my birding starting september 2007

One Windy Afternoon On Soil Hell

2011-12-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

After a session of prolonged revision, I decided that ti would be necessary to get out of the house for a walk. As it so happened, there were a large number of snow buntings (9) reported on soil hill. I am normally dissuaded from going to soil hill due to the atrocious weather conditions, and today was no exception, except I had more of a drive. However, once on top I began to realise why I avoided this place with the speed making walking forward difficult.
Once on top, I began to wonder where the birds were, and where to start looking. However, circumstances took over very quickly. It started because I spotted a cloud that looked quite interesting, so I decided to take a photo of it. I took the photo, but when I checked it I saw those wretched words-NO CARD! There are no words to describe the emotions you get from seeing those words when you've spent 20mins walking up here. But then, as I was screaming out in annoyance and frustration, I spotted some small movement about 2m away, and saw that there were a pair of snow buntings right in front of me. There is a sense of despair that falls on you in this kind of circumstance, no camera, but the bird right in front of you. I spent 5mins admiring them, before I decided to go and get my card. However, there was now an issue with time, as the sun was going down, so light would be a problem.
So I began running as fast as I could go, in order to save time. I made it home in 7mins, which was pretty impressive, grabbed the card and headed back up. However, running down the hill is far easier than running back up it. After the first stage I was bent over, and the continued walk was painfully slow.
However I made it back up to the top, calmed down since from my departure. I went over to where I had seen the buntings but they were no longer there. I walked round the top and again found no buntings,
I gave up then, because the light was getting worse, and I had seen them, so it was all good really. But as I rejoined the main track the same pair flew out in front of me. It was an incredible relief, and began to watch and take photos.
After 5mins of watching the pair, they flew off a few meters away and I saw that they had joined a group of other males, bringing the total of birds up to 5, a reasonable percentage of the 9.

-Snow Buntings

So there are happy endings in birdwatching after all, and after such a disastrous start to the trip, I managed to view the birds and take photos. My second snow buntings of the year, and the first time this year I have seen more than one together. Its great, because they are such nice birds.

Goosanders

2011-12-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

Spotted a pair of goosanders on the canal as we drove through hebden bridge today.

Northumberland long weekend Day 2

2011-11-15T07:25:00.000-08:00

Our final day in Northumberland, and the weather remained unchanged, grey and chilly. As is normal when we go to this region we decided to go to Seahouses. Last time here we had plenty of turnstones and eiders. The difference being that we were later in the year, and that it wasn't horizontal rain this time.
As we were driving along the coast road, I was disappointed to see that the tide was out, and so I imagine that the turnstones would be out as well. As I arrived in the harbour I looked over the sea wall to see if my suspicions were correct. They were to some degree, but one turnstone had hung around nearish the wall. It was about half way between the sea wall and the sea, although my photo was pretty poor.

-Turnstone
This turnstone was unfazed by my being there. It started having a wash in a rock pool, between two gulls.
I walked down the pier/breakwater to see what there was. I spotted at the end a bird in the water, so I went up to see if it was a diver or rare sea duck, or an eider. However I was pleasantly surprise to see that it was a shag when I arrived. If I recall, this is my first this year, which is quite late all things considered.

-Shag
Moving back up up the pier I looked at the gulls along the side, for potential iceland or glaucus gull. However the most unusual that I managed to find was a greater black backed gull.

-Greater Black backed Gull
On the other, harbour pier I was delighted to finally find some eiders, a handsome flock with a nice mixture of males and females. I got a great view of the eiders, and they even approached me despite being a few meters above them. Then I saw that the eiders moved away from me, towards a young family feeding them on the slipway opposite. They then started feeding them bread, so I decided to go over there, to be at eye level with them. I did and enjoyed listening to them "Awooo" comically, and also take some great photos of them. Unfortunately they all started moving away as soon as they realised I had no bread.
After about 15mins of doing my best to entertain the eiders, I decided to try and find my family to get some real bread. After about 15mins looking for them in seahouses I eventually managed it and got hold of some bread, AKA my lunch. I returned to the eiders and again enjoyed photographing them and feeding them, great views of such great birds. Here is a compilation of the eider photos I took.

-Eiders
I returned to my family and walked around the harbour with them to see what was around. At the turnstone area, I spotted a herring gull flying with some seaweed dangling out of its mouth, then, as it landed nearby, it became clear that it was not a piece of seaweed, it was a giant butterfish. It started bashing it against the sea wall, but was rudely interrupted by a mob of black headed gulls. I only managed one photo, sadly though it has it back to me.

-Herring Gull
Moving on, We walked onto an area of mud and beach on the southern side of the harbour which was far more natural. There were plenty of birds around here, oystercatchers, redshanks, grey heron and a handful of ringed plovers on the harbour mud which was nice, the first I've seen this holiday.

-Ringed Plover
We moved back to the car for lunch, and moved it from its current parking spot into an area where we had a great view of the harbour and the sea. As we were eating lunch we attracted a great deal of attention from a variety of gulls, herring and black-headed, who feasted on the scraps that I threw for them.

-Black Headed gull
the gulls left for a few mins to feed on somebody Else's lunch, and in that time, a very handsome winter plumage starling turned up and started picking up the scraps. The gulls started drifting back, but seemed reluctant to start feeding again. It was odd to see the gulls being reluctant to feed on some food being fed on by a starling.

-Starling, seemingly hording the food
After lunch we headed down towards Newcastle to see some family Friends, but first we would be going to big waters to see if there were any birds or otters. When we arrived we spotted a marsh harrier soaring above us. Besides that there were a few things to see, but they were all distance, there were shoveler, teal, whooper swans and cormorants.

-Marsh Harrier

so ends our long weekend on the Northumberland coast.

Northumberland long weekend day 1

2011-11-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

As my brother and I had an extra two days added onto our weekend due to teacher training days, we decided it would be an idea to go up north to see some Friends. Initally we wanted to go up for the whole weekend. However, something else came up (FC Halifax vs Charlton Athletic) I requested that we go up after the match for the two days. so we drove up on Sunday evening. It was a long journey, tinged with defeat, but eventually we arrived at the holiday cottage of some friends that we were using in Wooler.
The first morning was cloudy and gloomy, but the tide was right, so we decided to go to Lindisfarne for the day because we hadn't been for a while, a while being a few years. As we drove over the mudflat you could see that it was there was going to be a lot of wildlife to see. we parked the car and headed into the small town so that we could reach the dunes and hopefully see some seals.
As we joined the path we could see a pond, as no sooner had we arrived did a flock of brent geese fly in. Its the first time in at least 5 years since i have seen these, so it was great to see them and get a record shot. Unfortunately they were quite a way out, so I didn't get a great view I would like.

-Brent geese
However, looking at the geese I had overlooked a group of about 6 curlews right in front of me feeding in a sheep field. They were really close, so I was able to get some great views of them.

-Curlews

As we walked down the hedgerow lined we were joined on either side by feildfares and blackbirds feasting on the hawthorn berries. unfortunately they were too flighty for a me to get a photo, so I have no record of them.

in a field opposite us I spotted a flock of starlings, with a few curlews in with them. Sadly they all took flight as we arrived so we didn't really get a great view.

-Curlews and starlings
Shortly after that we arrived at the dunes. If I was honest, I was disappointed with the lack of birds we saw whilst crossing the dunes, but we did see some spectacular lichen formations and also a caterpillar of some description, which did seem rather late.

-Caterpillar
so after a short walk across the dunes, we arrived at the beach where my dad said there would be a seal. How naive we were, there wasn't a single seal anywhere. However, for me at least, there was quite a few interesting birds on the sea to make up for it. There were large groups of cormorants roosting on rocks slightly further out. but there was also a mixed flock of goldeneye and eider on the shore. We were viewing this from the cliff top, hence the dodgy camera angle. I looked at every bird to make sure i wasn't missing any king eiders or long-tailed ducks, but I wasn't in luck.

However one of the eiders didn't quite seem to be behaving properly, and no wonder, as when i actually checked it out, it was the bobbing head of a grey seal, so there was a seal in the end anyway.

-Eiders and Goldeneyes
We decided to walk back the long way, along the coast to the bird hide. I said that I would walk on the beach, while the rest of my family walked across the dunes. Good thing I did too, because I spotted a small group of waders on the shoreline that I didn't immediately recognise. I took a photo and then had a look, and saw that they were bar-tailed godwit, a bird I haven't seen since i knew what to look for. before then, any godwit was casually considered one or the other without proper I.D. But since i learned what I was looking for they have all been black tailed, so it was nice to associate with the other godwit, probably for the first time.

-Bar Tailed Godwit

I followed them up the beach, as they kept moving away from me, as birds generally do, until I lost them onto a natural rock breakwater. Then I spotted my family walking along the beach too so I went up to them. My dad said that my brother had seen a pair of short-eared owls in the dunes, so I went with my brother in an attempt to try and track them down. we walked round the dunes for some time. We tried to use the height to get a vantage point, and on top of one of the dunes, we found a rather nice common frog.

-Common Frog
We continued to look for the owls, but it looked increasingly unlikely as we headed deeper into the dunes. However, just when i was at the point of giving up we found them, and up they went. Only this time I would be able to see where they went. However, it wasn't as simple as that as they continued to fly even without being spooked, until I just decided to try and get them in mid air. The photos don't represent how close we were to the birds, but they are a reasonable effort at a record shot.

-Short eared owl
In case you hadn't guessed, we did manage to find both birds, but sadly we also lost them, and decided to leave them to it. As we headed over the bird hide we spooked a small mammal, mice or vole or summit, so there was clearly plenty of food for the owls.

At the hide we had lunch. However most of the birdlife was on the other side of the pond. That included shoveler and teal, those being the main attraction. However, as we neared the end of lunch a pair of teal appeared in the small pool in front of us, so I was able to get some shots of the encounter. it was also good because it let us appreciate these beautiful birds, at such close quarters.

-Common Teal

After lunch, we left the hide and walked along the coast towards the holy island castle. At a point where there was a small dip and shorter grass along the seafront, I flushed a small passerine. my first though was that it was a linnet, but the white bars on the wings made me realise my mistake almost immediately. I then had an excitement attack, as i realised that it was a snow bunting, only the second time I have ever seen one.

While these thoughts were going around my head, the bird moved a few meters further up the path, which I was relieved about, as I didn't want to not a get a view of it. I crept up, eating the distance between me and the bird, but there was no real reason for stealth, as the bird was seriously bold. But I didn't know that, so I spent five minuets creeping up. Only when I was less than 1m away did I realise that maybe the bird didn't care. It did, however, allow me to get some great record shots that I wanted. sadly the overcast Sky's meant that I had to alter most camera settings, leaving me with some shots that were not as good as I wanted. Even so, it was still a great thing to see, and for only my second ever...Not bad.

-snow bunting

I eventually left the bird, although rater reluctantly due to the fact that I might be pushed for time, and that my parents had never stopped, but carried on walking on a different path.

As I walked towards the car park I passed the pools where that morning there had been a flock of brent geese. Just before i reached the pool, a pair of brent geese flew right over me, sadly too close and quick to get the photos I wanted, but I managed to get a close record shot.

-Brent Goose

As I mentioned before, I was about to pass the pool, where sadly there were no brent geese, but there was a grey heron fishing in a small drainage ditch, and also a few other wildfowl species that were unrecognisable for this distance, and with no bins...

-Grey Heron
I caught up with my parents, and we started to make our way across the causeway. it was almost high tide, so most of the shoreline birds were being pushed up towards the road, so we got some great views of birds. No sooner had we left the island than we saw a flock of brent geese, feeding offshore.

-Brent geese

furthur on the causeway where we would be nearer to where most shorebirds would have been feeding we found the wave edge dotted with hundereds of wading birds, dunlins, redshank, godwits and curlews. It was quite cool to see, although we knew we diddnt have long to savour the experience.

-Dunlin

-Wading Birds

-Dunlin

-wading birds

Nearer the mainland we spotted a group of four red-breasted mergansers fishing nearer the shore

-Red-Breasted mergansers

-Wading Birds

November Butterfly

2011-11-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, Unlikely as it seems, on the Sunday the 6th of November 2011 my dad told me that there was a butterfly on the window flowers. I went for a look, and found a rather faded small tortoiseshell butterfly sunning itself, probably to get warm. I went up stairs to get the camera, and then went outside to get a better look. It has been a year for late butterflies, but November is quite late. It was a warm day, so maybe it was awoken from hibernation by the sun.

-Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

soil hill

2011-11-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

walking home from school, got home to find myself locked out and my mum not around. So I sat on the driveway and waited for my mum to come home. As I did a sparrowhawk male flew out from behind me, came back around, flew behind the trees beside me and then flew in front of me. Spectacular views to say the least of the sparrowhawk.
Went to soil hill after to see if i could catch up with a snow bunting. Unfortunatly I couldn't, but I did see a few partridges of unknown species, and a few feildfares on the way up. But no snow buntings unfortunatly.

Shropshire Day 4

2011-10-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today was the day I had been dreading. For my brother we were heading to RAF Cosforth, not really my cup of tea. I had saved a nice biology essay for this day, but it only lasted the whole morning, so i decided to have a look round the grounds, and round the back of the hangers. There are some woods back there and obviously airfeilds have a high attracton to pied wagtails.
But I saw nothing in the woods round the back. For fear of tresspassing I tried to keep a low-ish profile, but after peering around corners and stuff I suddenly realised that there were cameras everywhere-real smooth there. Luckily they've not come after me yet, so I guess they realise that I'm not a foreign spy or anything...
Back to the wildlife, or lack of it. The only thing I saw all day was a small copper buttefly. But there is something else to this because it is another rather late butterfly. I don't know much about the wintering habits of small coppers, but I imagine they hibernate because they are small. It wasn't looking in any fit state to migrate, if thats what it had in mind.

