This was the latest in a series of attempts we have made to see the marsh fritillary there and once again we missed out, mainly seeing more of the butterflies from yesterday.
Two of three times we got excited, only to find we had been deceived by other brown species, namely comma and painted lady. Once when I lagged behind the others all that remained at a bushy area was a peacock.
Comma
Peacock
Part of the delay was that I had come across a honey bee and realised with surprise that it was the first one I've seen this summer. We later had a discussion about the lack of bees observed.
There was also a marshy area where I kept an eye open for the large heath, this time with no success at all.
We moved on to Campfield Marsh where the objectives were slightly different, as marsh harriers and an osprey nest had been reported. This time we were successful with both as they were visible from the hide. After many attempts, I did eventually get a clear shot of the osprey with the chicks peering from the nest. With the marsh harrier I was less lucky but managed to observe it through the binoculars several times.
Osprey and chicks
Marsh Harrier
Not much was seen on the nearby pool - some lapwings and a few greylag geese. Later on we observed some young willow warblers moving through the trees with parental supervision.
There were also quite a few dragonflies around but the only one that settled was this common darter:
Common Darter
An added bonus was a pair of roe deer that were feeding on a farmer's field:
Roe Deer
By the time we made our way back to the car it was early evening but it remained warm and the butterflies were coming out in force. Here there were more meadow brown than ringlet, but also red admiral, small tortoiseshell and painted lady.
Small Tortoiseshell
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
In fact we must have seen going on for 20 painted ladies, confirming the impression that this may go down as a 'painted lady year.'
At teatime on day 2 perhaps still jetlagged after getting up at 3.15 am on Monday to make the flight from Stansted, I managed to permanently delete all the photos I had taken during the day including good views of some notable first time sightings. So all I can do is tell the story of what I saw without the evidence.
The day started well before dawn when we drove a few miles to an observation post at the Southern corner of the lake. It was still pitch dark but after half an hour, vague shapes could be made out and I used the moon setting on my camera to see lines and lines of cranes in the distance...
The story with the cranes is that they gather on the Laguna di Gallocanta before migrating northwards across the Pyrenees. Each day at this time of year some will make the flight, some will remain and others will move in.
So as the light improved, they started to move off in increasing numbers, flying straight over our heads in an overwhelming display except for one lone individual that came back. Someone joked that it must have forgotten something.
We were told that there were around 15,000 cranes in the area on the day but the hotel organised a competition for us to guess how many there would be on the last day of our stay, just before the start of the "crane weekend" when most are expected to make the move north. The number counted on that Friday was over 27,500, many more than any of us guessed!
Also seen on or the lake were some distant flamingos, shelduck, shoveler and teal as well as calandra lark, merlin and marsh harrier nearby.
Later in the day we travelled around a bit seeing crested lark, several linnets rock sparrow and roe dear. indeed it was going along in the van that led to a spectacular sighting when one of the guides saw two great bustard crossing behind us in his mirror as he drove along! They disappeared straight away but we caught up with them again by circling around and managed good views.
Something similar happened not much later when a bird of prey flew out of a tree in front of the advancing van. Some thought buzzard and some thought marsh harrier but it flew off speedily to a corner of a distant field, where it could eventually be identified as a booted eagle
You can see why I was fed up about deleting the images.
I did manage one photographic capture that evening. In a garden near the hotel there was a bush full of twittering birds, which could only be seen fleetingly as they left and entered the foliage so I tried without much success to video them:
Tree with invisible birds
The Merlin app suggested spanish sparrows but I think not. Bog standard house sparrow is I think the correct answer. I later learned that spanish sparrow is a more rural species.
The forecast was for it to be mild over the festive season and, sure enough I woke up on Christmas Eve morning to witness a red admiral flying around my garden. it did not settle but seemed to be in good health, flying around robustly.
I spent most of Christmas at Alnwick, having taken advantage of the opportunity to try again for the grey headed lapwing at East Chevington en route. It had appeared the day before but didn't show.
However a major consolation was the appearance of a pair of marsh harriers. I could only get some distance shots of the (I think) female at several hundred yards range but nevertheless worth recording. Marsh harriers have been turning up in the area for some time but it's the first time I've seen one in Northumberland.
Marsh Harrier at distance
They showed up again briefly around dusk somewhat closer and I got a good view of the wing edgings of the male. Unfortunately their flight was a bit irregular and didn't last long. Presumably they are breeding.
A chap who was looking for the grey-headed lapwing reckoned it might be amongst the lapwings in a field near the coastal path. However I got a view of the 'lapwings' in the camera viewfinder. They were clearly geese, so I wasn't tempted.
