Bordeaux Day 2

As temperatures rose to the mid thirties, I thought a tour of the parks of Bordeaux would be my easiest option, though I managed to make it less easy by making a series of navigational errors en route.

Of eight parks visited by bike, the two most fruitful were definitely the Parc de la Béchade and the Jardin Public though almost all had some attraction to offer.

I hadn't yet managed to tangle with any bees of insects but the Parc de la Béchade quickly turned up an interesting new bug - a sulphur beetle - and later on, poorly photographed, an old friend from the Dolomites, the violet carpenter bee, was found in the Parc Bordelais though this time not with its head totally dowsed in pollen.

Sulphur Beetle

Violet Carpenter Bee

In flight the sulphur beetle looked as if a small yellow flower petal had taken to the wing - quite weird.

Geese weren't particularly on my hitlist but there were a couple of strange looking items amongst the canada geese at Parc de la Béchade:

Mystery Goose

I spent sometime wondering what it was but probably just some sort of hybrid.

I always have a soft spot for egyptian geese (seen at Parc Bordelais) but got a serious shock to see the next couple at the Jardin Public.

Egyptian Geese

Barnacle Goose

So yes, there were a couple of barnacle geese, natives of Svalbard in the Arctic Circle and winter visitors to Northern Britain strutting around in 30C + temperatures in a Bordeaux park.

And there were some butterflies. After seeing one male brimstone yesterday, it was good to see several  at Parc de la Béchade.  In fact there were about 10 of them flying around the same plant.

Brimstone

They were seen every day afterwards in all locations.

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood were seen on two or three occasions in the Southern aegeria variant also in Spain this February.

While offering some lovely flower beds the Parc de l'Ermitage only produced a frustrating chase to reveal a single common blue.  In fact I couldn't understand why thjere were so many flowers and so few pollinators.

However the biscuit was again duly taken by the Jardin Public, which produced my first ever sighting of a geranium bronze.

At first I thought it was a pea blue until I saw the photo.

Geranium Bronze

These are no longer rare in Europe but it definitely made the day for me.

The Jardin Public produced one other sighting which is still under investigation:

Under Investigation

Initial suggestion is that it belongs to the genus of blue-banded and digger bees, of which I have never heard.  It's not a very revealing photo so I doubt if a more precise description will emerge.

Wednesday 27th January

There has been a surprise visitor to the garden last week - a chaffinch.  Not the rarest of birds by any means but another example on one that isn't seen too much up here. 

I was over in Dumfries at the weekend and did a walk round the Mersehead reserve.  On a pretty cold and bright day, the low sunshine meant the scenery was beautiful but made it hard to identify and photograph the birdlife.

Heading for the beach there were some canada geese in the fields and a little egret flew past overhead.  When we got there the tide was as far out as I've ever seen it and there was a clear view across to Skiddaw on the other side of the Solway.

Skiddaw across the Solway

Several flights of barnacle geese flew in from the West and landed on the reserve.  It was also very still and the only bird of prey we saw was a buzzard on a dead tree who steadfastly showed his back to us.

We went along the coast towards Southerness some distance in the hope of spotting some merlin after small birds but in vain as there werfe only a few corbids in the fields.  All we saw on the shoreline was one of several robins encountered and a wren.

On moving back inland we encountered the first of two groups of deer.

Roe Deer

Moving through the woodland strip we did see several throstles feeding in a field.  It was hard to make them out properly but on careful observation they seemed to be mainly fieldfare and some mistle thrush.  We didn't see any redwing in the group.

Tits and chaffinches were visiting the feeders on the way to Meida Hide but nothing more exciting. The hides were still closed and almost all the wetlands still frozen and the only ducks were too far away to be seen with binoculars.  Nevertheless a very pleasant walk.

On a brief exercise bike ride today there were some nice bullfinches on the way to Greenside and by Blaydon Burn.  Back home three long-tailed tits were on the peanut feeder at dusk.

Sunday 15th November

 A variety of bits and bobs have caught my attention over the past week or so.