-Small copper

Other than that there was nothing on the wildlife front. Though there were plenty of planes, if thats what interests you...

That was the final sequence in this shropshire holiday, which has been better than I expected, so its all been goo in the end.

Shropshire Day 3-Part 2

2011-10-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

After the obvious success of the first walk we decided to try again furthur downstream, to see if we could see any more wildlife. Luckily there was plenty more to be had at our next stop, a small riverside village that I forgot the name of. No sooner had we pulledup in the car park than a buzzard flew overhead. There was nothing exceptional about this, as it was warm day then the birds would naturally be soaring on the thermals.
Having lunch in the car, we could see the river and all the fishermen fishing. The guy right in front of us had a freind who basically told everyone nearby that the fisherman had caught a barble. This was a fish that I had never seen, so I had a look and it was a pretty spectacular fish, about 1-1.5 feet long. It was a really nice fish.
As soon as I left the car after lunch I found a flock of long-tailed tits gradually moving across the car park frombush to bush. I positioned myself where they would cross the car park to the next row of bushes, and was rewarded with stunning views of this rather handsome birds. I also managed a few shots, but I was dissapointed with them given how close I was to the birds, never mind, its the memories that count.

-Long Tailed tit

We decided to walk downstream because that was the only way that the path seemed to go! That was on the other side of the river to the car park, and it was a pretty spectacular view from the bridge over. Once over any trace of the village vanished and we were left in beautiful countryside along the river. Having already seen a dragonfly today i decided to check every fishing spot to see if there were any resting on the trees or reeds.

However the first thing we saw was a bird that has sadly been missing from the holiday given its abundance last time, that being the kingfisher. We diddnt get much of a view though, as so often happens, you see it first as it races away up or down the river after you flush it, and that was the case here. However we were fortunate enough to see exactly where it landed, though by the time we got there, it had already left.

As I was checking every spot my family had already moved futhur ahead, as the main location we wanted to reach was the spectacular railway bridge that goes over the river, and there was a train due anytime soon.

As I played catchup I continued to see quite little, however I did spot a willow or marsh tit in the willow, though I don't know how to tell them appart on site, and I have no photos for reference, so I was dissapointed, although it was nice to see.

I caughtup with my family at the downstream side of the bridge. As soon as I arrived my brother said that he had found a blue dragonfly and that it was landed, by his foot, though it conviniently flew off as I arrived. There are only two dragonflies out at this time of year, and common darters are not blue, so that left the blue migrant hawker. There were at least 3 of these dragonflies holding territories across a 10m stretch of the river. They were deffinatly migrants, as they were smaller than any other hawkers that i had seen. I tried my best to catch them in flight, but they were very swift and difficult to catch on photo. However my brother had said that the one he saw had been landed, and they were landing-just not conviniently. But as soon as my oppertunity came, one landing on the shore, I took my chance to get this valuable record shot.

-Migrant Hawker
On the other hand, the common darters were much more obliging. There were about 6 and they were all peacefully resting on the riverbank, on dock leaves in front of us. There were even two in tandem, which i though was a bit odd given the time of year.

-Common Darter Male
I continued to watch the migrant hawkers as the gracefully stalked the riverside. The faught frequently with their compatriots and common darters too, they flew quite close to me in flight, but sadly thats a pain for the camera because their so close so movement is applified. But the view was stunning regardless.

Then I hit the jackpot, for a dragonfly watcher. I spotted one landed not too far away that i could reach. However to reach it I would have to cross a sticky bud plant and nettles and brambles. The question was, is it worth it? The answere, Yes and so I stealthily crossed the obstacle plants to reach my quarry. Sadly the specemin was badly damaged as you will see from the photos below, with one wing torn and the other missing its end. However its unfortunatness gave me a great oppertunity to get the photos I had been wanting.

-Migrant Hawker
It is painful to see such a stunning creature in such a state. But as I left i spooked it it flew off, so it obviously could fly, but chose not to. My family had left a while ago, after the train had gone over, so I knew my time here was limited. It was an interesting site, with about 10 dragonflies all in a small area but nowhere else on the whole river stretch that I had seen, maybe to do with the presence of the bridge of summit. Either way it was great to see all those interesting dragonflies, including a real tick in migrant hawker, and so late in the year.

On the way back to the car I spotted a trio of muscovy ducks under the bridge, so decided to take a couple of shots, just because...

-Muscovy Ducks

After all that we went to a town in the afternoon. But either way this has been by far the best day of the holiday, what with kingfishers, dragonflies and a host of other birds. including migrant hawker, a species that i really wanted to see.

Shropshire Day 3-Part 1

2011-10-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Day 3, and another cloudless sky. That doesnt mean that it was warm though. Since it was such a nice day, we decided to go for a riverside walk at a special national trust car park nowhere near any kind of settlement.
After travelling all the way over the river on the train yesterday we recognised the great big water treatment plant that stretched across the river like an ugly monster. Since the weather was so good I was secretly hoping that I might find a migrant hawker.
We saw very little until we made it upstream of the water treatment plant, and then there was plenty of wildlife, First was a blue tit, hunting on the plant itself, and then a raven flew overhead from upstream over us and into the woods to our right. As you walk upstream we were on the right side of the river headed that way, and there were woods to our direction where there were sounds of phesants and other birds.

-Raven
slightly furthur on and we found our first wildfowl. Granted, it was only canada geese, with a graylag in tow, but there were a couple of interesting variations and abbarents in the flock, which attracted my attention, although they are more likely domestic birds.

-Canada geese
we decided that when we reached the stile at the end of the current feild then we would turn back, due to a frustrating lack of river wildlife. Most of the interesting birds seemed to be passing us by, like this cormorant flying over head.

-Cormorant
Walking back proved to be far more fruitful than walking up. Even though we were walking the same stretch of river. The first thing we saw was a flock of long-tailed tits in the willow, quite close, offering great views

-Long tailed tit
Dont ask why the bottom half of the above photo is as it is, I diddnt take it like that and it certainly isnt like that in real life. As I was wrapping up with the long-tailed tits my brother called me to say that he had found a dragonfly. I hurried over to find a red male common darter resting on a dock leaf. It diddnt seem to care that we were watching it, it just perched there, so I got down and tried to get some photos.

-Common Darter
It was whilst I was watching the Dragonfly that a kingfisher flew upstream towards us and looped round to land in a willow, not 20m away, and on the same side of the river as me. Allowing me a great oppertunity to take photos of kingfisher, which is a really nice bird. However the bird only stuck around for a few seconds before continuing upstream.

-Kingfisher
I turned my attention back to the dragonfly, but it seemed to have woken up a bit more and started moving downstream it small steps. luckily I could easily keep up with it, allowing me to get some photos of this october dragonfly.

-Common Darter
I eventually left the darter in peace to try and catch up with my family, who had probably back at the car by now. On the way i spotted a few buzzards flying low in the sky. They were out because of the thermals so it was easy for them to rise up out of the forest. Either way it was a good thing because it allowed me to get great views of this stunning predators.

-Common Buzzard
For a few minuets the air was filled with birds, woodpigeons, crows and buzzards, but it all quietened down pretty quick, so i carried on walking back towards the car. I walked along the river edge hoping to maybe flush other kinds of dragonflies. I managed to find a couple of other darters, allcommon, although only one satyed still, that being an old specemin given the darkness of its exo-skeleton!

-Old Common Darter

So that finished the early morning walk, though there was still plenty of the day to go, and it got even better than that. This was just the beginning...

Shropshire Day 2

2011-10-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

Another sunny day greeted us as we woke up for the first time in shropshire. Today was train day-that being the day we would go for a train ride on the severn valley railway. Last time we were inundated with harlequin ladybirds, so I was hopeing that there would be again, now that I fully knew how to take photos of bugs and things. The train journey goes from bridgenorth, where we were staying, to kidderminster.
The journey to kidderminster passed without anything really exciting happening. Although there is an interesting bit where the train goes past a safari park-so we saw elephants, buffalo, blackbuck and rhinos.
At the train station however there were some far more interestin owls to look at and admire. The people there had brought owls to station for some reason, to highlight publicity I imagine, but it allowed me a close view of these stunning birds. It might actually have been something to do with the halloween week, as though owls signify evil spirits and stuff!!
They had about Nine owls-2 barn owls, 2 eagle owls, a boobook owl, a tawny owl, plus a little owl and a burrowing owl, Though I think the burrowing owl was actually a little owl desert form-its legs were no where near long enough for burrowing. there was also a white-faced scops owl.

-Barn Owl

-Little Owl

-Stunning white faced scops owl

-Was quite pleased with these two, Little owl face
After that we decided to get the train to "country park holt" station where would have lunch. As it happens we had lunch on the train so we got off at the station and had a coffee. This station is request only and goes into a country park, which we have used before. That also means that there are not many people here.

On the country park sign I found my first and only harlequin ladybird of the day, and managed a few shots of some standard, though they're not great.

-Harlequin ladybird

Another feature of this country park is kingfishers, which it had at least 3 last time we were here. My family were going to walk along the river straight to the next station, about 1mile away. I, on the other hand, was going to go up to the visitor center and the hides at the top of the park.

However the only excitiment was really to be found on the bridge. As I watched a hornet fly past, but I couldnt see where it went, much to my dissapointment. Then I watched a kingfisher fly past, upstream where I couldn't follow it. Then a dragonfly of some kind flew under the bridge, but I lost that as well, so I saw lots of interesting things, just not for very long.

Up at the visitor center I had a look at the info board and saw a picture of a club-tailed dragonfly. It reminded me that this river would be teeming with this rare dragonfly in the spring, only in autumn there was only room for dragonflies that chose not to land.

From the hides I saw a sum total of nothing, the only thing of interest being the mallards on the pond outside.

Walking back I had an awful experience. I casually looked over the back of a bench, as you do generally, and flushed a darter dragonfly that had rested there, which then flew away. I was quite annoyed then and re-discovery missions failed to find him. I imagine that it was a common darter based on the time of year.

At the bottom of the park, near the river, I spotted a common buzzard flying quite low. It was going to fly right over me, but its circling pattern was rudely interrupted by a mobbing crow which caused it to divert away from me, never-the-less I got good views of it.

Walking along the river was also a dissapointment. There were no birds-but maybe because of some morons on the other side of the river letting their dog run a riot all over the riverside-people like that do my head in!

Shropshire Day 1

2011-10-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

After a hard morning of travelling, we arrived in Shropshire for a few days. Since it was only lunchtime we decided that after lunch we would head off. Given its success last time we decided to head to the local arboretum, though I don't know what it was called. Last time it was brimming with Fungi, so was hopeful that there would still be loads. Also last time there was a dragonfly on the main pond, which given the time of year was almost certainly a migrant hawker, so I was eager to try and see if anything had stuck around.
However a 10min scout round and I realised that it was nothing like last time because it had been too dry. There was no fungi anywhere, but there were a few more birds than last time, which is always a good thing. At the final pond I spotted a jay and grey wagtail hunting along the water line.

-Jay

-Grey Wagtail
After walking around the main part of the arboretum I headed up a small alleyway that I had not been up before. Up there I flushed a few blackbirds and also found my first fungi-a fly agaric. Unfortunately it had a rather unfortunate notch taken out of it, right on the only angle that you could get a photo, given it was surrounded by brambles. I had a look for other fruit but with no joy.

-"Notched" fly agaric
After walking around I found my dad, who said that we should go for a walk down by the "nature" bit, though if I recall last time I didn't see anything down there. After walking down the first section of woods I spotted a buzzard circling high, probably looking for dead sheep.

-Buzzard
In the main woods we had a bit more joy. After a few minuets search we found a calling greater spotted woodpecker. It was difficult to see because it was perched at the top of a tall spruce, but I managed a couple of record shots.

-Greater spotted woodpecker

Just a bit further on and we spotted a dragonfly hunting in the woods, away from any suitable water. It was a hawker, but light was really low and the dragonfly really fast so any photos were out of the question and so i don't know what it was, though it was probably a migrant hawker.

We didn't see anything else during the walk, so we went back to the caravan.

Great Northern Diver at Ringstone

2011-10-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

Birding doesn't get much better than this. Sunday afternoon, Dave and I went up to Ringstone reservoir to see possibly the best record in Calderdale of the year. Normally a Great northern diver is rare, but that would be a winter plumage bird, but this was a summer plumage! So not only is it a special record, its also a stunning bird. Sadly due to computer issues I only have one photo that has been cropped-But I assure you that more are on their way...

When we arrived at first it took us a few minuets to actually find the bird, but luckily it was found, on the far side of the reservoir. Thanks to dave again for letting me use his scope to get great views despite the distance.
We decided to go round to the hide as the bird seemed to be heading over that way, But when we got to the hide we found it along the shore half way between the hide and the road. It continued moving about, diving and fishing, and began to move closer, until it was really close, near to the wall, near the hide. Then it got really exciting, as the bird began calling. Its earie call echoed across the reservoir, a wonderful noise to hear, and the icing on the cake.
The bird then began to move across the reservoir towards the far side, there were a couple of birders over there. the diver was right in front of one, with his giant camera, and he diddnt even notice.
Because the bird was so far away, we began to look around and spotted a flock of lapwing and golden plover in an adjacent feild. I counted about 10 golden plover, but it was easier to count them when they were spooked a few minuets later.

