Caspian Gull at Fairlands

In an effort to work off the Christmas booze and food, and get a bit of exercise I went over to Fairlands Valley this morning. Wasn't too sure how it would go as I haven't managed to walk any distance for a long time and I'm still poorly. As it was I did a 3 mile circuit and am paying for it now.
I started at the northern end at the balancing pond where two Teal were found yesterday but they had departed, so I carried on down picking up the usual Coot, Moorhen and Mallards plus a few geese and loads of Magpies and Carrion Crows.
I reached the main boating lake where most of the birds were. There were 13 Cormorants on the jetty but I was distracted by calling Parakeets-at least two were around. This attracted the attention of a dog walker so I had a chat as he was becoming interested in the wildlife here. Lots of people were puzzled by two odd 'ducks'-we have had Egyptian Geese for a while now, so I had to explain about them as well.
Alan Ford appeared so we went to check the gulls-lots of Black Headed, a couple of Commons and a few Herrings of various ages. It didn't look like our target was around but the Caspian eventually appeared and stuck around. Unfortunately it stayed in the middle and never got up on it's favoured buoy.
I was rather disappointed in the lack of thrushes, finches and so on, but I think the very mild conditions have affected winter visitor numbers. Mind you I did hear a Bullfinch around the old farm buildings-not something I expect in the middle of Stevenage these days.

Whooper Swan at Amwell

I've managed to get out and about a bit recently. Health is still a big issue and its been getting gradually worse all year, and I find it a bit of a struggle particularly in the mornings to get mobile-legs in particular are rather stiff and weak. I get very tired very quickly as well at the moment.
Anyway earlier in the week a Whooper Swan dropped in at Rye Meads and lingered-this is unusual as most wild swan sightings in the valley are fly throughs. It stuck around the next morning and then flew off to Amwell where it has been ever since. I've seen a family of Bewicks at Wilstone a few years back, but Whooper was still missing on my Herts list.
Normally I take Mum shopping on Saturdays, but today I dropper her off and carried on to Amwell, arriving just as Mike and Bill were leaving. Getting to the view point I found that no-one else was there-rather unusual but gradually more arrived. The Whooper seems to be associating with Mute Swans, of which the count of 21 was much larger than usual. In front of there hide it gradually drifted towards me and spent some time at fairly close range before swimming round to the back of the heronry island. We got worried as it departed with three Mutes, circled Hollycross and luckily then returned.

Water levels are very high at the moment, with only a few small bits of island and edges. Good for ducks and gulls but not so good for waders, and only one Snipe was on view.
After a while, I wandered down the track, finding a small flock of tits and Goldcrests, one of which posed nicely.

Down at the Bittern pool I found Phil, William and Alan, but no Bittern. We had at least one Parakeet, and distant views of three Redpoll and a Siskin. I carried on down to Hollycross but didn't find much so returned to the view point. The Swan was still around and, rather unusually Simon Knott appeared to twitch it.
All in all rather productive morning with 56 species in total-and I missed things like Redwing Treecreeper and Buzzard.

An Afternoon at Amwell

I've been out of action for quite a while for various reasons, and seem too be spending a lot of time at the doctors and the hospital having lots of tests done. Not sure what the outcome is going to be, but googling for ideas isn't a good idea.
Anyway I've not really been up to going out on the weekends but I had to on Saturday as my wonderful neighbour spent the entire day drilling and hammering on the adjoining wall-he said he was decorating, and it was driving me up crazy.
I ended up spending a couple of hours at Amwell. The weather was dreadful-bitterly cold wind and eventually rain, so I spent most of the time watching gull numbers build up from White Hide. Since my last visit over a month ago, the water levels have risen a bit and as a result duck numbers have increased substantially.
From the view point I could see a lot of larger gulls-mainly Lesser Black Backs and Herring, plus at least eight Greater Black Backs. It took a while but eventually I managed to locate one of the Yellow Legged Gulls-an adult or near adult. There were of course many smaller Gulls-hoards of Black Headed and quite a few Common Gulls but I couldn't find anything unusual. at one point a lot of things went up, which produced the only Snipe that I could find.
The woods, the Walkway and the Hollycross area was rather quiet, though there were several Long Tailed Tits flocks holding some Goldcrests. I would have expected to encounter some thrushes here, and maybe some finches such as Siskin but if they were around they were keeping a low profile.
Naturally, in view of the weather, there weren't any raptors up.
Not much of a species list but it felt good to get out for a bit.

Hooded Merganser Titchwell

Well after a week of rain, westerlies and gardening, Colin and I decided that unless something came up, we would go to Titchwell on Saturday. It was expected to be dry with light winds so it was a bit worrying when I woke up to rain-we had quite a lot overnight. There was no sign of it letting up when Colin arrived, and it wasn't until we got past Ely that it started to improve.
We called in at Choseley briefly in a pull in south of the barns. The adjacent fields were full of Pink Footed Geese, with around a 1000 visible and many more flying around. As usual there were also a lot of Red Legged Partridge and a couple of Buzzards sitting on the ground. Apart from a small Linnet flock and some Skylarks there weren't many small birds around and there weren't any thrushes at all.
Titchwell was jam packed, as shortly before we arrived a drake Hooded Merganser had been reported, so all the locals were turning up in the hope of a county tick. It was initially on the fresh marsh and then flew into Patsy's pool for a nap. Before we went for it, we spent about an hour around the fen trail and on the tank road looking for warblers. Several yellow Brows were present-I think I heard three different birds and there was also a Siberian Chiffchaff. This proved to be a bit more challenging as there didn't seem to be any Chiffchaffs present. Eventually a classic juvenile appeared and shortly after a more interesting grey and brown bird with very dark bare parts. This spent a bit of time in an elder before flying off with a short piping call-pretty convincing for the Siberian. Two male Blackcaps entertained us while we were waiting and on a couple of occasions a Long tailed Tit flock passed through but the Yellow Brows never actually showed for us.
Eventually we made our way to the pool to see the Merganser. Most of the time it was asleep but woke up on a couple of occasions. The wings appear to be intact and apparently there wasn't any trace of rings, so there is some hope it might get through as a wild bird.

