Back in Kent

A quick jaunt to Chatham Dockyard today to catch up with a Great Northern Diver which has been present for a few weeks.

Great Northern Diver

Then it was off to Riverside Country Park.

A lovely sunny morning enabled some good views of gulls and waders but with the tide against us, distant views meant that we needed the 'scope.

Black-headed Gull

As the tide rose, and the birds got closer, the sky got greyer, so not the best opportunities for photographs, but with a few flowers in bloom - an odd "winter" this year - there were some good sightings, including two Peregrine Falcons, and some fantastic views of Wigeon and Teal.

Beautiful male Wigeon

Black-tailed Godwit

A good end to my 2015 birding.

[next blog back to Sri Lanka . . . . ]

Ranweli Resort, Sri Lanka

After an overnight direct flight with Sri Lankan Airlines four of our group arrived in Colombo for our transfer to Ranweli Resort a beach side hotel (Rock Dove, House Crow, Asian Openbill and many Egrets along the way) with lovely grounds, just ripe for some birding.    We met up with the couple who had been enjoying a pre-trip holiday and went off in search of some avian delights.

Ranweli Beach

The beach held a group of waders; Sanderlings with Greater and Lesser Sandplover - excellent to see whilst Barn Swallow and Blue-tailed Bee-eater perched on driftwood nearby adding splashes of colour.

Half-flower plant Scaevola, originally from Hawaii

Along the Gin River or Oya Gin (meaning small Gin River) which runs behind the beach we found White-breasted Waterhen, Red-wattled Lapwing, Black-crowned Night-heron, and many Indian Pond Heron.

Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Grey Heron and Great White Egret all added a more "homely feel" but then glamour returned with Pied Kingfisher, Stork-billed Kingfisher and White-breasted Kingfisher.

Flying Fox Pteropus giganteus

We were in the true realm of Rose-ringed or Ring-necked Parakeet, and for once the group were pretty dismissive of such an exotic species!   White-bellied Drongo gave us good views, along with Brown Shrike and Common Myna.

As the light faded we had Flying Fox overhead, coming out of their day roosts in the top of the palm trees.

Then it was off to dinner!

Some of the delights at dinner

Autumn in Hampshire

Autumn colours in the New Forest

Dodgy phone-scoped Osprey

A couple of days in Hampshire and a few new birds for the year list (which is actually a paltry one this year).

Nuthatch

Over 80 species seen in appalling weather - we had to completely abandon the great outdoors on Thursday - but the highlights for me were;

Coal Tit

Osprey - juvenile perched for all to see at Blashford Lakes, and had been there for three weeks, Brambling and Siskin, a late Whinchat, several Stonechat and best of all, fantastic views of Goshawk - a female flying low over bracken at Bishops Dyke gave two fly-pasts and was the highlight for me.

Brambling

Great-spotted Woodpecker

A load of Galls

We recently found these small galls on Ground Ivy leaves at Sevenoaks Wildfowl Reserve.

They are Rondaniola bursaria or Lighthouse Galls.   You can see the fresh calls on the first photograph and then the holes in the leaves once the midge has emerged.   The fly is Dasineura glechomae for those interested. 

Galls intact

Holes where midges have emerged

Common Toad

Common Toad-let!

Recently found this small Toad - presumably common toad - it was under a reptile sheet in grass at the edge of a lake.   Very obliging individual that didn't move a muscle whilst a few shots were taken.

After a few moments it was left in peace.

Happy days

Migration in Action!

Went out for a walk yesterday - the worst weather of the week!   However, the recent change in weather patterns brought several delights including huge flocks of migrating Chaffinch - all males either adult or first winter birds.

There was one particularly large flock just outside Sevenoaks Wildfowl Reserve - feeding in a field where horses were kept.   There were obviously rich pickings as over 100 individuals were flying from the ground to trees nearby every time they were disturbed by the horses, only to return to the ground as soon as they felt safe again.

Grey Wagtail

The male Chaffinches often migrate through or to the south-east of England from Scandinavia - the females prefer to move further west and are often found in similarly large flocks in the south-west of England and Ireland.