When we left we pulled up at the side of the reservoir near the road to get one last view of the stunning bird. It was well worth it, as we got more stunning views in the evening light. Thanks to dave again for taking me.

Lancashire

2011-10-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

headed into Lancashire today, for a football match. On the way spotted a buzzard, kestrel and a flock of 100ish lapwings. At the ground, spotted another ridiculously late butterfly-small tortoiseshell, and a black headed gull nearly got hit by the ball. Mainly posted this due to the late presence on the butterfly, although because it was small tortoiseshell, it was probably just woken up from hibernation because of the 15degree temperatures today.

Bradshaw park

2011-10-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Bradshaw park is currently looking like a bog, however, that diddnt deter the feildfares who turned out in number yesterday morning. There must have been about 50 that I flushed as I made my way across the playing feild. They were not approachable in the slightest, but its my first for this winter.

October Butterflies

2011-10-08T02:40:00.000-07:00

Walking home spotted a small tortoiseshell in Bradshaw park. I was surprised because the weather hadn't been warm until then, and even then it wasn't too warm, although the sun was out. The sun may have cause it to come out of hibernation.
Or that's what I would have though if around the corner I hadn't spotted a red admiral, which I did. To be fair, the red admiral did look a bit dopey and I could easily get close to it. I don't think it will manage its migration if its leaving it this late.

October

2011-10-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

had my first ever Calderdale october swallows this morning, 2 sat on wires near the Bradshaw tavern. Also a chiffchaff singing and a jay at north dean woods, as well as some stunning fly agaric. Also saw a speckled wood and small tortoiseshell. What kind of october is this?

...and butterflies too

2011-09-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

we're two days off october and we still have butterflies. Fair enough having small tortoiseshells as these hibernate and the current warm spell could wake them into a breif flight, but red admirals have been around the school and garden, which I reckon should have already begun their migration. a pleasure to see, if not a bit odd!

still got swallows

2011-09-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

saw a handfull of swallows getting blown around whilst they were hunting across the playing feild in Bradshaw park today. Its getting pretty late now, so this is a significant record-probably!

North Wales day 4

2011-08-31T03:38:00.000-07:00

The final day of the holiday, and this required going to a national trust property, as is the tradition. The one we chose was the botanic gardens between Conway and Colwyn bay. If I ha known that going to the gardens would require driving past the Conway estuary RSPB reserve I would probably have gone there, but I did not know this, so I tagged along to the gardens. I saw on the map that there were some ornamental ponds, so that's where I headed first. I walked all the way round each of them, hoping to flush a dragonfly, but I only spotted this damselfly, that seems to have some bird poo or something on its eyes.

-Common blue damselfly
Since there were no dragonflies on the ponds I headed down to the river, to see what was about. At the first bridge I spotted a rather handsome dipper on a rock not too far away, and seemingly uncaring about me being there. Unfortunately the low light presented by the tree's shade meant that photography was not an option.

-Dipper
It was whilst I was watching the dipper that something mammalian began to move in the water, and emerged just in front of the bridge where it became clear that it was mink. It didn't care about the spectators on the bridge, and surprisingly the dipper didn't care about it. Its the first time I have ever seen a mink, and the first time I have got photos of one, and though it is kind of interesting, its also very scary. It moved downstream pretty sharpish, obviously in a rush to get somewhere.

-Mink

I turned my attention back to the dipper on the rocks, and tried to get closer to it, whilst at the same time, getting more light. I didn't manage the latter very well, but I did get closer to the dipper, which was nice.

-Dipper

I headed up to the forest pond, there wasn't much there, although there was one dragonfly that must have landed somewhere out of bounds, because it certainly wasn't anywhere in bounds! By this time, it was time for lunch so headed back up to the top.

After lunch i headed back to the forest pond, and once more got fleeting glimpses of the dragonfly before it disappeared into the woods.

I walked down the river this time, and spotted a few juvenile brown trout in the river.

-Brown Trout
when I arrived at the limit of the river going downstream I met my mum and dad, who said they had seen some dragonflies on the ponds, where I had seen nothing. So I headed up there, and was rewarded with a pair of dragonflies. The female was landed and ovipositing, though she flew off and disappeared as soon as I showed up-as always happens.

The male on the other hand was very showy, were it not for the fact that it never landed. I therefore had to chance it trying to get a decent flight shot. I tried a few from distance, and then got a bit closer. And then its one of those things, I had it on focused quite close to me, and he came and flew right in front of me, slow enough to bang two shots, one was blurred, but the other-finest shot the holiday

-Southern hawker male

-Southern hawker male
but then he too disappeared into the bushes, but fortunately there were other things of interest, including a pair of ravens overhead...

-Raven pair
Whilst I was walking around the pond, hoping to re-flush a dragonfly I spotted a heron flying in to the pond on the next level. I headed up that way and was not surprised to see a small grey heron on the pond. it was quite bold, as grey herons often are, and so i had no problems getting photos like i wanted. I was a bit pushed for time, as the closing up time was 5 o'clock, but enjoy the photos.

-Grey Heron
I decided to give the bottom pond one last shot, despite time pressures, but luckily I was rewarded for my effort as the female that lands had returned to the pond and therefore I was able to get a few photos, to add to my southern hawker collection.

-Female southern hawker
I made it out of the gardens safely and then, as a family, made our way to Conway whilst we waited for the traffic to die down, whilst we were there my brother found a dead dogfish and I spotted this rock pipit I think, though I could be mistaken.

-Rock pipit

and there ends our wales holiday, what has been a very good holiday, despite being put together at such short notice.

North Wales Day 3

2011-08-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

it rained today. I mean it really rained, so we decided to go to a little village where there apparently was one of my mum's favourite coffee shops, only to find when we got there that the coffee shop was shut, and that there wasn't a great deal going in the town, so we decided to move on.
we moved on, and ended up at some random lake called llyn cwm bychan which was well hidden within the hills and mountains. It was pretty spectacular even in the rain and fog! As we drove along the edge to reach the car park I spotted a little grebe, but it was the marshes along the car park side that really caught my attention,.,as i was still hopeful of finding a black darter, or even a small red damselfly, so whilst my family went for a walk up a hill, I set off to explore the sedge and wet fields.
obviously in the rain I would stand little chance of finding anything-but I was not perturbed, and set off through the reeds, hoping to flush something. The first thing I found was a dead sheep, hidden below the water. But then my fortune changed and my found my first odonata against the odds, a female emerald damselfly was resting on the reeds so I got down and took some photos.

-female emerald damselfly
then, in another clump of grasses I found a male, sat looking rather handsome, covered in droplets from the ever present fog.

-Male emerald damselfly

As I walked round the same area as i found the damselflies i found a common blue damselfly, another to add to my list for the day, and then i flushed my first dragonfly. I tried to track it down but It took a while, but when I eventually I discovered it was a common darter. It's quite a young specimen, but looking rather dashing with the droplets of fog on its eyes.

-Common Darter

continuing around I spotted more emerald damselflies, plus a couple of blue tailed as well as a couple of common blue damselflies, so it was turning into a size able list, especially for a rainy day.

-Common emerald damselfly male
I had nearly entered the final section of the reeds, on the far side to where I started I spotted another dragonfly, this time the extensive black on the underside was a big give-a-way that I had found my first black darter outside that one juvenile male in scotland. this specimen is a Young male i think, though it may be a female. It was very obliging for a photo...

-Female black darter
Then after seeing one, there began to be more, I spotted another. This one was an almost mature immature male, if that makes sense. What I mean is that its almost all black, but not completely, and therefore not fully mature.

-mature immature male black darter
I continued going all over the marshes finding more darters and emerald damselflies, including males.

-common emerald damselfly

Then I spotted another damselfly, that at first I didn't recognise but it quickly came to me based on the red legs that it was a small red damselfly-my first and new tick for the holiday. i took 5 photos, noted that a grass stem was in the way and stupidly decided to move it. In doing that I managed to scare it away, and more than that lost it too, even though damselflies fly so slow.

My stupidity detracted from the joy of finding a new species and being able to touch it and view really close, and it ruined my day. But still, it was great to see, and enjoy the few photos that I managed to get!!

-small red damselfly
there continued to be other damselflies, but I failed to relocate the small red that I really wanted, even though i searched everywhere. My guess is that it must have landed on one of the plants in the water that I was unable to reach.

-Common emerald damselfly
Moving back and forth across the marsh i spotted more and more black darters, including 2 fully grown males within 1m squared of each other, but there were others too, of all ages, though seeing my first fully black male was pretty special and the highlight of my day-which has been good, considering I had written off my chances before I'd even started looking due to the weather.

-Female black darter

-Male black darter
by now I was so desperate to try and find the small red again that I was heading back to areas i had only gone through once, but when i finally looked there i found a newly emerged common darter, still next to its larval case.

-Common Darter
moving back into more familiar territory still without the damselfly, though there were still damselflies around, including emerald still being rather showy.

-Emerald damselfly

one final look round, this time showing my parents the sights of the marshes and i found another couple of stunning male black darters that were very obliging for a photo.

-Male black darter

so that was the final specimen that I saw all day, though the afternoon brightened up there wasn't much going on where we went, though I spotted an unusual spider

-unusual spider

by the end of the day there wasn't a cloud in the sky, which is ironic because i didn't see any dragonflies, although it was a very good day.

north wales day 2

2011-08-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

Not a pleasant day! It rained when we woke up and it rained whilst we walked round the local town of Carnarfon, with its historic castle and seafront. Its a place we have been to many times before, and so we knew what to expect, with the bird life consisting of a few swans, a couple of ravens on the castle and a cormorant on a buoy on the sea.

-Cormorant
After a morning walking round in the rain, we decided to drive round to the nearby estuary nature reserve, which could have quite a few birds on it. luckily it was high tide so if there were any birds they would be quite close to shore, and we were in luck, as no sooner had we parked the car my mum spotted a large flock of turnstones at the top of the beach. I was reluctant to go down to try and get some more photos because of other birders potentially, though I hardly needed to.

-Turnstone

there were other waders too, including a large bird that I assumed to be a curlew, but after looking through the binoculars and seeing a definite eye-stripe, I decided was a whimbrel, my first in a long time. This was the best view that I have ever got of one, so I decided to go down to try and get a few better photos. It didn't really work as the beach background blurred the bird in, but when it flew away you could clearly see the white mark on the back that defines it as a whimbrel!

-Whimbrel

Whilst we sat eating lunch the tide continued to recede and as it did a few more birds flew in. the first wader that was a bit miscellaneous was a small grey form, that could have been one of many waders. it was a long way off and i was unable to get any decent photos, but I got enough to i.d it as a knot when I got home. This struck me as being a rather early bird, as most knots occur in winter but then it was the beginning of the passage season. As you'll notice from the last photo however, it flew away before I could get any defining shots.

-Knot

The tide continued to go out, and as it went out a few more birds came in. A largish wader flew in and after some photo analysis I decided that it was a godwit. It was only when it flew away that it became apparent that it was a black tailed godwit. Once more I decided not to risk the wrath of angry birdwatchers so stayed put at the top of the beach, which is why there is a lack of photos.

-Black-tailed godwit
After we had finished lunch and were wrapping up another small grey wader flew in, at the time I was oblivious to knot identity so I decided to go down to try and get some better photos. I made it half way down the beach when it flew away, leaving me still clueless about its true I.d once I tore my attention away from the waters edge however I noticed turnstones no less than 2m away from me rooting in the seaweed. I hadn't noticed them and they hadn't noticed me, so I got down to take some closer photos. They flew away after about 10mins, but not because i spooked them as it was another close group behind me that flew away for no reason that I could see. I hadn't realised how well they were camouflaged in the seaweed, there could have been a lot more hidden for all I knew.

-Turnstones

After we had finished lunch it began to clear up, but we headed to a to a remove train station, where there was nothing wildlife wise, and then we went back, where it began to rain again. overall it was a good day, summed up in about 1 hour for lunch!

North wales day 1

2011-08-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

First day in north wales, caravaning at a site with no facilities in the remote village of Pant glas half way between portmadog and camarthen. The first day was quite bright, but overcast at the same time. we decided to trawl round pordmadog and then go to criccieth just up the coast. Portmadog was not very exciting, but it had an estuary which had a small collection of bird
-teal
-redshank
-curlew
-mallard
-mute swan
-black-headed gull
By the time we got to cricieth in the afternoon it was quite warm so we decided that, after we looked around the town, we would go rock pooling on the beach there. It was about 3.00 in the afternoon when the camera actually came out, although I haddnt originally intended to get it out for rock pooling due to potential damage that it could sustain. However the first thing my brother and dad caught was well worthy of it, a small lobster from one of the larger pools.

-Lobster
After the lobster I decided to keep the camera on me, in case there were any other incredible finds that would be worth a photo.

the next thing we found was a green breadcrumb sponge under a rock, although it was no necceserally incredible, it was still pretty special.

-Breadcrumb sponge
In terms of birds there was a pair of sandwhich terns diving close to the shore, which was nice to see, my first this year.

-Sandwhich tern
Back to the rockpooling and there continued to be plenty of interesting findings. I took photos of everything we saw, so heres a run down of everything, and beleive me there were some pretty stunning finds.

