A Trip Out

On Sunday, I took a trip up to Holy Island mainly to meet V&A+E.  The idea was as much to have a relaxing day while keeping an eye out for birds. In the event it was a pleasant, sunny day, as much late summer as autumn and, with no wind to blow in the migrants, there wasn't too much around of interest.

The unfortunate thing was that we didn't see the birds that were of some interest.

Apparently there were a few redwing in the The Lonnen but we just found sparrows and robins.  More promising was a report of snow buntings around near the track that leads to the East side of the island, but all we saw was a wren.  It wasn't until near the end of the track that we found a couple of nice stonechats - before they flew off.

Stonechat

Stonechat flying off

An investigation of the pool near the hide found nothing but coots, mallards and a prominent grey heron.

Grey Heron

Meanwhile V had gone on ahead and did managed to spot an eider duck just of the rocks, which I however couldn't find on trying.

There were plenty of curlew in the fields nearer to the Village Centre and, after some perseverance, I did manage to get a shot of a nice lapwing.

Lapwing

A bird I spotted on a roof near the coach car park proved however to be a domestic pigeon.

Never mind, it was first and foremost a family occasion so we repaired to a cafe for coffee and cake, the latter attracting the local sparrows.

Sparrows and Cake

We did a last visit to the Vicar's Garden, largely to show V&A where it was. Here there was a twitcher looking over the wall who of course reported that a rarity had been seen nearby - an olive-backed pipit - and that the redwing had been visiting the garden.  Not of course while we were there but I did manage to snap a song thrush.  The only other bird I saw in the garden was a dunnock.

Song Thrush

As we had already eaten there was no need to visit the village chip shop, which was offering takeaway gorilla.

Gorilla

Driving back over the causeway, A spotted a merlin on one of the marker posts, but I missed it.

Today, which is the 21st, I noticed a bumblebee inspecting the first shoots on the garden mahonia.  I have seen on TV that buff-tailed bumblebees can survive the winter in the South of England by nectaring on mahonia.  Could it possibly happen here?

Have the Seasons Changed?

I stumbled on a post I wrote while still in Dumfries, celebrating the fact that I saw butterflies on the buddleia as late as 22nd September. At the time I scoffed inwardly, reckoning I'd easily beat that date as my goal each year now (have I ever achieved this??) was to see a butterfly on buddleia after the beginning of October.

In fact there was hardly any buddleia flowering in the garden by 22nd September this year and the last buddleia butterfly sighting must have been three or four days earlier. This came as a minor shock and I speculated that the long dry spell may have been responsible for all three bushes at the back deciding to shut up shop early.

Around the 22nd there were one or two painted ladies around but they passed on without stopping.  The only thing that did call in while I enjoyed the last of the sunshine was this common darter.

Common Darter on decking

Of course there are still a few butterflies around and, whilst checking a few possible ivy bee sites, I found a couple of red admiral guzzling ivy nectar on the Tyne between Bywell and Ovingham.

Red Admiral on Ivy

Turning my attention to garden birds a bit earlier in the year than usual I put out some extra feed. This drew an instant response from two male nuthatches until one of them fought the other off. No sign though of the willow warbler, which has presumably headed off to Africa. 

In the meanwhile I have been on a cultural visit to Berlin and as a change from cycling and targeted nature watching. Inevitably there were plenty of hooded crows. It always amazes me how common they are in big cities in Europe and how seldom anywhere here.

Garden Nuthatch

Berlin Hooded Crow

There were a few butterflies around, notably in Treptower Park.  Mainly they were all large and small whites, two pairs of the latter typically having sex right in front of me, and one or two speckled wood. I did start to wonder if the southern small white had reached Berlin yet (it has) but the only suspect was assaulted by another white and quickly flew off. However I did catch sight of one holly blue flying between trees.  Interestingly there were no nymphiladae to be seen and it struck me that I haven't seen a peacock anywhere for over a month.

There were a few bees but I saw nothing that wasn't either a honey bee or a buff-tailed bumblebee.