Spain Day 5

Today was to be the day we caught up with the wallcreepers on the cliffs at Alquézar.  

But first a post-breakfast stroll in the hotel gardens showed it was good for finches too, notably a couple of greenfinches and as many hawfinches as I've ever seen in the same place:

Greenfinch

Hawfinch

It's only the third time I've seen hawfinches. The early morning light from behind doesn't do justice to the colouration of either bird.

When we got to Alquézar I must admit I was pretty much bowled over by the first views of the place - it looked stunning!

Alquézar

So after a brief tramp through the town we settled down on the seats opposite the cliff face for a full day vigil.

Quite quickly someone managed to spot a blue rock thrush, which of course I didn't manage to see until someone else pointed it out in painstaking detail.  Once I found it the picture I got at considerable distance suggested I'd done the right thing by changing the camera settings.  A first for me, it was to turn up periodically through the day.

Then around 11.00 am the wallcreeper was spotted at the far left edge of the cliff face, only for it it disappear behind the cliff edge almost as soon as it had appeared as the rest of the group hurried over to see if they could get it in a 'scope or camera.  And I did actually see it, but just as a tiny black speck against the horizon that I could never have identified.  Then it was gone behind the cliff edge.

I think we assumed it would return.  When it didn't, we moved behind the capella to survey the rocks on the other side.  Here there were quite a few things to be seen - a perching griffon vulture, sardinian warbler, and notably alpine accentor...

Alpine Accentor

Sardinian Warbler

... whereby I'm only showing the warbler because it's the first time I've managed to capture it.  It flew off before I went for the close-up.

After lunch the vigil continued.  Various birds turned up including a lot of vultures on a thermal, a peregrine falcon, numerous crag martins, black redstart and rock dove.

At one point I saw a single honey bee near the foot of a wee tree where we were standing.

I had noticed that most people were surveying the main cliff and the left hand edge where the wallcreeper first appeared.  So I decided to focus on the castella and the right hand cliff where it was known that the wallcreeper had landed on previous occasions.

Well all I got for my pains was more crag martins and blue rock thrushes, though it was fascinating to see how the ivy growing up the rock had been colonised by a mass of blackcaps that kept appearing and reappearing.

Blue Rock Thrush

Blackcap (female)

I think we jacked it in around 5.00 pm.  I later jokingly remarked that we should have persevered for another hour or so but I don't think it went down too well.

In a later debriefing session, one of our guides pointed out that the alpine accentor was a much rarer bird than the wallcreeper.

You win some and lose some I suppose.  At least I can claim I saw both, which not everyone did.

Reflections and A Narrowly Failed Twitch

Christmas Cactus

It struck me recently that I don't pay much attention to flowers. I really should as recognising flowers is help in finding butterflies and bees in the summer.

The trigger for this thought was the christmas cactus on the windowsill, which is looking particularly smart this year and may even last until the 25th for once. In previous years, perhaps when the heating has been on more, it has often had it by mid-December.

On Saturday, a notably cold and rather windy day, I went to Geltsdale with Alex and Vicki to exchange presents and check for sightings.

Here it

 became apparent that I am suffering from increasing bird blindness.  Almost immediately after setting off, Alex spotted a flypast by a peregrine which Vicki even manged to get a photo of while I remained blissfully unaware and could see nothing but grey sky.

Peregrine Falcon

Similarly I could not spot the first stonechat they saw skirting the first bit of woodland.  I did see the grouse Alex spotted on the horizon once he'd pointed it out and did get a photo against the light.

I fiddled with the result to see if it might prove to be a black grouse but the only difference was a rather apocalyptic background while the bird remained a dark shadow:

Grouse

We reached the lake, where a number of wigeon were having a doze.  I got some shots but, like the rest I took on the day, the focus wasn't great.  I think the cold may have caused some condensation on the lens and the wind anyway made it different to hold the camera steady and avoid the lakeside reeds in distance shots.

One phot was slightly different and puzzled me briefly but I think it is just an unclear rear view of a mallard. 

Wigeon

Mallard

After that it was quiet for a while.  There was nothing but a few tits and chaffinches near the feeders at the Information Centre.

It's often the case withe birdwatching that you see nothing for a longish period, and then several things in quick succession.  It was probably a full twenty minutes before I (for a change) saw a few birds landing in a tree, which turned out to be bullfinches.

Bullfinch

Then  Alex noticed a barn owl hunting early and eventually landing some distance away, and another stonechat showed up on the moorland.

We walked back past the quarry through some attractive countryside but only saw another - or perhaps the same - barn owl, again at some distance.

Barn Owl

While this was going on, a mega rarity was again being sighted at East Chevington Reserve in the shape of a grey headed lapwing, so I decided to try my luck the day after.

I arrived about 11.20  and parked where a lot of other cars were standing.  This proved to be next to the field where the bird had been sighted while I was at Geltsdale, but it had flown to a distant ploughed field near which the shapes of standing people could just be made out.