-green shore crab

-Red breadcrumb sponge

-Painted goby

-Butterfish

Very big shanny

there was a great deal of amazing rockpooling finds, one of the best rockpooling trips i have ever done, the best find obviously the lobster, but the butterfish was spectacular and I have never seen a painted goby before so there were plenty of amazing finds.

Back at the caravan I decided to for a walk, because the habitat in the feilds opposite the caravan site looked ideal for bog dragonflies, and black darters living in the area, were obviously top of that list. I was also hopeful that a small red damselfly or two might still be around. So I walked along the cycle track and glanced into the feilds.

I could see small ponds that looked ideal but I was reluctant to go over the gate and have a look, being told off for tresspassing is not a pleasant experience, so I decided not to risk going over the gate to try and flush odonata from the reeds. sadly therefore I missed out on the potential, but i did however find a juvenile robin, which is some consellation.

-Juvenile robin

so overall it was a good day, despite the fact that i was unable to get a decent view of the ponds.

isle of wight holiday Day 11-Evesham

2011-07-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last day of the holiday, I woke up in Worcestershire, knowing that by the end of the day we would be in yorkshire. Having learned yesterday that stratford was a no go zone because of a large music festivel and therefore heavy traffic. Having all this into account we were at a loss as to what to do, the weather was overcast but warm, so we would be doing something outside. We decided that there might be some boats on the river at Evesham, so thats where we headed.
We parked, with the caravan in tow in a feild, that was labelled car park, but it was right next to the river. Whilst my mum and dad got their coats and jackets I headed down to the river. It was dotted every 10 meters with fishing platforms just above the water. I casually glanced around the surrounding vegetation to the platform I was on and was surprised to find a lone damselfly on a reed. I had spent all week looking for unusual damselflies and now, having left the island, was one. Because it was the first time I had seen one I was not as confident in my identification as I would like to have been.
In my eyes it was a white legged damselfly, only I couldnt see any hairs on the legs, however photo analysis proved that there were some hairs on the legs, so that it was a white-legged damselfly, my first.

-White legged damselfly
When my mum and dad and brother joined me I showed them and then left to go to a cafe furthur up. They decided to go for a walk into town, so I said that I would walk back down the river to go and have a look for dragonflies and damselflies.

When I got back to where i had seen the damselfly I noticed that it had moved onto a nettle rather than on a reed.

-White legged damselfly
I decided to walk furthur down the river, looking for potnetial dragonflies or more white-legged damselflies. At the first site I was at, looking at the damselfly, I noticed a couple of banded demoiselles. The fact is, as I walked furthur down the river there were ever increasing numbers of banded demoiselles, until just below the bridge there were absolutly loads.

-Banded demoiselles-in high numbers

past the bridge there continued to be loads of banded demoiselle, but about 800m away from the bridge I came to an off-shoot from the river which was labelled as a fish sanctuary, which had a lot more aquatic vegetation, although granted it was a lot smaller than the main river! The grass around the fish sanctuary was not mown as the rest of the grass was and in the grass I spotted this spider, which has stripy legs-that aside i know nothing about it!

-spider sp.
I walked around the fish sanctuary and flushed a small damselfly, but I couldnt re-track it down but then i was texted telling me to go back to the car for lunch. This gave me a chance to sort out my photos, as I only had about 10 left and so i needed to get rid of some rubbish photos.

After lunch I headed back to the fish sanctuary and was please to find more white-legged damselflies on the surrounding vegetation. The one pictured below i believe is a female white-legged damselfly, hence the paler colouration.

-Female white-legged damselfly

There were more too, including some stunning males. Once more there is no point writing about them, just admire the pictures of these stunning animals...

-White legged damselfly

As I was photographing the white-legged damselflies I spotted a dragonfly whizz past me. I managed to track it down this time and it turned out to be an immature common darter gender unknown. Due to the lack of photos I had available I decided to take only one photo of the dragonfly, and it diddnt turn out as well as i had hoped, but it still shows what it was.

-immature common darter

As I walked around again I found the most spectacular of the white-legged damselflies I had found so far, showing off its bright blue couloring and stripes.

-White legged damselfly

By the time I had finished there it was time to head back, so that we could begin to make our way back. As I headed back I spotted another variation of the white-legged damselfly, this one being brown/orange, I don't know what that means in terms of age or gender but it shows some degree of variation in the population here-which appears to be very healthy.

-White legged damsefly

And so ends the isle of wight holiday, although today was absolutly nothing to do with the isle of wight. it has been a good holiday, with lots of great things seen, it will be sad to finally leave!

Isle of wight Day 9-Return to Headon Warren and bus mahem

2011-07-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

It was hot when we woke up, not a cloud in the sky, ironic that it should be our last day. My family said that they were going to the needles, so I said that I would go to Headon Warren, a site nearby that is famed for having dartford warblers, although the last time we came to the IOW we came here and didn't hear a trace of them. Only that supposed smudge that i didn't get a decent view of, but certainly had traits.
The site is very pleasant, and as I walked up to it there was a constant clicking in the background. At first i was unsure what it was, but it soon became clear that the it was actually the seed pods from the gorse busting in the heat. When you arrive here you notice that the gorse is covered in funnel shaped spiders webs, but the spiders are really hard to view, although the webs are pretty special.
And as you would expect, there are your usual asseblement of heathland birds, first one being a whitethroat that was feeding on the path in front of me, although they were rather flighty so i was unable to get any better shots that those below.

-Whitethroat (dunno where it actually is, but its there)
the whitethroats aside the first 10 mins had me walking around the site, without many birds happening, only the usual assortment of butterflies-gatekeeper, large white and meadow brown. I came to the edge of the reserve where it drops off into forest and then into the sea, And it was here I spotted a sparrowhawk circling towards me, get ever closer, without seeming to bother with me.

-Sparrowhawk

The next bird i saw was nothing of a heathland bird, I guess this jay came from the adjoining woods, probably flushed by the sparrowhawk.

-Jay (shot blurred by heat haze)

the next bird was a heathland bird, and one that I had seen a few times already this holiday, but they were more numerous here. there was a flock of about 5 that alighted on a small tree near to me, but once more my photos were badly affected by the heat haze.

-Linnet pair
The bird that followed them was alone male yellowhammer, another bird i had become familiar with over the 9 days here. This one was more wary than the singing male at brook and so kept its distance from me, it didn't sing at all, which was a bit disappointing.

-Yellowhammer
I came round to the far side of the bronze age burial mound where there was less gorse and slightly more bracken, with still no sign of a dartford warbler. I then spotted a more interesting butterfly, although it was clear that i was actually too late for glanville fritillaries the sight of a brown butterfly clearly not a wall brown still made me a bit more excited, although once more it was a dark-green fritilary which is always nice.

-Dark Green Fritillary
I came round the reserve a few more times, before I finally had a break through, I heard a funny noise and saw a bird skulk away into a gorse bush, I had to wait a while but eventually it came out and began to move, proving that it was Dartford warbler. I was pretty pleased at finally seeing one, now the task of getting a photo-this was the tricky bit!! As it moved silently through the brambles I tried to follow its every move, but sadly it managed to evade me on all fronts as it skulked away. eventually it moved so far away i would have to try and get closer.

It was probably the cries of pain that scared it away as the brambles got the better of me, but once i made it to a reasonable view of where it had been I was not surprised to find that I had lost it. still a great record, but a rubbish view! now to explain the photos...

-Dartford Warbler tail ^ Between the white bramble flowers

-Dartford warbler ^ Primaires and Rump, above out of focus leaves

-Full view of dartford warbler ^on lower gorse white branch

-Dunno about this one-check the same as last time

Spent the rest of the morning watching a very hyperactive moth that refused to land at the far end of the reserve. My mum and dad said they would pick me up in 10mins so I headed towards the entrance.

At the entrance i spotted one of the spiders in the mouth of its funnel web, so i was able to get a few shots of its behind, although I have no idea what they are...

-Some Kind of funnel web spider

My family picked me up and we had lunch at yarmouth, where I would get a bus to newtown estuary, the only main nature reserve on the island, where apparently there were white letter hairstreaks and silver washed fritillaries.

I knew that getting there would be tight as i didn't really know where it was, and the walk to it could be of some distance. But it all went wrong. The bus stop I wanted was near a small village, so I was looking for a clump of houses, but actually the village was off the main road so I would know when I passed it. I realised when I got to carisbrook near the capital that I was seriously lost. and bus tickets were no longer free to add to my problems. I got off in carisbrook and had a look at the bus times heading in the opposite direction, Great I had just missed one, to kill time I decided to walk to the next stop, and surprise surprise the bus I had "just missed" drove past me half way between two stops, 7 minuets late.

After half an hour of waiting a bus turned up that was convenient for me and this time I knew where I was going because i had been bothered to get the map out. About an hour and a half later I turned up at newtown estuary, much later than I wanted. If there were any butterflies I'm sure they must have gone to bed.

As soon as I entered the reserve I saw some birds, which overall has been something amiss this holiday-these were redshanks and oystercatchers. as well as a curlew. I walked into the small town of newtown and as i did so scouted the wild flower rich meadows for a rare butterfly or two. I spotted a marbled white resting and gathered that my hunch had been right and that the butterflies would probably be asleep.

-Marbled white
I made it all the way through the town and onto the saltmarsh part of the reserve. In doing so I passed more fields where there was activity from the usual butterflies that have been seen all across the holiday. On the saltmarsh there were reasonable numbers of distant little egret's fishing but sadly the hide was locked so I did most of my watching from the boardwalk to the boat house.

-Little Egret

On the far side of the boardwalk I spotted a small passerine which turned out to be a linnet

-Linnet
From this vantage point you can easily see the common and sandwhich tern colony, which is the most advertised fact about this place, through my bins i could see a lot of activity but sadly they were too far away for a real photo.

Nearer where a flock of canada geese on the estuary mud, and even closer too was a flock of black-headed gulls, but disappointingly there were no med gulls in tow with that flock. This site has the second highest med gull count anywhere on the island. only bembridge harbour has more, where we saw them last time, only there are rather a lot more-220 there and about 20 here, so my chances were slim.

A flyover curlew gave me an opportunity to record in photo this species at the site.

-Curlew
I returned to the meadow and began to look for butterflies in the hope of finding what I had been looking for, I did find a lone marbled white that was still out and about.

-Marbled White
Other butterflies were about including small heath, the first time i had seen one during the holiday.

-Small Heath

As I walked back, I passed a plant that appeared to have a robin's pin cushion on it, I think that's what it is anyway, but either way it is a pretty spectacular growth.

-Robins pin cushion
I reached the entrance where I was getting picked up from and there i waited. As I waited i scoured the tall grass for resting butterflies or dragonflies and was delighted to find a sleeping common blue and also a sleeping small heath.

-Common Blue

-Small Heath

the light was pretty poor when my mum and dad picked me up, but despite the set back on the buses i had seen plenty of birds, although there was alack of med gulls.

this was my last outing on the Isle of wight and it had been a good one, just like the holiday had been a good one, and I had seen lots of really nice things, its just a pity it had to end.

isle of wight day 8-return to the chine

2011-07-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

Today was a very pleasant day, but it started badly! My mum spent the whole night throwing up, so we were unable to really do anything. As a result my dad and brother and I decided to go to the Amazon World Zoo just down the road, because mum didn't want to go to that anyway, while she stayed at the caravan and rested.

We walked to the zoo and when we got there looked around, although it was smaller than I remember, it was still a good attraction although some of it was being re-furbished. despite that, there was still a good variety of birds and animals, including a few sunbitterns on the terrapin pond, which was a real surprise, although still nice.

we also got views of the giant anteater, something we didn't see last time because it was too busy sleeping, and they also had a few new additions including a southern turmandua, which is one of my favourite animals.

-Southern crowned pigeon

-Sunbittern

-Bali starling

-Turaco sp.

-Southern turmandua

-Meerkat

-Giant anteater
even though Amazon World is one of my favourite zoo's the real wildlife was waiting outside. When we got back to the caravan my mum was feeling better, so my dad suggested that they would go to a garden on the far side of the island, not far from whale chine as a matter of fact. And i decided that while they would be looking at the gardens, I would return to whale chine and try to grab a photo of a male keeled skimmer.

When I got there the weather had clouded over slightly, but it was still pleasantly warm. I decided to take some photos of the site, just to remind me when I got back about how spectacular the site was. And so here, as promised yesterday are the photos from whale chine, showing just how spectacular it is.

I

-Various photos from whale chine, including photos of the "pools" (the bottom ones)
Having gone through yesterdays photos overnight I was disappointed with some of my beetle photos, so decided that I was going to have to take more, and better, ones until I was satisfied. There was still no shortage of them, with about 4 every square meter.

-cliff tiger beetle

The next stop was the spiders web, to try and take some more photos without the rush of having to go and catch a bus. And i also remembered to get a photo of the web, or at least what I could see, with most of it infringed by grass. What I really wanted to feature was the weird zig-zag patterns on the web, that it seems could only be there for decorative purposes.

-Wasp Spiders web, with spider
I continued my search for dragonflies, but only found one female. I went back to the beetles, as i could guarantee I would see some, and was not disappointed, looking down there was one near my foot. I got down and took a few photos from its level.

-Cliff tiger beetle
Also of note was the number of large crickets and grasshoppers. The gorge is kind of like its own miniature world, which giant crickets weird spiders and beetles and obviously the rare dragonflies.

