Saturday 22nd May

Some incidental sightings have been a recent feature.

On Tuesday Malcolm and I had decided on a trip to Dipton Woods as the weather was just about suitable to look for green hairstreaks.  There was a bit of time to spare beforehand so I sat out in the garden where the forget-me-nots at least are having a bumper spring.  As well as a stray speckled wood butterfly, I kept noticing some bees that I didn't immediately recognise and so was repeatedly jumping up to photograph them.

On further research my initial reaction seems to be correct as I reckon they were red mason bees - not a rarity but the first time I have spotted them and a change from the tree bumblebee workers that have again nested by the front door.  There were some much smaller bees too but I couldn't get a shot of them.

Red Mason Bee

I wasn't particularly optimistic about the green hairstreaks but we did manage to see three albeit briefly, one immediately on arrival in the main target area and two just before we finished in more or less the same place.  This was even less than last year.  I had been quite optimistic about seeing a bilberry bumblebee but no sign.  All the bumblebees were of commoner varieties.  About half a dozen speckled wood, an orange tip and a couple of green-veined white also turned up at different times.

The day after I did a long exercise bike ride to Hexham.  Yellowhammers were about on the way to Greenside and again north of Bywell but I couldn't get them or a suspected lesser whitethroat to pose.

On a break by the river after Prudhoe I decided to snap a small tortoiseshell just to have a photo of something  but in doing so it struck me it didn't quite look normal.

Small Tortoiseshell

The difference is that the four innermost markings on the upper edge of the wing are almost totally white rather than yellow and even the central ones are very pale yellow.  A bit of research suggests that the colouration of the small tortoiseshell can vary if the larva has been affected by cold spring weather, which certainly fits the bill this year!

At the same place there was a nice view of a pied wagtail, which was sharing a pontoon on the river with a female grey wagtail.  I keep looking at pied wagtails to see if any are white wagtails but this one certainly isn't.

Pied Wagtail

Back at home I had been thinking I hadn't seen a tree sparrow for a while.  Then curiously one briefly visited the feeders two days ago.  Then it was here again this morning and actually inspected the nesting box the tits never use.  A tree sparrow nesting in the garden would be a bit of a story.

Thursday 11th June

Keeping ahead of more bad weather forecast, and very dreary it has proved, I was out on a couple of trips earlier this week.

On Monday, a rather arduous bike ride from Wark to Kielder Dam and back didn't produce many sightings but I did hear a cuckoo quite close by on the South side of the river just West of Bellingham.  It's the first I've heard since returning to the North East.  On the way back I also caught sight briefly of a red squireel running across a forestry track and again I think that was the first I have seen since relocating.

On Tuesday feeling stiff I decided on a very slow walk along the road through Prestwick Carr, partly persuaded by a mention of snipe though I didn't really expect to see any.  As soon as I parked a lot of willow warblers could be heard and I again thought I saw a lesser whitethroat but again could prove nothing as it wouldn't stay still for long.  All I can say was it was behaving the right way..

Another whitethroat showed up in a hedgerow soon after but I don't think the photo is good enough to tell what kind.

Whitethroat

However the most interesting feature on a day that was virtually windless was the number of birds that elected to land on the small number of bare trees along the moss.

This resulted in sightings of linnet, meadow pipit and - sure enough - snipe in similar poses.  I'd certainly not have expected to see the latter two at the top of a tree. In fact I don't think I've seen so many birds do this on the same day.  There were a couple of other examples where photos taken at distance against the light were too indistinct to make out so the birds couldn't be identified.

Linnet

Meadow Pipit

Snipe

Further up the path, the willow warblers were a bit more visible.

Willow Warbler

Once or twice on other trips I've noticed a bumblebee that was too big to be a carder bee and spent quite a lot of effort trying to take one on the way back. Typically it was hard to get a full body shot but I think it was probably an early bumblebee.

Early Bumblebee

I've seen them before but had entirely forgotten about early bumblebees. Put it down to my late age.

Slowly getting tired as I got nearer to the the car, I still couldn't resist chasing up another suspected lesser whitethroat skulking through the hawthorns. As it was constantly moving around I tried to video it.  The pictures were pretty useless but you could hear the consistent 'tec tec' call on the soiundtrack - which I think is decisive. I'm claiming.

Not a bad overall result for a rather hastily planned trip and perhaps shows the value of taking your time!

Monday 11th May

I held back on the last couple of items on the last flowery post as I needed to email a friend (and indirectly his Ranger daughter) on a couple of identification issues. Now the panel can reveal that one of the other items was in fact wood spurge.  I should have realised too that the other was wild cherry but had not realised they can grow to 20 metres in height and had therefore discounted the idea.

Wood Spurge

Wild Cherry

Following a lead from my sister last week, I took a longish ride to Weetslade Country Park in the hope of seeing a lesser whitethroat, a bird which didn't feature in Dumfriesshire so I was keen to get a confirmed sighting.

Social Isolation

On the way through Wylam it was amusing to see the effects that social isolation has had on the local population.  I took the road up past Close House to Heddon, seeing the odd white flattering around and a few speckled wood on the cycle track through Darras Hall.