The only birds I got reasonably close to, apart from a single wren, were a couple of moorhens who had forsaken the nearby pond to go foraging in a grassy field.
Moorhens
Turnstone
A Christmas Day walk on Warkworth Beach brought totally calm conditions with virtually no wind and a flat sea nearing high tide. Unsurprisingly a large number of dogwalkers were out so that birds were not to be found on the foreshore and the only one I saw was a single turnstone on the rocks, its bright underside undermining an otherwise effective camouflage.
It spent its time turning over the seaweed rather than the stones though.
I think I did see a seal pop its head out of the water out at sea a couple of times, but couldn't confirm.
It was the dogs who were the most active animals by far, including the Grays' Arthur who excelled himself and startled other dog owners by digging a hole in the sand big enough for him to be buried in. This is one of his earlier trial runs:
Daft Dog
It was similarly quiet on Boxing Day when we did another beach walk at Low Newton. What birds there were were swimming in the bay or snoozing out on the rocks and difficult to decipher. There were some more turnstone and I think these may be dunlin, while bobbing on the sea there was what Google Lens thought was a Bonaparte's Gull. But I suspect it was a black-headed gull and others on facebook thought so too.
Dunlin?
Black-headed Gull
As the pub and public toilets were both closed, I had a view over the fields and nearby lake and could make out curlew and greylag geese.
Greylag Goose
Wigeon
In a way the best sighting was the last.
Just before we left I got a clear view over the northern part of the bay, where a few more birds were noticeable.
Floating around on the sea was a group of wigeon, the first time I have ever seen them on salt water.
I suspect they don't do this often, preferring inland lakes - and certainly a much clearer view than the ones at Geltsdale. It was probably testament to how calm the conditions were all day.
Starting with a bit of bad news, I found this dead great tit in the garden last week.
Great Tit
I sort of assumed that it had crashed into the summerhouse, but on inspection it seemed to have a wound on its upper breast so maybe got nobbled by something.
Yesterday, I went on the first big trip of the year with son and fiancee to Leighton Moss, which provided a sufficient parade of sightings to justify even the £9 entry fee for non-RSPB members.
We saw a good number of marsh harriers flying at considerable height, which surprised me a bit. On previous occasions in the Netherlands and at Leighton Moss before, I'd been used to seeing them flying low looking for prey. Often they were in groups of two or more so I supposed that it was some sort of pre-mating routine, disturbed by occasional buzzards. Anyway, I was delighted to get a photo of one in flight with my pocket camera, even though it wasn't brilliant.
Although we didn't manage to see one, we did hear numerous bitterns booming, which was a first time for me. I must say 'booming' is a bit of a misnomer. As one of the signs pointed out, it sounds much more like someone blowing over the top of an old-fashioned glass milk bottle.
Also not seen was the bearded tit. We hadn't really expected them to show at this time of year although apparently they are still around.
One bird that is present is the ring-necked duck and I thought I might have seen one at distance from the tower. In fact it proved to be just another tufted duck.
Shortly afterwards, heading for lunch I spotted some small red fungi next to the path. I think they are called scarlet elf cups.
At the last hide we visited there was a view over several bits of land sticking out into the water, surrounded by various ducks. A group of twitchers reckoned there was a water pipit working its way along one of them. Unfortunately, try as we might, we couldn't confirm or deny it as a sighting as the photos we took of the wee bird were all too blurry. Apparently it had been identified earlier by someone using a powerful telescope, so presumably correctly.
Overall, there were just too many photos to post individually, so I've amalgamated them together in brief video. Unfortunately there is no background music as that now costs extra from Microsoft!
Last Wednesday I took a slow ride along the Derwent and the Tyne, particularly looking out for any sites that might produce a common blue.
Again the horse meadow at Derwenthaugh produced a small skipper, which continually sat with wings closed but just open enough to allow identification. Although there is now plenty of bird's foot trefoil in the field, there were no common blues but the first ringlet I have seen this season landed nearby and a meadow brown flew past.
Not much turned up along the Tyne apart from a couple more ringlets until I parked the bike and headed up the western Spetchells as the sun started to come out. Here the mining bees were no longer active but there were still plenty of Gooden's Nomad bees around the nest holes, which I suppose makes perfect sense. A good number of red-tailed bumblebees were also to be seen.
Here there was less bird's foot trefoil than I suspected so it was a pleasant surprise when a male common blue (first of the year) flew straight past me shortly after I had disturbed a basking red admiral. As I made my way back along the track more appeared and I saw five in total - all males.
Common Blue
Not seen however were dingy skipper or any Burnett moths.
At home I've been wondering if any of the bumblebees I've seen were were white-tailed bumblebees but mostly concluding they weren't. This one might be so I've submitted it to i-record to see if they confirm it.