Water levels on the fresh marsh were very low, but as the tide was out, most of the waders were on the beach. The only notable sight was a flock of 52 juvenile Ruff-with another 7 birds elsewhere this was probably the biggest I've ever seen.
We didn't spend a great deal of time looking at the sea-the southwester-lies meant that there weren't many birds around, though a juvenile Gannet flew by just past the surf line. Had to give it a check to eliminate a Booby......
The Grey Phalarope that has been hanging around Thornham Point for a few days was still present so we headed up the beach and climbed through he dunes to the old control tower. Interestingly it wasn't spinning around on the water as they usually do but feeding on the marsh. Unfortunately this meant it was very obscured and I didn't get any decent images.

We returned to the car for a spot of lunch and then spent about an hour back on the fen trail and walked along the big hedge adjacent to the paddocks. Looked good for Barred warbler but apart from a few crests, lots of Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters the best i could manage were a few Blackbirds which never turned into Ring Ousels. We did get to hear one of the elusive Yellow Brows again, and found quite a few Chiffchaffs but nothing out of the ordinary this time.

October Holiday

I started my annual October fortnight off last Friday, and as so often seems to be the case these days, I've spent more time working in th e garden than going out birding.
On Saturday, I decided to pay a visit to Amwell and was rather surprised to discover that no-one else was there. The weather wasn't all that great, cloudy but with a south-westerly, not exactly ideal for migrants. Water levels remain low, despite the rain in recent weeks and it seems the sluice has not been raised, and the trust apparently expects Barry to look after him despite being away on yet another trip to boost his world list.
Duck numbers are building up though, with a lot of Gadwall and Mallard, two Teal, 10 Wigeon and 26 Shoveller. A pair of Dabchick in front of the White Hide was a bit unusual, but its the favoured spot if they appear on the main lake. I tried to work through the gull flock which gradually built up during the morning but apart from two Common Gull in with the Black Heads  it was the usual selection of miscellaneous Herring and Lesser Black Blacks. Attempts to turn an interesting white headed juvenile into something a bit different failed.
I had intended to go to Hollycross for Willow Emeralds,  but it was a bit cool and too cloudy. I got as far as the new bridge where I met Phil and he agreed it would be a waste of time. Tumbling Bay had a couple of very volatile Chiffchaffs in one of the willows and a rather loud tacking call couldn't be pinned down. Dusky warbler would have been a nice fantasy, but Blackcap is the more sensible option, though I couldn't pin the bird down before the birds flew away.
We bumped into Bill at the view point and had a chat. A few Skylark were moving westwards, and there were a couple of mixed hirundine flocks gradually heading south west don the valley. Most that were close enough appeared to be Swallow, but there were a few House Martins as well. The only other (and rather odd) movement concerned Cormorants, as several flocks, maybe 50 birds in total  came up the valley, and around 30 returned to feed in one huge mass near the big island.

The next few days were spent in the garden when the weather (lots of rain at times) allowed. On Monday I took an old fridge down to the tip and then picked up some ericaceous compost to repot my (hopefully) hardy Yuzu circus tree. After carrying that lot my back went so the next  day involved very light work and planting and rearranging a few things. I have a variety of Salvias, and the best at the moment are Waverly and Amistad. The latter looks really good in the sunshine at the moment  and attracted a lot of bees through the summer. They are getting a bit scarce now, but the Humming Bird Hawkmoth was a nice bonus.
Yesterday was another strenuous day, up a ladder taking out the old branches from the palm tree, cutting back the honeysuckle and then shredding the lot. Since the shredder as out I also tidied up the shed a bit. So my backs aching again as are my arms and , I've lots of cuts and bruises and despite all the time working failed to get any decent birds either in the garden or flying over. I've got several resident Dunnocks and Robins of course, and tits visit all the time-including Long Tailed and the rather rare for me Coal Tit. No crests or Chiffchaffs yet-they should be around at this time of year.

Today I walked around Aston End. It was another cloudy day with a south westerly and so rather lacking in bird movements. Plenty of Chiffchaffs of course, and a few Skylarks moving around. The ploughed fields didn't hold much, though there was a small flock of Meadow Pipits in one and a few Pied wagtails in another. Only one Yellowhammer and two Chaffinch was a bit worrying, I just hope that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and missed most of the birds. Very few thrushes were seen, only a couple of Blackbirds. There are no Song or Mistle thrushes around and no sign of any winter visitors yet, thought hey are being reported elsewhere.

So that's it so far. All the good stuff seems to be in Ireland, the Scillies or the Azores and the east coast isn't really producing anything, and if the the forecast is to be believed its going to be the same next week.

Yellow Browed Warbler!

I was working in the garden yesterday morning for a few hours, and around 11o clock I decided to break for a coffee.
While I was tidying up, I heard a rather loud very distinctive two syllable tsweet with the second syllable rising. It seemed to be coming from somewhere nearby and I guessed it was in one of the neighbours trees. I was in a bit of a panic I was sure  its a call I've heard many times on the east coast at this time of the year-Yellow Browed Warbler. I tried to pin it down and realised that it had got louder and was overhead in my Rowan tree, but I couldn't see the bird. As I moved away to get a clear view, a small fairly bright green warbler flew out and headed west into the big trees a few gardens away. I could make out some pale bars on the darker wings but without binoculars there wasn't much else I could see.
Naturally I ran indoor to get the bins and the camera and spent the next hour waiting but it had clearly moved on as it was loud enough to be heard for some distance. I'm assuming it had just dropped into the gardens about the time I heard it, spent around five minutes here and then carried on.
Just as a sanity check I played recordings of Yellow Brows to confirm it was what was heard, and also to eliminate anything else that was even remotely likely such as the Greenish Warbler complex.
I've put in a rarity submission to the bird club and am hopeful that what little I could report will be adequate. Had I  been a bit more on the ball, I should have got the phone out and tried to get a bit of video, at least then I would have had a recording of the call.