A bike trip to Stamfordham didn't reveal much except for a few long-tailed tits and a fleeting sighting of a reed bunting.

A considerable surprise this week was to see a couple of pigeons getting fruity with each other in the birches behind the garden.  Surely they didn't think Spring had already arrived?  It's been pretty mild.

I often wonder where all the food on the bird table goes to.  Usually it disappears when as soon as I turn my back and I tend to blame the jackdaws.  The other day I got a pleasant surprise when I witnessed  eight or ten coal tits visiting in quick succession and departing each time with a few seeds.  At one point there was half a dozen strung out between the clothes on the washing line.  Usually it's just the odd one or two.  Maybe I'm too hasty in blaming the jackdaws.

Last weekend I was in Dumfries and went with the family to RSPB Mersehead.  The weather was questionable and sightings limited as a result.  My son wanted to see the barnacle geese, which was as ever not a problem to arrange.

Barnacle Geese

From Bruaich Hide we could see a few teal and wigeon and one of the former was preening itself to reveal the green underwing patch.  Unfortunately we had to wear masks which steamed up my glasses and when the young ones went outside for a clearer view, everything took flight.

We moved on to Meida Hide where there was just a few greylags but in time for the starling murmuration, which was pretty impressive and lasted for a good half hour.

Murmuration

I knew there was a murmuration at Mersehead but I thought it was considerably smaller.  Comparing it to the one at Gretna/Rockcliffe, I noticed that the birds flew in a broader formation.  It was almost as if they were hoovering up smaller groups of starlings.  At Gretna, the formation was higher and did not cover such a wide area.

On the Monday I checked out St Michael's Churchyard for waxwings.  As suspected, there weren't any yet though the yewberries have started to ripen and blackbirds were eating them.  I was interested to see an unexpected nuthatch climbing up one of the walls, and later a song thrush.

On Thursday I took a bike ride from Kirkley to Abbey Mill near Morpeth, where hawfinches had been sighted several days in succession.  I was very conscious of the sod's law of binoculars, which postulates that if you don't take binoculars, you will see something of interest in the distance.  Sure enough approaching Saltwick, I reckoned I could see some visiting throstles feeding in the fields at about 300m range.  Depending only on my camera, I took a few shots to see if I could identify them later - only to then find I'd picked out a group of starlings!  From what I could make out from views in flight, I reckoned that the winter visitors were pretty much entirely fieldfares.  Probably most redwings are still feasting on berries.

As to the hawfinches, my main aim was to establish precisely where they had been seen.  After a bit of a wander I managed to find the twitchers who were looking for them. They reported that there had been no sightings so far.  My immediate instinct was that the hawfinches had moved on and, sure enough, no further sightings have resulted.  I hope it wasn't my high-vis cycling jacket that scared them... or maybe it was the high-vis leggings of the lady joggers who also passed through.

On Friday I did a walk at East Cramlington Nature Reserve with a friend in the hope of finding some crossbills.  In the event  it turned out to be more of a survival exercise as we ended up on a muddy track next to a drain.  Afterwards we took a look at the well-stocked bird feeders nearing dusk, when I was surprised to see an unexpected bird coyly visiting the feeders.  At first I thought it was a linnet but expert advice suggests it is a female reed bunting.

Reed Bunting

I've never seen either species on a feeder before.

Sunday 11th October

The last butterfly I saw was on 6th October, a probable red admiral at Chollerford on the way to a small group walk at Miltonrigg Woods near Brampton.  It was an impressive piece of ancient woodland and a pleasant walk, although not much wildlife was spotted.  I did see a few long-tailed tits, a buzzard and a thrush.  Otherwise there were quite a few funghi around.

Tree Fungus

There were of course examples of non-wildlife around and we met these welcoming sheep, though fortunately not the bull that was supposed to be in a neighbouring field.

Sheep

I was back in the same area yesterday for a walk with son and fiancée around the Geltsdale RSPB reserve.  Ironically we'd had a recent discussion about not seeing many kestrels but I've never seen as many as we saw yesterday - scores of them, often three or four in the air at the same time.

