brownish birds running around.  We retraced the last few yards he had covered and they were still there.  In the failing light it took a few squints through the binoculars to verify it as they scurried about but they were indeed the desired shore larks.

Shore larks

Not a great rarity these days, but they only occur on the East coast and it was very pleasing to find them when we didn't have a precise idea where to look and were basically ambling around in hope with a dog.  It was also the first time I've ever seen them.

We decide to leave the taiga bean goose for another day.

Sunday 28th December

I have often said that Boxing Day and New Year's Day are good opportunities to get out and about.
So on Wednesday it was good to revisit Carsington Water in Derbyshure while staying over briefly with my daughter and her fiance.

Lapwings and others

Apart from gulls it looked quiet at first with a lot of walkers about but tufted duck, coot and great crested grebe were also soon apparent.  When we got round to the main viewing point, there were a good head of lapwing on the edge of the lake, which was considerably lower than normal for the time of the year following the summer drought.  There were also a number of tree sparrows on the feeders next to the large observation hut.

As the sun started to fade we made our way back to a key feeder, spotting a little grebe on the way.  On the way out there had been nothing but a few great tits, so we were pleased to see a couple of marsh tits and Joe managed to get a good shot of one of them in a nearby tree.

Marsh tit

Later we had the obligatory marsh tit versus willow tit discussion but we reckoned the evidence over several photos was conclusive.

Joe was also responsible for spotting an example of the Robin's Pincushion gall on a piece of dog rose.  Apparently it is caused by the larvae of the gall wasp. Probably not a lot of people know about this so you may wish to consult the relevant wikipedia article for more detail.

Robin's Pincushion

After the event Joe also mentioned that he thought he might have seen a merlin one evening.  Strangely, I'm pretty sure I saw one today one my way back from the supermarket.  It flew across the road by the old Hookergate School at some speed but right in front of my windscreen so I got a pretty good view of it.

Wednesday 19th December

A bit like the difference between extensive and intensive farming. nature spotting in winter requires more time for less results than in the summer but there are always a few interesting things to see.

Singing woodpecker

On Monday afternoon I discovered that the official red kite trail runs very near to where I live when I decided to investigate a bridleway just to the East of here. Overall it was quiet but I think it could be an interesting route to check next year.  Apart from a lot of oak trees there were a fair number of mature scots pine and I wondered if they attract any crossbills.

To order there was a sighting of a patrolling red kite down the track but I was more interested in the woodpecker I spotted at the very top of one of the pines.  Nothing unusual in seeing a woodpecker of course but what interested me was the fact that it was clearly singing, or perhaps more accurately chuntering to itself.  I don't think I've heard a woodpecker sing before.

Over the weekend I saw for the first time a jay working its way through the trees at the back of the garden.  One bird I haven't seen here is the goldfinch and while someone suggested that they like conifers, I suspect it's more to do with the extra height here.  Starlings are a rarity too.

Today the weather was fine so I finally rose to the challenge of cycling up the long hill to Burnopfield on my way to cycle route 7.  Just past the path to Tanfield Comprehensive School, a large volley of bullfinches flew over the track.  I reckoned there were eight or so, more than I would usually expect to see together.

Coming back along the Derwent Valley, there were a few more bullfinches between Consett and Shotley Bridge and a few redwing just past Shotley Bridge too. Then six grey squirrels appeared on the same short stretch of track going towards Hamsterley, all within a distance of about half a mile and the only ones I saw the whole day.

You can't always predict these things.

Monday 10th December

I seem to have been more preoccupied with fitness than nature over the past few weeks.

My attempts to tempt smaller birds into the garden and discourage jackdaws have pretty much failed.  The one thing that has clearly been established is that jackdaws will eat niger seed.  I'm surprised they bother.  Anyway I'm playing more with the idea that the lack of cover since I cut down the larger pear tree (the smaller one is of course entirely bare now) favours the jackdaws more than the woodland birds.  The lack of frost so far might also mean less pressure for them to find food.

Today the Naturewatch group today visited the Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve.  It was fine from the point of view of getting some close up views of domesticated exotics such as the black-headed

Buff-headed goose

swan, buff-headed geese and chilean flamingoes but when we got to the main Wader Pond it was covered in ice and we didn't see much apart from a few moorhens and a couple of snipe skulking in the reeds.