Tyttenhanger

I decided to go down to Tyttenhanger yesterday, just for a bit of a change. The fact that 82 species had been recorded there on Friday was just a coincidence.
Unfortunately the weather had changed to some extent, the northerly airflow of recent days had died down, reducing the number of migrants moving south, and high pressure was starting to build up. As a result it was a rather warm, still day, but despite that there was a decent number of species around. I managed to get 55, missing a few obvious birds and Rupert Evershed hit 74 over the course of the morning, but since he covers the entire site almost every day he gets to find more than most.
I parked as usual in Church Lane and headed west past the allotments and scrub, but didnt get much apart from a flyover Bullfinch. Stopping at the container, a quick scan of the main pit produced a variety of gulls and duck but nothing of note, so I walked down to the Fishing Pit. I could see what appeared to be the long staying Black Tailed Godwit from the conveyor bridge and went for a closer look, meeting Rupert when I got there. He pointed out the two Snipe and the Common Sandpipers in on the very dry lake margins. The water here is very low, so looks to be very good for passage waders  but not so good for the fishery. Several Grey Wagtails and at least one Yellow flew over along with plenty of Meadow Pipits, so some birds were still moving.
I carried on along the river checking the sallows by the sluice but failed to find the Willow Emeralds (there were a lot of Common Blue damselflies and a few Common Darters though). I didn't get anything in the wood so carried on over the causeway, getting a flock of ten House Martins  and past the horse paddocks, picking up a couple of Tree Sparrows  before reaching the high viewpoint. The two here were interested in a distant perched falcon which turned out to be a Hobby and they mentioned a Wheatear in with the horses. Turned out to be right by the fence where I was standing checking the Tree Sparrow feeding station.
Before I went back, I found the Garganey, which had come out of the reeds and was swimming over what is usually a large expanse of mud-for some reason the water levels here have been kept rather high. We also had a small flock of Swallows over, and there were several Buzzards, Kites and singles of Sparrowhawk and Kestrel enjoying the thermals.
Whinchat and Stonechat had apparently moved on, and while it would have been nice to see them, or in fact a Redstart, the big hedge and fields didn't have anything at all, thought he recently ploughed field had a few Skylark and Pied wagtails.
I rechecked the scrub on my return-it looked ideal for a Wryneck but all I saw was a big flock of Long Tailed Tits.

Boobyless

The St Ives Brown Booby did a bunk and wasn't seen on the Sunday-the crippling views on the rocks had tempted a lot to go down, so lots of very unhappy birders.
Amazingly, another was found on the Lizard at Kynance cove the next day. This one was a younger bird and luckily had a habit of noosing on one of the rocks close offshore. Needless to say it was very popular, and on Friday many went down and got amazing views. It was seen at dusk roosting on the usual rock, promoting Lee Evans to tweet that anyone going on Saturday was guaranteed to see it.
Colin picked me up at 1am and we headed off on the long drive, arriving in Kynance car park just as it was getting light.
After a quick coffee and a bite we headed off west with the ever growing throng. It was rather chilly and windy but conditions soon improved. What I assumed would be a quick stroll to the cliff top actually turned out to be a bit harder than expected as we had to cross a deep coombe and the other side involved a climb up from the beach on some very slippery serpentine rocks to reach the steps cut further up. Not very enjoyable and it took it out of a lot of the elderly and infirm which comprised a substantial section of the crowd.
I reached the top overlooking Gull Rock and settled down to wait having met up with William Bishop. As soon as the light improved I could see lots of Gannets moving westward about a mile offshore. Smaller black and white birds mainly moving east were Manx Shearwaters-not auks as first thought. In the first couple of hours at least 500 were seen, probably a severe underestimate. Among them were a few dusky individuals two of which were certainly Balearic Shearwaters. I rarely sea watch in the far west, so seeing huge numbers rather than the handfuls in the channel and the North Sea was nice.
Several Arctic Skuas were seen, including one attacking a Peregrine out at sea, which was a bit different. Apparently Bonxies and Poms were also seen by some, but the only other decent seabird I got onto was a nice but very distant Sooty Shearwater dwarfing the two Manx it was with.
Landbirds were heading south all morning, with Grey and Pied Wagtails, Tree and Meadow Pipits, a couple of Wheatears and some Linnets.
Entertainment came from the very confiding Chough which are now well established here and seemed to be far tamer than the Welsh birds we used to see on Anglesey.

As for the Booby, well one guy claimed to see it flying low over the water between the two islands, and seconds later there was a claim about a mile east on the sea off a reef. This turned out to be a fishing Shag. Don't know what the guy saw, others were looking in that area and didn't see anything.
It usually left the roost just after 7am and would then fish in the bay for a bit and then move off, returning from time to time. Not today. We stuck it out until noon and then gave up and by then so had many others.
Approaching London I heard that it had been seen a couple of times in the afternoon, also single observer sightings, and apparently it may have been seen by a few about a mile east of us late afternoon. These reports have met with some scepticism.

Heres the rock where it wasn't seen flying over. Shot from the cliff near the car park.

Nice Yellow Wagtail Aston End

Had it not been incredibly hot last weekend, I would have taken a walk round Aston End on the Bank Holiday Monday, so with the weather being a bit better I did it today. If news been positive yesterday Colin and I would have tried to get the Brown Booby off St Ives in Cornwall, but with no sighting since early Thursday morning we decided not to go down there. Its a long exhausting overnight trip, not something I enjoy these days, as it really takes it out of me.
Anyway, the two hour five mile stroll wasn't too bad, but it seemed that birds were in short supply. No Skylarks for example. All the fields had been harvested, and some already ploughed, so whether the breeding birds had been pushed off or not Im not sure. I've tended to assume there is a small permanent population supplemented by migrant and wintering birds.
Basically the usual circuit started in the plantation by Gresley way where there was a big tit flock. The hedges along the lanes were pretty quiet with odd Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps now and again, and a rather smart Lesser Whitethroat at Lords Farm. Now and again small parties of Swallows were heading south, with a much bigger feeding flock near the paddocks by the river. While watching them, I heard a Yellow Wagtail. Initially I assumed it was a flyover but I heard it again and saw it in a ploughed field. Got a few photos before it eventually flew east.