-Massive cricket
I walked along the raised beach platform thing, until In reached the landslide area. I had gone no further that this yesterday, so maybe there would be more male dragonflies up ahead. I could see reedbeds in clumps across there so I decided to go for it. There was a larger pond up there and there were male dragonflies, but sadly they were very flighty, and so photo opportunities were limited. luckily though patience paid off and i got some photos of male keeled skimmers-though not of the quality i really wanted.

-Male keeled skimmers
They really were quite spectacular in their own way, and well worth having a second shot at for. There were quite few, although the second photo down is only an immature male, and so is not really of the stunning blue type that i was looking for, but is nice to see anyway, and adds another dimension to the life story of these animals. Most of these photos were not really what I wanted, but as i said they were just too flighty, anyway its not all about the photos, as I got some really good views, at a high price, as at one stop I accidentally put my sandal over a black meadow ants nest, and they were not happy!

But there were more encounters to have yet. I spotted this male attempting, but failing to get the attention of a female who was rested. I watched them for a while, until the female foolishly decided to try and move perches and was ruthlessly grabbed by the male who carried her off down the ledge and presumably onto the beach.

-Male and female, only the male on the bottom pic
There continued to be hundreds of beetles and they seemed to be screaming out for me to take a photo of them, so I took more photos of them, especially the one below as it seemed more keen to attack me rather than to run away from me, allowing me to get some photos of its vicious jaws and fearsome eyes.

-Cliff tiger beetles
I returned to the first pool as i had no idea when my parents were returning and there was no signal down there, neither in the canyon nor on the raised platform. There were more dragonflies, albeit mainly females but i did find one male who i followed around, hence why there is a photo of him on two different perches. One thing you notice is that the dragonflies like to rest on the floor, maybe to absorb warmth from the floor.

-Keeled skimmer female (1st) and male (2nd-4th)

I decided that it would be better to try and stay as close to the entrance as possible, so I decide to return to the wasp spider and try to improve on yesterdays shots, but not before taking some more beetle photos!

-CLiff tiger beetle

-Wasp spider photos
I was well pleased with the new spider photos. I then decided to go up to the top and explain the signal situation via text to my mum and dad. however on my way up i spotted another beetle climbing the cliff next to me, and I realised that it would soon be on eye level with me. I waited until it was and then was able to get some photos of a cliff tiger beetle, up a cliff and at eye level with me, so I didd'nt have to get down on the floor for the photo.

-Cliff tiger beetle
when i got to the top I was plesantly surprised to see a party of four ravens on the cliff edge, my guess is that they were a family party. They were hessitant to fly but were obviously startled by my sudden appearence, and so after a few seconds left. but luckioly not before I got a photo.

-Raven

Back down on the platform I spotted another cliff tiger beetle at eye level with me, and so another oppertunity had presented itself for a photo, so i took it.

-Cliff tiger beetle
after about 10mins my dad appeared coming down the path, so I took him to see the keeled skimmer males furthur up the beach, and luckily there were still a few out and about.

-Keeled skimmer male
On our return to the car I showed my dad the wasp spider. It was while we were admiring it that a large grasshopper jumped into the web. the spider reacted with unpredicted speed, wrapping the grasshopper up with sheets of web, it being so quick even the camera could hardly cope, hence the poor image quality, but either it was pretty special and spectacular to see/watch!

-Wasp spider
so ends the list of special encounters at whale chine, a pity to leave

nothing else happened today, but after wahle chine we went to look around a small town and there found a small pill millipede, my first, just to complete the day!

-Pill millipede

isle of wight day 7-red squirrels and whale chine

2011-07-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

After the excitement of yesterdays excitement because of red squirrels at Alverstone mead, it was no surprise to me that my parents wanted to try and see one, so we set off there for the morning. Secretly I knew that this gave me a second chance of getting a sighting of either white-legged damselfly or small red eyed damselfly! sadly as we passed the pools it became clear that once again odonata was seriously lacking, except for the population of blue-tailed damselflies! In fact on all fronts today had even less to offer than yesterday, no buzzards, herons or anything. We arrived at the hide and waited for what I expected to be an imminent arrival from a red squirrel. I was right, a squirrel soon emerged from the wood, although it was not the same as yesterday, this was a more healthy animal, a full tail and delightful ear tufts! sadly though it was not as bold, it spent most of its time scurrying around nearby trees rather than coming to investigate us. Having said that, a photo of a squirrel in a tree looks better than one on a wooden handrail!

-red squirrel
since this was the first really nice day we had, I had a lot of sites I really wanted to get round while the weather was good, the next stop was the newly purchased RSPB reserve at Brading marshes, where there were supposed to be decent numbers of dragonflies, and the records suggested that the damselfly species I wanted to track down were there too, so I was optimistic! Walking through the Field to the river yielded good numbers of butterflys including ever confusing skippers, meadow brown and marbled white as well as six spot burnet moths.

The river was quite wide, but had reed-beds either side and had a nice carpet of lillypads across most of the surface. As you could expect with this type of habitat there were slightly more unusual birds such as reed warblers which made the walk not as insect based as previous walks had been.

-reed warblers

at first there were not any dragonflies to speak off, but as I strolled down the river it became apparent that there were two emperor dragonflies defending territories along the river side. The emperor appeared to be the most common dragonfly on the island so it would have been a disappointment to not see one. the problem with these two is that neither of them wanted to land, so I had to try and get a decent shot of them in flight-not easy.

-emperor dragonfly
it was a nice sight to see the spectacular insects hunting the river, but they were not the only ones, I spotted a common darter on the riverside, but sadly I flushed it trying to get a photo. there was one other dragonfly, a darter only much redder, it didn't stick around, my only view it whizzing past me-I speculate that it was a ruddy because common darters don't normally get that red!

-Common darter
My mum and dad and brother had left me there and gone into Brading to get a coffee, they would pick me up when they were done. Whilst I completed a circuit to get back to Brading I found a secluded spot just off the footpath (not secluded it being in an open field, but hidden behind an overgrown river) and there I found lots of small coppers and also some cinnibar moth caterpillars.

-Cinnibar moth caterpillars
By the time I caught up with my family it was lunchtime, so we headed to Ventnor, my parents intention to spend the afternoon in the sea. I however had other plans! From Ventnor I could get a bus to Blackgang chine, and from there I would be able to walk to whale chine, a really exciting site on the face of it. I checked the records for keeled skimmer and that led me to it, that being the only substantial colony on the island . But not only was the wildlife potentially very exciting, the chine itself is a massive gorge with a tiny river in it, site photos are on tomorrows post, so look out for them. other species I had listed for it were-glanville fritillary (although we were late in the season for these, I was not optimistic), the islands very rare butterfly, wasp spider-no more words needed!, and also cliff tiger beetle an island speciality, it only being found in a few places in England.

The bus journey from Ventnor went through a really spectacular part of the island, although Blackgang was a serious dump! I spent about 20mins walking to whale chine. The thing about whale chine is that the stairs down to the beach are broken about half way down-the council has said through use of signs that access to the beach is not permitted, thus washing their hands of any potential incidents. However some kind person has attached ropes to the bottom surviveing rung of stairs so access is still possible.

As soon as I let go of the rope onto the valley floor I noticed small greeny-bronze beetles scurrying around. I was expecting the beetles to be scarce and illusive not absolutely everywhere crossing the path and generally having to be careful not to tread on them. It was hardly a surprise that there weren't a great deal of other ground hugging insects. Even so, they were a real treat to watch as they scurried around, their colors looked spectacular and from their face on, they looked like formidable predators. The green tiger beetle was my favourite beetle-but now it may have competition, so lets just end it at "I love tiger beetles".

-Cliff tiger beetle
Naturally i expected the keeled skimmers to live down by the small river, so i was pretty disappointed that there were none at all down there, although I couldn't exactly go all the way up, because of the fearsome brambles and the ever increasing steepness of the gorge side.

My next bus was in 1 hour, so I had an hour to kill with apparently no dragonflies to watch. There was also limited birdlife to offer, only a small family of ravens flying overhead and a few black headed gulls playing on the shore.

-raven
Walking back up from the river to the makeshift path I contemplated my choices. I decided it might be an idea to head down to the beach and do a bit of fossil hunting, seeing as though there wasn't much else to do. The path to the beach lead out of the gorge and onto a platform at the base of the about 1/3 of the way up the cliff and then continued down to the beach. I spotted a pair of beetles mating, and therefore not running away from me, so I decided to take some face on photos.

-cliff tiger beetles

there were a lot of grasshoppers in the grasses. I don't really know my grasshoppers but they seem very interesting, the yellow stripe and mottled patterning is what attracted my attention to this one

-Grasshopper sp.

As I walked onto the "platform" I spooked a dragonfly! It was a relief, after all the records system i had been using so far hadn't paid off. Having though this I realised that I didn't actually know for sure that it was a keeled skimmer, as it could easily be a common darter!

I tried to follow it but ended up amid a boggy pools with waist height reeds. I then knew that the dragonflies weren't using the river, they were using these pools. I decided to try and flush one from the reeds, then follow it for a photo. The pools came in clumps, but i didn't know this I thought that there was only this on, the others over a landslip. So I walked around the pool and through it on what appeared to be makeshift paths. Eventually I spooked a dragonfly and followed it. having found it landed it became clear that they were indeed keeled skimmers, though this one was a female-easily identified by the highlights on the plates behind the head!

-Keeled skimmer female

There were however a lot more, once you started looking they were turning up all over the pool. i can't tell you how excited I was. Now it was just a case of nailing the perfect photo. Luckily I didn't have to wait long, a female perched on a reed showing the whole wings without any reeds blocking the view.

-Keeled skimmer female

There were plenty of them to speak of, so i was able to gather a good portfolio of this species, although there was a decided lack of males. Having said that, the specimen below is a male, although its very immature, hence the lack of blue.

-immature male keeled skimmer

-female keeled skimmer

On my third circuit around the poor excuse for a pool I spook another dragonfly that was slight blue, So I immediately thought that I had found an adult male. Unfortunately it didn't stay still but when i finally tracked it down I became clear that once more, it was not an adult male, only a slightly more mature immature male!!

-Slightly more mature immature male keeled skimmer

on my fourth circuit around the "pool" I actually did finally find an adult male, a flash of vivid blue whizzed past me and disappeared. I walked around the pool again and again trying to track it down-after all how hard can it be to find a bright blue insect in a really dull greeny brown habitat. I walked around again and again but still no joy. With 5 mins before I had to leave to get my bus I felt disappointed, even though I had an amazing with two incredible new species. Then A casual glance into a patch of reeds I thought I had looked in before and I was blown away.
I looked into the reeds and there in the middle of the reeds was a really neat and tidy spiders web with a curious zig zag pattern and in the middle was a spider-with golden stripes on its belly. I couldn't even see the other side but I had seen enough-it was a wasp spider.

I managed to get round to the spectacular side of the spider but the view was infringed by the reeds, so I had to do some habitat management to ensure that I could get the photo I wanted. I managed it, although my trainers were filled with muddy water in the process. I need say no more on this, the most spectacular of British spiders-just enjoy the photos!

Wasp spider

Dispite the spider I still felt a tinge of dissapointment for the male skimmer being so illusive, but even so I felt much better, a third tick and possible the best of the whole afternoon and holiday. I decided that I had better leave and not risk the bus, so I left. as I headed back towards the ropes I spotted a small mining bee on the path, so I decided to take a random photo just to show the variety at the site. Speaking of variety-the only other ground living insect I managed find in the site, the tiger beetles aside was a violet ground beetle, which just goes to show that the only way to survive in a valley filled with miniture killers is to become an even bigger, more powerful killer.

-small mining bee

so ends the activities for today, the best day of the holiday so far. despite the slight delay I managed to get my bus and then had a fun journey back to the caravan from newport, where my family had started the BBQ so a great ending to a great day!

Isle of wight Day 6-alverstone mead

2011-07-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and realised that there was no where near enough time to do all the things I had listed. The records suggested that a reserve called Alverstone mead about 2 miles from the campsite had quite a few of the damselflies i was looking for-small red eyed and white legged plus black tailed skimmers. I decided, the weather being good that it would be worth going to today.
The riverside walk to the site is supposed to be good for them too, but sadly nothing appeared during that walk.
I arrived at the nature reserve and was surprised at how well maintained it was, with wooden boardwalks and obvious paths rather than just less muddy bits of mud as you sometimes find. I arrived at the nature reserve to find that there were lots of damselflies there, only that they were all blue tailed or azure, which was a bit annoying.
The first unusual thing I saw was a lone whitethroat on the side of one of the drainage ditches that were dotted along the a joining marsh field or whatever they call it.

-Whitethroat

The pools were well populated with blue tailed damselflies but i couldn't get out of the habit of checking each one for red eyes, which none of them had.

-Blue tailed damselfly
I made my way up the path, but it disappeared into the woods where there were obviously no dragonflies, but there was a buzzard nest around because I could hear the juveniles calling. Then out of the trees I spotted a bird hide, I knew nothing about this, none of the websites said anything about this. I went in for a closer look. I was gutted to find no seats in the hide and a large tree obscuring the view. Bad planning I though, what nutter built this. I realised a few minuets later why it had been built like this when a red squirrel entered through one of the window holes, seeing if i had left any nuts for it.
I tried to get a photo but it was too close and the light was too poor so I headed outside the hide to see what would happen. The path to the hide was way off the floor on a raised walkway and there was a decapitated tree next to it where the squirrel sat for a while, awaiting a deposit of nuts.