We had lunch in the Lagoon Hide by the Wear where a bit more was visible, notably a number of teal and a redshank until everything was disturbed by a spooked roe dear that was bolting along the bankside.

In the end we probably saw more woodland birds - some redwing on the walkway, a volley of long-tailed tits and a good selection of 'usual suspects' on the very extensive display of feeders in front of the last hide. 

Bullfinch and coal tit

A couple of pleasant extras were treecreeper and a few bullfinches though I never saw anything in the way of a greenfinch, tree sparrow or marsh tit.

Right at the end I did enjoy a good view of a pair of eurasian cranes from the tearoom window.  They were

Eurasian crane

probably domesticated too but as they have started to recolonise East Anglia, they represented in my head a more genuine sighting.

It was quite apparent that there are many more fascinating visitors to the reserve than were around today.

Friday 16th November

This is the slightly delayed report on the visit to Low Hauxley WWT reserve on Monday.

Driving by a rather more direct route than planned following my argument with Sally Satnav, we were treated

Tree Sparrows

to a good view of a kestrel hovering on the approach to Hauxley Village.  We duly assembled in the cafe observation area.  Conditions were slightly tricky looking directly into the sun but secerla ducks including little grebe, wigeon and tufted duck were soon spotted.

I sidled off to watch the feeders, which were soon being plundered by a number of tree sparrows, two of whom performed an 'eyes left' routine for the camera.

There was also the first sighting of a red-breasted merganser.  It popped up again later when we were half way round the reserve but, annoyingly for me, it managed to sneak behind an island both times before I could catch it in the binoculars properly.

Female Shoveler

After that we split to visit two hides.  I chose the one facing seawards where there were a few female eider near the shoreline.  Several woodland birds visited the feeders there as well as a moorhen on the ground and a large volley of long-tailed tits passed through, one perching in the twigs right in front of the hide window.

From the other hide there were also reports of a bar-tailed godwit.

Further round past Ponteland Hide, we encountered some gadwall, a shelduck, teal and a pair of female shovelers that seemed to have particularly large beaks - even for them.

Hebridean Sheep

As there had been no substantial frost, there were still numerous plants and trees in flowers.  The ones I noticed most were sea buckthorn, red campion and viper's bugloss.

On the way to the last hide on the western side of the lagoon, there was a group of hebridean sheep, one of which managed to look strangely like a baboon.

Perhaps due to the incoming tide, this was arguably the most productive location and produced amongst others excellent sail past views of a teal and a male goldeneye, while numerous curlew, greylag geese and wigeon could be spotted on the grass upland opposite.

Teal

Goldeneye

All in all a good visit to a well-maintained reserve that had me wondering what rarities might turn up there over time.

Thanks to Ruth of the Prudhoe U3A Naturewatch group for the photos in the absence of my snapper.

Monday 12th November

There have been brief sightings of a nuthatch and a long-tailed tit in the garden plus the odd coal tit.  Otherwise the garden has been totally dominated by marauding jackdaws who get virtually all the feed I'm putting out. They were decimating the peanuts in the feeder and when I replaced them with fat balls to deter them, it didn't work. I'm now seriously considering not feeding the birds at all until there's a decent frost.  Even then I may need to change tactics.

Otherwise I've been on a couple of bike rides in the Consett and Stanley area, where parts of cycle track 7 look very attractive.  Last week I was pushing on to make time and only managed to see a red kite and a hovering kestrel past Beamish.

Sloe bush

On Saturday I determined to take it slowly as I set out towards Consett from Rowland's Gill.  Grey squirrels were clearly very active and I counted a total of eight on the way to Ebchester.

Cycle track 7 didn't produce any notable bird life but a roe deer did cross right in front of me.  There were also a lot of bushes with dark berries. I think were sloes rather than bilberries, which would have been of interest as a possible green hairstreak location. I'll bet the same area is good for butterflies in summer though as it faces south on a slope. And it was notable that the small pond near Annfield Plain, deserted last week, was clearly being fished for carp by at least half a dozen anglers.