There aren't many flowering plants around in the fields and margins, so there weren't many butterflies, thought Small Whites were seen frequently. There were a couple of Painted Ladies in a small sunny spot, and there were a couple of Red Admirals, Peacocks and Speckled Woods, plus a single Common Blue.

Got home to discover that the Booby had been seen at well from 1030am on the eastern side of the bay and then settled on rocks close to shore in St Ives itself, then flew off west around 1230.

Hot Bank Holiday

Glad we didn't go to the coast on Sunday.  Heard that there were queues all along the approach road to Holme jam packed with holiday makers with the wardens only letting a car through when someone left the car parks. Good job there wasn't a rarity there (like in 1993 when we turned up on spec to find that a Ruppels Warbler had just been found). Think it was the same everywhere, the very hot spell encouraging everyone to spend a day at the seaside.
We decided to avoid any traffic woes and stay inland, around the Chilterns. It was a bit hot though and the afternoon got a bit unpleasant.
We started off at RSPB Otmoor, a place we often end up visiting during August, though not normally this late. Unfortunately the seasonal trail through one of the meadows had been closed due to the breeding Turtle Doves (which we didn't see and they may have already departed). The nearby feeders had a lot of tits, some Chaffinches and Goldfinches and there were a few Bullfinch knocking around as well.
The grazing marsh was bone dry and there weren't any chats around, but a lovely Yellow Wagtail dropped down onto the overhead wires briefly.

Colin had bought a new scope and we were testing it out on a nice juvenile Whitethroat in the blackthorn. While we were watching, a Brown Hairstreak flew past. Good job too as we couldn't find any later along the Roman Road.
Lots of big dragonflies with several Southern and Brown Hawkers, hoards of Migrant Hawkers, Common and Ruddy Darters. One Black Tail Skimmer provided some variety, but strangely there weren't any damselflies of any kind.
We walked up to the northern blinds overlooking the pools but didn't get a great deal. We were told there was a Great White Egret around, and we missed a big flock of Greenshank that had dropped down onto one of the scrapes.
No sign of any Hobbies, Marsh Harriers or Cranes either so it was a bit of a let down really. One Migrant Hawker did the decent thing and settle down to pose for the camera, though it was rather hard to reach with the 60mm macro. The Ruddy Darters were a bit more obliging.

After lunch we drove down to Warburg. Rather too late for any of the orchids (which had been bad again this year with most being eaten). The wardens are looking at ways of reducing the damage.
We didn't get many butterflies here, apart from Common Blues, whites and a Brimstone. As it was getting very hot and humid we kept to the shaded rides but did venture out to the furthest meadow to see the Chiltern Gentians. There is some debate as to whether they are Chiltern, Autumn or hybrids and they are due to be investigated shortly.
The first one I saw I assumed to be a pale Autumn as it was rather narrow, and the ones we saw further along were much better with broad petals and much much wider than the ones up on Therfield Heath the day before. Whatever, thy are nice.

A Couple of Ticks

Hertfordshires had a couple of good butterfly records this week. There has been a Queen of Spain Fritillary at Patmore Heath (not seen since Thursday) and the first Adonis Blues since 1959 at Therfield Heath.
After taking Mum shopping I popped over to Therfield-actually Church Hill by Fox Covert. It was warming up nicely and not too hot. Not many birds about, various miscellaneous ticks and tweets in the wood so I didn't linger and went straight for the hill. Mike Illett was there and had found a male Adonis but it wasn't flying, just sat down with its wings closed. It did fly a couple of times but proved hard to photograph.
We were joined by another enthusiast from Hitchin and the extra coverage meant that we eventually found several males and one or two females. Mike eventually got an open wing shot but I didn't and had to settle for an underwing pose with just a hint of black and white the upper wing edge.

Still plenty of Chalkhill Blues, some Common Blues and Brown Arguses, several Painted Ladies and a few Whites, plus singles of Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.
Mike had been over to check the local Quail earlier but they weren't calling so I headed back to Stevenage and stopped off at Fairlands Lake. Its been pretty good for waders this year, most seen early morning around the main lake, but a Green Sandpiper had been found on the balancing pond and was still present when I got there. Fairlands used to be a regular haunt but has been neglected to some extent particularly with changes to my work routine, so it was a nice local tick for me.

A Visit to Amwell Cut Short

Another weekend without any photographs.
Saturday was supposed to be rather windy, with showers at times, so I did the usual shopping run and followed up with some garden pottering. Turned out to be rather nice and perhaps I should have gone out somewhere. Still, glad I decided to not go to the Bird Fair as it seems to have been a rather muddy one.
The forecast for Sunday should have been pretty good, warm and sunny but there wasn't much around so I popped down to Amwell in the hope of going round Hollycross for the dragonflies. I wasn't expecting much and Barrys greeting along the lines  "hope you've going to give us a laugh and cheer us up" more or less confirmed my suspicions.
I had apparently missed the local Peregrine and a few late Swifts had gone through so there were a few things about. Despite the rather good conditions of the lake shore and water levels there weren't any waders apart from a reasonable number of Lapwing and two mobile Common Sandpipers. A couple of times everything was put up by the two resident Sparrowhawks and one Hobby was hunting over the woods. The only other raptors were four Buzzards.
Didn't seem to be any wildfowl other than the summering birds, and only one Common Tern remained from the small breeding colony. Everyone had gone for the usual Sunday walk about leaving me with Ron so we spent some time chatting, but abut an hour after I arrived rain started to set in-not in the forecast and it gradually got heavier. This brought in an adult Common Gull-my first of the winter and a small flock of Sand Martins. Ideally it should have brought in a decent wader and we stuck it out for a bit but as nothing arrived we both decided that it wasn't worth getting wet so we called it a day. Naturally by midday it was warm sunny and dry.