With large numbers migrating south into the UK, our population can double during the winter.   The males tend to migrate nearer to their breeding areas, believed to be so that they will arrive on territory in top condition (rather than tired from a longer journey).   The females have longer to migrate back to territory in the spring arriving once the male has secured the position - hence their longer migration.

See more information courtesy of the BTO here

At Bough Beech I also saw my first Redwing and Fieldfare of the winter - with around 50 Redwing (thanks to Sally for spotting them fly in) and one pair of Fieldfare (Malcolm's find).   Despite there being many birds busily feeding on the berries nearby, not one photograph was possible!   There was a grainy shot of a lovely Grey Wagtail though.

Fourteen Snipe dropped in and spooked Lapwing and Greylag - presumably they mistook them for a bird of prey.

Cormorant, Greylag, Lapwing & Teal

Another delight was a surprising number of Goldcrest - they have been reported widely in the last week or so, and for once we actually caught up with them in pairs on several occasions.   As usual at this time of year, there were Long-tailed Tit everywhere - contact calls echoed around us all day. Brilliant!

To round off the day, we had great sightings of two Kingfisher on several occasions - they appeared to be patrolling the edge of a lake.   Still no photos though!

Birds on a Wire

Watching the migrants gathering on wires at Sheppey . . . . . mainly linnet, but with some goldfinch joining in the fun.

Goldfinch on the top wire

Further on there were several stonechat, probably a family group.

Other autumn signs were galls on poplar trees.
These spiralled lumps along the leaf petioles, create a red spiral shaped lump and the leaf then sticks out of the end of the gall.  These are usually caused by an aphid, probably Pemphigus spyrothecae, although the name p. protospirae is also referred.

Poplar spiral galls

There were also many wild flowers going to seed, which will provide great food for migrants as they pass through on their long journey south.

Here's to a great autumn.

Great Green Bush-Cricket

A couple of weeks ago we found this female Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima at Sandwich Bay observatory.

I have been lucky enough to have seen several individuals in the last few weeks - mainly due to the searching skills of Malcolm & Sally.   

Female Great green Bush-cricket

This individual, however, was not hard to see as she was in the middle of the path and just waiting to be stepped on!   We watched for several minutes - as the camera came in closer, so she became more fascinated and actually walked towards it - maybe the reflection was interesting her.

However, after a while we moved on to to some bird watching.

Some while later we returned and much to our amazement she was now further into the side of the path, but was firmly planted with her ovipositor pushed into the ground.

As we got nearer, it was clear that she was laying eggs deep into a crack between broken concrete.   Every so often she almost retracted the ovipositor, changed the angle then pushed it deep into the ground again and started to flex her abdomen.   We watched as she did this several times.

We eventually left her to her work, marvelling at our luck in finding such a great event.

To see the walk click here

To see the egg laying click here

Spotted Flycatcher

Spent a delightful half and hour or so watching this Spotted Flycatcher as it preened, oblivious of our presence.   After some time sorting out the feathers, it flew out, caught a tasty morsel and came back to the same perch.

Marvellous!

Wallasea Island

A few shots from Wallasea Island, Essex.   A new RSPB Reserve which is being developed to encourage greater areas of salt marsh, and providing encroachment areas for a rising sea level.

Wallasea Island mud flats

With a low tide there was not too much to see along the mud flats beyond the sea wall.

Reserve under development

Inside the sea wall the RSPB are developing a new Reserve with scrapes and plenty of mud!

Weasel

This weasel appeared to be chasing a whinchat - we didn't see the whinchat after it had flown off - presumably keeping out of our way as well as that of the weasel.

Small heath

Several small heath butterflies were around, surprising me at first as they were so small.

We saw some we missed some

Quite an encouraging list from so new a reserve - bearing in mind the number of canada geese present, there is some real potential here for wintering geese and wildfowl.

We had over 25 yellow wagtails - none were close enough for my camera skills sadly.   Huge flocks of linnet and goldfinch, whimbrel, kestrel, grey heron, several little egret and mute swan.

In addition swallow were flying inside the sea wall feeding just below us, giving great views.