Heading towards Tantobie and Lintz on a poor quality track, there were three separate bullfinches and a huge looking red kite skimming the trees by a farm.  On arriving home, I caught sight of another red kite, a male,  hovering low right over the estate.

Today there was a Naturewatch trip to the Low Hauxley Reserve near Amble, which was more eventful.  Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me - again - so I'm waiting for some shots from another member of the group who has a better camera anyway.  Full report to follow.

Monday 29th October

The day after I finished writing about the apparent lack of interest in my fatball feeders, two or three long-tailed tits visited them briefly but haven't returned, though the weather has now certainly turned cold.  Today a grey squirrel was nosing around the garden but it was after peanuts.

Arguably more interesting was the appearance of a female pheasant on the back fence.  It sat there for quite a while, doing nothing.  It struck me that I never mention seeing a pheasant but of course I have been seeing them all the time, specially when I was out cycling in Dumfries.

Pheasant

Last Wednesday I went on a bike ride to Segedunum in Wallsend and encountered an urban fox trotting towards me on the cycle track in Walker.  I'm not sure who was the more surprised.

On Friday I deided to try out some of the local bird hides to see if winter visitors had started to arrive.

I started out at Shibdon Pond and quickly caught a duck I didn't recognise in the binoculars.  A quick google after a check in the hide log confirmed it was a ruddy shelduck, so something of a rarity although it's obviously featured regularly at Shibdon Pond and another couple of birdwatchers I talked to afterwards didn't seem to regard it as at all notable.  It isn't quite clear whether ruddy shelducks that appear in the UK are errant migrants or feral birds.  However, there are some at Washington WWT that eat out of your hand.

Ruddy shelduck (centre) and others

Unfortunately, I had forgotten my camera and had to make do with a poor shot on my phone.
The other main species at Shibdon were moorhen, shoveler and over 20 canada geese that probably had just arrived.

I then moved on to a hide at Lamesley where things were quiet but for some teal and a pair of gadwall.  Teal also featured closer at a hide near the Derwent at Thornley Woods, along with a heron hunting in slow motion and a diving cormorant that then settled to dry off its wings.

Monday 22nd October

I have been thinking it's about time I got myself round some of the bird hides to see what winter visitors are starting to turn up. However there has been some reasonably mild weather for the past few weeks with a good deal of sunshine despite lower temperatures when the sun did not shine.

On 10th October it was sufficiently warm for me to be sitting out in the garden and I noticed there were a few red admirals showing interest in the ivy that clings to the trees at the back.  On closer inspection, it proved that they were nectaring on the wee, greenish flowers it produces.  Later a comma landed on the fence and the inevitable speckled wood fluttered by a couple of times. Squirrels have started to show up again in the trees too.

Red Admiral

Nectaring on ivy flowers

For some while the jackdaws have been totally dominating the peanut feeder and bird table so that I have started to think of ways to discourage them. But nothing seems to be interested in the fat balls at the moment.  Perhaps all the birds are totally focussed on seeds and fruit.  I can only imagine it will change once the weather turns frosty.

The Monday after the butterflies I got a very good view of a low hovering red kite over the main road in Rowland's Gill on my way to the supermarket.

This Saturday I took a bike ride to Seaton Sluice from Newcastle.  Apart from the large numbers of cormorants at the coast, there were a few curlew and lapwing in the stubble field behind the reserve at St. Mary's Island, where I also quickly saw another butterfly on the wing - probably a small tortoiseshell.

Nicely marked curlew

Friday 5th October

Comma

The weather has moved slowly into the autumn thermocline and more of my time has gone towards doing jobs around the house and garden before the frosts come.

One momentary high spot was the appearance of a comma butterfly that settled on the summer house to take advantage of what sun there was. This was the first time I've seen one in the garden.

Last week Alex was over with Vicki and she and I did a short walk along the Derwent Valley cycle track. The idea was to see a red deer but it was always a long shot. We didn't see that much - a red kite, a few squirrels and long-tailed tits plus a brief flurry of about 20 speckled woods on one of the viaducts.  It gave me a good feeling to see how she enjoyed these minor sightings.

