I headed down to Kent for the day, the rain had stopped but almost gale force winds made things a little tricky. First stop which was fortunately a little sheltered was along the Rpyal Military canal here were some nice examples of flowering rush and plenty of very nervous marsh frogs. There was some dragonfly action here with small red eyed damselfly, willow emerald and ruddy darter. Close by was some nice marsh mallow and then some tiny forked spleenwort. I headed to Rye Harbour for an ice cream and a walk to find least lettuce, but it was burnt to a crisp due to the very dry weather. The off to Dungeness stinking hawksbeard was just about over but red hemp nettle was flowering nicely and a hummingbird hawkmoth was seen as well. With gale force winds it was time for chips and home. Many thanks to those who helped me with gen.

Chips - Varne Chip Shop - Battered Saveloy, Chips and pickled egg - 8/10

I was working at home as we were having some building work done. All around there was harvesting happening so I had put out almost 40 traps out in the hedges at the edge of these fields overnight, previously I have had good success doing this, today however nothing, until late afternoon on the final check where I had one wood mouse which quickly escaped my grasp. However my cat had been doing the same and was more successful it brought me a live harvest mouse mid afternoon. I kept it for a couple of hours and it seemed fine so took it for a photo shoot in one of the fields before letting it go in one of the hedgerows.

I had a day out with Andrew Jewels mainly looking for ladybirds our main location was to be Canvey Wick, a Buglife reserve on Canvey Island, but first we stopped just the other side of West Canvey Marshes to see Southern migrant hawkers. Several were about along with some fresh looking Ruddy darters. Holly and common blue butterflies along with large whites, meadow brown and gatekeepers were all very active in what was already very warm conditions. At the reserve the last of the dog walkers was leaving so we have the reserve to ourselves (for a while at least – more later). Along the sea wall we found 7, 16, 24 and Adonis ladybirds, sea lavender was flowering and a whimbrel was on the other side of the estuary. Further in on the dry grassland we had a real treat Platynaspis luteorubra only the second I have seen and the first of several 2 and 22 spot ladybirds. We headed into the heart of the reserve and on some rather poor looking land the highlight of the day a Hyperaspis pseudopustulata our first and looking similar to flea beetles could have been easily overlooked. This ladybird is very scarce and there are few records or photos of it. The site had several bees, the best we could find was brown banded carder and a bee wolf looking for victims. Whist watching this some yobs on trail motorbikes broke down the fence and drove in to the reserve, I phoned the police but we left quickly to avoid confrontation (The police arrived on site 2 hours later). We had our lunch at West Canvey marshes and then headed to Rainham to see what bees we could find and have an ice cream. The highlight was the Wool carder bees. I dropped Andrew home and headed home myself stopping off for southern damselflies and chalkhill blues on the way. A good day celebrated with a stop at a local fried potato establishment.

Chips - Fish n Chickn Saveloy, onion rings, pickled egg and chips 8/10

Some moths from this week - Early Thorn, Brown Scallop, Leopard Moth, Green Arches, Lackey, old lady A nice little Owl and Mistle Thrush at work before I headed to the Brecks for a spot of ladybird hunting after work. I quickly had 14, 16, 24 and 7 spot ladybirds and Rhyzobius litura from the grassland and the pine trees produced harlequin, pine, striped, and Scymnus suturali. I stopped into Weeting briefly for Broad leaved helleborines before heading for home.

It was a poor morning weather wise, I worked my way home first stop was in Edinburgh for Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, an introduced ladybird used to eat mealybugs in greenhouses and I found one fairly quickly. I popped into Dunbar for the Kittiwake colony where there were plenty of chicks. After some chips I headed south stopping on Lindesfarne where the helleborines both Lindesfarne and Marsh were looking a little past it but a couple of half decent flowers and that finiahed my pretty sucessful trip.

Chips - Central Cafe, Dunbar, Burger and Chips 8.5/10

I was at Channonry point for 6am and was the only one there apart from two bottle nosed dolphins feeding close inshore but not doing anything dramatic. It was almost 8am when the next person arrived and so did a few more dolphins feeding distantly. They did reach shore just as the crowd gathered and they started to display and we all had some nice views as the rain started. The forecast was poor all day so my dragonfly hunting was cancelled. Instead I headed to Rannoch Moor to find the scarce Rannoch Rush in the pouring rain. Then I headed to Oban for chips. I headed off to meet someone who has pine martens in their garden. We settled in for a watch in the rain, a bank vole showed a few times but as the time went by there was no sign of any martens. A wood mouse was too quick for the camera but a hedgehog and a toad were a bit slower. My host left me to it and just after he left a head popped up, a cracking pine marten. It was nervous at first and then it settled down to feed and allowed me to get a few photos. The hedgehog returned briefly and as the rain turned torrential I called it a night.

