Birds, wildlife and travel
The birding’s a bit quiet at the moment, so here’s a selection of invertebrates from the garden over a weekend that held 10 species of butterfly
The garden’s getting to be a dangerous place at the moment. On Friday I had one of my best birding moments when I witnessed a Peregrine take a Starling out of the air, and today I almost trod on a Grass Snake trying to swallow a large frog. Unfortunately for the snake, the disturbance allowed its dinner to escape. The frog didn’t croak, although it was bleeding from some tooth marks in its back, and the snake legged it.
A walk around the New Forest while Karen went riding was limited bird-wise, with a Spotted Flycatcher and a couple of Redstarts being the highlights, although camera shy.
These Keeled Skimmers were a bit more cooperative.
It’s been a bit quiet in the moth trap of late, but the hot weather has fixed that. Four species of Hawkmoth: two Eyed, one Privet, one Lime (not frequent here) and a herd of six Elephants.
It’s getting busy in the pond!
…but enough about me. A late evening return to Church Norton meant that we didn’t have to compete with the heat haze or the crowds. The Elegant Tern played its part by showing well, if a little distantly. It went through a full range of antics: loafing on the mud, having a bath, trying it on with the local Sandwich Terns, flying around like a mad thing and stealing fish from a much-bullied Common Tern.
Little Bittern, of course, although after seven hours of looking at a windy Somerset reedbed and seeing nothing another interpretation was understandable. Early next morning the bird finally showed after another hour of watching. Ham Wall is a remarkable place: there can’t be many other places in Britain where you can see six species of heron in a day, as well as a supporting cast including Hobby, Red-footed Falcon and Glossy Ibis. We travelled back a bit early to pick up the Elegant Tern at Church Norton, which showed eventually, but wasn’t photographable while we were there.
A day out on the east coast began with a very quiet seawatch at Flamborough. A few Manx Shearwaters and some distant passing Puffins were the only birds of any note. Moving on to Bempton Cliffs, we had to park in the overflow car park’s overflow. The cliffs nearly gave way under the weight of people. The only close Puffins were tucked up on their nests, but there’s always something to photograph.
Karen thinks that the Yorkshire Paradise is a cocktail in a Harrogate restaurant, but for me it’s the Strid on a glorious May morning. The only disappointment was the lack of Wood Warblers.
A trip out in search of Turtle Doves was very successful with good views and lots of purring, albeit occasionally drowned out by Nightingales.