Brief Views of a Little Bustard in Yorkshire

Earlier this year, a Little Bustard as present at Slimbridge for a few days, but I wasn't able to get there. It wasn't exactly showing well, apparently being a long way off in long grass and usually only the head sticking up from time to time was all most ever got. The fact that the Barnacle Geese were doing (and looking almost) the same wasn't a great help.
Earlier this week, a photo of a male Little Bustard appeared on social media and was soon pinned down to fields adjacent to the river Aire at Mickletown near Castleford. It had apparently been present for some time. Access arrangements were made and it showed quite well at times and plenty of photos soon emerged. Unfortunately work got in the way as it usually does and I was only free on Sunday. Not to worry, as despite an attack by a local Peregrine it was still showing very well on Saturday even if the weather wasn't great.
Colin and I arrived on Sunday morning to discover a large line of people along the permitted track and no bird. I was told that it had been seen first thing and then walked out of view in a low lying field north of us. The problem was twofold. At the top of the path, being higher, views were possible if it showed feeding along a grassy fence line, but the angle was bad and only a small area was viewable by a distant gate. Almost zero from the only space I could get. Further down in the crowd, more fence was visible but vegetation obscured any views and only the head and neck was likely to be seen.
To make matters worse, there were lots of tall people, many wearing hats and 90% of the time I couldn't even see anything at all. It took a long time and a lot of manoeuvring to get a position where I was able to see anything. Added to that new people were constantly arriving and some though nothing of pushing through and standing in front of us, so there were lots of words exchanged, and tensions at times got high.
Sometime around 1030 some of my mates departed, having observed from much further down the path, they had head and beak views but not much else. Around 11, Chinese whispers seemed to suggest that someone had seen it somewhere but directions were vague and contradictory. There seemed to be a language problem as well, as what those around me seemed to think we should be looking two posts left of a gate actually turned out to be behind two poppies! Needless to say by the time we found the poppies it had vanished from view. A bit later, a further sighting near a small willow bush caused confusion as directions involved several stumps. These turned out to be fence posts. I actually had my scope pointing in the right spot anyway, but never saw anything, although several birders thought they could see something moving in the area. The same thing happened a while later in the direction of a big patch of teasels. Unfortunately I had a big hat blocking that part and I ended up on a smaller patch, so by the time I realised this, shifted the scope slightly it had vanished. I think that all of these sightings, if genuine involved a very obscured bird feeding along the fence behind a lot of tall thick grass and may not necessarily have been the Bustard.
By midday I was getting a bit tired, hungry and very thirsty. Backache and leg cramps were kicking in as well, and I was starting to feel like giving up and trying again some other time when hopefully it would be a lot more obliging. However around 1230 someone behind yelled that it was in front of the gate and I swung the scope round and finally got to see the thing. It was only in view for 10, maybe 20 seconds but it was good enough and a big relief. Unfortunately only a small percentage of the assembled crowd was able to get on it, and many couldn't even see the gate anyway.
Apparently there were a few sightings later in the day but I know many left disappointed throughout the day. To make matters worse, despite expectations that it would stick around there was no sign on Monday and a search of the fields by locals and the farmer failed to locate it. Hopefully its still around somewhere.
We spent an hour or so in the early afternoon at RSPB Fairburn Ings just to unwind a bit . This is one place where Willow Tits are still reliably seen, and a place we hadn't been to before. It turned out to be a lot bigger than expected and there were many miles of track around the many pools left over from coal mining. We initially went round a small loop around a pond dipping area, taking in several feeding stations. While we had several big tit flocks, a Treecreeper and some Tree Sparrows we near saw or heard Willow Tits. Brown Hawkers and Common Darters were frequent, along with a few Emperors. A walk east along what was called a river path to one of the larger lakes didn't produce a great deal. More tits, a few Willow Warblers and some wildfowl on the lake. I did wonder if the path, which followed a ridge along what I assumed to be a spoil heap might have some interesting plants-orchids were mentioned on the guide map, though I didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

Broxbourne and Danemead.

Though a bit late in the year for some of the butterflies I popped into the Broxbourne complex for an hour or so on Sunday morning.
I started off at Broxbourne west car park and did the usual circuit around what is now the grazed heathland. Birds were in short supply apart from a few tit flocks and several loud Nuthatches. A few crests and Chiffchaffs were heard, but the only warbles actually seen were two juvenile Garden Warblers which was a bit different.
Butterflies were out in force with lots of Meadow Browns, Skippers, Peacocks and whites, and a few lingering Ringlets. Didn't see any blues which was a it odd, and there were only a couple of rather tatty Silver Washed Fritillaries and one slightly better individual.

No Purple Emperors or White Admirals as expected, though i do wonder if they are still around since the area was opened up and much of the sallow trees and scrub had been cleared. The small oak trees were scanned but I only managed to see one Purple Hairstreak.
The pond has become very shaded and I only saw a few Common Blue damsels here. I did find one Southern Hawker and a few Migrant Hawkers, one of which posed nicely.

 Danemead was much the same, including, weirdly, yet again a Garden Warbler showing quite well.
No fritillaries which was a bit unusual, but there were a few Painted Ladies in the meadow. The Spittlebrook actually had some water flowing for once, though the adjacent pond had dried up. I had hoped that there would be a few epipactis helleborines (broad leaved is the expected orchid here) in flower but I couldn't find a single plant in any of the usual places. Not sure if its slugs or deer but I haven't seen any here for a few years now.

Framton Marsh Waders

After a bit of a break for a couple of weekends, I had a very busy couple of days.
The previous weekend was rather wet over much of the country following several extremely hot and rather unpleasant days. This resulted in a large influx of Wood Sandpipers along parts of the East Coast with three figure numbers reported from some sites. Many other wader species also arrived in decent numbers, and since it was going to be a very high tide around the Wash, it seemed to be a sensible idea to go and see some of them.
In recent years, RSPB Frampton Marsh seems to have become best place for passage waders and up to 26 species had been recorded in the first days of August, including the almost resident but generally elusive Long Billed Dowitcher. The 8m high tide on Saturday morning meant that there would be a massive number of birds on the reserve and we were able to arrive just as the waters were starting to drop.
Starting around the centre, Common and Green Sandpipers could be found all over the big lagoon, and there were likely to have been 10+ of each present. On juvenile Little Ringed Plover was also seen. There are four Black Necked Grebes there as well, though I only found one adult and one juvenile. They remained at some distance and my attempt at shooting through the scope wasn't overly successful with rather soft images at an equivalent focal length of about 3000mm.