REGUA at the Bird Fair

After a hectic three days at the Bird Fair, I was looking forward to a relaxing couple of days.  However, the Bird Fair Blues hit hard and I seemed to spend much of my time drifting through other peoples' posts about the BF.   So here's my review and thanks.

It was a brilliant Fair with lots of enthusiastic people visiting the REGUA stand where my fellow volunteers and I discuss paradise every day with anyone silly enough to hesitate as they passed by.

The calm before the storm!

Usually we have a mix of visitors to the stand, some who have already visited, others who are planning to go and a few who haven't got a clue what the project is all about.   this year it felt as if pretty much everyone knew of the project and more people than ever before we either planning a trip or had already booked.   There was a really positive feeling about the whole event.

With two new books published recently; Birds of the Serra dos Orgaõs and Dragonflies and Damselflies of the Serra dos Orgaõs, interest in REGUA publications was high, and we sold out of the Bird books on Saturday, but took orders to be fulfilled when more supplies are available.

We also had the Michael Palin narrated film on hand - watching Verity White's fantastic film of my favourite place did not help the emotion stay in check.

In addition to the usual team of Rachel, Lee, Alan and myself, we had the excellent support of Ken and Andrew - which allowed us a break or two.

So, all in all a great time was had by all.    Thanks to everyone who stopped to talk, you make it all worthwhile.

It will be REGUA's 10th anniversary at the Bird Fair next year, so we have some planning to do!

A two Hawkmoth Day!

Two Hummingbird Hawkmoth at Dungeness today.  Always a special sighting, although Whinchat, Wheatear, Wood Sandpiper, Clouded Yellow and Migrant Hawker were more highlights.  

See the Hummingbird Hawkmoth here

A Pine Hawkmoth from the trap at the Obs, was a first for me too.

Pine Hawkmoth

Reculver

There's nothing quite like a day at the seaside - especially when there are grey skies and showers, but with some positive thinking and a cup of tea in a nearby café anything can be achieved.

. . . . . . or so we hoped . . . . . .

but with a strong breeze coming in off the sea and a high tide, it was not going to be an easy day to find birds - or anything else for that matter!

Reculver Beach

Around Reculver Towers is the spot for Black Redstart, but with lots of holiday visitors, many with dogs, even the feral pigeons were moving away so it wasn't going to show off.

Eventually I found it on the concrete breakwater below the Towers, flitting around and being blown by the wind.   Sally and I had good views, if a little quick, before we called the others.   Unfortunately, it flew off west and despite our best endeavours we could not find it again.

Along the promenade, did catch up with Turnstone, Ringed Plover and a possible Sanderling on the beach just before a roaming dog put them up.

Inland, there were eight Little Egret roosting on the leeward side of a tree - again, they were disturbed by a passing walker.

Looking back to the Towers in the distance

As avian delights were not going to be too obtainable today, we moved to insects and plants.   This was helped by Malcolm's cap blowing off and requiring a rather long detour to retrieve it from below the seawall.

Fleabane was flowering well, and knapweeds and thistles were providing vital food for many insects.  These were enjoying the shelter inside the seawall.   Stonecrop had flowered and made a great architectural study.

What was really interesting were the number of snails we found.  Although some of the shells were empty, the majority had pale inhabitants, many of them clustered around the base of wild carrot.   It was quite a feat not to step on them, the crunch of broken snail shells is not something I like, and luckily the few I did not miss were empty, but I did look as if I was doing some strange dance on occasions.

Apples and sloes were fruiting well, and thoughts turned to apple and blackberry crumble, and lunch!
Not before we noticed a few insects - which are becoming a new interest for me, but I have only managed one identification:

Hoverfly - Syrphus ribseii?

After lunch we set of for Grove Ferry, and the viewpoint from where there were some very distant Black-tailed Godwit, and a sandpiper that may have been the Wood Sandpiper reported.   It was too far for me to be happy, just a 'peep with long-ish legs!   Ringed Plover a little nearer was far less of a challenge.

From the David Feast Hide there were varied ducks in eclipse, but we managed to work out Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Pochard and Shoveler.
They look so different out of their full plumage.

Blue Butterflies

Blue butterflies are so confusing, but here some to ponder over:

Firstly, I think this is Common Blue, and note how think the wings are - you can see the underwing markings through it.