There were a few buzzards too.  While we were watching a faster bird passed over with pointed wings and we concluded it was a peregrine.

Unfortunately there was a much sadder sighting - a wee barn owl chick that had fallen from the nest and seems certain to die.  Ages since I saw one.

Barn Owl

Others we saw were tufted duck, barnacle goose, goldfinch and siskin (probable).

There were several things we hoped to see and didn't, confirming that there are good reasons to go back there,  It's far more strikingly pictoresque than I had remembered...

Wednesday 21st February

A couple of minor outings this week.

A sudden rise in temperature to maximum 12C encouraged me to take a walk along the Nith south of Kingholm Quay on Monday, where I saw the sedge warblers and the redstart last summer.

Conditions were pretty boggy and the main things that made themselves noticeable were an immense number of oystercatchers, mainly in the fields on either bank.  There must have been several hundred of them, far more than I have seen together at any one time before.

Further down there was another submerged field where there were a few whooper swans taking the air.  On looking more closely at some corbids in front of them, I also noticed that there were a couple of shelduck too.  I did not know they could be found on agricultural land but the RSPB handbook does say "visits farmland near the coast."

Whooper swans with preening shelduck

There were a few mallard, a couple of pipits and some barnacle geese in the distance near Glencaple before I got fed up with the flood debris on the path and turned back with a single whooper swimming up and down the tide flow.

Shelduck

The main group of whoopers took off from the field as did the shelduck pair, the latter turning up again further upstream.

Two days later temperatures were falling but the sun was still bright, so I chanced the bike ride to Loch Arthur over Troston.  There were a couple of song thrushes and a few redwing mixed in with a flock of starlings.  Also a couple more whoopers and a small group of goldeneye (again!) on Loch Arthur itself.  Three woodpeckers could be heard drumming but not seen.

I went back via Kirkgunzeon in the hope of yellowhammers but didn't see any and narrowly missed a flight of geese coming in from the west.

Later, there were also a couple of bullfinch pairs, one male showing well next to road up from the Lochfoot roundabout.

But the main thing about this trip was the tremendous effect the bright, low sun had on my new tinted lenses on the way out.  The sky in the West looked turqoise instead of light blue and Loch Arthur looked blue rather than grey.  The colouration of the trees was also much richer.

There were however some negative results as it was often harder to identify the birds - as well as the existence of potholes in shaded areas!  It even had me wondering if I should leave the glasses off in similar conditions.

Sunday 11th February

Some nasty weather and other concerns meant that I didn't venture out on the bike for a couple of weeks, so I decided on a bit of self-discipline and set off for a round trip to Bankend and Torthorwald last Sunday.

Just past weekend I saw the pink-footed geese in exactly the same field where I saw them last month and another skein on the other side of the road proved to be barnacles.  The rest of the ride didn't produce much but there were quite a few snowdrops around, though these I took a couple of weeks ago at Ken Dee Marshes.

Snowdrops

Part of the reasoning for the trip was to get ready for a longer ride on to Dalbeattie on Wednesday. I started up The Glen and immediately saw a huge powder puff heading into the undergrowth next to the road, evidence of a disappearing roe dear.  Then there was a male bullfinch flying into the hedgerow, after which I saw a female in the hedgerow on the other side of the cycle track.  I hope I wasn't disturbing anything.

Crossing the road after Kirkgunzeon there was a sole magpie, still not a common sighting west of Dumfries.

The weather was bitter and my hands were freezing under two pairs of gloves so the ride took on more the aspect of a survival challenge.  A frequent sight was loan buzzards perched on telegraph poles, perhaps hoping for enough wind to get airborne without undue effort. Most looked like immature birds.

Then today, after flogging round Mersehead before Christmas and several times keeping my eye out for them, I finally saw a single brambling on the way back from the shops with the Sunday paper.  It was a definite sighting, confirmed by another nature lover who passed by.