Heading down to the sea wall where we were told that most of the action was taking place we stopped off now and again. Yellow wagtails were flying around with many tens of adults and juvenile birds associating with the cattle on the grazing marshes. There were several Wood Sandpipers on the pools here  though mobile and sometimes flighty. Someone had reported 15 here but I was only able to count 6, maybe 8 though  visibility from the road wasn't ideal. Trying from the higher sea wall wasn't much better due to distance and the increasing heat haze, but the six Whimbrel on the salt marsh were a bit easier to see.
Continuing along the wall, which was covered in thistles, measles and Painted Ladies we were able to check out the massive flocks of Black Tailed Godwits and Knot for other species. Dunlin were present in good numbers bit it was clear that many were flying out to the Wash and we were told that a Peregrine had flushed many, taking the Curlew Sandpipers and Little Stints with them. People were searching for the Dowitcher though Im not sure if it was seen while we were there, but we did pick up
maybe a dozen Spotted Redshanks, many Redshank, Ringed Plover Ruff, Snipe, Avocet, Oystercatcher, and a few Golden and Grey Plover, Turnstone and Bar Tailed Godwits, so we ended up with twenty species of wader here.

Ducks were starting to come out of eclipse. Mainly Mallard and Gadwall of course with some Teal, Wigeon Pochard and Tufties. I was able to find one Garganey but there were supposed to be several around. Much easier were the eight Spoonbill being big and white.
By the time we stared the return walk back to the car it had got rather warm and I was shattered (not helped by a bad few days at work and a very tiring day at Hyde hall Flower Show with Sarah on Thursday). As a result, while I checked the ditches for dragonflies it was bit of a struggle and apart from a few Common Darters and one Emperor. The intention was to return to the central hide after a bit of lunch and search in earnest but in the end decided it wouldn't gain much if anything so I suggested returning home via Therfield Heath and the ulterior motive of a county tick.
By the time we got there in the early afternoon it had clouded over a bit and the breeze had picked up. Walking through Fox Covert I could see many White Helleborines so it looked like it had been a good year, but I couldn't see any other orchids.
Out on the hillside Chalkhill blues were out in abundance among the Autumn Gentians, Harebells, Burnets and thistles. Large and Essex Skippers were present but the hoped for Dark Green Fritillary was a bit harder to find and took much searching as they were pretty much over.

  
Colin found two Spotted Flycatchers which were a very nice bonus and meant we needn't visit Sandon Church afterwards (the pair there have been successful with two fledged youngsters). Also a bonus was the two Silver Washed Fritillaries in the woods on the way back.

New Forest and Dragonflies

On Saturday, we had a trip down to the New Forest, with a stop off at Longham Lakes.
A couple of weeks ago, there was a Scarlet Darter at Longham, which seems to be favoured for this species as there have been some reports here in the recent past. Unfortunately it wasn't seen the next day-we might have tried, but the M27 was closed all weekend apparently which put us off. Pity as apart from a large number of the scarce but frequent red Veined Darter, several Vagrant Emperors were also seen. having failed at Donna Nook it wasn't good news.
Earlier last week, the Emperors were reported again, and also apparently there were some Lesser Emperors around. We often visit the New Forest at this time of year so it was worth combining the two sites.
Had some traffic issues on the way down and I decided to come off at the end of the M27 and bypass the very slow A31. After driving through Fritham, to the north of the A31 we were approaching High Corner Inn and decided to pull over by a small copse for a break. Within a minute or so we had a Tree Pipit and a pair of Dartford Warblers, calling Curlew to the north of the road and a fine male Stonechat. The first of many Silver Studded Blues was found, though it was rather cool and breezy at the time, and Colin had a large dragonfly go past.
Nearby we also stopped briefly near Moyles Court School to check out the Dockers Water stream, which looked interesting but it failed to produce anything apart from a few blue damsels.
Getting to Longham was a bit of a pain as traffic was bad and the roadworks where we park really held us up. By this time, the sun had largely gone in, though it remained warm. This didn't seem to cause many problems, though the larger dragonflies remained elusive.
Walking down to the south end of the lakes, we encountered a number of Ruddy Darters and several Red Veined. This was rather nice as I hadn't seen one for a long time-in fact my only photos are on slide film taken in the early 90's.

They were very skittish and I only managed to get a few shots of one of them. Searching the damp hollows at the south end produced a lot of Common Blue and Azure Damsels, Banded Demoiselles and more White Legged Damsels than I've ever seen before. Black tailed Skimmers and one or two Broad Bodied Chasers were present around the reedy pond with one (ordinary) Emperor. We were told that the other Emperors were only likely to be seen patrolling the large lake in sunny conditions.
Most of the expected butterflies were seen-Comma, Peacock, Painted Lady, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Heath and a few Common Blues, Brown Argus and Small Copper. On the way back Colin found a very mature Scarce Chaser, a nice bonus.

Traffic remained a problem and it was a rather slow journey to our final destinations of Crockford Bridge and Beaulieu Heat/Hatchett Pond. However the sun was now starting to come out, but so was the wind.
By far the commonest species at Crockford was, as usual Southern Damselfly, though the numbers were much smaller than in some earlier visits. Recent management work in scrub and vegetation removal might have had some effect. Small Red Damselflies were also seen frequently, as were Beautiful Demoiselles.

Keeled Skimmers are always nice to see of course but were very active and never settled. The same with Broad Bodied Chasers and the superb Golden Ringed Dragonfly-at least two were patrolling the stream but never stopped. Just about the only thing that did was the female Emperor laying eggs. Lots of Silver Studded Blues of course, plus one or two Dark Green Fritillaries.

Bill Last was also present on one of his moth and botanising weekends so we had a chat and exchanged notes. I had hoped that he had locations for the Scarce Blue Tailed Damselfly that always seems to elude us here but he hadn't seen any for many years. so in the end we decide to try the west end of Hatchett Pond, but walked down from Beaulieu Heath, a much easier route.
Graylings were seen, but did their best to avoid the camera as usual. Half hour round the seeps and puddles at the ford failed to produce the Scarce Blue Tails again, and the only Blue Tail (a female) was seen near the car park. Apart from this. it was very much the same selection of species as at Crockford.
Despite the failures (and why didn't we find any Large Red Damsels?- I also missed Brown and possibly Southern Hawker as well) we ended up with 17 dragonfly species for the day, and also 17 species of Butterfly.