I walked up there, which took longer than expected by a roundabout route, only to be told that the bird had not been seen since 10.20 am. The story was that a marsh harrier had appeared and frightened off the lapwings while the grey-headed version had circled a few times and then resettled not to be seen since.

So I hung around for about an hour, peering into the distance across many furrows of mud and seeing nothing.  One of the twitchers, some of whom had come considerable distances, however said he'd managed to spot 64 lapwings in the area I had been surveying!

Eventually, at 1.30 pm with only an hour of decent light left, I decided to look elsewhere.  On the walk back it was apparent that all the twitchers were following me, the latest news being that the lapwings including the suspect bird had left en groupe and headed for Cresswell Pond/Druridge Pools depending who you talked to.

So all I got for my efforts was some unusable shots of pheasants and half-hidden curlews, a single female reed bunting and a group of greater twitchers.

Reed Bunting

Twitchers

One of them asked me if I'd seen the birds move on.  Well I did briefly see a distant flock on the skyline, impossible to distinguish, but my reaction was that they were too small for lapwings.  

It's a bird that has kept returning to the area for over a week now, so who knows...

Butterfly Review

The first weekend in August I was in Krakow to celebrate my son's fortieth birthday.  Obviously the time was mainly dedicated to celebrations of various kinds.  Apart from a chance sighting of a peregrine falcon in the town centre, we did however end up in the zoo.

I'm not a great fan of zoos but bever having visited one since childhood, I did actually rather enjoy myself checking out this and that and confirming my son's impression that the eagle owl had been mis-translated into English on the sign - as I could see it was correctly labelled as Uhu in German.

I won't go into boring detail but here are a couple of the better photographs:

Pigmy Hippopotamus

Leopard

On arriving back home last Tuesday, it was delightful to see several butterflies fluttering around the buddleia bushes.  

I think I have to reverse my pessimistic forecast about butterfly numbers this year as it's apparent that the later flying species have done very well.  Not to be seen before I left, peacocks have arrived from nowhere in large numbers and I see that the Big Butterfly Count has registered a big increase in the number of red admirals.

Here however, the comma has definitely been the butterfly of the year, appearing in twos and threes several times a day in good sunshine.

Peacocks and Comma

Also very gratifying is that I have now seen three holly blue passing over the garden.

The loser in all this may be the small tortoiseshell, which for the first time has been appearing less frequently than the comma.  

On a brief cycling rest stop at Ryton Meadows last Thursday, I spotted two small copper and a small heath.  It may be that the serious fire that devastated much of the woodland scrub last year has had a positive result in allowing the heathland grasses and flowers to reclaim some territory.  It will be interesting to see how this land gets managed in future.

More recently, I have faced a couple of identification challenges at home.

A green dragonfly has turned up on three occasions to sun itself in the garden.

Southern Hawker?

It's definitely a hawker and I think probably a Southern rather than a Common Hawker but the difference between the two is small and I'm no expert.  Interestingly the wings are almost completely transparent.

Likewise the moth I found snoozing on the garage wall looks to be a grey carpet but I couldn't find an exact image match and there are similar species.

Grey Carpet?

It's still one of the most enjoyable times of the year for me when butterflies appear in numbers, weather permitting.

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...

Saturday 28th December

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.

Sunday 14th May

Well things really have taken off on the nature front over the past eight days!

After a full day stuck in the house last Saturday, I managed to get out for a teatime walk on the river by Threave Castle. The most striking thing on the way to the ferry landing was the number of red kites following the farm vehicles working on the land. There was actually a sign towards the end of the walk noting that they do this to catch insects and worms that get churned up, plus any small animals that might get killed.  It was certainly a spectacle!

Ospreys were then duly spotted in the distance in and flying over the nest.  I then spent a longish time confirming a view of a peregrine falcon that is now nesting on the castle itself.  At first the sun was a nuisance, then I ended up taking pictures from upstream, which meant it was mostly a rear view.  But the poor pictures I got confirmed the slate grey back and a hint of white at the neck.  Curiously a crow landed very near it as if looking for a chance to steal some eggs and the peregrine did nothing to chase it off.

Up by the weir there were numerous green-veined whites playing amongst the bluebells. Also sighted were willow warbler, blackcap a couple of lapwing, some orange tips and (as on previous visits) a cheeky robin begging for food. Oh, and another in the series of (for me) hard to identify pink flowers.

But the best photograph I got was of this swallow peering over the roof of one of the farm buildings. I don't think s/he meant to look as angry.

Swallow

As I left a couple of people arrived who were looking for otters.

14th January 2011

I should have started writing a nature diary ages ago!

On a walk at Colvend Coast got superb view of peregrine falcon.  Saw it from afar as I went behind a hill. Lucky to see what I though I was a buzzard sitting on the drystone wall just West of Port o' Warren. In the binoculars it was clearly a peregrine, cheek stripes clearly visible.  Then it went up and flew right over me, slate grey male.  Probably a young bird?

Also jackdaws doing acrobatics over the cliffs, great tit giving exhibition of alarm call and a couple of meadow pipits.

There has also been a song thrush in garden - have seen it two or three times.