I'm From Further North Than You - Prt 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTEeckyLH0g

 

Arctic Tern is my favourite bird due to it's elegance, aesthetic, chutzpah and Shackletonesque levels of adventure and resilience, the Farnes show is stolen by them in my book. However, for most visitors the stars of the show are the Puffins and Seals which certainly pleased the remainder of our party who cooed in appreciation as every toucan billed Auk flew over.

 

 



 

 

 

The viewing platform and boat trip have to be one of the most immersive seabird colony experiences in the UK as Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake and Shag nest carpal to carpal up the islands cliffs and spill on to the tops where you can walk amongst them.

 

 

 

And too soon it's over and, as ever, eeking out the last moments, we're the last back on the boat and away, leaving the magical islands until our next visit.

 

I was hoping for another boat trip and a visit to Coquet Islands to see the Roseate Terns up close, however, to my surprise, the boat trips were fully booked all week.  I didn't brood for to long and managed to take a scenic route back through the North Pennines which took in some beautiful Oak woodland, home to Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and Wood Warbler and then onto the desolate moors which within the greener valleys held lots of breeding Curlew, Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, Snipe and an afternoon lek of Black Grouse.

 

 

 

 



I'm From Further North Than You - Prt 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM4TX0N16vo

 

 

A family foray north of the Yorkshire border at Christmas whetted our appetite for another trip beyond the Northlands to Northumberland and the first trip for the kids to the magical Farne Islands.  Family Witheringate joined us and the weather held.  An early morning trip sans famille to Amble and the Hauxley reserve was a bit blustery and damp but enjoyable.  Distant views of Roseate Terns on Coquet Island were compensated for by prolonged viewing of Eider, Stonechat and Tree Sparrow families going about their business.



 

 



 

Coquet Island is about a mile offshore, what's amazing is with a phone stuck on the end of the tscope you can see the Roseate Tern nesting houses and some Roseate Terns - honest!!

 

We took the last boat out to the Farnes at 3 as the weather was due to brighten up and indeed we enjoyed some sunshine on a rolling swell around the islands and then on to Inner Farne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Day

Having struggled to find our peak form in Cambridgeshire big days, we needed a break from trying to crack that particular egg.  I had been hoping to have a go at the Yorkshire big day record with a team of mates.  The plan came together over a year and at midnight on 11th May I was joined by Mark Hawkes, Jono Leadley and Rich Baines heading out on an epic days birding around Yorkshire.  We were planned with great precision around times to ensure that we could get all the dead certs without running out of light and maximise our chances of scoring as many of the trickier species as possible.  A write up of the day can be found on Birdguides here

https://www.birdguides.com/articles/yorkshire-record-breakers-an-epic-may-day/

Personal highlights were many but being up on the Moors at dawn within the wild soundscape of wader and Red Grouse song will take some beating.

The well rehearsed hour of strategic teamwork on Filey Brigg pulling great birds out of the bag every five minutes was thrilling and the bonus of connecting with a top class rarity, Collared Flycatcher, en-route at Easington certainly ticked the box.

We finished the day on 156, a new Yorkshire Big Day record. Certainly 160 is an achievable target for this huge county and perhaps now we've laid down the gauntlet some young turks will steam through our total, or perhaps not.  There are hard learnt lessons that come in to play in planning a Big Day and we'll certainly give 160 a go in the next couple of years.

I fear that in the Big Days of the next decade there will be very few of these beauties to be seen.  I enjoy everyone as if it's the last.

Sammy's Point deserving of more than a flying visit.

Last orders - Jono's Little Owl was our last new bird of the day.

Mark and Rich celebrate 

Huge Thanks to my team mates for great skill, positivity and friendship (and photos)

Emergence

Along, no doubt, with many other folk, the Bank Holiday weekend saw me busy in the garden. As I stepped out of the back door on Saturday morning, two small, almost transparent, damselflies fluttered away and, almost simultaneously, a much larger dragonfly zipped by. I was briefly annoyed not to get a better look, but didn't think much more about it. Later, however, I happened to glance into our small pond and spotted several more damselflies. Kneeling down for a closer look, I discovered that virtually every emergent plant had a number of spent damselfly cases (exuvia) on them and that newly emerged adults were climbing up the stems, whilst some were still in the act of 'breaking out'.

Some time was spent trying to get to grips with their identification and, even armed with a decent field guide, I was not successful. I had not hitherto appreciated that when they first emerge our Odonata are not yet fully the finished article and may not have acquired their final colours.  Unforgivably, I failed to get a decent photo, with this about the best of a poor bunch -

I think that they are either Common Blue or Azure damselflies, with both species apparently to be found in garden ponds.