-Red Squirrel
Some more people arrived and it began to interact more, If you held out you hand then it would touch it to see if there was any food in it.

Eventually though it left when it eventually got the idea that we had no food to give it. I headed back down to the water, determined to believe that the fact that there were no red-eyed damselflies was mearly an oversight so i decided to leave the path and go through the wet fields in hope of finding one. On the boardwalk however I spotted this sunbathing peacock butterfly.

-Peacock butterfly

a bit further on the boardwalk there was the first and only dragonfly that i saw at the site-a common darter resting on the planks, sadly not a very approachable specimen.

-Common Darter
I walked down the small channel to the main field, which was probably a really bad thing to do as there was no path, but I was determined to see if there actually were any small red eyed or white legged damselflies. As it happened there were none, but there were a couple of other things, mainly in the bird department, but also a few butterflies, including this large skipper.

-Large Skipper

There continued to be rather a lot blue tailed damselflies, but the continued lack of different species was beginning to annoy me, I did flush a rather squat dragonfly, probably four-spot chaser but it disappeared into the brush so I was unable to re-track it down.

-Blue Tailed Damselfly
The field began to provide more things including a pheasant, and a pair of herons squabbling as they flew ungainly across the grey sky.

-Grey Heron
Back at ground level there was, as there has been in every large grassy field, an abundance of crickets and grasshoppers. This one had an unusual head shape which is what attracted me to it, but I am actually unsure as to whether it is a cricket or grasshopper. I think its a cricket though.

-Funny shaped Cricket
the buzzards had continued to call all morning but it was only now as I was beginning to make my way back to the path that they emerged from the trees, circling high before returning to the trees.

-Buzzard
My intention was to walk to Brading and then go to Brading marshes, but as the sky grew greyer I decided to go to Brading and then get a bus to Ventnor and spend the afternoon in the sea with my family. I followed the river and the footpath as the map showed that it led to Brading, all be it some way away but manageable none the less. On the way I spotted another type of damselfly, not a new one, but beautiful none the less, a banded demoiselle.

-Banded demoiselle
I continued along the path until it disappeared and i improvised. there were bridges across streams which suggested paths, so i went over them, next thing I knew I was in a remote suburb of Sandown, not what I had been expecting. I managed to get lost here too, until I finally found a bus stop.

I had to wait some time for a bus, but eventually i made it to Ventnor. As I walked down to the sea-front I spotted a Grey wagtail on the waterfall in the winter gardens, which was nice!

-Grey Wagtail

I spent the afternoon in the sea, my brother must have drunk too much sea-water as he was sick on the way home, but he recovered and we returned to Ventnor in the evening to look for crickets.

we didn't find any big bush crickets, but my brother found this one which was curious because of its bright yellow belly.

-Cricket

So I had been to the site i had most looked forward to, and seen none of the species i had wanted to, but i had seen other things so I was pretty pleased.

Isle of wight day 5-freshwater and Ventnor

2011-07-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today my family were headed off towards freshwater, so i decided to tag along and visit Afton marshes while they were canoeing. The website said that there were lots of dragonflies at Afton marsh as well as water voles. I know which out of those two I believe more!
The weather was decent, but as I walked through the first half of the reserve (the path doesn't actually go through the reserve in this bit) I didn't see anything, except a couple of gatekeepers and a red admiral, so I was pretty disappointed.
However in the other half of the reserve the path went through the reserve a lot more which meant it went close to the pool where I suspected most of the dragonflies would be. I was disappointed that as soon as I entered I found myself enclosed by woodland, this was not on the map.
A jay alighted on an overhanging branch which cheered me up. There was a river going alongside the path, but there were no plants in it due to the shade presented by the trees growing either side.

-Jay
I was bitterly disappointed as I finished the circuit around the reserve, as there were only a few spots where the sun actually broke through the trees. I couldn't even see the pool that was supposed to be there, but I decided to take a another walk around, to see if i could lift the disappointment.
Luckily there was a lift for the disappointment as i casually walked around for the second time I heard a rustling by my feet. I stepped back to find about 50cm away was a water vole on the waters edge.
I was surprised to say the least, normally water vole records relate to one occurrence used to draw tourists in, but it appeared that this site did actually have them, well it did and they were quite bold it appeared.
I tried to get a few photos but sadly there was a lot of vegetation in the way. It went about 20 seconds later, obviously not trusting this still feature that kept making ominous clicking noises (the camera)

-water vole

A bit further on, the place that looked best for dragonflies, an open area with a very small water body i found my first butterfly for the day. My first one this year, but sadly not a new tick. The last time I was on the isle of wight the only butterfly I remember seeing was a holly blue, so it would have been a shame to not have seen one on my return to the island.

As it happened that was not going to be the case as I managed to find one in that area, feeding peacefully as i got some photos for the records.

Holly blues are possibly the easiest to I.D because they have blue outsides as well as insides, and they have limited outside patterning, which is why they are some of my favourite butterflies.

-Holly Blue
Just a bit further on I spotted something else worth watching, an adorable family of baby wrens. I guessed they had just fledged because they still had very obvious gapes and were still being attended to by an adult. They were very cute, as all baby birds are

-Baby Wrens

It was still a bit of a disappointment but the many wonderful things I had seen made me feel better, there were other things around too including unusual bees and lots of speckled woods.

-Unusual Bee

-Speckled wood
I left Afton marshes feeling good, especially about the water vole and headed back to the car. We were at a loss as to what to do for the afternoon, so we decided to go to Carisbrook priory. There wasn't much there but in the garden i spotted a green woodpecker whizz past and also there was a chalk-hill blue in a patch of long grass.

After tea we decided to go to Ventnor to try and track down some crickets. Last time we were here we kept hearing loud crickets and then one night we found one, an absolute monster, a great green bush cricket, but back then I had no camera and so was unable to get a photo. This time i intended to get it right and get a photo.

The problem with these crickets is that they sound close, but are actually about 10m away in the opposite direction. My Brother and I walked along the bank of the cliff listening, and searching with the flashlight. We walked the whole length of the car park at the east end, where they are best found, without any luck, but they continued to sing at us. As we were walking back i spotted an ominous green shape reflecting from some distant light perched on a dock.

I took a quick photo and then checked it, to find out that it was what I had hoped it would be.

-Preliminary record shot of great green bush cricket
My Brother and I climbed up To get better photos, but sadly the steepness of the cliff made it difficult to get decent shots, so we decided to bring it down to where it would be easier. We took it to some plants on the car park, and once we finished with it took it back.

It was a very impressive specimen, the best I have ever seen, and very co-operative too, so I managed to get some degree of reasonable photos, showing off the bright colours and all the other features that make this species so special.

-Great green bush cricket

so it was a great green end to a decent day!

isle of wight Day 4-glorious sunshine and insect bonanza

2011-07-22T05:49:00.000-07:00

Today was very warm indeed. We decided that we would go to the western side of the island to a part of the island known as shippards chine where my mum and dad and brother could go swimming and such. I went with them because the warmth and the cliffs over there meant that there might be glanville frittillarys, found only on this island in the whole of the UK. As soon as we landed I set off along the cliffs to try and see if there were any about.
The first butterfly I found was a skipper. Before yesterday I would class every skipper as either large or small, but since the essex skipper seemed to be a reasonable i.d bet I was unsure as to weather I should put a species to this one. I Think that it is a small skipper, but i have no confidence in my ability to i.d what is a significant amount of black on the underside of the antenna, although there doesn't appear to be much here, so I'm going small skipper with this one.

-small skipper
There were a great deal of butterflies-common blue, large white, meadow brown, gatekeeper and small copper. Then I found one that made my heart skip a beat, but when it landed it turned out to be so close but yet so far. The butterfly in question was a dark-Green fritillary, which is always really nice to see, but can be infuriating when your looking for a different type of fritillary and they all look the same!

-Dark green fritillary

My dad text me telling me to head back to the car, as we hadn't actually cleared up what we were doing for that day. When I turned around I spotted this scoona ship near the needles which seemed to be screaming out for a photo.

-Scoona near the needles

I had only walked about 300m away from the car due to the number of distractions that there were. It didn't take long for me to walk back to the car. My dad said that they were going off in their canoes, I said that I would walk south along the cliffs to see if i could find any glanville fritillarys.

My Mum showed me a dragonfly that they had found in the middle of the car park, badly injured, probably hit by a car. It was a southern hawker but it was in a bad way, so we put it under in the car to see if it would recover and fly away.

I decided to go for a look on the other side of the road to see if there was the water body that the dragonfly could have come from. I had a look But there were only fields, so I decided to walk south along the cliffs as was my original intention.

-wounded southern hawker

I walked south along the cliff path encountering a small stream, but not substantial enough for a dragonfly. There was little to add to the species list for the walk until I reached a stream that was well covered in plants, and it was there that I found my first new species for the day. If I hadn't looked closely I would had discarded it as a dull moth of X-description, but as it happened it landed right in front of me, allowing me to see that it was actually a dingy skipper, a skipper that i can easily identify

-Dingy Skipper

The butterfly didn't stay around for very long, so I didn't get many photos,m but I got a few, enough to prove that I was still on track for a new species of butterfly every day.

The small river was called Brook Chine. I had a close look at it and flushed a dragonfly, which was my first tickable for the holiday! It moved slowly enough for me to say that it was a golden-ringed dragonfly, a species I had only ever seen in Scotland before, but still spectacular, Britain's second biggest dragonfly.

I was walking up river tracking the dragonfly hoping for a photo when I flushed a demoiselle, The fact that its wings were black when it took off told me enough, that I had my first odonata tick of the holiday-a beautiful demoiselle, annoyingly it was headed downstream so i had to double back on myself to catch up with it.

It landed for a few minuets so i could get some record shots, but sadly it moved off and I lost it, as there was no path up the river and the various brambles and nettles made moving up and down the river slightly difficult.

-beautiful demoiselle

After I lost it i headed back up stream to try and track down the golden-ringed dragonfly. I was pleasantly surprise to find that there was not only one on the river but that there was two, each holding a territory and fighting regularly, but also landing regularly, which allowed me to get some photos of these much loved classic dragonflies.

-golden ringed dragonfly

they were great to see and spent about half an hour watching them. It was only when I tore my attention away that I spotted another dingy skipper on the other side of the river. I decided not to jump over but to go the whole way around to try and avoid disturbing it, as it seemed pretty well settled.

On the other side of the river, but not near the riverside, the road above i spotted the first bird of the day, although I was unsure of its true I.d until I got close enough to get a photo which proved it was a kestrel, as I thought it would be, over a peregrine.

-Kestrel

climbing down the bank to the river I found the dingy skipper in the place where I had left it and so was able to get down to take a few more photos, although once more it was too flighty and so I was only able to get a few, although they were better than last time.

-Dingy skipper

I jumped over back to the original side of the river and as i did so I spotted the demosielle again, which I was quite pleased about. I approached it slowly and managed to get into position to photograph without disturbing it.

It was a surprise to see one here, as it was not a species that I had run up on the records as their records seemed too scattered to be bothered with. But even so, the fast flowing coastal stream seemed to suit this delicate animal for some strange reason.

There is little more to say so just enjoy the photos I took...

-beautiful demoiselle

After that second encounter with the demoiselle, I decided that it was probably an idea to head back, as it was approaching lunch time, but as i popped up into the car park at Brook (not the one we were parked in) I heard a noise much closer than it had been all day. The song was off a male yellowhammer, the "Little bit of bread but no cheese" that actually sounds absolutely nothing like that.

I had a quick scout around, but couldn't spot him. He sounded close so I decided to pursue him to see if i could track it down, and I did, but in the most obvious place possible, on top of the sign. I tried to get as close as i could, using his singing as an indication as to how well settled he was. I actually managed to get quite close to him, and therefore managed to get the shots of male yellowhammer that I had been wanting for some time.

-Male yellowhammer
I made it back to the car and then spent the rest of the day in the sea. After that we went up to freshwater to see what was about, but everywhere was shut and the only thing of interest was a fulmars nest in the wall.

-Fulmar

So it was a good day overall, the only bad part being the damaged dragonfly, which sadly died after a few hours. The fact that I saw some live dragonflies made me feel better though, and they were also the first dragonflies I had seen all holiday!

Isle of wight Day 3-ventnor botanics

2011-07-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

it was a overcast morning that greeted us, but it was quite warm so we decided to go to the botanic gardens at Ventnor. Botanic gardens are often good for wildlife so I went with my family to the gardens. The entrance building was quite modern, but when I saw the map I was gutted to learn that there was only one pond, and that was next to the cafe, so I didn't rate my chances of finding any dragonflies very highly.
There was however a meadow at the far end of the site, which might have had some butterflies, so i decided that that would be where I went for the day. But first there was the issue of going to the cafe, and there would be the pond there too.
The pond was a small concrete affair with a wide variety of plants but not much else. I got my first odonata sighting of the holiday with the small numbers of blue-tailed damselflies that were there, including form rufescens-obsoleta.

-Blue tailed damselfly

After a morning snack I made my way to the meadow at the far end. I was not surprised to find that it was just a field, all be it a very big one. I was also not surprised to find that there was an excessive number of grasshoppers and crickets in the field. I this one which was quite big...