Next comes, I think, Brown Argus

Thirdly, I think, Chalk Hill Blue

But I am open to persuasion otherwise!

Lullingstone & Fackenden Down

Nice walk this week with Banded Demoiselle - always good to see - with over a dozen males and at least two females.   Adding to the day was an Odonata tick for me; White-legged Damselfly.  Rubbish photos which will end up in the bin, but it was good to find.   Several males and a female.

Banded Demoiselle

After lots of coastal sites recently, was good to see some different flora species - Dark Mullein, Dwarf Thistle and I love scabious, so seeing fields with lots of wild flower species including many scabious was a delight.

Birds took a bit of a back seat on this walk, although a young Robin was great to see and Treecreeper was found by the visitor centre, feeding on a tree trunk completely oblivious to the crowd gathering below.

Dark Mullein & insect (id required)

A group of House Martins fed over the fields, chattering as they went, and there were a few Swallow higher up.

Several insect photographs will just be adding to my ever-expanding collection of "id required"s

Happiness is a day in Derbyshire!

Last weekend saw the second Hen Harrier Day (HHD) take place.   Although there were several events around the Country, as last year I was drawn back to my home county of Derbyshire, this time to the Goyt Valley near Buxton.

Derbyshire hills, with vegetation burned off

Saturday evening was spent listening to Mark Avery, Mike Clarke (CEO RSPB), Finlay Wilde (brilliant young conservationist), Jeremy Deller (Conceptual artist) and Chris Packham (amongst others).   Speaking of the reasons why it is so important for our natural heritage to be restored and preserved, and how the blanket monoculture of grouse shooting is changing our landscape, each speaker brought a different perspective.

Mike Clarke talked of his early birding days in Kent, seeing hen harriers at Cliffe Pools and Capel Fleet Viewpoint - both places I regularly visit and where I have had the pleasure and delight of seeing the same species in the past - my last being a male at Capel Fleet three years ago.      

Finlay showed a "mash-up" - a film showing how he (and his Dad) built the large scale props for this year's HHD - a huge poison bottle, model rifle, gin trap and shooting butt - which was used as the lectern.    He brought great news - Ecotricity are going to sponsor some radio transmitters on hen harriers, adding to those already sponsored by LUSH (producers of some of the best smelling cosmetics ever).   You can purchase a Hen Harrier Bath Bomb in support (while stocks last!).

Jo Smith and team

Chris Packham rounded off the evening with a great speech, factual, emotional, passionate and considered - brilliant as always!

After an overload of emotion, it was time for us all to prepare ourselves for an outing in the Derbyshire hills - not before we had availed ourselves of a Famous Grouse, enjoyed in the foyer of the Palace Hotel!

Driving to this year's venue, huge expanses of moorland stretched in every direction, some covered in bracken and heather, others sadly burned as part of the "land management".   Travelling towards the Goyt Valley, brought back memories of family walks as a child, being dragged along by my parents, mum pointing out plants and insects, dad striding ahead and me moody that I couldn't stay at home with my friends!   How pleased I am that I had those walks now, although rather distant memories, so much of what I learned in those early years came back to me.

Mark Avery sorting out the seating arrangements (Lol)

A short walk from the Car Park to the meeting point could have taken around 10-15 minutes, an hour and a half later we had just arrived, with a few minutes to spare.   The journey was slow and thoroughly enjoyable - taking photographs of all sorts of things that I will probably never be able to fully identify.   People were offering advice and suggestions along the way - from "you'll never get there if you keep taking photos" to "thats Tachina grosso" - happy days, lots of lovely people willing to share.

The meeting itself was great, lots of supportive people who want to bring our uplands and moors back to a thriving biodiverse environment which has room for wildlife as well as people, and with that change from monoculture grouse production where all predators are culled to ensure that the maximum income comes from grouse shooting (particularly driven grouse shooting) will come a return of the Hen Harrier and other top end predators including buzzard, fox, stoat, weasel - even hare are being killed.