Garden Orchids

These are only snaps with the the phone.
Epipactis gigantea is a helleborine that is widely cultivated. Ive had little success in the past with bare rooted plants but managed to obtain a large pot last year at Hyde hall flower show. This was overwintered in the pot and once the shoots appeared in spring (demonstrating that it was at least alive) I planted it out. The flower stem is only a few inches high-it should reach 12-24 inches but hopefully will improve with time. It might need more moisture than my garden can provide in the growing season but Im keeping my fingers crossed.

Ive tried a few slipper orchids-Cypridiums in recent years but with some disappointments. Ive failed with two different species so far, but the hybrid "parville" that I got at Chelsea last year has been successful. This year I purchased the species Cypridium regina which is supposed to be reasonably 'easy' and despite one stem appearing to die the rest are growing well.
Im hopeful that it will last some time and that I can find a suitable spot to plant it out eventually.

Butterflies and Insects

I wasn't feeling all that great on Saturday and decided not to do much. However Sunday felta bit better and the weather, which had been very hot and humid was rather more tolerable so I thought about taking a walk around Aston End. In the end I managed to complete my usual five mile circuit and didn't feel all that bad afterwards.
Over the previous week, I was starting to get regular visits by Meadow Browns and also a couple of Painted Ladies, Gatekeepers plus the occasional white so I was expecting to see a lot. It can be a bit hit and miss as the walk takes in some busy lanes with high hedges usually severely hacked and slashed every year), large areas of intensive agriculture and horse paddocks. Also the river Beane valley is always bone dry with only the occasional winter run off leading to any sort of water flow. However there are several large areas of set aside, some wide field margins and a long roadside stretch that is sympathetically managed so it can be quite good. Unfortunately one huge uncultivated field that was starting to look like a decent bit of chalk downland has been out of bounds for many years (though I don't think it was ever in bounds but the gate was always open and there wasn't a nasty barbed wire fence to negotiate either).
I didn't find any Speckled Woods in the plantation which was a bit unusual so the first butterflies I found were Meadow Browns once I got past Aston End. This proved by far the commonest species and I probably saw several hundred in total. There were only a few Ringlets-far less than expected, and also some Gatekeepers and Small heaths. Marbled Whites were seen in various spots, maybe 30 in total and some rather faded Painted Ladies as well. There were plenty of Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals and Commas but for some reason, no Peacocks. Obviously with most of the fields full of rape seed Large, Small and Green Veined Whites were everywhere.
I had a hard time with the skippers, there weren't many and only one or two were approachable-one definite Small, and a couple of Large, though I would normally see some Essex here as well. Only one Common Blue was seen, and no Brown Argus or Small Coppers, though these are the species I used to see in the out of bounds field.
I wasn't very successful photographing the butterflies so I stuck the macro lens and spent a long time around the umbellifers trying to get decent images of the various bugs, flies wasps and beetles. Cant say for sure what any are, though I ought to be able to identify the longhorn as Ive photographed them before. Having mislaid an identification guide hasn't helped.

Dragonfly Weekend

I spent the weekend trying to pick up various dragonflies. Around about this time of year we tend to visit either the New Forest or the Surrey heaths with a view to seeing some of the specialities. However this weekend things changed somewhat and Colin and I spent Saturday on the Lincolnshire coast. There has been a bit of an influx of Vagrant Emperors into northern Europe, with a lot being found in the Low Countries and there have been a number of reports on the English east coast. Most seem to have been in Lincolnshire with some elsewhere, and in reasonable numbers as well.
Having checked a few reports, the most recent weer at Rica so we went there first. We were here about 15 years ago for a Lesser Sand-plover, and it seems to have changed a bit being far more vegetated. More by luck we actually found the right car park, and meeting up with another hopeful it was only a short walk to the right spot, a decent sized pool.
Although warm and sunny, conditions deteriorated quickly and the cloud built up, as did the wind. This kept a lot of the insects down and it was hard to find much. There were a few Painted Ladies (another big influx is under way), Common Blues and Meadow Browns but we missed wall Browns and Graylings. Emperors, Four Spotted and Broad Bodied Chasers were flying over the pools, with Azure, Common and Blue Tailed damselflies tucked into the long grass.
There was also a very impressive selection of Early Marsh, Southern Marsh and Pyramidal orchids and I also found Sand Leek and a few other plants I have yet to identify.
Birds were rather limited. A few Shelduck were flying around and there were some Blackcaps and Whitethroats singing in the bushes, plus a bonus, but very invisible Grasshopper Warbler.
We intended to explore the dune complex north of the car park, but reports of Vagrant emperors a few miles to the north at Donna Nook put paid to that. Unfortunately we were 20 minutes late by the time we arrived and walked out onto the salt marsh to join the small crowd.
We spent a good hour along with many others trying to search the low marsh vegetation and the somewhat higher and drier sand bank. The big problem was the wind which was keeping everything down and our only chance was to stumble onto something and hope to flush it. Having seen the photos next day I realised how futile it was and eventually we had to call it a day.

Sunday was pretty warm and muggy so I thought it would be worth going to Amwell. where I met up with Bill snd most of the Sunday regulars. I was told that the Little Ringed Plovers and the Oystercatchers had failed in their nesting attempt, but it was good to see several Common Tern chicks on one of the islands as the 'tern' rafts are now dominated by the gulls.
As everyone was leaving to walk down to Hollycross Bill picked up one of the Ravens fling low over the woods-he's seen up to 5 birds recently.
The wasn't much at Tumbling Bay apart from a few Red Eyed and blue damselflies so we continued to Hollycross. Bill picked up what he thought could have been a Scarce Chaser and it often came onto the board walk to perch, allowing fair views but was very skittish. I had my doubts about the identification, but  checking some phone i/d guides (which I later found to be misleading) it seemed to be a fair fit  though I wasn't happy about the eye colour. When I got home and checked my photos it was obvious that it had been a Black Tailed Skimmer all along.