Chips - Oban Fish and Chips, Oban, Macaroni and Chips 8/10

The fog at Sumburgh did not delay the 7.30 flight and by 9am I was back in the car and heading back to Cairngorm. Another attempt for Alpine speedwell at a different location. It was hot but the walk was not too long until I got to the vertical section, the climb was hard and my heart sank when I encountered several alpine speedwell plants already in seed. I sat down, had a drink and decided what to do I carried on a bit and finally found a groups of 3 plants nicely in flower, just in time as the rest of the route up looked very challenging. I got back to the flat area safely and then I slipped my foot went into a gap in the rocks and I tumbled down hitting the rocks as I fell. I lay in pain and as I looked up a group of ptarmigan were watching me, clearly thinking that I was not suited to this rocky habitat. I reached for the phone to get a record shot, but could not get to the camera. Once I gathered myself and realised that it was just cuts (although the rock looked like a small sacrifice had been performed there) and bruises and a twisted knee and torn trousers. I hobbled the hour or so back to the car and headed to Aviemore for drink and something to eat. Now it may seem hard to believe that I have been to Scotland an awful lot and visited a whole load of chip shops but have never had a deep fried mars bar so today I tried one, and I won't be bothering with another. I tried a couple of sites locally for dragonflies but not much doing as the weather conditions were changing, I popped into Loch Garten a few siskins on the feeders but no voles so I headed for chips, found a few moths by some lights and called it a night.

Chips - Grantown on Spey, The Royal Fish Bar, King rib and Chips 7.5/10

I was at loch of the Lowes a bit after dawn the ospreys were active as were a couple of red squirrels but not much else, so I headed off a roe deer along the way. I ended up at Glenshee and headed up the mountain after a hearty breakfast. A few mountain hares were a bit elusive but I got a couple of record shots but my main target was Alpine speedwell which I found in seed last year and I hoped that this my 4th attempt would finally be successful. But despite having last years GPS reference to help I could not find any plants in the area or in a wider search. The area was very dry and this may have affected this small population. I took a wander round but could not find any ptarmigan and gave up and headed to Speyside for dragonflies. A good selection of dragonflies including black darter. I found a Northern emerald but could not get a photo (still). Time for a quick visit to see Twinflowers before popping into Loch Garten but nothing much was doing. I got some chips before heading up the Cairngorm for a short walk. I headed to Aberdeen for the night.

Chips - Aviemore, Happy Haggis, Haggis and Chips 7.5/10

I finished work early and by mid afternoon I was at Bishop Middleham quarry, here the dark red helleborines were in full flower and I managed to find a couple of Northern brown Argus butterflies in the rather blustery conditions. I headed north stopping at Alnwick for chips. I eventually arrived at Loch of the Lowes and had a brief view of a beaver and a couple of fallow deer before it got dark.

Chips - Carlo's, Alnwick, Haggis and Chips 8/10

Another good mammal year with some amazing encounters yet again fantastic Wild Boars and brilliant beavers, a mole crossing a road in Cumbria was a lucky find and local leisler's bats were worth mentioning. Probably the best encounter was a rather acrobatic stoat in Gloustershire that really put on a show. A total of 50 species in total (47 photographed) which makes the 10th year in a row exceeding 50 species, I won't try for 50 this year as I think I have demonstrated that 50 species in a year is now easily acheivable, but I will keep a list.

Birds

Another average bird year with 238 species seen some highlights were parrot crossbills, Coue's Arctic redpoll, ptarmigan, pine bunting, American Horned lark, white rumped sandpiper, bee eater, scops owl, Caspian Tern, Great Reed warbler, red breasted flycatcher, bluethroat and dotterel to name a few. New species were a bit thin on the ground and I only caught up with Cedar Waxwing and Elegant tern

Other Wildlife and Trips

Following up on my other areas of interest I had a great year with some nice new Ladybirds the highlight was Platynaspis luteorubra, other highights were a Bedstraw hawkmoth, Lesser Emperor, currant clearwing, tansy beetle, mole cricket and finally catching up with Queen of Spain fritillary and Silver Washed Fritillary var valesina. Only one Whitebeam now eludes me after finding three this year the best the very rare Motley's Whitebeam. Several broomrapes and a whole selection of nice plants and a few rares such as Woodstock x Fly orchid hybrids, purple toothwort, alpine saw wort Sickle-leaved Hare's-ear, Bean broomrape, Thistle broomrape and bedstraw broomrape. Trip wise it was a bit quite and we had to cancel our main holiday due to unforseen circumstances a week in Ireland and Scotland for local specialities such as Dense flowered orchid and few days in Fuerteventura for the Fuerteventura stonechat and Algerian hedgehog and some nice houbara bustards.

Catch up with the 2017 blog