Of course I didn't have my camera in my pocket.  I returned with it a few minutes later but the brambling made off and I was left with just a couple of poor distance shots of a bullfinch and a goldfinch near to where it had been.

Bullfinch

Goldfinch

Sunday 28th January

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." or so I thought on deciding to head back to Ken Dee Marshes to get a few snaps of the greenland white-fronted geese mentioned in my last post.

In fact it wasn't as simple as that.  On arrival at the RSPB car park, a returning couple reported that they had seen neither the geese in question, nor any willow tits - just lots of the usual tits, a woodpecker and some nuthatch.

Their evidence was proved partly correct when my first ever visit to the goose viewing platform revealed nothing but a couple of crows and some unidentifiable ducks in very distant flight.

There was a sign that prospects could be better when a small group of fieldfares took up station in a large tree near the main path.  However at the first hide I saw exactly what they saw, with the bonus that, while Mr Woodpecker was attached to one feeder, Mrs Woodpecker arrived on the other.

On regaining the main path, I saw a young red deer turn tail and make into the undergrowth.  Continuing bright, low sun and the first sight of this year's snowdrops made it a pleasurable stroll along through the trees to the furthest hide, where I settled down to eat, observing the feeder right next to the side windows.

It was only five minutes before a single willow tit turned up and made several nervous raids on the peanuts whiel evading the attentions of the other birds.  This continued for a good twenty minutes or so.

Willow Tit and Blue Tit

I went to take a bit of a look out of the main windows to see nothing at all.  On returning to the feeder I sat it out again for ten minutes, but tit willow did not reappear.  I must have hit lucky.

After another fruitless visit to the goose viewing platform, I was asked by a couple of new arrivals if I knew the best place to look for the elusive Greenland white-fronted geese.  I told them what I knew - but added that it must be their day off.

Then, taking a last look down the loch, there they were, a group of about thirty just visible in a fold in the landscape about four hundred yards away.  I was simply pleased to get a good enough photo to be able to identify them for certain.

Greeland White-fronted Geese

There was another skein of geese feeding on the road back to Glenlochar, but they proved to be barnacles.

Saturday 11th February

How time is slipping by and there's not much to report really. Spottings over the last week have mainly related to waterfowl.

Last weekend I discovered that my sister is living but three hundred yards from a carp fishing venue - Burradon Pond, which may help to restimulate my lapsed interest in fishing.  A couple of people were actually fishing for them on a relatively mild day but the main wildlife activity for me was some minor aggression from this mute swan.  Judging by the muck on its breast, it may already have a nest on the go.

Mute Swan

I selected this week's bike ride down the Nith as a possible chance to see an egret but the weather was cold and the banks more or less deserted except for a small group of barnacle geese at reasonably close range.  It struck me that I haven't really noticed that barnacles have quite a pronounced eye stripe.  I wondered how much longer they will be hanging round before heading back to Svalbard. This one looked very well-feathered.

Barnacle Goose

The other side of Bankend there was another field full of pink-footed geese, now readily identifiable for me and also at reasonable range, so I took advantage of the opportunity of a photo in which, interestingly, the one on the left does seem to have strikingly pink feet.

Pink-footed Geese

After that I'd had enough of braving the chill wind, put the camera away and enjoyed a speedy run home from Ruthwell with it blowing from behind.

Wednesday 30th November

Of course I should have realised that the unidentified waders in the last post were in fact turnstones. I'm really not quite sure how I missed that as I've seen them before. Perhaps the photo made them look bigger than I was expecting.

Last week mainly avoided the great outdoors in view of ongoing cold snap, but on Sunday visited Northumberlandia with my sister - a surprisingly barren place for birds in view of the fact that it's been established for a few years. Just two swans on one lake and a couple of crows and seagulls. More exciting was a kestrel hovering over the edge of the huge opencast mine next to it.  It made me remember how rarely we see them now in Dumfries and Galloway.

I have spent some time out looking for waxwings but couldn't find them at the ice bowl or in where sitings had been reported, nor around St Michael's churchyard, where they often attack the yewberries.