I didn't hang around much until I got to Weetslade and quickly identified the suspect area.  I think I probably did see a lesser whitethroat but it was difficult to be certain, as birds kept scurrying around in the gorse and other bushes. The light was also very bright, making it hard to pick up the colouration well.  So much so in fact that I thought the first birds I saw in the treetops were female blackcaps.  In fact they were common whitethroats.

At one point I definitely spotted a slimmer, brighter bird, which was probably lesser whitethroat but it was so brief that I couldn't register the definite sighting I wanted.  In retrospect, I wish I'd done a bit of homework to distinguish the whitethroats but I hadn't realised there would be so many commons. Other casual sightings were lapwing and skylark, quite good views of both.

I only got one distant photo of a whitethroat at Weetslade, which the bright light made impossible to identify for certain.  Then quite by chance, one popped up at the end of Prestwick Carr.  But this one was clearly a common whitethroat.  Note the pink legs and wing markings.

Common Whitethroat

Green-veined whites have become much more apparent in the garden, and this one settled still for over five minutes on the garlic mustard.  I thought it might be laying but there were no obvious signs afterwards.

Green-veined White

Holiday in Paphos Cyprus 21 April - 1st May

This was mainly intended as a chillout holiday but of course I had some ideas about possible wildlife sightings, which in fact worked out very well - at least in respect of birdlife.

Early success

An early wander around the coast at Chloraka area showed that there were still some healthy flower meadows to investigate - in spite of the fact that the whole area is clearly marked out for immediate further building complete with the roughcast for the access roads.

Pied Wheatear

There were larks and swallows and a good few butterflies, though these were of only two kinds - painted ladies, of which there must have been thousands over the course of the holiday, and whites.  Neither were keen to settle and the painted ladies were markedly more hyperactive than when they appear in the UK in late summer.

On a longer investigation of the coastal path, I was delighted to quickly discover one of my key targets, the pied wheatear hanging around a rather desolate area of perimeter fencing, then later perching helpfully on a nearby rock.

From the balcony of our apartment there were also swifts, hooded

Lesser whitethroat?

crows and feral pigeons.

On a morning forage further inland the day after it was the same story for butterflies, but I did get a rather unclear shot of what I think may have been a lesser whitethroat on the telephone wires.

Pleasant and unpleasant surprises

I went on a visit to the Paphos Archaeological Park with my daughter.  I hadn't realised how nature-friendly it is and wished I'd taken binoculars as, apart from lizards, crested larks and some slender looking northern wheatear, several other species were missed.

One day I managed a bit of time fishing near the Municipal Swimming Pool.  Most of the bites were also missed but I did manage to catch three tiny ones next to the rocks.

Revisiting the coastal area at dusk one evening was productive, proving the crested lark is particularly common but I also stumbled on a group of hoopoe and found a moustached warbler in an area of rough ground.  Cetti's warbler was singing nearby, but, typically, not seen. I also thought I'd found a blue butterfly but it turned out to be a day-flying moth.

Hoopoe

Moth

Moustached Warbler

Unfortunately we chose a poor day to visit the Troodos mountains.  It rained and made the tricky climb to a waterfall hazardous, resulting for me in a heavy fall, a seriously twisted knee and a couple of days enforced rest on a sunlounger.

A strong finish

Cyprus Warbler

Fortunately I was by the penultimate day fit enough to attempt an e-bike ride to the Asprokremmos Dam area in pursuit of the indigenous cyprus warbler.  This proved much easier to find than expected once I could recognise its distinctive song, though it took a good long time to get a half-decent photograph as they wouldn't stay still.

It's funny how the different light conditions can affect sightings.  I found I was often wondering about the swallows I was seeing.  On the way up to Asprokremmos I took the chance to photograph one of them and it was only from looking at the results that I could see they were red-rumped swallows.  Perhaps the ones at the coast were too.

Similarly, it was only examining a photo of a suspected warbler that I realised I'd seen my first woodchat shrike.

Red-rumped Swallow

Woodchat Shrike

After being delayed by around a thousand domesticated goats crossing the road, the area near the Dam also revealed the definitive photo of a crested lark and a brief encounter with a very bright blue butterfly that only settled briefly with its wings closed.  I wondered about adonis blue or even false eros blue but neither would realistically have been on the wing so early in the year.

Goats on road

Crested lark

On the last day, just before leaving, I glimpsed three clouded yellow in flight and equally disinclined to settle as most of the other species.

Tuesday 20th May

Getting out while the weather is fine, I took a walk round Earshaigs.  The road up was in very poor condition.  On arrival, greeted by a couple of grey wagtails, which then seemed to follow me around a bit.  More orange tips etc plus a number of peacocks along the side of the plantation.

On the way back noticed a bird moving in a fallen conifer and waited for it to show.  The result was a clear view of a lesser whitethroat - a rarity for these parts but I'm convinced it was one.  Got a good view of the white underparts and did not have the same characteristic headshape of common whitethroat. This is the first time I've seen a lesser whitethroat in the UK.