-Large Cricket
There were also a large number of butterflies, including the usual gatekeepers, large whites and meadow browns, but also, for the third day on the trot I spotted a marbled white butterfly

-Marbled white
Secretly I was hoping for a glanville fritillary, although their flight season had past, there may be just one or two hanging around, and we were quite near to st. catherines point where they exist, so there was no reason why the shouldn't be here.

They would have to wait though, as i received a text from my dad telling me that they had found a family of partridges with babies, as well as lizards. When I caught up with them, back at the cafe my dad said that they had lost them, but showed me a lizard sunbathing on a flat rock.

-Common Wall Lizard

We look around for the partridges but it was my mum that found them, accidentally stumbling upon them resting away from the path. I watched them and counted about seven babies, as they began to move around looking for a new place to rest. I took some photos to show how cute they were, but there isn't a great deal more to say, so just enjoy the photos.

-Red legged partridge female with chicks
I then spotted another lizard, this one closer to me, allowing me to get a few more quick shots of lizards, this one was more awake and scurried when i tried to get closer.

-Common wall lizard
Back in the field, I spent my time walking around the clumps of thistle's looking for potential fritillaries, I didn't find any, but I did find a group of young willow warblers, that was nice-a real day for baby birds.

-Baby willow warblers
I continued to walk around the field and as i did so, I kept flushing small skippers from the grass, only when they landed again they had their wings closed which i have never seen before. This is what attracted me to have a closer look, and I kept finding them and watching them for a long time until they opened their wings. eventually i found one that did open its wings. I didn't really know what they were, but i knew that the difference between small and essex skippers is to do with the black on the underside of the attenne, so I had a look and it seemed to fit the bill. If I'm right then I have another new species of butterfly, but I still have some doubts over my I.D skills on such small departments. Anyway I took a lot of photos, so enjoy them, and if you know please tell me if I'm wrong.

-Essex Skipper

It got to lunch time and still no joy with the fritillaries, although I had also found a group of common blue.

During lunch there was a heavy rain storm so I guessed that me chances had just about finished, but I went back anyway to try and find one.

Moving further into the field i passed some cages, where there were ponds and llamas, and also a grey heron looking wet and miserable.

-Grey heron
I continued to walk around the field until I found a small stream, I followed it hoping to encounter a scarce blue tailed damselfly or summit, but instead i encountered a crab spider-my first time ever seeing one, so was pleasantly surprised. It was actually hunting too, although not very subtly,as it was on a purple thistle. It moved to try and subtly hide away from me as I got some photos of it, and it even moved sideways like a crab, by the far the best thing i have seen all day.

-Crab Spider

on my way back to the car park I received a text from my dad saying that they were going now and that I could either stay and catch up with them at Ventnor beach or come with them. I decided to stay so that I couldn't possible overlook anything in the field. The next thing I saw was a pair of juvenile buzzards perched high in a dead tree and calling really loudly. One adult kept flying around, but I dunno which one it was.

-Common Buzzard
One bird you will quickly get to grips with upon the isle of wight is the green woodpecker, every site seems to have them there, and this one was no exception, I had heard them all day, but only now did I spot one-in the top of a tree?? Its the first time I have ever seen one in a tree!

-green woopecker
As I walked back through the field there continued to be plenty of essex skippers and as the weather began to improve they began to open their wings more, even though that didn't help at all with my I.D...

-Essex Skipper
I left the field eventually and made my way to the exit. By now it was quite warm and there were a few more damselflies on the pond, all still blue tailed though.

-Blue tailed damselfly, rufescens obsoleta
When I left the gardens I didn't really know what to do, but since it had brightened up I decided to go back to rew down, for the third time only this time I truly believed that I might actually see some of the butterflies it had there.

It was quite a walk, all up-hill but when I got there I was please to note that there were quite a few butterflies around, so I was quite optimistic about finding an adonis. The first butterfly that wasn't a gatekeeper was a marbled white, no surprise there.

-Marbled White
When I got down the the area of long grass, that was not mown I was not surprised to find a large number of blue butterflies. However having not done my homework I had no clue as to how to tell the difference between the common and adonis blue.

So I resolved to take a photo of every blue butterfly I saw, but I quickly realised that this was not sustainable as I was running out of photos on this card, and the other card was left in the caravan.

I watched the various blue butterflies, but the first one to catch my eye was the one featured below, was it a very brown common blue or a very blue brown argus. I think that it is a brown argus, but i would say that having seen plenty of common blues and only one brown argus.

-Brown Argus

I eventually found a butterfly that might be what I was looking for. I didn't recognise the underwing pattern, and although it refused to open its wings appeared to be an adonis. It was very small, which is what threw me. I lost this butterfly, but found one later that had the same markings, but upon opening its wings had very dark insides of its wings. That one was a female chalk-hill blue, but was this one, were they the same butterfly? The female chalk-hill blue would be much bigger in theory but I didn't see them next to each other so I can't call the size difference and that's the only thing I have to go on really.

-Adonis blue? or female chalk-hill blue?
And on the note of chalk-hill I saw one of them too, my first, a wonderful male with a rather sorryfull chip in its wings, but even so it was a really nice record and another new butterfly tick, so i followed it around to try and get some record shots, and I have done a decent job.

-Chalk-Hill Blue
It was great to see a butterfly, one of those i really badly wanted to see during the holiday, but once i lost it I decided I would have to try and return to find an adonis.

It was infuriating how many blue butterflies there were there, all of them common blues. Be having said that, the common blues looked great with the evening light reflecting off their wings.

-Common Blue
walking around I spotted a group of about three small moths or butterflies fluttering near a hawthorn tree. I wondered if they might be skippers, dingy or grizzled so I watched them. when they landed i was plesantly surprised by the fact that they were actually a very colourful micro-moth. I dunno what kind it actually is but from the book I reckon its a pyrausta genus

-pyrausta sp. (aurata?)
I managed to catch up with the chalk-hill blue again, and it was the same one judging by the chip on its lower wing-but it allowed me to get some more shots of what was a pretty impressive butterfly. I diddnt realise that they were so much bigger than other blues

-Chalk hill blue

Still the Adonis were avoiding me, and again I had common blues a plenty!

-Common Blue
but the chalk-hill blue made it all better

-Chalk-hill blue
I decided to look furthur affield in the reserve and not stick to the same area. I wondered if i was past the time of flight for adonis, and then thought that that never made any difference. It then occured to me that I haddnt seen a ringlet for about a month, and was filled with a sense of hope-less-ness, however, ironically I found a ringlet hidden amongst the hawthorn bushes.

I got a text from my mum and dad telling me that my lift had arrived, so I had to leave, but on my way out I spotted a wall brown on the path, which was my first of the year, and also my first oppertunity to get a record shot that I had been wanting.

-Wall Brown

So ends another day, and despite the rain the weather had been really good hence the large numbers of butterflies and with another two new species I was on course for a new butterfly ever day!

isle of wight day 2-killing time in the rain

2011-07-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

Awoke this morning to the sound of rain against the orning. Not the start I had hoped for, but It did mean that I didn't have to go to the dinosaur museum on a sunny day, so that's where I would be going today. My Family had decided to go to the tank museum, leaving me to get to Sandown Via bus.
I was in for a treat though, as i headed to the toilet block to brush my teeth, I found a pair of cute baby goldcrests in a nearby pine tree. I ran back to the caravan for the camera, but sadly poor light and fidgety birds meant that I couldn't really get the photos I had wanted.

-Baby Goldcrest
After breakfast I headed for the bus stop. I had decided that I would be buying a weekly ticket, because I thought that I would be using quite a few buses over the week. I managed it OK and headed off towards Sandown to the dinosaur museum. The museum-called dinowight was built recently and is well furnished with various fossils and plastic models explaining the basics of paleofauna on the island.
As I was approaching the museum I spotted a male linnet on the grassy roadside, which surprised me as it was on the outskirts of Sandown, one of the more tourist towns on the island, and not where you would expect to find a farmland finch.
I managed a few photos, but once more the poor light was causing a bit of a problem for my camera, but I managed a few shots.

-Male Linnet
Inside the building I was disappointed to find that nothing had really changed, although they were putting up a new pterosaur display when I was there, the models were still top draw and the range of fossils on display were good too.

-Pterosaur

-plesiosaur leptoclidus

-eotyrannus

-Polacanthus

It was about 11 o'clock when I finished there, and with the rain still limiting my wildlife options I had no idea what I was going to do next. I decided to go to the bus stops and catch the next bus that came, that was a number 7 to Ventnor. When I got to Ventnor I decided to go and have a look at rew down nature reserve. I knew that the adonis blues were not going to be flying about, but another species found at the site is the pyramidal Orchid, the isle of wights national flower, because after all, flowers don't exactly run away in the rain. This time i had my map, and i had a look, so i actually knew what i was doing this time, and I found it without much bother.

The site was little more than a very large field, but at the end with the entrance there were loads of flowers. There were cornflowers and scabious as well as what I figured must be the pyramidal orchids, as well as others that I didn't recognise.

-pyramidal Orchid

-purple cornflower

-scabious

-pyramidal orchid

I walked around the site several times, secretly hoping to flush an adonis blue out of the long grass, sadly though it didn't happen. I did however find a sheltering marbled white, for the second day running, and this one allowed me to get some photos in a more natural position. It was sheltering under some ragwort but was nice to see, allowing me to get a good view of the marbling pattern from the outside.

-Marbled white

It's handy that the wight bus service produces a leaflet that tells you all the bus times, so I knew when I had a bus back to Newport, from where I could get a bus home. It was only when I arrived in Newport that I learned that my bus home was 45mins away. That left me stuck! I decided to head to shide chalk pit, a disused quarry now acting as a butterfly site, so that I could get a feel for it should I return on a sunny day when there may actually be butterflies there

It took me about 15 mins to get there but I was very impressed when I did-the quarry was a very impressive feature and I spent a few minuets taking in the scenery before i did a quick scout round.

It said on the sign that there were bee orchids here, something i had not been aware of until that point, but sadly I failed to find one, although I was very pushed for time. There were also apparently rare bats in the railway tunnel there, Neither of these things I found in my 10min scout round but i did find a few more pyramidal orchids.

-Pyramidal Orchids

I made it back for my bus, although it was very crowded, and made it back to the caravan OK, so a good day considering the lack of options due to the weather and the fact that I had no idea where any of the stops were!

isle of wight day 1-arriving on the island

2011-07-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

we woke up near Southampton and were quickly on our way as we headed off to catch our ferry to the isle of wight. The day was bright, but slightly breezy but we managed to get our ferry and were quickly on our way to the isle of wight.
The ferry journey was not a patch on Arran last year, in terms of birdlife, in that there was only a cormorant to speak off, as well as a hand full of common terns flying past as we entered the harbour at Cowes. I would speculate that the terns were from the colony at Newtown estuary.
The drive down to our campsite seemed all too familiar even though it has been 4 years. This holiday was going to be different though. Since the isle is quite compact my dad had suggested that I use the buses to access many different wildlife sites, when my family were off doing other things. I had drawn up a map off all the sites with species that could be found there , and i had used an online records system to track down populations of insects that would otherwise not be well broad casted.
There was some degree off consistency with species that could be found at sites. Marbled white would be a new species for me, but there were a lots of sites that appeared to have this species. I even said to my dad-this holiday would be a disappointment were i not to see a marbled white.
It was ironic then that as we were driving round the campsite I spotted what appeared to fit the bill for marbled white fluttering around the campsite. I pleaded to get out of the car and was eventually allowed, and so i was able to track down the butterfly in question, hiding behind a hedge , and this proved that it was indeed a marbled white. so the first species that I saw after landing was ironically a new species for me, and a good record too, despite the fact that it spent most of its time at the top of a hedge!

-Marbled white
When I found my family, fully set up on our new pitch, My dad pointed out a buzzard circling nearby, I tried to get a few photos but sadly they didn't come out that well.

-Buzzard
my family went off to go and discuss the terms of our stay (?), and as i waited I spotted a very small blue appearance butterfly. It was very small indeed, even smaller than a common blue, but I didn't get a view of the inside of the wings but my suspicion is either a small common blue or a brown argus.

-Blue sp.
Whilst i was watching that blue butterfly I spotted another butterfly flutter past me, another marbled white it appeared on the face of it. I was right again, but this one was not as shy as the other as this one landed on a caravan nearby-luckily its occupants were out!

-Marbled White

The marbled white left the caravan and flew over a hedge and into what appeared to be the children's play area. I was surprised to see that behind the play area was an area of rough grassland with mown grass paths, I think it was an intended nature reserve. There were quite a few butterflys there including common blue, meadow brown and large white as well as 6-spot burnet moth. At the bottom of the nature reserve there was a compost bin where there were a lot of thistles and a lot of gatekeepers to go with them. there was also a red admiral, which added a bit more colour. In bird terms there was a sedge warbler and a family of willow warblers.

-Gatekeeper

-common blue

when I got back to the caravan I was astounded to find a gigantic robber fly in the orning. It was about an inch long and kept continuing buzzing and attacking the plastic, until my dad let it out.

-Giant robber fly
after lunch we decided to go to Ventnor because it was a nice, sunny afternoon. I like Ventnor because of the common wall lizards that live in abundance amongst the town and surrounding beaches. When we arrived I had a look up one of the scrubby cliffs, and on the scrubby path I found a cricket of some description, which is always nice as we don't have an excess of crickets in Yorkshire, where as down here they are everywhere and many more grasshoppers!

-Cricket sp.