Waxwings in Georgetown

Heathhall

Then following a lead on twitter I amended my planned bike ride today and found them just a few minutes away on the main road out of the estate towards the Craigs. They seemed to be still roosting. Also it looked to be a bigger flock than reported elsewhere.  I counted them and there were about thirty.

Had a bit of spare time so took a detour to Caerlaverock WWT and quickly saw a stonechat moving across the road.  I then regretted not having brought a pair of binoculars as there were a couple of birds that were hard to identify at distance, including the statutory barnacle geese (no binoculars needed).

Returning through the same area, I then did spot a kestrel, making it two in four days.  Very pleased after my wistful thoughts about kestrels on Sunday.

Whooper Swans

To top that there were about 100 whooper swans in a field just past the Brow Well riding east - not a totally rare sight, but pleasing nevertheless..

I returned through Heathhall, but two groups of waxwings on the same day was asking too much.

Friday 1st April

Mixed weather has again brought mixed fortunes on the nature front.

On Tuesday I did a tour of Mersehead Reserve in the hope mainly of seeing some lapwings displaying. There wasn't much around in the fields except a couple of flocks of remaining barnacles. There was more action on the ponds where tufted duck (maybe one scaup), shoveller, wigeon, pintail, whooper swan and shelduck were all apparent.

At the reserve building there had been a sign saying the first chiffchaff had been heard that day. I certainly heard one on the way to Meida Hide and managed to capture the song (though not the actual bird!) on this video in spite of competition from the background rookery.

I did manage to see one on the way to the seashore and think there were about three or four birds actively calling.

A couple of stonechats were playing on the fenceposts near the shore, the first time I've seen them there in several visits. But the most numerous bird on the second half of the walk was definitely the skylark, several of them plying the heavens with their songful ascents and sudden plunges that I still do not understand the meaning of.  There were a few pipits and, yes, some lapwings too - but they weren't displaying.

The bike ride the following day was again affected by rain for half of the run, but there were a couple of red kites and a field full of about 50 greylags between Rhonehouse and Twynholm.  I checked them over and could see no other species of goose among them.

Selection of Greylags

Monday 4th January

Took advantage in a break in the weather to make a morning trip to Mersehead RSPB Reserve, taking care to make sure I had the wellies with me.

Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch

A quick trip to the Visitor Centre showed a lot of action on the large feeder directly in front of the main window. I very quicly noticed a large number of greenfinches and, amongst the tits and chaffinches, about four or five tree sparrows who kept coming back repeatedly. I have seen them at Mersehead before but otherwise associate them more with Annandale and Cumbria.

The wellie boots were definitely necessary as the path to Bruaich Hide was well flooded.  Having passed a rambling roe deer and some of the 7,000 barnacle Geese present, there were pintail ducks, shovelers, teal and widgeon on the water. Another young roe deer showed up on the far side under the trees. I was a bit surprised not to see any whooper swans, having seen them last week. Meida Hide was less rewarding.  Apart from a decent close-up of a teal, most other ducks were at a distance. The typology of this area seems to have altered and the water levels appeared uneven.

After that there wasn't much to see on the beech.  On the merse there was just one hare running wildly around, as if in pursuit of a lost tortoise, a rabbit and a wren in the dunes.

Friday 1st January

Hadn't intended to anything taxing today, but with weather closing in again, decided to day was the best day to get out on the bike.

Did a quick tour round the Caerlaverock loop. Saw a couple of buzzards, one of which was being mobbed by 30-50 rooks.  There was a jay fussing around a couple of dead trees, and on riding back up the Nith, several hundreds of barnacle geese feeding in the soaking fields.

Last of all I was overflown by a couple of small groups of whooper swans, honking away as they flew.

There was remarkably little sign of flood damage riding up into Dumfries, but a lot of flooded fields and natural debris showing how high the water had been.

Thursday 16th October

Longish walk on Tuesday from Cairnsmore of Fleet Visitor Centre to Loch Grannoch and back with Tony. Heavy going at first as we tried to go via the old Paddy Line from the Big Water of Fleet Viaduct, but the trackway has become considerably overgrown and we ended up going through boggy areas and rough deforested areas for the first mile or so.