Things then got more interesting. A dragonfly was spotted in the water, not looking at all happy. I rescued it, but sadly it succumbed shortly after. This did afford me the chance of identifying it, however, and I was more confident in stating that here was a female Broad-bodied Chaser. Three or four other exuvia were found around the pond, with around ten larvae in view in the shallows, or up on the top of the Hornwort which grows throughout the pond. I'd spotted the rather imposing larvae in the pond before, so it was nice to be able to put a species to them.

Damselflies continued to emerge, albeit in smaller numbers, throughout the morning and early afternoon. It wasn't until around 4pm that I spotted a dragonfly larva crawling out of the water. It fell back in several times, so eventually I helped it out and placed it on some nearby Verbena. It soon crawled up the stem and fastened itself around a leaf. Checking back a little later, I was thrilled to see that the adult was breaking out.

Over the next hour or so, with several rest periods, the dragonfly pulled itself free...

... before eventually pumping up its wings and taking on the recognisable colouration of a female Broad-bodied Chaser...

She stayed put on the stem as darkness fell.

I was out early next morning and she was still in position when I left, and when I returned around 9am, but departed at some point later in the morning. More damselflies were emerging by then, but a more gruesome discovery was four Broad-bodied chaser larvae all caught in spider webs amid the trellis near the pond. One had managed to split out despite the web, but three had died. All were found in a spot which catches the early morning sun, prompting the thought that they must have made their way there overnight, ready to make the most of the brief window before the sun moved further round. I was consoled by spotting another freshly-emerged dragonfly on some Purple Loosestrife. By now it was fairly cloudy and the dragonfly stayed put for some time. I happened to be outside when it eventually took off and watched as it lifted away and flew from the garden... and was immediately intercepted by a male House Sparrow, who took it off up into nextdoor's guttering. Ah, the harsh face of Mother Nature! Ever there to remind us that it's a jungle out there. Kill or be killed and survival of the fittest and all that.

Unsurprisingly, the sparrows have been quick to cotton-on to the food source on their doorstep. Many times today I've looked out to see one searching diligently through the pond-side vegetation and, on one occasion, a male whose beak contained several damselflies. Those dragonfly larvae who met a literal sticky end in the spiderwebs have all been removed. I'm very fond of the resident House Sparrows. Indeed, we've put up some nest boxes specifically for them (as yet unused). They are, of course, ensuring that I will have more House Sparrows to enjoy and I wish them every success. However, a part of me can't help wishing that they'd left the damselflies and dragonflies alone, to fulfil their own destiny and, perhaps, to allow me another look at these remarkable and beautiful creatures next year and to witness, here in our small garden, one of nature's miracles unfold. Fingers crossed that some got through!

Washed Out

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj2HcdiOmt8

 

There was a flurry of twitchery interest raised last month when a drake Baikal Teal was snapped at Welney one afternoon.  It was not relocated and served to raise speculation as to the likelihood of the bird of 2014 repeating a migration route through the Washes.  As always with such large tracts of suitable habitat along the 20 miles of the Washes there were hopes it was hiding away somewhere and this proved to be the case.  A brief sighting on Sunday afternoon prompted keen eyes to find the bird taking up a one day residency in front of Stockdales Hide.  A very arresting and boldy marked bird but fast losing it's mythical status in british birding.  All the accepted records still, to my mind, have the hints of the fencejumper, an unpopular viewpoint but still worth considering. None the less the chance to enjoy so striking a rarity close to home would be churlish to let pass.  There were relatively few pilgrims parked up at the reserve and not a lot of interest from Cambridgeshire locals and when we did get to Stockdales we were able to get seats to enjoy a wonderful vista.  Firstly the Baikal Teal, gaudy - a tad plastic looking but fully winged, unrung and pristine was keeping company with a small posse of Wigeon, a superb drake Garganey drifted out of the vegetation as the Baikal drifted in.

 

A Great White Egret and then another patrolled the shallows, venturing up to belly height while shifting their perpendicular necks from side to snakey side.  Alert, the wildfowl settled as a 2CY male Hen Harrier drifted over the flood and out across the fenland to quarter the fields behind the hide.  The Great White Egrets came together and suddenly took flight, one with a Pike in it's beak.  Some less than agile bickering took place and both birds eventually lost their meal.

Avocets, Greenshank, Ruff and Black-tailed Godwit were in parts raucous and in others skulking and later we enjoyed watching the limosa and as ever I learnt plenty from Ben aboult moult in both the sub-species and likewise with Ruff.  The light was sublime although the stench from a Pike carcass on our return was far from pleasant.

The weekend had been pretty poor weatherwise but cleared quickly on Sunday afternoon in time for us to get out onto a deserted Titchwell beach following a cold morning in Hunstanton.  Some very handsome Med Gulls were the clear highlights