A speckled wood was last sighted over the garden on 2nd October and it is possible that they will go on for a couple of weeks yet. The late specimens are small and look fresh, obvious results of a second brood. I was reading that they have increased spectacularly in both population and distribution over the past few years, though not this one as the Big Butterfly Count is actually showing a fall in numbers, along with several other species.

Whilst painting the shed and partly obscured from the bird feeders, I got some good close of views of long-tailed tits landing next to them. they eyed me over a bit but eventually departed without risking it.

Sunday 23rd September

Painted lady

It's that time of year again.  Summer has gone but it's a little soon for the winter visitors.  What has pleased me most over the past couple of weeks was the arrival of a painted lady on the diminutive sprig of buddleia I imported from Dumfries in March, when I scarcely believed it would flourish at all.  Before it finally gave up the ghost a few days back it was also visited briefly  by a small tortoiseshell, so that all four common nymphalidae have appeared on it and I view that as quite an achievement.

There should be a good deal of buddleia around by next September.

Deer?

Apart from that it has been bits and bobs, a red admiral here and there and a continuing abundance of speckled wood including one in quite low temperatures today.  I did do a visit to the bird hide at Gibside and saw more or less what you'd expect to see around feeders - tits, nuthatch, woodpecker and grey squirrel.

This animal did however give me a bit of a scare when I saw it out of the corner of my eye.  It must have been because the antlers are real.

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

Friday 24th August

The last week  has been dominated by social events but what I have seen was interesting.

Last week I ended up cycling back from Gateshead along the Tanfield Railway path and took a rather ill-advised shortcut.  This took me along a rough bridle path through farmers' fields but I did get a quick view of a couple of bright male linnets on the hedgerow.

The same day I followed some recent advice and took a look at the viaducts on the cycle track near Rowlands Gill to check them out as possible places to see purple hairstreaks.  The idea is that the height gives a good view into the crowns of some oak trees and two of the three do indeed have oak trees growing right next to them.

The weather was already rather mixed and I did not see any hairstreaks.  A bit like in May with the green hairstreaks, I got the vital information just a bit too late and will need to store it until next year.  What I did see however, somewhat to my surprise, was the back end of a red deer disappearing into the bushes, no more than a mile or so a way from the town.

There has been a drop in temperature over the last couple of days and it has coincided with the sudden reappearance of long-tailed tits on the garden feeders - as many as four or five at the time.  I hadn't seen them all summer so it was a bit of a surprise.  However it does sort of coincide with my memory that you tend to see them more in colder weather.

Long-tailed tits and blue tits

I think some of them look like young birds.

Tuesday 13th August

Again not too much to report...

I went on a walk near Castle Howard with my daughter and her boyfriend on Sunday but not too much turned up in spite of some nice scenery with some impressive oaks and hornbeams. We did get a good view of some blackcaps in a bush (a lot of blackcaps this year?) plus the customary goldfinches and speckled wood butterflies and a momentary glimpse of a hornet.

Lake near Castle Howard

One thing that did puzzle us was this flower which was growing in large fields and was presumably cultivated as a rotational crop. Anyway we couldn't identify what it was.

Mystery crop

Apart from that and the smallest shetland pony I have ever seen, there was nothing further to note.

Yesterday a rather raggeldy looking red kite flew over the estate.  Nothing new has turned up in the garden.

In the evening I went out with the U3A Naturewatch group to look for nightjars near Slaley.  They have appeared there for the last couple of years but it was a rather wet and dark evening and all I saw was a furtive hare at dusk and a few pigeons.  A while after dusk we did hear some churring but at a such distance it wasn't even worth recording.

At the moment I have the feeling of being in a bit of a nature void. Summer is pretty much over and autumn hasn't started.

Monday 6th August

By contrast this week has been fairly quiet.

Yesterday evening I made a trip out to Waldridge Fell in search of the purple hairstreak, which has been sighted there a few times recently.  I did manage to find a good number of oak trees but did not see the butterfly. I found some consolation in my first sighting of the wall brown butterfly this year, basking on a bit of open grassland - plus a couple of meadow browns and the inevitable whites and speckled woods.

There was however a moment of humour later when I headed down a woodland path and saw what I took to be a small brown dog trotting towards me.  Its ears seemed to be getting larger as it approached when it suddenly stopped still to eye me over, metamorphosed into a hare and trotted off casually in the opposite direction.