Back on the base, near the car I found my first lizard of the day, sunbathing underneath some twigs. it was easy to approach but hard to photograph because of the twig encroachments. so I tried to get some close-ups of its head, to try and highlights of the colours, which seemed more vivid than they were last time.

-common wall Lizard

we decided to move further up towards the end that we normally go to, so that my family could get out their canoes, I on the other hand opted to go for a walk along the beach to try and get some photos of more lizards. so here are the photos I managed-once again very vivid in colour and highlighting just how bold these lizards were in terms of how skittish normal reptiles are!

-Common Wall Lizard
I decided to try and get to a nature reserve high above Ventor called "rew down" which has the only colony of Adonis blue butterflys on the island. I didn't have my map, and i didn't really know where to go, so I bluffed my way, taking turns not knowing where they would end up. Whilst reading one road sign I spotted this lizard-adapting to the human environment.

-Common Wall Lizard

After that I managed a few more turns then decided to just head back down and catch up with my parents. When I got to my map it appeared that my speculative road direction choices were well speculated, and had I carried on about 500m then I would have reached where I needed to be, but such is life

It was nice to see the lizards again, my first real views since the last time I was here and also had my first new species in the form of marbled white.

The Garden Recently

2011-07-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

So whats been going on in the garden recently? well, because of the weather we have had quite a few bugs around, also there have been huge numbers of fledglings on the lawn. But we'll start with the bugs. First day of the good weather, there was a curious bee on the flowers near the garden pond. It only caught my eye because, when we were in cambridge, my dad said he would like to see a tree bumblebee (he has an interest in bees), so it was unfortunate that he was at work when one seemingly fitting the picture in his book, turned up in the back yard.
It would seem that there would be no doubt in the i.d except for the fact that tree bumblebees don't live this far north. It would however seem that there was nothing else it could be, so maybe its an abbarant record, or I am missing something.

-Tree Bumblebee
Also, on the pond, there were our usual large red damselflies. always a joy to see, and this year there were three, two males and one female around the pond. The one featured directly below was also so bold that I could get it to land on my finger. There was also a mating pair so we know that we will have some next year too. One of them was perched perfectly for a photograph, so I have also got my best ever photos of this species!

-Large red damselflys
On the bird front there has been a lot of activity with fledglings on the lawn, and also on the birdbath. There have not been as many baby robins this year, not like sparrows, which have been in excess, there was however this rather splendid individual on the birdbath.

-immature robin
on the wires behind the house there was a surprise with about 5 rather smashing juvenile mistle thrushes accompanied by two adults sitting. This is not a species that we have seen evidence of breeding before, as our records normally involve a crabby winter individual but there you go. Not all the birds in the photos are thrushes, as there were starlings also using the wire.

-Mistle thrush juveniles
and also on the note of starlings on the wire, we also had some on the lawn, about 4 babies surrounding an adult. they did look rather cute, and they were also bold enough to come to the window feeder, which mean't that I was less than 1 meter away from them.

-starlings

so as you can see, there has been plenty of stuff going on in the garden, only the warm weather is supposed to disssapear shortly, so it may not be around for much longer.

Elland gravel pits

2011-07-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

It was a mild morning so I decided to take a bus trip to Elland Gravel Pits to see if there were any spring dragonflies about. To my surprise, the first thing that I saw upon entering was a rather stunning banded demoiselle, Which I was unaware lived this far north. unfortunatly I was unable to get a photo before it fluttered away up river. I decided to walk along the canal side, where I spotted a female blackcapp in a hawthorn bush.

-Blackcap
About 200m along the canal I found a path that lead away from the canal and into the woods, presumably to the river, so I followed it. When I arrived at the river I spotted lots of ringlets and a rather tatty speckled wood.
There were rather a lot of ringlets, But they refused to stay still, until I found one on a bramble with its wings open. It was rather unfortunate that it was facing me rather than facing away so the photo doesnt look as good as it could do.

-Ringlet
Whilst I was walking along the edge of the river I got a shock at finding a brown hawker, which I had assumed was a late summer dragonfly, not an early summer. I assumed that it must be an early waker, but to my surprise I found several others along the riverside.
I decided to go to the small pools near the feilds. Along the way I spotted more ringlets, plus small and large skippers and also an excess of burnet moths.
When i reached the first pool I was dissapointed to find that it was almost barren, however a walk around it found me, what I thought at the time, a grizzled skipper, my first tick in calderdale this year, but it turns out the it was actually a latticed heath moth.

-Latticed Heath Moth
The feild was full of butterflys and moths too. The moths being mainly 6-spot burnet and the butterflies including skippers and meadow browns plus ringlets.

-Small skipper
Withing the long grass there were quite a few moths, but I had no idea what they were, so when I got home i looked them up and one of them is something a bit unusual apparently-a blackneck

-A Blackneck

Walking along the pools produced a variety of damselflies, including common blue, blue tailed and large red, but no dragonflies until I met up with the river again. Where I was surprised to find another brown hawker, so one was definatly not a fluke.

Walking back I spotted a gatekeeper butterfly in the shrubbery so I Followed it to try and get a photo.

-Gatekeeper
I decided to walk back along the canal way so That I could see the pools that might have birds on them. on one of them I spotted a heron but when I got the binoculars out I found another three, so it must have been a family

-Grey Heron
I also found some pretty spectacular butterfly catterpillars, proibably small tortoishell feeding on the nettles, but in some cases completly overunning the nettles.

-Caterpillar

When I arrived back at where I started I decided to go for a small walk upstrem to see what I could find. Almost immediatly I spotted a dragonlfy which was clearly not a brown hawker, as it diddnt have tinted wings. I Just couldnt manage to get a quick photo to allow for an I.d. I found a few veiwing platforms or something along the edge of the water, but they were old and rusty, so obviously not used very often.

However when i followed one I spotted another banded demosielle resting on a leaf.

-Banded demoiselle
I tried to follow the dragonfly for a photo but kept loosing it. In one instance I stopped watching the dragonfly to find the demoiselle looking right at me. It had caught a midge or something and was just sat there staring right at me!

-Banded demoiselle
I then spotted a second dragonfly hunting the river, this one was a brown hawker, but it was clear that the none brown hawker was quite upset about this as it kept attacking the brown hawker.

-Brown Hawker
I spotted that the none brown hawker had moved upstream slightly where it was flying slower, so I headed up that way and was rewarded with an I.D photo proving that it was an emeror dragonfly.

-Emperor Dragonfly
I watched it for a while before it began to head down to where I had been and then dissapeared. I waited a while before deciding to go and have a look where I had been. There I was rewarded with a stunning view of the emperor, but more importantly it was landed allowing me to get some shots, which were much needed.

-Emperor Dragonfly

So as you can see, it was a very worth-while trip, but I had to be heading home, so it ends here!!

Cambridgeshire day 5

2011-06-02T02:41:00.000-07:00

Sadly, today was our last day in Cambridge. My mum and dad had decided to go and have a look at Angelsy Abbey national trust property. I can't say I was particularly optimistic about the potential for wildlife at this site. After packing up, we headed that way. It had a very modern visitor center, which probably would'nt fit with the actual property itself. I was however, quite relieved to learn that at the far end of the grounds there was a designated nature area with a hide, overlooking a small pond.
Naturally, that was where I headed first. I got slightly lost, that being because there were not that many man made structures to locate myself with, but I made it to the nature area eventually. On the way there I had hoped to see something spectacular, but I had only seen a handful of mistle thrushes.
I was gutted to learn that the nature area was actually more like a wooden sculpture park, but I stuck with it and went to the bird hide anyway. When I got there I was relieved to see that there were a number of bird feeders. I waited a bit, but there were not that many birds to see.
Then a woodpecker flew in, and landed on the birdfeeder. The curious thing was that the feeder it landed on was not a woodpecker designed feeder, it would not be able to get any food from it. Or so I thought! As it happened it stuck its head in the top and then pushed its whole body into the bird feeder, from the top, like a squirrel, and then grabbed the food, and somehow managed to get out again. It was funny to watch, its behavior I have never seen before!
The woodpecker left after his snack, and i was left watching the usual assortment of garden birds. However in front of the hide there were a few damselflies, including azure, common blue, blue tailed and a danded demoiselle, which is a beautiful creature, no matter how many you see.
More birds flew in, long tailed tits, which added a little bit of variety to the assortment of birds that were there.

-Long tailed tit
After watching the long tailed tits for a while I started to look over the pond to see what was about. I spotted a couple of dragonflies, but one really caught my eye, it was bright blue-so that meant either skimmer or chaser. I tried to pick it up with the camera, but it was too quick, however through my bin's I worked out that it must be either black-tailed skimmer or broad bodied chaser.
I didn't manage a photo, but I spotted on the far side of the pond, behind the island there was a decking platform, so I decided to make my way to it to see if I could get closer to the dragonflies. I wasn't too sure how to get to the platform, but made it eventually. From there I saw that there were three dragonflies on the pond at the same time. There was one Hairy dragonfly, that did not stay still at all, all day. so I thought i clear that up now, but It was good to see this dragonfly, which has probably been one of the highlights of the holiday. Then there was the blue chaser/ skimmer and then either a female of the latter or a juvenile of the latter but never at the same time.
Whilst I was waiting for the dragonflies to land, I heard a tremendous noise above me and looked up to see a hawk, circling above me. It was probably the noise that made me think that it was a goshawk, but looking in the book at home it proved to be a sparrowhawk.

-sparrowhawk
I finally spotted that the blue dragonflies had landed, but it was some way off. The easy way to tell between the two main suspects was that a black-tailed skimmer has a black tail, which this dragonfly did not have, and so it was therefore a broad bodied chaser, which is the first I have seen since i began to develop and interest in dragonflies. I wanted a photo of it but it was someway off, and I didn't really want to leave the decking.
Either way it flew off, round the far side of the island, so I waited and as i waited another dragonfly approached me. It was, I though, a female broad bodied chaser, but actually it was a four spotted chaser, and it began ovipositing right in front of me, with was really interesting. I tried to get a photo,m just for the record. but most of them came out really poorly.

-four spotted chaser, and ovipositing in the bottom photo
I was still waiting for the chaser to re-emerge when i received a text to go back for lunch. I was a bit disappointed, but I hoped that it would still be there on my return.

walking back to the car, I spotted a pheasant in the grassland, which was the first none garden bird I had seen all day. Interestingly, it was also a black pheasant which i think means that it has some form of caucasian in it.

-caucasian pheasant
During lunch I asked my mum and ad if they had seen anything. My mum said that there was a grey wagtail on the river and my dad said that he had seen a dragonfly on the pond in the gardens. he said that it was a southern hawker, so I had to tell him that southern hawkers don't have this early a flight period, and that it was far more likely to be a hairy dragonfly.

After lunch I headed up that way to see what I could find. The river was not what I expected, It was completely covered in lillypads and hardly any movement in the water, so not really prime grey wagtail habitat. However, I did track down the bird in question, hunting from the lillypads.

-Grey wagtail
At the other pond, I though that there was not enough vegetation for dragonflies, and I didn't see any. There were however quite a few damselflies mainly azure and blue tailed.

-Azure damselfly

walking back to the bird hide and platform I began to spot things in the grass. notably were that the Grass seemed to be writhing with voles and mice, not that I saw any, but they were everywhere because you could hear them squeaking and the grass rustling.

On the subject of things you could see, there were quite few butterflies such as this large skipper.

-large skipper

there were also quite a few of these things (below) in the grass that look like small red underwings. Some kind of moth, that seemed to be everywhere.

-moth
I eventually made it through the distractions to the pond and bird hide. Once more I spotted the chaser and was very relieved that it had not flown away. It also seemed to be landing more, on the side of the decking. I suddenly decided to just go for it, so I climbed over the fence and squelched my way to where it had been landing. It took a while and a lot of patience but eventually the insect started to land of the plants in front of, some kind of flower that was ready to seed, rather than flower. They were quite tall too which helped.

so below you can see an assortment of the photos I took of the broad bodied chaser.

-Broad bodied chaser
so there we have it. i finally managed to get the shots I wanted of this spectacular insect. also the dragonfly I described as being a juvenile chaser was actually a female chaser. It was curious to see the hairy dragonfly, the four spotted chaser and the broad bodied chaser all getting into one fight. Hardly surprising considering the amount of water (not much) and the number of dragonflies hunting it. still, it was great to see.

whilst i had been waiting for the chaser i had spotted a kingfisher land in a willow tree, but i had not seen anything else aside from the dragonfly. I decided to explore the rest of the pond, there was a path through the pond, presumably for the staff to fill up the bird feeders. I walked along it to see what there was and I was rewarded by great views of a comma butterfly.

-comma
I then got a text telling me to start heading back, so I had to leave. overall it had been a good day and as i was leaving i spotted another damselfly, a large red resting on an overhanging stick.

-large red damselfly
On the way back I had to walk through the tall grassland where I had seen so many butterfly's on the way here. On the way back i spotted quite a few common blue butterfly's, just to round the day off.

-common blue butterfly
I made it back to the car park without further distraction. however, in the car park I was able to watch a blackbird throwing itself at cars. I had never seen this behavior before, although i had heard about it. so it was interesting, but also slightly worrying as the bird seemed to be getting very into its attacks and it looked like it might get injured.

-Blackbird

so there we go. Our Cambridgeshire holiday was over, without oriole or bluethroat but with plenty of other stuff. Highlights? certainly the Stone curlew and the hobbys, and the dragonflies. the whole holiday could be called a highlight I suppose, except for the missing out on the obvious!