Curiously, most of the birdlife was between the Centre and the viaduct area.  Sighted hovering kestrel and red kite mobbed by crow on the way up and just before we parked a small brown bird of prey with white underparts flew over the moorland. Tony thought it was a merlin but somehow I wasn't convinced. There was no sign of any mottling and it appeared slender-bodied though the wing shape was about right. I don't know what else it could have been. Otherwise there were a couple of siskins near Loch Grannoch and a few stonechats near the viaduct on the way back, which was good to see after a long interval. Also saw roe deer and fox amongst the spruce plantations. Plus a solitary red admiral.

Big Water of Fleet Viaduct

Apparently there was a pair of golden eagles nesting in the Scots Pine by the old lodge at Loch Grannoch some years ago, but they were constantly getting disturbed so the nest was removed. It may be that this was the pair now at Hawes Water. It also used to contain a good head of trout, but acid rain has decimated them and they now only appear where a couple of streams flow into the loch.

Also a bike ride from Ken Dee Marshes to Kirkudbright and back via Castle Douglas, but not much seen apart from some buzzards and goldfinches, a red kite mobbed by many crows and one on the way home that hovered over the car as if on a bombing mission. Heard another small flight of barnacles.  On Monday, which was a misty day, a very large flock passed pretty much directly over the estate but could not be seen at all. Presumably flying above the cloud cover.

A coaltit visited the bird table this week, but there are no more blue tits since I pruned the silver birch where they were catching greenfly.

Thursday 9th October

Visited friends in Alnwick last weekend.  While investigating the paltry train service from Acklington Station, I heard a sound I recognised and eventually confirmed the presence of long-tailed tits in the trees.  Have not seen a long-tailed tit all summer and, on reflection, it's mainly the winter when I see them.  Why should this be?

Several beach walks but no spectacular sightings of migrants, although did manage to identify a redshank between two oystercatchers - not bad for me as don't really do sea birds.  Also a kestrel perched on a telegraph wire on the coastal road, the first time I've seen this for years.  It used to happen all the time.

We also had difficulty identifying a tree on the outskirts of Alnwick.  Consulting the book of trees on my return home, the nearest guess I could come up with was a black poplar, but I've no idea how likely that is.  Must get the book of trees out more often - haven't done any tree spotting for ages.

Only one butterfly though, confirming summer is at an end. Last red admiral on the buddleia was 13th September.

Yesterday a bike ride to Caerlaverock via Heathhall and Clarencefield.  Many chaffinches, a nice view of a goldfinch in flight and a couple of skeins of returning barnacles, otherwise quiet and once again not a single bird of prey.

I've been reading an old book by Douglas Watson who suggests that the bean goose used to be common in Galloway.  None of my modern bird books mention it as a local species.  In any case, I suspect I'd have difficulty distinguishing it from the other grey geese except for the Greenland white-fronted.

Monday 3rd February

Trip to Mersehead with a lady friend who wanted to see the barnacle geese and also enjoyed yellowhammers, greenfinch and for me the best sighting ever of a goldcrest which persistently dotted around in the hedgerow while we looked on from only five yards away.

Monday 3rd February

Trip to Mersehead with a friend who wanted to see barnacle geese and also enjoyed yellowhammers, greenfinch and for me the best sighting ever of a goldcrest which persistently dotted around in the hedgerow while we looked on five yards away.

Partly thanks to others also saw pintails, teal (first time for me), wigeon, shellduck and shoveler as well as numerous curlew.  She also thought she saw snipe but I could not confirm.  Did not see tree sparrows or reed buntings on this occasion.

12th March

A couple of walks with Alex this week. At Mersehead saw reed bunting, pipits, curlew, ringed plover and 18 shelduck on shore. Still several hundred barnacle geese. Area behind beach towards Southerness looks to be worth investigating.

Caerlaverock Nature Reserve today.  Heard woodpecker and several skylarks but no sighting.