Chris Packham listens to Mark Avery

Great speeches from Mark Avery, Charlie Moores (BAWC), Jeff Knott (RSPB),  Jo Smith (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust), and Chris Packham.   A passion for wildlife ran through all their presentations, a desire to change our denudation of habitat and biodiversity back to a thriving community, and most of all a wish to make the area where we met into a safe place where hen harriers and other birds of prey would be breeding and thriving.  

Buoyed up by the stirring talk and the huge crowd it was soon, reluctantly time to leave and our walk back to the car park probably took even longer than before.   Again, helpful locals gave ID - Antler moth and Dark-green Fritillary to name but two.   Bilberry was fruiting well, harebells dipped their heads in the sunlight, ragwort, foxgloves and heather were all flowering well.   On the avian front a stonechat family kept in close contact with each other - the juvenile looking well fed and content, and just to add to our delight, as we neared the end of the walk, a peregrine soared overhead - hopefully one day we will see more than one bird of prey in a day walking in Derbyshire!

Thanks to everyone who organised and attended, and Pete for his entertaining company and whiskey!

More photos of the day can be seen here

Oare

Always a joy to visit - and the nearest I would come to having a "patch" if not exactly 'local' - Oare today was a delight!

Oare Marshes

Beautiful weather, a large group of keen folk, and the prospect of some interesting migrant waders to look for - what could be better?   Well finding those migrants for a start, but you can't have everything in life, so we were just delighted with what we DID see.

Thanks to the generosity of spirit of other birders there we managed to catch up with Spotted Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Knot and Little Stint.  The several hundred waders enjoying the safety of the flood including Dunlin, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit, in all their myriad shades of orangey-red, were a spectacle.

With a list of over 50 species, including Yellow Wagtail, Bearded Tit, Whimbrel, Common Tern, Sedge and Reed Warbler we did not have chance to relax!

"David Bowie" Bee

Added to this avian mix were some rather interesting iridescent beetles, an orange-headed "David Bowie" style Bee and several ladybirds to identify.   One we did manage to name was Adonis Ladybird, also Drinker Moth Caterpillar.

With flying ants providing excellent feeding the sky was at times full of Swallow and the occasional House Martin.

Waders

Least Lettuce

Least Lettuce Lactuca saligna, is an intriguing plant, thought to be extinct in about half of its known sites by 1930.   Native to the UK, but introduced throughout the world, there are reports of its presence in the USA, Australia, and many other regions of the world.

However, it loves the sandy shingle and old sea walls with sparse vegetation.   It used to be on the banks and rivers of East Anglia and occasionally on paths and cliffs in Essex.   It was known to have survived in East Anglia until 1953.

Least Lettuce Plant

The Sussex population was dramatically reduced by the inundation of sea water in the 1990's, but the Essex population continued to thrive.   It seemed to benefit from cattle grazing.

In Kent it was re-found on the Isle of Grain in 1999, and there is a site on the Isle of Sheppey which has been know to hold around 1000 plants.

So with this in mind, we had to go and try to find them!

Sadly, the site has had the 'benefit' of some sluice upgrading which appears to have covered the majority of the site in concrete.   However we did find at least 80 plants holding on, and hopefully they will spread again if left undisturbed.

A plant which is easy to overlook, even when you know it is present - as can be seen from the rather poor photos!

Red Kite

Yesterday at Shellness, we had the delight of watching a Red Kite hanging in the air over the marshes.   It was quartering over the ditches and rough ground and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying riding the breeze.

Red Kite

I think this is only the second Red Kite I've seen in Kent, so a nice one to start our walk with.

The Spider and the Fly (well Wasp actually)

At Samphire Hoe a couple of weeks ago, one of the group spotted a spider and insect crawling along the sea wall.

Spider-hunting Wasp and Prey

Once I got the photo on the laptop, I realised that the insect was actually pulling the spider along, and after a conversation with the ever-knowledgable Malcolm,  we are now a step nearer to an ID.   The spider looks like an Orb-web, possibly Garden spider, and the insect is a Spider-hunting Wasp Pompilidae - no idea of which though!

Any suggestions welcome

I'm Back!

After a long break from the blog, I have been inspired by my travels recently to start again . . . .
let's hope you can cope with the excitement!