White-tailed Bumblebee?
It looks from the hairy legs that it is a male, which apparently makes identification more difficult. Garden bumblebees are still turning up occasionally too.
At the weekend I travelled South to visit Rutland Water with Jen and Joe on the Sunday.
The weather was disappointingly dull and only a small number of ringlets and meadow browns ventured from the extensive flower meadow as we wondered along to the osprey viewpoints on the South shore, plus the odd skipper and chimney sweeper moth.
Here we had good success however as a couple of ospreys showed well during the hour we were there, and a chick can be made out in some of the photos taken.
Osprey
There were a fair few reed buntings about as well as sedge warblers, which however I only managed to hear.
Reed Bunting
Moving between hides it warmed up a bit and butterflies gradually became more active. Mostly these were ringlets and meadow browns but there were about half a dozen skippers. Interestingly, they were mainly large skippers, which I'm not actually sure that I've seen nearer to home though records suggest they are common.
Ringlet
Large Skipper
It happened that the meadow brown I snapped was an already rather worn male. Or I assume that the white patches were signs of wear.
Meadow Brown
One or two more chimney sweeper moths appeared as well as a blue bug I couldn't hazard a guess at. Returning to the visitor centre I also discovered this silver ground carpet moth lurking in the undergrowth.
Silver Ground Carpet
After a pause for refreshments, we decided to check some of the lagoon areas on the Western shore and pretty much hit the jackpot at the Harrier Hide, where it was for some while possible to see little egret, great white egret and grey heron all fishing in the same area.
A particular bonus was the sighting of an Egyptian Goose, a first ever for me as it isn't present further North.
Great White Egret
Egyptian Goose
Next a marsh harrier duly jetted in and passed around either side of the hide before moving away behind the trees. Perhaps just as exciting was the foraging of an early-rising barn owl that was clearly hungry or had young and hunted extensively over the marshland, at one point carrying some prey in its talons.
Barn Owl hunting
At one point it flew in front of the hide so close you could see it giving us the eye.
Afterwards we briefly visited the 'photographic' hide where a goldfinch obligingly sat for well over five minutes.
Goldfinch
Not the most spectacular sighting of the day but an attractive bird that isn't always so easy to take pictures of.
All the time we were in the Harrier Hide, we could clearly hear a cuckoo calling in the distance, which interested me a good deal as I reckoned I'd heard one at home earlier in the week, but discounted it as being too late for a cuckoo. It was calling again today.
Last Saturday I caught up with daughter Jennifer and fiance Joe at the Saltholme RSPB Reserve near Seal Sands - distinctly brownbelt country. The main purpose was to start off a complex exchange of Christmas and Birthday presents while fitting in some birdwatching and refreshments.
It was clear from internet search that there were a large number of fieldfare and a good few redwing present, and these were fairly quickly identified, including the leucistic fieldfare advertised, which actually showed up on two or three separate occasions and therefore was adjudged to be showing off just a bit. Just to confirm, it hadn't been snowing...
Fieldfares
Redwing
Leucistic Fieldfare
On moving to the first hide, we saw a few greenfinch, tits and tree sparrows and phenomenal number of
Peregrine Falcon
goldfinches crowding in around the feeders. At distance it was just possible to pick out a solitary peregrine falcon that remained static on a fencepost for all the time we stayed, halfway over to a line of factories to the north of the pond. I wondered if it was possibly a juvenile.
Walking over the scrub land, we saw a few kestrels and a large flock of lapwings moving back and forth. Things became somewhat quieter when we reached the Saltholme Hide, so much so that these wigeon obviously decided to take a wee nap.
Sleepy wigeon
Unfortunately we didn't see any peregrines hunting, nor the marsh harriers that have consistently been reported. This was for me the biggest disappointment as a pair were briefly spotted on the day and I had no idea that marsh harriers are regularly sighted as far North as the Tees Estuary.
After a protracted move to Geordieland, I am now playing serious catch-up as in two months' behind.
Part of the moving preparations included the delivery of a unit of furniture to my daughter and her partner, which we engineered to include a visit to Leighton Moss in Morecambe Bay as our meeting point.
Wigeon, lapwing and cormorant
We had hoped for possible exotics in the way of bearded tit, bittern (already booming apparently) and marsh harrier but in the event the last was the only one to be seen briefly.
Instead there was a ready assortment of various other species. The signs on the way to the lakes were already good when a robin was persuaded to take a bit of banana direct from my hand (first time that's happened) and a marsh tit showed on the feeders (my first in this country).
Then we saw, roughly in order and with fair regularity: little egret, shoveler, cormorant, wigeon, teal, lapwing, tufted duck, pintail, snipe and grey heron.