Otherwise it has been bits and pieces - a red admiral flying over the tennis court or a hayfield and a peacock on a quick walk along the river at Prudhoe.

Peacock

However the main sense of success of the week also came yesterday.  One sprig of buddleia I brought over from Dumfries unexpectedly survived the harsh Spring weather and has produced a single, long flower.  As I arrived home around lunchtime there was a red admiral on it, which I disturbed in passing.  I went into the house to fetch the camera and there was a peacock hanging on it upside down instead.

A satisfying moment...

Friday 27th July

Vapourer Caterpillar

An interesting few days...

In the garden the hoped-for return of the marsh tit has not materialised.  On investigation of the sudden decline of one of my pot plants I was however able to identify the culprit as a rather pretty caterpillar.  I reckon it to be the caterpillar of the vapourer moth, one of the more spectacular varieties.

I think that if I'd photographed it from the side, there would be more red spots visible on its leg hairs.  It has certainly vapourised a large part of the plant in question.

Dry weather has continued but I had to wait until Wednesday before attempting the Big Butterfly Count.

I put in a couple of sessions at the Spetchells and apart from very many small whites, there was a good head of speckled wood, several meadow brown, a sprinking of small heath and ringlets, four green-veined white, two common blue and a single small copper.

On the other hand dingy skipper did not appear and one other suspected skipper could not be identified. On the way there were a few large white by the river but they didn't show on the hills.

On Thursday I did a long walk in Derwentside Park with a friend, when there were scores of speckled wood and a dozen or so meadow brown.  The two most interesting things we saw though were a male bullfinch close up in the undergrowth and a comma puddling where some dogs had been going in and out of the river.  We were also struck by the number of wild cherry trees.

Meadow Brown

Comma

Today I went on a U3A walk at Watergate Forest Park, Lobley Hill, just as the forecast thundery weather started to move in. Again speckled wood and meadow brown were very prominent but the star siting was a couple of holly blues we saw shambling along the hedgerows. One stopped long enough to enable a couple of us to make a positive identification, and then disappeared. There was also a grasshopper - possibly meadow grasshopper?

I did this time catch up with a few small skippers and also a shaded broad bar moth - or so I gather.

Small Skipper

Shaded Broad Bar Moth

Wednesday 18th July

Since getting back from Bulgaria, I have been out on a couple of bike rides. Two weeks back Route14 had plenty of speckled wood, meadow brown and ringlet but I couldn't much be bothered with them after the surfeit of species in Bulgaria.  And on a ride to Corbridge, there was a nice example of a comma as the peleton passed by.

I did go to a meeting of the local Butterfly Conservation Group.  It seems the small copper has had a particularly good year here, which is interesting since I've only seen a couple.  There was also a chap who has seen some aberrant colouration on a small heath and small tortoiseshell, whereby normal colouration is partly replaced by white, like a form of albinism. I forgot the precise name for the condition.

Marsh Tit?

I had seen nothing interesting on the birds front until yesterday morning, when what appeared to be a willow or a marsh tit suddenly appeared in the plum tree, trying to get to the peanut feeder. Unfortunately, the one shot I got of it doesn't help a great deal in further identification and it didn't hang around, put off I suspect by other visitors.  I've noted before that willow tits in particular are easily put off by the presence of other birds, even blue tits.

In this case, however, it was more likely to have been a marsh tit as the habitat is predominantly woodland rather than the damp marshy areas that willow tits frequent.

Bulgaria Day 8

The last day of the holiday threatened to be a total rainoff.

We set off along another upland track similar to the one on Day 3 but it only lasted for half an hour or so. We had seen a sombre tit and a lesser spotted woodpecker and I got a photo of a brown argus before the heavens opened.

A strange butterfly

It looked like it would be in for the day and so we headed for the nearest town to do a little sightseeing instead.  We did see one butterfly there, though not of the kind we had been looking out for.  One of the group needed some dental treatment so we had lunch in town too, which all took a while.

Out of nowhere it then brightened up and so we headed off again, scouring some roadside meadows.  The butterfly sightings started to come slowly but surely and when we entered a small meadow near a river, there was half an hour when they were turning up in almost the same quantities we had experienced during the middle of the week.