A few Four Spotted Chasers were present and there was still a rather late Hairy Dragonfly.
Returning to Tumbling Bay things had improved considerably. There were a few Painted Ladies and it only took a minute or so before I found a Norfolk Hawker, and moments later Trevor found another one. They were very active and rarely came close to us, so we weren't able to get any photos. Luckily there weren't any Emperors around as they tend to dominate, so we were at least treated to prolonged views.

Common Clubtail

It was a pretty warm and sunny weekend, and I thought it would be worth making a start on dragonflies this year. I haven't seen all that many so far this year, with a few Azure Blues and Large Red damselflies here and there (including a couple around my pond in late May which appear to have been freshly emerged) plus a single Broad Bodied Chaser. Surrey would have been the default at this time of year, but Colin wasn't keen on getting sunburnt. So having seen a few tweets about Common Clubtails around the Severn and Wye, and seeing the Forest of Dean in my site guide I suggested we head west on Saturday.
These particular dragonflies have always been problematic, being found on very few rivers, where there is a mass emergence in late spring. Adults then disperse widely and only return to the river to breed. We tried the Thames at Goring several times, and saw one once. A site further up the Thames was never successful, and my only other sighting was a very brief flight in poor weather conditions at Remenham on one of several visits.
We had visited RSPB Nagshead once before, some years back and it was rather good, since it had a number of breeding birds that are rather hard to come by in the south-east, such as Wood Warbler. I expected this to be our destination, but Colin surprised me saying we were going to Monmouth first. Apparently he had come across a blog post from last year where someone had found a number of Clubtails on the north bank of the Wye, east of Monmouth, specifically a few fields up river from St Peter's church.  
We had a good journey, arriving mid morning, and discovered another enthusiast resting on a seat in the church yard. Had found the same information and had failed to find any despite searching the river bank for several hundred yards. Not good news, but we decided that since we were here we might as well have a walk, since there were some nice views.
The riverside vegetation was full of Banded Demoiselles, but not a lot else. I tried getting down to the waters edge at a couple of places to check for exuviae, but it was pretty difficult with steep ten foot banks to negotiate. Only two butterflies seen, a rather worn Peacock and a not well seen presumed Green Veined White.
We reached the recommended field and noticed the enthusiast had caught us up hoping for one last attempt. Shortly after a yellow dragonfly flew up from the grass in front of us and flew away from the river. I knew instantly it was a Clubtail and I managed to follow it in the bins and saw it land near a patch of nettles. We rushed over and got very good sustained views and some decent photos. It then flew off and into a Hawthorn, where we were able to get even closer views, and were able to show it to some passing walkers. Having taken images with the 100-400 lens, I was able then to switch to the 60mm macro. I then switched to the phone and got the best images of the lot from a couple of inches.

We then went to Nagshead, arriving mid day. Probably a bit late really as things tend to quieten down, but we were optimistic and went down to the eastern pond and then the hide. The big pond had a female Mandarin with a brood of ducklings, plus a few Four Spotted Chasers, some Azure and Large Red Damselflies. We missed a sow Boar and Piglets by a few minutes in one of the meadows, but was pleased to see a male Pied Flycatcher around one of the nest boxes.
A stroll around the shorter of the trails produced numerous vocal Nuthatches, a fine male Redstart and  a female Pied Flycatcher. No Wood Warblers unfortunately. There seems to be very few this year, and I have heard the same from Devon and the New Forest. Apart from a Brimstone or two, the only butterflies were singles of Speckled Wood and Red Admiral.

A Day of Butterflies

Last year, Colin and I went down to Hampshire, targeting butterflies over the Bank Holiday weekend. So I thought we'd do it again this year, and went on  Saturday as it was likely to be the best weather-wise.
No need for an early start thankfully, as I was still a bit tired from Chelsea, an we got down to Noar Hill around 9.30. It was fairly warm and sunny, which was good, but not excessive, which was even better. There were a few Early Purple orchids still in flower on the northern slopes, and a reasonable number of Cowslips as well. A few Common Spotted orchids were starting to emerge, but Twayblade numbers seemed a bit low based on previous visits. I suspect last years hot summer and a fairly dry winter has had an impact.
Good numbers of Small Blues again-its a bit surprising that I never saw any hear until last year. Lots of  Dingy Skippers, a few Common Blues and Green Hairstreaks, abundant Brimstones and a few whites were seen. Took a while to find, but we eventually found around eight Duke of Burgundys, including a couple of pairs.

A search for Musk and Frog orchids wasn't successful, but there were a few White Helleborines in the usual bit of wood, though numbers are still low since the scrub clearance some years back.

Bentley Wood was rather popular again, particularly the eastern clearing which is looking very good these days. Lots of Brimstones again, and plenty of Fritillaries. The log book implied that Pearl Bordered were the commonest, but it seemed to me that Small Pearl Bordered were. However this was based primarily on my assumption that the brighter fresher individuals were Small Pearl whereas the worn faded ones were going to be Pearl having emerged some weeks ago. We only got close views of a couple though. Bonuses were Marsh Fritillary again, and a Duke of Burgundy.

The only dragonfly of the day was a rather brief glimpse of a Broad Bodied Chaser.
There were several Grizzled Skippers here-not sure if I've seen them at Bentley before. One was very obliging.

We ended the day at Martin Down. It was a bit cool and breezy at times but generally remained bright and sunny.
One Turtle Dove was around the Sillen Lane car park, but proved elusive.
The Greater Butterfly orchids were found again, though in far fewer numbers. There did seem to be a lot of non flowering rosettes.

Huge quantities of Small Blues everywhere, and Common and Adonis Blues were out in force, but we only managed to locate one Brown Argus. We also found Small heath to be plentiful, but Grizzled and Dingy Skippers were hard and we only saw a few. Expecting, based on reports to see lots of Marsh Fritillaries I was a bit disappointed to find half a dozen in one small area at the end of the track west of Sillen Lane.
We paid our respects to the Burnt orchids. The main clump had 13 flower spikes this year, and we found six others in flower plus a couple of rosettes. Unfortunately a few had been trampled, a shame they couldn't have some sort of protective barrier.