I was particularly pleased to get the following snaps, the best I have add of each species but it really wasn't too hard: The patterned underbody of the teal was something I was unaware of.
Away for the weekend at Kirkby Lonsdale with a girlfriend - trip to Leighton Moss where I have wanted to go for some while. She saw a male marsh harrier before we even reached the car park. I was somewhat sceptical but it proved to be correct as we saw it several times and once it flew more or less straight over us. Also had an excellent view of a reed warbler singing in a bush right next to us and saw a male blackcap as well as numerous ducks including gadwall (a first I believe) and tufted ducks. Listened for bearded tit but no sign and no avocets. Did not see bittern.
Arles is mainly known for its Roman history and architecure, but what attracted me there were the few van Gogh landmarks and the nature, under which label the main declared targets were bee eater, wallcreeper and white admiral and Bath white butterflies.
Principally with birdlife in mind I rented a bike from the hotel and made for the Marais Du Vigueirat via the cycle track along the navigation channel and Mas Thibert. The waters of the former looked distinctly carpy and sure enough a couple of anglers were out using notably heavy float tackle that looked more appropriate for pike or catfish - or perhaps to deal with a strong current.
White Admiral
Shortly after stumbling by complete accident on Van Gogh's famous bridge, which in fact appears to be a reconstruction as the original was further upstream, a white admiral flew straight in front of the bike and settled to pose for a photo as a Bath white fluttered nearby. So that, to my surprise and delight, was the key butterfly targets sewn up within an hour or two! In spite of the name, the Bath white is not present in the UK.
Further down the path something similar happened when a black kite lumbered over in one direction while a purple heron glided along in the other - both first sightings, although both were pretty much expected. By this time I had already spotted an egret plodging in the paddy fields (rice is grown in the Camargue) that I thought was a little egret, which proved correct as I was soon in a position to compare the three egret varieties.
The experience at the reserve was mixed as, in spite of much research, local guidance and looking around, I did not see the bee eater. However I did see:
a beaver in close-up
a fox running along the wooden path with a vole in uts mouth (twice)
cleopatra butterfly
a dragonfly clutching a white butterfly (didn't know they attacked butterflies!)
an unidentified fritillary (not pearl-bordered)
great white egrets and little egrets, allowing closer comparison
cattle egrets, though they were showing more interest in the Camargue ponies than the bulls
many carp swimming around on the surface of the lake (as below but there were far more than you can see)
more herons including squacco heron
marsh harriers
turtle
several lizards
white stork
magpies all over the place, more kites of both kinds, several wall butterflies, tree creeper, long-tailed tits.
I wondered if there was a reason why the cattle egrets preferred the horses to the bulls.
On the way back, I also noticed what I thought at first was a black bee, but was probably a flying beetle (leatherjacket). I reckon I saw in total eight new species today, the most in one day since I went to Minsmere in 2011.
Walberswick Common drew my attention as possible area for dartford warbler and green woodpecker. Fortunate enough to meet a woman from Natural England awaiting a school group, who gave me a map and some directions so I could plan activities around the anticipated rainstorm, which lasted nearly three hours while I read in the car.
The main targets were not co-operating, even in spite of combing the woodland and getting a little lost right in the middle of dartford warbler heathland. But two very pleasant walks led to jay, reed warbler, bearded tit (including a close-up of a female this time), marsh harrier, buzzard (not so common in Suffolk), cetti's warbler and several rather cocky reed buntings who absolutely refused to leave their favourite bushes when I walked right underneath them. There were also some otter tracks near the old mill.
Minsmere on short break in East Anglia. An incredible visit, in that I sighted virtually every bird I wanted to see in the minimum amount of time. Bearded tit, the main target appeared within 40 minutes of arriving, along with reed warbler.
I pretty much expected to see an avocet from the East hide but to see one ten yards out immediately on entering staggered me a bit. Soon I added spoonbill and flamingo along with various others (that actually interested me less!) thanks to the guidance of one of the RSPB staff. These were: black tailed godwit, gadwall and spotted redshank.
I not only heard but saw cetti's warbler on the way to the bittern hide, where marsh harriers were in action. The occasional bittern was on the move and visible in flight. And then a squadron of hobbies moved in with a spectacular display to feed on the pond dragonflies.
I didn't see the little egret but on moving to the last reed hide, clearly heard a water rail.
Not much was happening in the woodland so I decided to return to the north wall to see if I could improve on the bearded tit sighting, and sure enough a male appeared briefly on the very edge of the reeds.
Many of these spots were aided by wardens and experienced watchers nearby, but eleven first sightings on the same outing has to be a bit special.