We moved on to another couple of meadows towards the end of the day, but things were already quietening down somewhat.

Most were things we had already seen but there were some additions, notably idas blue, sloe hairstreak and eastern baton blue.  I think though the joy at seeing a good number of butterflies on the wing again that was more important than hunting down new species.

Bulgaria Day 7

It was fortunate that yesterday ended early.  I had been struggling with hayfever for the last couple of days in the Rhodopes and by the end of yesterday, it had developed into a full blown cold and I found I didn't want to do any more wildlife hunts for a bit.

Thankfully I felt a fair bit better after 12 hours in bed as we set off into the mountains where it was distinctly cool and very misty.  I needed some exercise and decided to walk on ahead of the group in the murky weather.  It proved a good idea to follow my instincts and I really enjoyed the visual conditions, which more resembled the Highlands than the Balkans, albeit with different vegetation.

Mountain Scenery

I found the visual effects in the eerie light conditions interesting and started particularly to notice some of the trees and branches:

During this period, I didn't notice much wildlife at all but I did get one poorish photo of a nutcracker from below, which is however the best I have ever managed:

Nutcracker

The sombre conditions remained all day and it was amazing that we managed another walk in the afternoon without facing a major downpour.  This time it was in a woodland area that again put me in mind of the highlands.  We managed to see a few things, notably marsh tit, a hill cuckoo bumblebee (new one on me), and a sooty copper.  During the last 40 minutes it looked like it was going to brighten up and bring the butterflies out, but it never did.

On arriving at the hotel again I also got a distance shot of a hooded crow for the first time, although they were seen most days.

Hill Cuckoo Bumblebee

Hooded Crow

This day worked for me in a weird way.  Although it was a bit of a nonentity for spottings, the pace relaxed and I felt much better by the end of it. I did try a bit of a stroll in the evening but all I got was a couple of furtive goats:

Bulgaria Day 6

Unfortunately that was the end of the good weather.  While it sweltered in the UK we found it distinctly chilly at our new base at Moravsko Selo 500 metres higher between the Pirin and Rila mountains.  From here on, our opportunities were increasingly limited by wet weather.  This isn't the complete disaster one might expect as some butterflies simply sit it out with wings closed but remain visible.

Corn Bunting

I ventured out before breakfast and saw a red-backed shrike and, pleasingly, a corn bunting in full song at the rear of the hotel.  Others managed to hear and see a common rosefinch, but it ceased to appear  once the rains set in after the first two days and I missed it.

We visited a fast-flowing river in a deep gorge where numerous short-tailed eagles and several other birds of prey flew by, including a griffon vulture.  At distance it would have been very easy to mistake it for a buzzard.

The accent was a little more on birds here. Great for me was my first sighting of the golden oriole, albeit at distance.  We were to hear them on numerous occasions during the rest of the holiday.  We also tried to tempt a middle-spotted woodpecker to show itself but without real success and a spanish sparrow turned up on a telegraph post.

On the river there was a group of cormorants behaving in typical fashion, but with notably whiter chests than the North European version.

I did manage to photograph some butterflies (see inevitable slideshow video below), of which the most exotic were probably the female chequered blue and Rippart's anomalous blue.  I missed some others - meleager's blue, false eros blue and balkan marbled white, although the latter is apparently hard to distinguish from the normal form.

Also prominent was the appearance of one of the two very large tortoises that live in the Balkans but I forgot the exact name.

We moved not far away to a rather unpromising looking riverside spot where there was a good bit of litter.  Apart from clouded yellows and a few lizards, the scarce swallowtail was sighted but was not settling.

We did eventually managed to catch up with it after following a longish path, nectaring on some large thistles. This area was also quite good for skippers, including lulworth and Oberthür's grizzled skipper (apparently) and we also got a sighting of Lang's short-tailed blue.

On the way back, it was nice to see some common gliders in the low trees at the top of the bank.  Apart from painted lady, this is the only butterfly that I also saw in Sri Lanka where it is known as the common sailer.

We did attempt another expedition but this had to be abandoned quite quickly when the rain closed in and we huddled under a mulberry tree,  As it was in fruit, I got my first ever chance to eat a couple.